New Movies In Theaters Oct 12th - Rotten Tomatoes

New Movies In Theaters Oct 12th - Rotten Tomatoes

It's potpourri week.

Five new films are in nationwide distribution.

• Argo: 3250 theaters; 93% positive reviews; rated R for language and violence. Ben Affleck no longer needs to be known as the good-looking guy who can't act his way out of a paper bag, because it turns out he actually knows how to write and direct, and being in charge enables him to take only the roles that fit him perfectly, so it helps his acting as well. He didn't write this one, but he directed and starred in a thriller based on a true story about sneaking hostages out of Iran in the Carter years.
  
• Here Comes the Boom: 3000 theaters; 64% positive reviews; PG. Comedy with Kevin James and Salma Hayek, together at last. The Fonz co-stars.
  
• Sinister: 2500 theaters; 76% positive reviews; rated R for "disturbing violent images." Supernatural horror with Ethan Hawke.
  
• Seven Psychopaths: 1475 theaters; 95% positive review; rated R for every possible reason, including Christine Marzano's breasts. Nutty film written and directed by the guy who created In Bruges, which is one of my personal top ten of the new millennium. The cast includes everyone in the world: Sam Rockwell, Walken, Colin Farrell, Tom Waits, Woody Harrelson, Abbie Cornish, Olga Kurylenko, and the aforementioned Marzano. Can you guess which one I'll go to this week?
  
• Atlas Shrugged, Part 2: 850 theaters; PG-13. No reviews yet, but the first film was a disaster in every possible way. It was a low-budget, amateurish mess that only took in about $5 million nationwide. I'm not surprised that they have kept Part II away from critics. (If you guessed I'll go to this one, no soup for you - one year.)
  

The box office is likely to finish something like this (assuming Taken 2 holds the top spot):

• Argo: high teens; second place.
  
• Sinister: low teens; fourth place.
  
• Here Comes the Boom: ten million or so; fifth or sixth place.
  
• Seven Psychopaths: about seven million and seventh place. Bet the 7s.
  
• Atlas Shrugged: who knows? Maybe two million; maybe tenth place. Maybe not. The first film probably attracted some die-hard fans of the book, but even most of them must have realized what a total waste of time it was, so I don't know how many who sat through AS Part 1 will show up for AS Part 2. And I have to think not many new viewers are going to begin the series with Part 2, so this one is not headed for a box office bonanza.