New Movies In Theaters November 1 - Rotten Tomatoes

New Movies In Theaters November 1 - Rotten Tomatoes

Three films are in wide national distribution this week:

Ender's Game: (PG-13; 3350 theaters; 69% positive reviews). The Earth is again being attacked in this sci-fi film with Indiana Jones and Ghandi. So they're going for that youth market. RT consensus: "If it isn't quite as thought-provoking as the book, Ender's Game still manages to offer a commendable number of well-acted, solidly written sci-fi thrills."

Last Vegas: (PG-13, 2800 theaters; 47% positive reviews). Talk about youth appeal! Nobody in this film is under sixty! Old geezers throw a bachelor party for the only one of them who never married in his youth. They have many zany prune- and Maalox-related adventures in Sin City. Reviews were polarized. Several critics found it charming and poignant, while others called it creaky, tired and joyless.

Free Birds: (PG, 3500 theaters; 25% positive reviews). Animated kiddie film about turkeys who have to travel through time for some reason or another. Maybe they should go back to the invention of Thanksgiving celebrations and make it all about eating squirrels.

Speaking of turkeys who travel through time, Richard Curtis's new film, About Time, also involves time travel. A young guy travels back in time again and again to woo the girl he wants, until he finally gets it right. Then he keeps time-traveling in order to .... I dunno ... some high concept crap. I admit that I'm a sucker for Curtis's sincere, romantic vision of life, but this one sounds like treacle. Get this sentence in the official blurb: "About Time is a comedy about love and time travel, which discovers that, in the end, making the most of life may not need time travel at all." I guess I'd still take a date to see it, but it's not playing near me because it's headed to major markets only. (Rated R without nudity, 175 theaters, 64% positive reviews)

Box office:

Ender's Game should take first place with a gross in the 20s.

Free Birds and Last Vegas will battle Bad Gramps for the 2-3-4 slots. All three films should be somewhere around $15m.