Reel Hub: (Not) Kickin' the Bucket

Old folks, church-robbin', and pregnancy: these are a few of our favorite things. That is, if you judge by the top box office movies. The Bucket List, First Sunday (Ice CUBE!), and Juno have been keeping butts in theatre seats across the nation. But these fine (?) films will be gettin' a run for their money, or tickets, by 27 Dresses, Cloverfield, and Mad Money. 27 Dresses, though (shockingly!) panned, takes the pregnancy theme of Juno one step further, to marriage (which, in olden days, sometimes happened before having kids!), while Mad Money is basically chicks in a bank instead of dudes in a church (as in First Sunday). So it seems Cloverfield is the only groundbreaking film among the big releases this week. We like groundbreaking, in general, but the previews for this movie suggest that those responsible for Cloverfield have mixed up "groundbreaking" with "confusing and badly shot." The Baltimore Sun sums it up as "long on style and technique, short on substance and plot," and from the few seconds we've forced ourself to see, we tend to agree. Some loved it; some hated it--check it out and decide for yourself.

In addition to box office biggies, we have the Human Rights Watch International Film Fest at the MFA, while the Brattle has Bergman's Monika and will be awarding Frank Langella a Boston Society of Film Critics' best actor title for Andrew Wagner's Starting Out in the Evening. The Coolidge offers Zany Acts with Michael Zerphy as well as Volker Einrauch's The Other Boy. So whether you want monsters, money, Michael, or Monika, Boston theatres have you covered this weekend.

Cloverfield image from http://www.badastronomy.com