Opening This Week

WIDE RELEASE:

• Hop- Animated film brought to us by the writers of Despicable Me and the director of Alvin & the Chipmunks (oh boy) about the Easter Bunny and his teenage son who dreams of becoming a rock star.  Features the voice work of Russell Brand, James Marsden, Kaley Cuoco, Hugh Laurie, Chelsea Handler and Elizabeth Perkins.

• Insidious- Haunted house movie from James Wan (the director of Saw) and Oren Peli (the director of Paranormal Activity); isn't cute that the puppeteers of the biggest horror schlockers in recent years are joining forces.  This one stars Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne.

• The King's Speech (PG-13 edit)- Lord help us all!  Mercifully re-edited and rid of that bloody "f-word" that plagued the Best Picture winner with a R-rating.  Thankfully and generously the good folks at The Weinstein Company have done away with the offensive epitaph and now children young and old can enjoy without such destructive content.  Hopefully the film will make some money now, because obviously $373 million worldwide gross is much to modest for such an epic tale.

• Source Code- Two years ago, Duncan Jones (son of David Bowie) made his feature debut with the nifty, retro sci-fi trifle Moon, now he's back with another one starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a man who can live out the last eight minutes of someone's life, and judging by the trailer, he must save the world, fall in love with Michelle Monaghan and take orders from a video feed by Vera Farmiga.  Okay, I'm in.

LIMITED RELEASE:

• Cat Run- Quirky action comedy from director John Stockwell.  Stars Paz Vega (Spanglish), Janet McTeer (remember when she was Oscar nominated for her wonderful performance in Tumbleweeds, anyone?) and Christopher McDonald.

• In a Better World- The 2010 Oscar winner for best foreign film finally lands in the United States.  This one, the Danish entry from Suzanne Bier (Things We Lost in the Fire, Brothers- the original, better version, not the 2009 Tobey Maguire one.)

• Super- James Gunn, the director of underrated 2006 horror flick Slither, comes back with a superhero parody starring Ranin Wilson and Ellen Page.  This movie likely would be more appealing had it not felt like it hard already been made, like last year with Kick-Ass.  Why is that certain parody must all come out in waves...could still be fun however.

• Trust- a ridiculously strong cast-- Clive Owen, Catherine Keener and Viola Davis star in director David Schwimmer's on first glance made-for-TV-like family drama about a family coping when an online predator attacks a child.