New and Noteworthy: 'Secretariat'
Starring: Diane Lane, John Malkovich, Dylan Walsh, Scott Glenn, Dylan Baker, Nelsan Ellis, Kevin Connolly
Directed by: Randall Wallace
What It's About: The famed 1970s Triple Crown winner, prepped for racetrack immortality by the housewife who owned him (Lane) and the trainer (Malkovich) who put him through his paces.
Why Should You See It? Because you like triumph-of-the-underdog sports movies. Because this one is Disney-certified family fare. Because of the pros in front of and behind the camera, including Wallace, the guy who wrote 'Braveheart.' And because there's buzz that 'Secretariat' could follow in 'Seabiscuit's' hoofprints on the race toward the Oscars.
You Might Like It If You Like: 'Seabiscuit,' 'Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story,' 'National Velvet'
•Showtimes & Tickets
•Trailers & Clips
•Diane Lane, John Malkovich and Director Randall Wallace on 'Secretariat' (VIDEO)
•Nelsan Ellis and Kevin Connolly on 'Secretariat' (VIDEO)
•Moviefone Minute: 'Secretariat' Premiere
•Reviews: Hollywood Reporter | Variety
'Secretariat' - Trailer No. 1
Also New: 'Life as We Know It' 
What It's About: In this romantic comedy, singles Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel have nothing in common except mutual antagonism and being named in their friends' will as godparents to their baby. Forced to live together to raise the orphaned infant, the two find themselves falling in love. Showtimes & Tickets | Trailers & Clips 'Life as We Know It' - Trailer No. 1
'My Soul to Take'
What It's About: Horror guru Wes Craven's latest chiller is about an undead serial killer whose curse on a small town 16 years ago begins to claim the teens born the night he was killed. Didn't Craven make this movie 26 years ago, as the original 'Nightmare on Elm Street'? Showtimes & Tickets | Trailers & Clips
'My Soul to Take' - Trailer No. 1In Limited Release
'It's Kind of a Funny Story' is about a teen (Keir Gilchrist of 'United States of Tara') who checks himself into a mental hospital, where he befriends a grownup with anger management issues (Zach Galifianakis) and even meets a cute girl (Emma Roberts). Showtimes & Tickets'Nowhere Boy' is a biopic about the teenage John Lennon ('Kick-Ass' star Aaron Johnson), focusing on his relationship with the starchy aunt who raised him (Kristin Scott Thomas) and his early encounters with future bandmates Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Showtimes & Tickets
Still in Theaters, Still Awesome
•'The Social Network' -- Until the Mark Zuckerberg comic book biography comes out in December, this Oscar-bound drama about the Facebook founder will have to do. Showtimes & Tickets
•'Let Me In' -- If you can't find a theater showing the movie in which Kick-Ass plays John Lennon, you can still catch this acclaimed horror tale starring his friend Bit Girl Hit Girl as a preteen vampire. Showtimes & Tickets
•'Never Let Me Go' -- Can't get enough of 'Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps' costar Carey Mulligan or 'The Social Network's' Andrew Garfield? See the young hotties together, along with Keira Knightley, in this dreamy, dystopian drama. Showtimes & Tickets
Staying In This Weekend?
New on DVD This Week: The unstoppable Smith family continues its conquest of all media with 'The Karate Kid,' this summer's hit remake of the 1984 newcomer-vs.-bullies classic. There's no actual karate in the movie, which takes place in China, but there is kung fu, as taught to Will Smith spawn Jaden Smith by master Jackie Chan. Wax on, wax off. Buy or rent the DVD | More new DVD releases
Movie Homework: As Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel discover in 'Life as We Know It,' nothing turns smug, materialistic yuppie singles into decent folk quicker than inheriting a baby or a small child. (Side bonus: no messy pregnancy or childbirth necessary. Instant family!) It's a similar lesson to the one learned by Adam Sandler in 'Big Daddy' or Brittany Murphy in 'Uptown Girls,' or by Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson in 'Three Men and a Baby.' The definitive movie in the genre is probably 1987's 'Baby Boom,' in which rising corporate executive Diane Keaton suddenly finds herself inheriting a toddler, whom she promptly tries to deposit in the coat check room at a fancy restaurant. Gags about poop and unsuitable nannies inevitably ensue, but the payoff is Keaton's hilarious nervous breakdown in a rural veterinarian's office. Check it out, but book a sitter first. Buy or rent the DVD.
On My Netflix Queue: To remember the late Tony Curtis, who passed away last week, it's time for me to fire up the DVD of his finest performance, in 1957's still-coruscating 'The Sweet Smell of Success,' and remind myself that entertainment journalism isn't all sharks and weasels like the manipulative parasites played here by Burt Lancaster and Curtis. Then again, it's also no longer filled with people who can spout unforgettable, quotable lines ("You're a cookie full of arsenic." "Don't do anything I wouldn't do. That gives you a lot of leeway.") Buy or rent the DVD.
•Follow Gary Susman on Twitter @garysusman.
•'Tangled' - Disney's 3-D Rapunzel toon is a crowd-pleaser that seems to enchant boys and girls of all ages and hair lengths. | Showtimes & Tickets
New on DVD This Week: Even if you're not a Twihard, 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse' is surely the best of the series so far, what with all the raging teen hormones, some heart-racing action sequences involving marauding vampires and feral werewolves, and that steamy love triangle involving Kristen Stewart, Rob Pattinson and Taylor Lautner's abs. DVD Available on Sat., Dec. 6. | More new DVD releases | What I Think I Know About 'Twilight': The Making of a Twi-Hard ...? | Chat With a 'Twilight' Virgin As She Watches 'Eclipse' For the First Time
'Season of the Witch' (PG-13)
'Country Strong,' which finally opens wide this weekend, is a musical drama about a down-and-out Nashville country singer (Gwyneth Paltrow) who tries to reboot her career following a high-profile stint in rehab. Showtimes & Tickets | Watch the Trailer
'Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune' is a documentary that examines the music and tragically short life of the 1960s protest singer. Showtimes & Tickets
'The Time That Remains' is an autobiographical comedy-drama from Palestinian director Elia Suleiman about the fraught history between the Palestinians and Israelis. Showtimes & Tickets
•'Blue Valentine' -- Watch for Oscar nominations for both Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams in this intimate portrait of a marriage's sweet beginning and bitter ending. Showtimes & Tickets | Watch the Trailer
New on DVD This Week: The French satire 'The Dinner Game' (1999) was a hilarious farce about a yuppie who competes with his associates to see who can bring the most clueless buffoon to a dinner party, only to have the buffoon he picks inadvertently wreck his life. Last summer's American remake, 'Dinner for Schmucks,' both softens the satire and takes it to some bizarre, otherworldly land of absurdity. Here, the yuppie is Paul Rudd, while his unwittingly destructive idiot is Steve Carell. It has its moments, but for consistent laughs, brave the subtitles and rent the original. Buy or rent the DVD | More new DVD releases 
On Our Netflix Queue: Watching Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson going through the motions in the current 'Little Fockers,' it's easy to forget that these two are a unique comedy team, with their own offbeat rhythms and chemistry, who've made 10 movies together. The one we never get tired of is 'The Royal Tenenbaums,' where failed financial genius Stiller and substance-abusing novelist Wilson are part of a larger family dynamic that also wraps Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Danny Glover, and Bill Murray in director Wes Anderson's gentle lunacy. Buy or rent the DVD
•'Megamind' - Sick of Will Ferrell and Tina Fey yet? Didn't think so. | Showtimes & Tickets
New on DVD This Week: Even though the geekosphere totally grokked 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,' the mass of moviegoers were indifferent to this comic-book-derived saga of a swain (Michael Cera) who must battle his inamorata's numerous supervillainous ex-boyfriends. But the innovative, videogame-inspired battles should look right at home on your TV. Buy the DVD | 10 Reasons Edgar Wright Wants You to See 'Scott Pilgrim' on DVD (VIDEO) | More new DVD releases 
•'Jackass 3D' - In which Johnny Knoxville learns that Roger Miller was right: You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd. Showtimes & Tickets
Movie Homework: The 'Paranormal Activity' franchise's debt to earlier films -- the pretend documentary style of 'The Blair Witch Project,' the suburban horror of 'Poltergeist' -- is easy to spot, but the real granddaddy of this genre is probably 1979's 'The Amityville Horror.' Based on a purportedly true story (but not really), the film effectively charts the story of a family driven mad by the unseen menace haunting their new home. Good scenery chewing all around, especially by Oscar-winner Rod Steiger as the exorcist priest. Buy or rent the DVD
The past is never past; it's always present enough to keep tormenting you. That's the lesson for the protagonists of this week's new wide release movies, and it's true whether you're a disgraced financial titan, a woman who thinks she's long since outgrown her high school nerd years, or an abducted owlet. 
'You Again' 
Also New: 'The Virginity Hit' 
'You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger' is the latest Woody Allen dramedy of love and betrayal, featuring a typically star-studded cast (Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Freida Pinto and Naomi Watts). Showtimes & Tickets 
•'The Town' - Guess we have to start taking Ben Affleck seriously now, not just as an actor or a director of award-worthy crime thrillers, but also as a box office power. Showtimes & Tickets
New on DVD This Week: The 'Gladiator' team of Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott move forward about a thousand years from ancient Rome to reboot 'Robin Hood' as a gritty historical drama that suggests how the combination of the Crusades in the Holy Land and feudal tyranny at home in England might have transformed weary veteran Robin into the arrow-shooting proto-kibbutznik of legend. Cate Blanchett co-stars as a similarly fierce Maid Marion. Buy or rent the DVD | More new DVD releases 
Also in Theaters:
In Limited Release 
Still In Theaters, Still Awesome 
Staying In This Weekend? 
We're in the limbo between summer popcorn-movie season and serious Oscar-movie season. So there's only one new wide release this week, which is still more likely to spark popcorn sales than awards buzz. Keep an eye out, though, for big stars among this week's rush of art-house movies. 
'The Romantics'
•'Legendary' is an inspirational wrestling drama produced by WWE (you read that right) about a youth who decides to follow his brother (John Cena) and late father into the ring. Patricia Clarkson and Danny Glover co-star.
Still In Theaters, Still Awesome 
Staying In This Weekend? 
'Easy A'
Also New: 'Never Let Me Go'
'Catfish' is a Sundance-fave documentary, in which filmmakers Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman learn a valuable lesson about social media: that people you meet on the Internet aren't necessarily who they say they are. (Hard to say more about this acclaimed, idiosyncratic tale without spoiling it.) Showtimes & Tickets
•'Resident Evil: Afterlife' -- Watch Milla Jovovich kick zombie butt again, this time in 3-D and IMAX. Showtimes & Tickets
New on DVD This Week: An ancient hex, James Bond's ex (Gemma Arterton), special effects, Jake Gyllenhaal's pecs -- that's what you get in 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,' the sprawling Disney action spectacle from Jerry Bruckheimer, based on the popular videogame. Buy or rent the DVD | More new DVD releases 
On My Netflix Queue: Harold Gould, who passed away earlier this week, was an elegant, mustachioed character actor who tended to play dapper gents with a mischievous twinkle in their eyes. Exhibit A: Woody Allen's Tolstoy parody 'Love and Death,' in which Gould plays a snobby, hot-tempered Russian nobleman who challenges Allen's cowardly peasant to a duel, with unexpectedly wacky results. Buy or rent the DVD