What to See This Weekend: 'Resident Evil: Afterlife' and Big Stars in Small Movies

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.

New in Theaters: 'Resident Evil: Afterlife'

Starring: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Wentworth Miller, Kim Coates, Shawn Roberts, Sergio Peris-Mencheta
Directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson
What It's About: In the fourth installment of the popular videogame/horror franchise, Jovovich is back as zombie-fighter Alice. Five years after the zombiepocalypse, she's the Omega Woman, looking for survivors. Rumors that Los Angeles is a haven for the uninfected turn out to be, um, overly optimistic.
Why Should You See It? This one's shot in state-of-the-art, James Cameron-approved 3-D. Fans of the games should inside references and more fidelity to the game play. For everyone else, well, it's another opportunity to see the waiflike Jovovich prove once again that she's actually a credible, sleek action heroine.
You Might Like It If You Like: The first three 'Resident Evil' movies, 'Aliens,' '28 Weeks Later' 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.

New in Theaters: 'Resident Evil: Afterlife'

Starring: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Wentworth Miller, Kim Coates, Shawn Roberts, Sergio Peris-Mencheta
Directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson
What It's About: In the fourth installment of the popular videogame/horror franchise, Jovovich is back as zombie-fighter Alice. Five years after the zombiepocalypse, she's the Omega Woman, looking for survivors. Rumors that Los Angeles is a haven for the uninfected turn out to be, um, overly optimistic.
Why Should You See It? This one's shot in state-of-the-art, James Cameron-approved 3-D. Fans of the games should enjoy inside references and more fidelity to the game play. For everyone else, well, it's another opportunity to see the waiflike Jovovich prove once again that she's actually a credible, sleek action heroine.
You Might Like It If You Like: The first three 'Resident Evil' movies, 'Aliens,' '28 Weeks Later'

Short on time? Mr. Moviefone's Six Second Review of 'Resident Evil: Afterlife'

•Showtimes & Tickets: 3-D | 3-D IMAX | 2-D
•On the Scene: 'Resident Evil: Afterlife' Set Visit
•Milla Jovovich on Girl Fights, Being a Mom & 'Resident Evil'
•Trailers & Clips

'Resident Evil: Afterlife': Trailer No. 2

'The Romantics'

Starring: Katie Holmes, Anna Paquin, Josh Duhamel
The movie's a Little Chill, with several recent college grad pals reuniting for a wedding, where an old romantic triangle involving the maid of honor (Holmes), the bride (Paquin), and the groom (Duhamel) resurfaces. Galt Niederhoffer directed this adaptation of her own novel.
• Showtimes & Tickets | Trailer | Reviews: Cinematical | The Hollywood Reporter

'I'm Still Here'

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix
It's either a documentary of a movie star's epic meltdown, an extended Method acting exercise, or a massive put-on. The film recounts the recent exploits of Joaquin Phoenix as he publicly renounced acting in favor of hip-hop. Making his directing debut is Phoenix's brother-in-law, Casey Affleck.
• 'I'm Still Here' Timeline: Milestones in Joaquin Phoenix's Countdown of Crazy
• Showtimes & Tickets | Trailer | Reviews: Cinematical | Variety

Short on time? Mr. Moviefone's Six Second Review of 'I'm Still Here'

Also in Theaters (Limited Release)

•'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.
Interview with John Cena | Showtimes & Tickets | Trailer | Reviews: Entertainment Weekly

•'Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why is Everybody Talkin' About Him)?' Well, he's the idiosyncratic 1970s singer-songwriter who's the subject of this documentary.
Showtimes & Tickets | Reviews: Time Out New York | Village Voice

•'Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould' is another documentary about an idiosyncratic musician. This one asks whether the celebrated classical pianist's quirks were real personality tics or just something he did in public to cultivate an eccentric image. (Sounds like this would make a good double feature with 'I'm Still Here.')
Showtimes & Tickets | Reviews: Village Voice | The New Yorker | Time Out New York

•'Heartbreaker' offers a rare chance to see Vanessa Paradis (Johnny Depp's inamorata) in a French romantic comedy, in which professional romance-buster Romain Duris is hired to end her romance with her fiancé, only to strike sparks with her himself.
Showtimes & Tickets | Trailer | Reviews: Entertainment Weekly | Variety

•'Lovely, Still' shows it's never too late for romance, as seniors Ellen Burstyn and Martin Landau discover.
Showtimes & Tickets | Trailer | Reviews: New York Magazine

•'Bran Nue Dae' is an Australian road-movie musical set amid the social upheavals of the 1960s. Geoffrey Rush co-stars.
Showtimes & Tickets | Trailers & Clips | Reviews: Chicago Reader | Roger Ebert for Chicago Sun-Times
Still In Theaters, Still Awesome

•'Machete' - Milla Jovovich isn't the only action heroine on screen this weekend. Michelle Rodriguez and Jessica Alba are no slouches either, and even Lindsay Lohan gets to show off her shooting skills.
Showtimes & Tickets | Will 'Machete' Ignite a Firestorm Over Its Immigration Stance? | Red-band 'Machete' Trailer (Contains NSFW Language and Violence) | Lego Version of the 'Machete' Trailer (Contains NSFW Language and Violence) | Mr. Moviefone's Six Second Review | Critics' Reviews

•'The American' - A lot of people were enraged by this movie, since it's not the action-packed ride its ad campaign suggests. It's certainly not for everyone, but it does boast George Clooney, a hot naked Italian babe, and some thoughtful, Euro-style, existential action drama.
Showtimes & Tickets | Trailers & Clips | What's Wrong With Critics -- and Why Do They Love 'The American'? | George Clooney's 10 Best Movies | Exclusive Photos | Mr. Moviefone's Six Second Review | Leonard Maltin's Review | More Critics' Reviews

•'The Tillman Story' - Watch for this acclaimed Afghanistan War documentary, about the military cover-up surrounding the death of NFL star-turned-soldier Pat Tillman, to expand into more theaters over the coming weeks
Showtimes & Tickets | Trailer | Critics' Reviews
Staying In This Weekend?

New on DVD This Week: 'Killers' is a romantic comedy/action pic starring Katherine Heigl as a woman who discovers that new hubby Ashton Kutcher is actually a spy with a license to kill. (Buy or rent the DVD) 'MacGruber' is Will Forte's expansion of his recurring 'Saturday Night Live' parody of 'MacGyver' into a full-length feature. (Buy or rent the DVD) Michael Douglas stars in 'Solitary Man' as a divorced man in need of redemption, but with a talent for self-sabotage. (Buy or rent the DVD)

Also Out This Week: Bryce Dallas Howard plays a strong-willed heiress in 1920s Memphis in the unearthed Tennessee Williams gem 'The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond.' (Buy or rent the DVD) Hal Holbrook earned Oscar talk last year as an aged farmer fighting to hold onto his land in 'That Evening Sun.' (Buy or rent the DVD) More new DVDs

Movie Homework: Why wait until you're middle-aged to have a midlife crisis? As 'The Romantics' is only the latest movie to show, you can have one when you're barely out of college. In fact, some recent grads barely give themselves enough time to frame their diplomas before they start brooding over their wasted potential and uncertain futures. The classic model for this, of course, is Dustin Hoffman's aimless Benjamin Braddock in 'The Graduate' (Buy or rent the DVD), but he had to endure his quarterlife crisis pretty much all by himself; most mid-20s-malaise movie characters prefer to commiserate in groups of fellow alumni. After all, college (in the movies, at least) may be less a launching pad for adulthood than a cocoon for extending adolescence, leaving graduates unprepared for the harsh economic and emotional realities of the real world, but suffering the indignity of having to grow up fast is at least easier among friends.

So it is with the Me Decade hedonists of 'The Last Days of Disco' (Buy or rent the DVD), the '80s Brat Packers of 'St. Elmo's Fire' (Buy or rent the DVD), and the '90s Gen X slackers of 'Reality Bites' (Buy or rent the DVD) and the woefully underrated 'Kicking and Screaming' (Buy or rent the DVD). Besides 'The Romantics,' the most recent example is the adorable comedy 'Post Grad' (Buy or rent the DVD), in which Rory Gilmore Alexis Bledel confronts the horrible current job market for new college graduates with the aid of just one former classmate (Zach Gilford of 'Friday Night Lights'), the once-platonic friend she suddenly sees in a new light. That's the other lesson of these quarterlife crisis films, from 'The Graduate' on: adulthood may not work out the way you thought it would, but it's never too late to fall in love with someone you couldn't imagine as a romantic prospect during your undergraduate years.

On My Netflix Queue: You don't have to be a sci-fi geek to love 'Forbidden Planet,' the classic 1956 space opera that cleverly updates Shakespeare's 'The Tempest.' Highlights include a lovably clunky robot, a pioneering all-electronic music score, and the delightfully stolid Leslie Nielsen, back when he was considered a sober-minded man of action and not a deadpan comic genius. It's just out on Blu-Ray, so now's your chance to see it again, or for the first time. Buy or rent the DVD
•Follow Gary Susman on Twitter @garysusman.

View the original article here