What's New in the Box Office!

Hello everyone!  Don't worry, Victoria and I are still breathing and we are sorry for our hiatus, but life sort of ran away with us.  The weekly release update it back with what you can look for in box offices this weekend.

Total Recall (PG-13)

Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid, even though he's got a beautiful wife who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life - real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police – controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen, the leader of the free world – Quaid teams up with a rebel fighter to find the head of the underground resistance and stop Cohaagen. The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate. (Yahoo! Movies)

This is a reboot of the 1990 film, also entitled Total Recall, in which the lead takes a virtual vacation to Mars via memory-meddling.  Just as in this film, his escape doesn't go quite as well as he had hoped.  I think both of these films seem intriguing, if done well.  Toeing the line between dream and reality becomes tricky business.  Perhaps this could be turned into a double-feature weekend?

Diary of a Wimpy Kid:  Dog Days (PG)

During his summer vacation, "Wimpy Kid" Greg Heffley, the hero of the phenomenally successful book series, hatches a plan to pretend he has a job at a ritzy country club -- which fails to keep him away from the season's dog days, including embarrassing mishaps at a public pool and a camping trip that goes horribly wrong. (Yahoo! Movies)

This is the third film adaptation from the popular children's book series Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  I saw the first film, released in 2010 while babysitting.  The kids, two elementary-age girls, loved it.  I thought Greg Heffley's struggles to fit in at his middle school, while greatly exaggerated, was a comedy of errors.  It was by no means sophisticated or particularly plot-driven, but it was okay.  If this film follows suit, it will go over well with the kids; parents will have to resist the temptation to face-palm every so often, but they will get a few laughs out of it, too.

Here are the films out on limited release:

Celeste and Jesse Forever (R)

A divorcing couple tries to maintain their friendship while they both pursue other people (IMDb).

Am I the only one who thinks that several sitcoms have already explored this topic, Old Christine and Reba to name a few.  The difference here is that they are still BFFs!  It rates a 77% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, so it may be worth a chance if it is playing near you.

The Babymakers (R)

After trying everything to get his wife Audrey pregnant, Tommy Macklin realizes to his horror that he may be "shooting blanks." Terrified that his marriage may fall apart, Tommy recruits his friends to rob a spermbank where he made a deposit years ago. As with any half-baked scheme, everything can and does go wrong, testing the limits of Tommy and Audrey's relationship and showing how far one couple will go in hopes of getting pregnant (Yahoo! Movies).

The Rotten Tomatoes rating for this one it painfully low at 7%.  Reviews say it fails in the attempt to blend raunchiness with romantic comedy.

Mosquita y Mari (NR)

In a fast-paced immigrant community where dreams are often lost to economic survival, two young Chicanas contemplate life when they stir unexpected desires in each other (Yahoo! Movies).

Craigslist Joe (NR)

In a time when America'’s economy and sense of community were crumbling, one guy left everything behind - to see if he could survive solely on the support of the 21st century's new town square: Craigslist. It was in this climate that 29-year-old Joseph Garner cut himself off from everyone he knew and everything he owned, to embark on a bold adventure. Armed with only a laptop, cell phone, toothbrush, and the clothes on his back - alongside the hope that community was not gone but just had shifted - Joseph began his journey. For 31 December days and nights, everything in his life would come from the Craigslist website. From transportation to food, from shelter to companionship, Joe would depend on the generosity of people who had never seen him and whose sole connection to him was a giant virtual swap meet. Would America help Joe? Could he survive with nothing, apart from the goodwill of others (Yahoo! Movies)?