Three-day, three-holiday weekend to lure in horror, romcom audiences

By Sarah Sluis

This Friday is Friday the 13th. Valentine's Day actually falls on Date Night. Monday, office workers and kids have the day off, some kicking off a whole week of mid-winter leisure. Hollywood, rejoice. Everyone's going to the movies.

The Friday the 13th (3,105 screens) revival, which takes place at roughly the same time as the third installment of the ten-film franchise, has garnered surprisingly affirmative reviews. Calling it an "unapologetically brutal and boneheaded slasher picture," our Ethan Alter conceded that it's "an effective revival of a dormant franchise," an accolade made even more meaningful since the remake comes from production company Platinum Dunes, whose horror redos The Amityville Horror and The Hitcher have not met with similar receptions.

Competing with romcom holdover He's Just Not That Into You, Confessions of a Shopaholic (2,507 screens) definitely has an edge over last week's release. Slightly more optimistic, and definitely lighter and more ebullient,

it's more neutral fare for a couple to see on Valentine's Day. The PG rating ensures that the under 18 audience will

turn out to see the film through the Monday holiday, and I think the appeal to younger audiences will be the film's biggest advantage over HJNTIY. As a kid, my whole fifth-grade class was abuzz for months after the release of Clueless; I forecast a similar reaction to the over-the-top ridiculousness that makes Confessions of a Shopaholic such innocent fun. Also, I pish-posh anyone who claims the movie is poorly timed given the state of the economy. Shall we talk Depression-era musicals?

Fans of Clive Owen and modern architecture will probably enjoy The International (2,364 screens), but apparently these people are few and far between, as the travelogue actioner has been tracking well under expectations. Much to my shock after seeing the film, it was directed by Tom Tykwer of Run Lola Run, a frenetically plotted film with a heroine who did quite a bit more than Naomi Watts does in The International. The cinematography by Frank Griebe is fantastic, as is the extensive use of sleek buildings, which our critic Erica Abeel notes the director uses to "convey sinister forces and emotional states...the gleaming grey-blue corporate suites become the fearsome visual embodiment of corporate might." Too bad Tykwer tasks the buildings with pulling all the emotional weight of the film.

For those close to an IMAX theatre, Under The Sea 3D (49 screens) is a splendid, but short, look into a

coral reef full of exotic creatures--it's worth admission alone to see the cuttlefish capture its prey with its tentacle-like tongue. If you're curious about Joaquin Phoenix's self-pronounced last performance, and maybe trying to figure out why he acted so weird on David Letterman the other night, Two Lovers (7 screens), a romance set in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, will roll out in limited release. The much-acclaimed Oscar shutout Gomorrah also opens in limited release (5 screens NY/LA), to show its violent take on modern Italian organized crime. Under director Matteo Garrone, "each frame is skillfully conceived to illustrate entrapment," says our Maria Garcia. Over at FJI we're honoring our Presidents, so we'll recap the surely boffo box office on Tuesday.