'District 9' and 'Time Traveler's Wife' challenge 'G.I. Joe'

By Sarah Sluis

This week, five films are opening wide, offering audiences a diverse variety to choose from. District 9 and The Time Traveler's Wife are expected to be the two top earners this weekend, with Ponyo, Bandslam, and The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard coming in somewhere behind. With no film expected to pull in more than $20-25 million, G.I. Joe could grab the top spot if it falls roughly 50%, which would put it at $27 million. However, its middling reviews could easily send it plunging to number three, behind District 9 and The Time Traveler's Wife.

District 9 (3,049 screens) frames its tale of aliens through the lens of South African apartheid. Years ago, an alien ship stopped over Johannesburg, filled with sick, weak extraterrestrials. They were set up in refugee camps, which quickly turned into shantytowns, and acquired the status of second-class citizens, complete with their own derogatory slur, "prawn." District 9 "flirts with greatness," but it never quite gets there. Still, it's worth seeing for the first half alone, which combines documentary footage and interviews with people alluding to "the event" that makes you insatiably curious for what is to come.

People who managed not only to get through Audrey Niffenegger's book, but to list it as one of their favorites on Facebook will undoubtedly enjoy The Time Traveler's Wife (2,988 screens). Everyone else, steer clear. The movie suffers from the same faults of the book, and fails to deliver anything beyond its novel premise. Manohla Dargis from the NY Times points out what everyone else is afraid to say--the movie is "creepy" and the scenes with a six-year-old Claire and a forty-something man don't quite work on-screen. The movie is too heavy on fate and light on characterization: the characters just fall in love without any real courtship of explanation, assuming that perhaps you, too, would instantly fall in love with a naked time traveler from the future if he arrived in your backyard. While audience members sniffled at the end of my screening, I think it's a problem when the biggest emotional scenes in the movie--like the wedding--elicit laughs, instead of the longing or fulfillment experienced by the characters.

Releasing on a tight 927 screens, Ponyo should charm audiences who are fans of director Hayao Miyazaki, as well as those interested in a change from the U.S. style of feature-length animation. With the amount of kid's television programming out there featuring dubbed anime, it may be parents who are more surprised by the "gorgeous 2D animation" and Miyazaki's use of the unexpected, like "rising waves sprouting ominous eyes" Overall, our Executive Editor Kevin Lally deems this "artist's unceasing sense of wonder...something every parent should encourage their children to experience."

Reviews for Bandslam (2,121 screens) came out shortly after John Hughes' death, leading reviewer Michael Rechtshaffen to speculate that if "Cameron Crowe and the late John Hughes collaborated on a movie populated by Disney Channel superstars, the result might have looked and sounded a lot like Todd Graff's Bandslam." The movie sounds a little like the "let's put on a show" movies so popular in the earlier days of Hollywood, but with a believable modern update. It's expected to open low, perhaps due to not enough marketing, but "there's plenty to keep post-tween audiences amused."

Jeremy Piven makes "Entourage," but it appears he can't rescue The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (1,838 screens) from its wacky jokes that go all over the place but fail to cohere into a story or consistent comedy. Instead, they end up "pounding the viewer into submission but not in a particularly amused way." This comedy will likely appeal to fans of Piven or Will Ferrell, who executive produced the film and appears in a cameo.

Monday, we'll see how these five new movies fared this weekend, and which films they knocked down or out of the top ten.