Opening This Weekend: Pixar Warrior Princess, Armageddon Comedy, and President Buffy

Cutie Dominic Cooper stars in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Brave opens the widest this weekend. It will be interesting to see how well the normally boy-centric Pixar does with audiences as it offers up its first female protagonist to drive its story, a warrior princess no less. Many have observed in the wake of such recent successes as The Hunger Games and Snow White and the Huntsman, it's becoming more likely for males to go see an action film about a females. The reviews have been respectable, so here's to its success.


Also opening is Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which isn't enjoying such a welcome reception. If you know your history, Lincoln wasn't just serving as president during the Civil War, but throwing the patriotic stake into them eternal bloodsuckers. From the look of the trailer, I can't say that I'm a fan of some of the sepian colored daytime scenes that look to be shot by either an Arri Flex or Phantom Flex digital camera and the voice-over is just a little too polished.

Rising Star TJ Miller in Seeking a Friend

Keira Knightley is trying a new career move by doing a conceptual romantic comedy with audience favorite Steve Carell in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. Am I the only one who thought about Evan Almighty while watching this trailer and is that not something the studio might like to have considered before green-lighting this project? But, it has coach's wife Tammy Taylor taking on a fun character! And, I also spied Melanie Lynskey and TJ Miller, a rising actor who first gained notoriety in Cloverfield. He cameoed in Our Idiot Brother and Rock of Ages and is absolutely brilliant. "Hi, welcome to Friendzy's, where everyone's your friend." Woody Allen is coming out with his annual film and the critics seem to be suggesting that To Rome With Love is less Vicky Cristina Barcelona/Midnight in Paris and more Whatever Works/You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. Still, isn't an average Allen film as good as an above average movie playing in the cinema nearest you? Martin Sheen plays an Irish priest in Stella Days. Also opening is Kirby Dick's documentary The Invisible War examining military sexual misconduct. It played at Sundance and for free during the LA Film Festival. This trailer offers this startling claim: "Military women are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire." Another documentary Kumare takes a page out of Sacha Baron Cohen's book and starts his own eastern religion as an experiment.

Surfing towards the end of the world in Seeking a Friend