The Week in Film: Some Movies are "Precious" While "Some Stare at ... Goats"?

Welcome back, folks, hope you didn’t overstuff yourselves with candy last week! If you did, I’m glad you still found your way to this column on a sugar high. In case any of you are hyper, let’s move on quickly to the movies!

The first wide release this week is something I will definitely see, The Box. It stars Cameron Diaz, James Marsden (swooooooon), and Frank Langella (from one of my favorite movies last year, Frost/Nixon).

It’s about a couple (Diaz and Marsden) who are visited by a mysterious stranger (woooo), played by Langella, who gives them a box with a button inside. If they push the button they will get $1,000,000 – but someone they don’t know will drop dead. Die. Go kaput. Permanently.

It sounds like a very interesting concept with an intriguing philosophical aspect to it, which is nothing new for Richard Kelly, the director. I simply adored Donnie Darko, and despite getting ravaged by critics and everyone else, I also liked Southland Tales a lot.

What I like about Kelly is that he weaves philosophical musings into a working narrative. It keeps you entertained and makes you think. Some films fall into the latter and fail with the former. To me, he’s capable of doing both. And oh yeah, James Marsden! He he.

For those of you who may already be in a Christmas mood, even before Thanksgiving, there’s Disney’s A Christmas Carol starring Jim Carrey, Jim Carrey, Jim, Carrey, and uh, Jim Carrey. Either there are four actors who have the name, or Carrey plays all the parts. I think it’s safer to bet on the latter.

This is a remake of the classic tale in a 3-D animated form in the likes of Polar Express. To be honest, I have no idea why they released this film so early. I think it might do better a few weeks from now, but I’m assuming someone there getting paid big bucks knows something I don’t.

Now we move on to The Fourth Kind, a thriller about aliens in Alaska. And no, it’s not about Sarah Palin. It’s about alien abductees and their stories? It’s kind of hard to explain, but it looks like a re-enactment of real events in a psychologist’s office … along with “real” footage. Yeah, it’s weird. This thriller stars the gorgeous Milla Jovovich.

Also, this is the second scary/moody movie that is out a week after Halloween weekend. I am seriously scratching my head on the timing. I mean, even if a lot of folks were going trick-or-treating, a lot of people are still in the mood to be scared – just look at Paranormal Activity (more on that later).