What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend Witnesses or Svjedoci Set in a small town in Croatia during the civil war of the early '90s, this film adaptation of the novel Plaster Sheep tells the story of the investigation into the murder of a Serbian smuggler and loan shark. The story is told from multiple perspectives and only slowly does the reason for the murder become clear. Sounds interesting, and the majority of......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Rule: Penelope We should have a review of this Christina Ricci/James McAvoy fantasy romantic comedy a little later on today. Trailer - Freshness Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse City of Men A kind of follow-up to City of God from producer Fernando Meirelles features two teenagers who become fast friends growing up in a culture of violence and street gangs. As their......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Rule: Be Kind Rewind Expect our review of this Michel Gondry comedy, starring Jack Black, Mos Def, and Danny Glover, later on this morning. Trailer - Freshness Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse The Band's Visit A fish-out-of-water comedy about the Ceremonial Police Band of Alexandria, Egypt arriving for a gig in Israel, only to find that their hosts and transportation have failed......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Academy Award Nominated Animated Shorts Academy Award Nominated Live-Action Shorts Wow, this is totally cool: the Ritz at the Bourse is actually screening all the animated and live-action short films that have been nominated for Oscars this year. These films are usually quite difficult to see, so this is a really neat opportunity. Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse George Romero's Diary of the Dead It's......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days Two friends and roommates in Communist Romania in the late '80s find themselves with a problem: one of them is pregnant and needs an abortion, but abortions are illegal. They find a man who will perform one anyway, but he won't accept money, and demands an "alternate" commodity instead. Eeww. This is getting great reviews, but it also sounds......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Caramel This romantic comedy set in a Beirut beauty salon follows the lives, conversations, love affairs, and drama of the women customers, ultimately revealing that people are the same all over. Could be fun; anyway the critics seem to enjoy it. Trailer - Freshness Showing at: Ritz Five Most Likely to Rule: Honeydripper The latest film from critically acclaimed American independent filmmaker John Sayles is a......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Rule: Nanking We offered you free tickets to this movie earlier in the week, and as we said in that post, the film is a documentary about an event known as the Rape of Nanking, when the Japanese army invaded the Chinese city of Nanking in the winter of 1937 and murdered over 200,000 people, raping tens of thousands. A small group of......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Persepolis This film adaptation of Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel, which was co-directed and co-written by Satrapi herself, along with Vincent Paronnaud, is getting amazing reviews. It follows the trials and tribulations of an outspoken Iranian girl during the Islamic revolution. The English language version of the film being screened here features the voices of Sean Penn, Gena Rowlands, and Iggy Pop, with Catherine Deneuve and......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Rule: Diva - The 1981 debut film from the director of the more recent Diving Bell and the Butterfly is about a famous opera singer who refuses to be recorded, and the fan who one night sneaks a tape recorder into her performance and tapes her anyway. Eventually the fan and the singer become friends, but there's also a labyrinthine plot involving two......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Rule: There Will Be Blood - This film has been receiving much acclaim from critics, besides nabbing a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture, and landing itself on a number of best of 2007 lists. Now it's finally come to Philly, and we're thinking maybe you should see it. It's a film adaptation of Upton Sinclair's novel Oil! directed by Paul Thomas Anderson......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend Most Likely to Suck & Most Likely to Rule: Alien vs. Predator: Requiem - The sequel to Alien vs. Predator picks up right where the last one ended, with the Predator spaceship, secretly infested with Aliens, leaving Earth. Of course it crashes right back down on our planet almost before the opening credits are over, no doubt leading to the deaths of many attractive young people.......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. The Savages - Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman play siblings who are forced to live together again with their estranged father when his mind goes and there's no one else to take care of him. Not surprisingly, they drive each other crazy, but ultimately "start to realize what adulthood, family and, most surprisingly, each other are really about." Which sounds kind of corny. But with......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Juno - Another of this year's big pregnancy comedies! We'll have a review coming up later today. Trailer Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse The Red Balloon - A remake of the 1956 French classic about the evil red balloon that stalks and kills people! Well, okay, it's not a mean and deadly balloon. But it does stalk people! Juliette Binoche stars as a single mother......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. How to Cook Your Life - A documentary about a combination chef-Zen Buddhist priest (Edward Espe Brown) who's trying to school viewers in the joys of organic cooking. We can't say that sounds particularly exciting to us, but we could see how it might be fun. Trailer Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse Most Likely to Suck: Revolver - If you feel like this Guy Ritchie......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Rule: The Rape of Europa - Joan Allen narrates a documentary about the art destroyed and displaced by the Nazis during WWII, and the attempts - which began then and are still going on today - by museum officials and art historians to rescue and return said art. Sounds totally fascinating, and the reviews are very good. And given the slim pickings this......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this holiday weekend (all of these movies open today). Most Likely to Rule: I'm Not There - An "unconventional" biopic of Bob Dylan wherein six different actors play him at various stages in his career. Said actors include Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, and Heath Ledger. Also in the cast (but not playing Bob) are David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, and Julianne Moore. We could see how this......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Finishing the Game - We posted the preview for this one a ways back. It's a mockumentary about director Robert Clouse's attempt to finish the film Game of Death after the untimely death of its star, Bruce Lee. In Finishing the Game, Clouse starts a frantic search for an impersonator to replace Lee, and much wackiness and Hollywood satire ensue. Sounds like fun, but keep in......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains - A documentary by director Jonathan Demme following Jimmy Carter on his recent book tour for his controversial book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. A great director and an interesting subject should make for a good film. Trailer Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten - Another documentary opening at the Ritz at the Bourse this weekend......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. A handy list for frequenters of fast food restaurants like ourselves: The 88 Fast Food Items Most Likely To Kill You. We're pleased to say that most of these are from places we don't ever go to. But we're depressed to see McDonalds' fries and Burger King's chicken fries included. We love those! (Via Sarah) And speaking of unhealthy foods, how about some......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend My Kid Could Paint That - A documentary about child painter Marla Olmstead, and the questions about aesthetics that her story brings to the forefront. She and her family went on a rollercoaster ride of fame and infamy. Her paintings were hailed as great works of abstract expressionism by some, and started selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. She appeared on many national news programs.......

What's new and/or interesting at Philly theaters this weekend. Control - A biopic about Ian Curtis, the frontman of Joy Division, who hanged himself at a young age on the eve of the band's first U.S. tour. The film is based on a book by Curtis' wife Deborah. Newcomer Sam Riley stars as Curtis opposite Samantha Morton. Obviously it doesn't have a particularly happy ending, but the reviews are generally quite good, and it's a......

What's new and/or interesting in theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Rule: Gone Baby Gone - Ben Affleck's directorial debut is based on a novel by the guy who wrote Mystic River, and stars Ben's brother Casey as a private detective investigating a young girl's disappearance. As one might expect, nothing is what it appears to be and he must risk everything to find the girl. The film also stars Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, and......

What's new and/or interesting in theaters this weekend. For the Bible Tells Me So - This is a documentary looking at Christianity and homosexuality, and whether the two can possibly get along. It includes interviews with people on both sides of the debate, and looks at whether the parts of the Bible that are supposedly anti-gay haven't perhaps been taken out of context and used to serve a political agenda. Sounds like a very interesting......

What's new and/or interesting at Philly theaters this weekend. Ira & Abby - Ira is a brilliant, neurotic Jew with tons of "issues" (hmm... where have we heard of that character before?), and Abby is a free spirit who likes to solve her friends' problems. They meet, fall in love, meet each other's parents, and decide to get married, all in just a few hours. Then, of course, a series of wacky shenanigans make them......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With - Jeff Garlin plays a rather pathetic Chicago actor who lives with his mother, and who, in the opening scenes of the film, gets dumped by his girlfriend, loses a part to Aaron Carter, and leaves an Overeaters Anonymous meeting to go to an ice cream parlor. When he falls for a girl there (Sarah Silverman), it could mean......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Dedication - Billy Crudup plays a malicious, misogynistic children's book author who, when his long-time collaborator and only friend (Tom Wilkinson) is taken ill, is forced to work with a beautiful, scattered young illustrator (Mandy Moore) to complete his latest book on time. Hey, you know what - we bet the illustrator will find a way to bring out the good person inside him, and they'll......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Suck: Freshman Orientation - Oh, lovely. Another comedy where a straight guy pretends to be gay for some stupid reason. We're already really tired of this genre. This one is also crossed with another of our least favorite genres, the college sex comedy. A freshman guy discovers that a freshman girl is trying to get into a sorority, and in order to do......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Inside Paris or Dans Paris - The story of a man who is left suicidal and depressed after his marriage breaks up. He goes back home to live with his divorced dad and his younger brother. Although they try to cheer him up, the only thing that actually makes him happier is a visit from his distant mother. Eventually, of course, he finds something to live......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. David & Layla - It sounds like an unlikely idea, but it could work: a romantic comedy about the love between a Muslim Iraqi refugee and a New York Jew. It's described as "warm and breezy," so apparently it's not as intense as you might think, and the reviews are mostly positive. Trailer Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse Them - This is, sadly, not the......

What's new and/or interesting at Philly theaters this weekend. 2 Days in Paris - Julie Delpy wrote, directed, and starred in this romantic comedy about a couple - Marion and Jack (Delpy and Adam Goldberg) - who are stopping in Paris to visit Marion's parents after a "romantic" vacation to Venice that ended up driving them further apart. After meeting Marion's parents, her friends, and innumerable exes on the streets of Paris, Jack begins to......