2012-10-25T01:15:00Z 2012-10-25T15:32:04Z WHAT'S NEW IN THEATERS THIS WEEK
October 25, 2012 1:15 am






James Patterson titled his 12th Alex Cross crime novel simply "Cross." The filmmakers who adapted it expanded the title to "Alex Cross." They might as well have gone for broke and called it "Tyler Perry's Madea's Stab at Expanding Her-His Hollywood Marketability as James Patterson's Alex Cross." Perry's name will draw his fans in. Patterson's name will draw his fans in.


Artfully constructed but hollow at its core, "Nobody Walks" makes it impossible to stop watching while simultaneously making it impossible to care about what's happening. It's a frustrating little paradox. This languid slice of Los Angeles life features an appealing cast of actors playing characters who are all surface and impulse — someone is constantly coming onto someone else — but their actions seem to carry low stakes.


Given that it's based on the true story of a man with polio who spends most of his time in an iron lung, this is not as painfully heavy-handed as it might sound. And given that it's about this man's nervous attempts to lose his virginity at age 38, it's also not as obnoxiously wacky as it might sound.




This comedy starring Kevin James as a tubby science teacher who becomes a mixed martial arts sensation is every bit as ridiculous as it looks. That's not such a bad thing for the movie, whose makers embrace the fact that they're essentially doing a live-action cartoon. Co-writer James and director Frank Coraci assemble a likable gang of oddballs that make it kind of work. PG for bouts of MMA sports violence, some rude humor and language. 104 minutes. Two stars out of four.


In his second movie, Irish playwright Martin McDonagh has mangled together a comic, self-aware revenge flick that's half Guy Ritchie, half Charlie Kaufman. It's manic and messy, and McDonagh — whose previous film was the delightfully grim, more centered "In Bruges" — doesn't yet have the visual command for a sprawling, madcap tale as this. But it's also filled with deranged wit and unpredictable genre deconstruction that make it, if not quite a success, a fascinating mutt of a movie. Colin Farrell plays Marty, a hard-drinking screenwriter in Los Angeles and a clear stand-in for McDonagh. He has his movie title — "Seven Psychopaths" — but little else. He gets sucked into the hijinks of his friend Billy (Sam Rockwell), whose dog-napping scheme turns bloody when Billy and his friend Hans (Christopher Walken) swipe the Shih Tzu of a pooch-loving gangster (Woody Harrelson). The cast, which also includes a bunny-cradling Tom Waits, is great, but Rockwell — enthusiastic and deranged — is exceptional.. R for strong violence, bloody images, pervasive language, sexuality, nudity and some drug use. 110 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.


The title refers not so much to the nearly perpetual state of inebriation that a young husband and wife put themselves in but rather to the way the wife finds her existence truly shattered when she tries to get sober. Staying at least slightly drunk all the time is easy, as Mary Elizabeth Winstead's character knows well. It's a blissfully ignorant existence, one big party. But once you stop drinking, the reality you've shoved aside returns with a vengeance. Winstead ("Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," ''Scott Pilgrim vs. the World") gets to show the full range of her abilities in her heaviest dramatic role yet as a first-grade teacher who finds her marriage and her work in jeopardy when she tries to stop drinking. Aaron Paul of "Breaking Bad" does the best he can with an underwritten role as her hard-partying husband. R for alcohol abuse, language, some sexual content and brief drug use. 85 minutes. Two stars out of four.

'Paranormal Activity 4' earns $29M at box office

The Associated Press

The latest chapter in the "Paranormal Activity" saga didn't capture as much attention at the box office as previous films.

Paramount's "Paranormal Activity 4" debuted at No. 1 with $29 million, a big drop from the $40 million and $50 million opening weekends of the past two installments.


1. "Paranormal Activity 4," Paramount, $29,003,866, 3,412 locations, $8,501 average, $29,003,866, one week.

2. "Argo," Warner Bros., $16,445,475, 3,247 locations, $5,065 average, $43,011,964, two weeks.

3. "Taken 2," Fox, $13,260,870, 3,489 locations, $3,801 average, $105,832,339, three weeks.

4. "Hotel Transylvania," Sony, $13,001,434, 3,384 locations, $3,842 average, $118,522,389, four weeks.

5. "Alex Cross," Summit, $11,396,768, 2,539 locations, $4,489 average, $11,396,768, one week.

6. "Sinister," Summit, $8,815,475, 2,542 locations, $3,468 average, $31,735,643, two weeks.

7. "Here Comes the Boom," Sony, $8,407,201, 3,014 locations, $2,789 average, $23,131,529, two weeks.

8. "Pitch Perfect," Universal, $6,756,430, 2,660 locations, $2,540 average, $45,516,778, four weeks.

9. "Frankenweenie," Disney, $4,329,358, 2,362 locations, $1,833 average, $28,238,779, three weeks.

10. "Looper," Sony, $4,202,687, 2,223 locations, $1,891 average, $57,842,819, four weeks.

11. "Seven Psychopaths," CBS Films, $3,273,480, 1,480 locations, $2,212 average, $9,161,472, two weeks.

12. "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," Summit, $2,153,247, 745 locations, $2,890 average, $9,123,872, five weeks.

13. "End of Watch," Open Road Films, $826,809, 751 locations, $1,101 average, $37,895,571, five weeks.

14. "Trouble With the Curve," Warner Bros., $729,354, 925 locations, $788 average, $34,084,572, five weeks.

15. "Atlas Shrugged: Part II," Atlas Distribution, $613,889, 945 locations, $650 average, $2,859,980, two weeks.

16. "The Master," Weinstein Co., $520,677, 412 locations, $1,264 average, $14,738,213, six weeks.

17. "House at the End of the Street," Relativity, $468,298, 746 locations, $628 average, $30,782,862, five weeks.

18. "Brave," Disney, $421,577, 277 locations, $1,522 average, $235,044,709, 18 weeks.

19. "The Dark Knight Rises," Warner Bros., $359,509, 345 locations, $1,042 average, $446,764,067, 14 weeks.

20. "Student of the Year," Eros International, $326,508, 106 locations, $3,080 average, $326,508, one week.



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