![](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,<svg height="281" width="640" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1"/>)
Folks, are you like me and love weeks when nothing that great is released so you can finally finish that project you left half completed weeks ago? If so, have I got news for you. Among the releases this week are a J-Lo flick you managed to avoid the first time around, a three year old Robert Pattinson film that has the stench of desperate cash grab all over it, and a couple of smaller films that may actually be worth your time. It’s turkey time. Gobble gobble.
The Back-up Plan – I already wrote this once this week, only it was for The Switch. Seriously, just change Jennifer Lopez for Jennifer Aniston, Alex O’Loughlin for Jason Bateman, and take out the genetic rape storyline, and you’ve got The Back-up Plan. J-Lo stars as a career woman who conceives via artificial means, and meets her dream man the same day. Hey, Hollywood, how about something new. What if the next time you make this movie for the twentieth time, the guy she falls for is actually the donor, who has decided he doesn’t want to continue his bloodline, and is actually trying to figure out a way to bump her off before she has the baby? Where’s my check?
The Bad Mother’s Handbook – As I said above, this has the stench of desperate cash grab all over it. For one thing, Robert Pattinson‘s mug is 80% of the cover, but the plot of the film makes it sound like a British Fried Green Tomatoes, and he’s only sixth billed in the cast. The movie is about Karen Cooper (Catherine Tate), who wants to domineer her family and believes she is a pillar of the community, when in fact she does everything wrong. What a twist! Who directed this, M. Night Shyamalan?
City Island – The first movie this week worth your time. This was a small indy that a lot of people didn’t notice while it was making its way around the country on the art house circuit. Thanks to the director’s (Raymond De Felitta) blog on Film Salon, I had read about the constant upheavals and general troubles that had occurred during the production of the film and much the same way I felt that James Cameron was owed my $12 for creating Avatar, I felt the least I could do was to drop $8 on City Island. It was worth every penny. The cast is killer (Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies, Alan Arkin, Emily Mortimer), and De Felitta’s script and direction is top notch. Drop a buck at the Redbox on it one night this week when you know there isn’t anything in the DVR.
Survival of the Dead – Here is my dilemma. Does every George A. Romero movie have to include his name in front of the title, as in it’s actually a part of the title? When you go to a store to purchase this, will it be listed under S or G? When I bought Bon Iver’s CD, it was listed under I, because people are stupid. In this continuation of Romero’s undead universe, on an island off the coast of North America, two families fight zombies while also fighting each other. One family wants to destroy all zombies while the other clan wants to hold the zombies captive until a cure is invented, hoping that their loved ones can be returned to their former healthy states. Yes, because that plan is rock solid. Watch the trailer here.