Renée Zellweger exudes near-fatal levels of preciousness as author Beatrix Potter in the twee biopic Miss Potter (Weinstein), a relentlessly wholesome hagiography that wastes Zellweger's Down With Love co-star Ewan McGregor as Potter's saintly publisher-turned-fiancé. Just because Potter was a legendary children's author doesn't mean a film about her has to be pitched so relentlessly to 10-year-old girls…
Paul Reubens, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Paul Rudd, and Danny DeVito are just some of the big names who contribute cameos to Reno 911! Miami (Fox), a sloppy but funny adaptation of Comedy Central's quirky improvised hit about hapless cops. The gang's first big-screen adventure sends them to a police convention in Miami, where they're asked to fight crime and solve a mystery when the city's real cops are quarantined out of commission…
A steamy open-mouthed kiss between Heather Graham and Bridget Moynahan was the chief selling point for Gray Matters (Yari), a limp romantic triangle set in Manhattan; the footage was even "leaked" to online sources in order to drum up some interest. Based on the woeful $50,000 the film made during its brief theatrical run, it's back to the drawing board for viral video as a marketing tool. Of course, the toxic reviews didn't help, either…
With all the teenagers getting tortured and eviscerated in horror films these days, it's refreshing enough that The Abandoned, a metaphysical Spanish horror film released as part of Lions Gate's "After Dark" series, features a middle-aged heroine. Better still, the film leaves literal viscera behind for a more abstract take on the haunted-house movie, with past and present folding in on each other as a woman explores her roots in deepest Russia. Too bad the ending makes no sense.
