As Halloween approaches, we've got some scary movies coming out. This weekend you can see some more video camera ghosts, a creepy cult, and the collapse of the Western world's economy. That's the scariest of all!

Continue »

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey

This is a documentary about Kevin Clash, the supremely talented puppet master behind Elmo, perhaps Sesame Street's biggest character ever. Puppet people are fascinating, and this documentary is apparently quite good, so do go see it if you can. (NY only)

Cargo

Here's an equally cheery movie about the human trafficking trade. A Russian woman travels to North America on the promise of a modeling gig in the United States, but is of course destined for far darker things. She and her Egyptian transporter rage against each other but hopefully eventually learn to love. (NY)

Elevate

ESPN produced this documentary about four West African teens who travel to the US to play basketball for tony prep schools, only to be sex trafficked. No, no, they actually do play basketball and experience culture shock and, in a misty-eyed American way, seek out better lives for themselves and their families. Bring a hanky! (If you are a time traveler from 1927 who actually uses a hanky.) (NY)

Johnny English Reborn

Rowan Atkinson returns as the bumbling British spy Johnny English, this time on the hunt for some nefarious assassins. Agent Scully and Det. McNulty show up to help him out, which is exciting. Also that chair gag makes me laugh like an imbecile. (Wide)

Klitschko

This is a documentary about Ukrainian heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko. He's the guy who dated teeny tiny Hayden Panettiere, and while this should be a documentary about how the, uh, mechanics of that worked, it is not. Maybe next time! (NY)

Le Havre

A depressed author turned shoeshiner in a town on the Normandy coast comes into contact with an immigrant from Africa who he teaches to play basketball? Sells into sexual slavery? Just like hangs out with and learns things from? It's gotta be one of those. (LA)

Margin Call

This well-reviewed drama tells a tale of the 2008 financial collapse through one fictional corporation's eyes. Penn Badgley is in it! And the newly gay Zachary Quinto! Plus the totally straight Kevin Spacey! And Demi Moore. It's quite an eclectic cast. So if you want to relive that whole mess, you could do a lot worse. (Limited)

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Girl joins cult, girl flees cult, girl fears cult in this indie drama from newcomer Sean Durkin. It's an interesting if flawed film, one notable for its creeping tension and for the interesting debut of mysterious Olsen sister Elizabeth. (NY & LA)

The Mighty Macs

Carla Gugino gets a starring role in this true-life tale of a basketball coach at a small Catholic college who whips her team into shape and carries them to victory, or something. So it's basically Sister Act with more basketball and, presumably, far less singing. There might not be any NBA this year, but at least there's this! (Limited)

Norman

Yet another indie about an oddball high school boy, this one features twentysomethings Dan Byrd and Emily van Camp once again stuck playing high schoolers. Wistful music plays, dreamy conversations are had, and sad stuff happens. It's familiar territory, but maybe this one will be somehow different. Just like Norman! (Limited)

Oranges & Sunshine

Emily Watson stars in this drama about a woman trying to help the now-grown victims of the reviled Home Children British resettlement program, which whisked tens of thousands of British orphans (or not orphans, as the case was sometimes) to far away colonies in an effort to boost those places' populations. Sounds interesting, but is there basketball? (NY & LA)

Paranormal Activity 3

This third installment in the videocam horror franchise is a prequel to the other ones, and is apparently actually kinda good? The movie stars a member of the often-funny Harvard Sailing Team comedy troupe, which is interesting casting. I don't know though. All those jumpy scares. My poor heart can't take it all! (Wide)

Retreat

A thriller about a British couple (Cillian Murphy and Thandie Newton) vacationing on a remote island only to come across a man (Jamie Bell) who claims the world has been besieged by a deadly epidemic, Retreat looks like Outbreak mixed with Dead Calm with a little Right At Your Door thrown in for good measure. An interesting combination! I'll bet it ends ambiguously as to whether or not the disease is, in fact, real. But who knows. (Limited)

The Reunion

Pro wrestler turned actor John Cena (he of the hilariously awful The Marine) stars, alongside late '90s relics Amy Smart and Ethan Embry, in this family action comedy about three siblings fighting over will money while also kickin' butt. Everyone cried a lot alone in their trailers during filming for this one, yeah? (Limited)

Revenge of the Electric Car

After someone killed the electric car, the dang thing is back with a vengeance in this documentary about the second wave of gasless autocarriages and how they might change the face of transportation. Or they might not. It remains to be seen just how cuckoo for oil puffs we Americans really are. (Very much, I suspect.) (Limited)

Snowmen

A family feel-gooder about a bunch of little shits building snowmen, this is the kind of movie that some of you might have to see this weekend because you have children, and ha ha, you might have the lifetime joy of raising a child and watching them grow and experience the world, but I get to go drink and see movies for grownups this weekend. So there. (Limited)

The Three Musketeers

This movie, with all of its ninja acrobatics and crazy weaponry and badass Milla Jovovich, is basically an extremely faithful, word-for-word adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's 19th century novel. It's just exactly how he envisioned this world looking. And in 3D! (Wide)