In Theaters: 'Tower Heist' Will Try to Steal Box Office Dollars from 'Harold & Kumar'

We are in the heady post Halloween time, my friends. Apparently this is when all those awards contenders get in line to start their rollout, but I don’t see a one in the mix this weekend! Instead we get “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas.” Um, it is NOT time for Christmas movies. Nope nope nope. Thanksgiving movie? MAYBE. Geez. Also, Eddie Murphy makin’ a comeback in "Tower Heist"! Ratner'd!

A short anecdote: back in 2008, my parents were visiting and we went to go see “Iron Man” but it was sold out. So we perused the other options at the ticket kiosk and my parents saw “Harold and Kumar Go to Guantanamo Bay” and they were like “ooh Guantanamo” thinking it was some goddamn Errol Morris documentary (they didn’t actually think that, but I think they were looking for lefty social commentary). I was like “noooo noooo it’s about stoners,” but they INSISTED and then I had to sit through that movie with my parents and I was DYING. Bottomless party. DEAD. Um, turns out they LOVED it and as soon as they got home they Netflixed the first one. WTF. So maybe they will want to go see “A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas” in 3D!!! Blah blah who cares about the plot, NPH is back, Obama staffer Kal Penn is back and so is Trekkie John Cho. Mayhem and mishaps ensue. Our point-counterpoint review posits, on the one hand that the movie is “is very, very stupid. But that’s not a particularly bad thing,” while on the other hand, “it’s a self-satisfied, mostly unfunny wank off that will disappoint even the most casual movie-goer with low expectations.” Your call, movie fans! Rotten Tomatoes: 69% Metacritic: 62

Eddie Murphy makes his comeback in the much anticipated “Tower Heist,” even though it is a Brett Ratner joint. Co-starring Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck, Michael Pena and Gabourey Sidibe as the disgruntled employees of a Bernie Madoff-like character, played by Alan Alda, who hire ex-con Murphy to help them divest their boss of some of his riches. Our review says the film “might be [Ratner’s] most pleasurable film to date, one stocked with lively performances, occasionally thrilling set pieces, and a surge of populist outrage that makes it more timely and resonant than it has any right being.” Well, there you go. RT: 68% MC: 59

Oh mah gah Channing Tatum’s mustache in “The Son of No One.” LOLOLOLOL! What the actual f? Is it a character piece? Anywho, this Dito Montiel cop conspiracy mystery drama thing co-stars Katie Holmes, Ray Liotta, Al Pacino, Tracy Morgan and Juliette Binoche. Our review says, "for all its jam-packed plotting it feels adrift and rudderless, lost in a mess of clichés and convoluted editing... it’s suspense without soul.” RT: 20% MC: 36

Killing Bono” is a rock-com (can I coin that?) starring Ben Barnes as the leader of a fictional rival band of U2 back in their Ireland school days. Our review says the film, “despite its violent title, is zippy and light and fun (but not totally toothless), despite its narrative lapses and overlong running time.” RT: 54% MC: 47

Doc “The Other F Word” follows punk legends in their greatest challenge yet... fatherhood. With Jim Lindberg (Pennywise), Lars Frederiksen (Rancid), Rob Chaos (Total Chaos), Fat Mike (NOFX), Joe Escalante (The Vandals), Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Mark Hoppus (Blink-182), and Art Alexakis (Everclear). Our review says the doc’s myopic focus ultimately hinders what it could have done with such a line up dealing with such a topic, but it ends up being “lifeless and ultimately uninteresting.” Shucks. RT: 57% MC: 60

Also in theaters:

The classic Dennis Farina stars in this homage to tough-guy films "The Last Rites of Joe May." RT: 88%

Pretty self-explanatory title, no? "Young Goethe in Love" is a German film about Johann Goethe's illicit, inspiring love. Suh-woon. RT: 47%

Sam Rosen, Zoe Lister Jones and Josh Hartnett star in Brady Kiernan's "Stuck Between Stations," a sort of "Before Sunrise" in Minneapolis. RT: 80%

Cam Gigandet and Jena Malone in some sort of astrology (no really) drama "Five Star Day." RT: 38%

"Dragonslayer" follows a group of DIY gutterpunks in devastated SoCal in the wake of the economic crisis. RT: 80%

Documentary "The Look" focuses on legendary actress Charlotte Rampling, through the lens of conversations with her artist friends, including Paul Auster, Peter Lindbergh, Juergen Teller and Barnaby Southcombe. RT: 73%