Previews before reviews - in theaters 2/5/10

Theatrical movies turn tepid this week and that's no surprise. That's typically the case when some kinda big football game is on Sunday.

Dear John: The latest Nicholas Sparks soaper has a good director in Lasse Hallestrom (The Cider House Rules, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, etc) and an appealing pair of leads in Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum.  But most critics are shrugging their shoulders. Roger Ebert writes:  "Dear John" tells the heartbreaking story of two lovely young people who fail to find happiness together because they're trapped in an adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel." Burn!


From Paris with Love: This is quite obviously a blatant attempt to recapture the lightning-in-a-bottle success of Taken by the same filmmakers. However, all indications are this movie is nothing more than a goofy action romp. I think Taken was a hit not so much because of the action, but because it had Liam Neeson giving a real performance  that gave the movie emotional pull.  I so no evidence of anything like that here.


Locally, the Neon Movies opens A Single Man, but I'm not enduring that again unless I want to sleep somewhere besides my bed.