Weekend Movie Guide: That! Guy! Is! Beowulf!

It almost feels like summer again as Beowulf comes crashing into theaters with a huge amount of hype. From where I'm sitting, though, that hype actually looks deserved. If 3-D is (once again) the future of film, consider me an early adopter. Combine a technical innovator like Zemekis with two--and I mean this as a true compliment--odd birds like Avary and Gaiman and you get a movie that is relentlessly beautiful and compelling.

Love in the Time of Cholera is, of course, an adaptation of Nobel Winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez's seminal novel. We'll see how much of Marquez's trademark magical realism sneaks into the movie. Ordinarily, this isn't a movie I'd be dying to see but the presence of Javier Bardem is a big draw for me. He's as good an actor as we have right now. Watch this right after No Country for Old Men and be awed by his talent.

There was a rumor that Smiley Face was being mishandled by its distributor and headed straight to DVD. Thankfully, that's not the case. Gregg Araki directs Anna Faris as a girl who eats all of her roommate's cupcakes, only to later find out they were liberally laced with weed. This is a steep departure for Araki--a director I hugely admire. Coupled with the delicious Faris, this is a strong #2 on my weekend watch list.