As Lucasfilm and the filmmakers behind Episode VII launch their casting efforts for what looks very much like a new actor to play Chewbacca, an amazing amount of support has rushed forth for Peter Mayhew, the actor who originated the role in George Lucas‘ 1977 original.

As we told you earlier in the month, Mayhew isn’t in the best of health right now. Complications arising from his gigantism lead to him being unable to stand up straight or walk unassisted.

But he’s undergone surgery on his knees and legs, and when the whole healing process has been completed, the doctors say that he should…

The newbie this weekend is Prisoners. It looks less than amazing to me, but at the same time, it has some potential. In fact, given the last several weeks, I’d say this film positively shines and stands out amongst its peers.

New This Weekend

Prisoners — R

As a parent, there’s certainly something compelling about the truth behind the story here: how far would you go for your child? For the drama of it, this film looks like it could be good. At the same time, there was a film earlier this year, The Call, that was not very good due to it’s third act being so terrible. I kind of wonder if…

It’s Friday the 13th so of course we have to get a terrible looking horror film release by way of Insidious. I’m not even going to mention it in my list.

We seem to be in a dearth of good film releases right now.

New This Weeekend

The Family — R

This looks mildly entertaining, but I have this feeling it’s going to be a pretty foul film and I’m going to be disapointed. I do plan to see it sometime soon, but probably not this weekend.

The Manzonis, a notorious mafia family get relocated to Normandy, France under the witness protection program. While they do their best to fit in, old…

I hope you aren’t afraid of the dark this weekend, because Riddick isn’t. In fact, though never very well explained, he can see in the dark or something. And this 3rd installment in the Riddick-verse is coming out this weekend and will be available for you to see! So let’s dive in.

New This Weekend

Riddick — R

I can’t say I was all that impressed with the first two films in this franchise, having finally watched them this past week. In fact I would I would say Pitch Black was downright painful. The Chronicles of Riddick was somewhat better, although strangely and altogether different…

I’m sure you guys know that I don’t mention every single film that is available to you on a weekend. I try to hit the highlights of the films I feel are worth watching, or films I think are so bad, or are going to be so bad that I should draw your attention to them so you don’t waste your time on them. There are, of course, small time releases that would not be widely available that I often don’t mention. This week too, though, there are a couple films that I just don’t really want to mention in the context that I would mention the others you see below. Films like, Passion, One Direction, The…

EDIT: Mike Fissel, friend of the site and who has been on The MovieByte Podcast with me more than once had something to say in the comments below that I thought was worth bringing up to the top.

So, The World’s End, the BEST thing you can see this weekend (probably this month). This movie is the final installment in “The Blood and Ice Cream” trilogy from Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. The trilogy included Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz - both incredibly clever and brilliant comedies. It’s already been out for nearly a month overseas and now we’re finally getting our shot.

For anyone looking…

This weekend, we get to see if Ashton Kutcher playing Steve Jobs is any good. I have a slight general dread of the film because I fear, as an Apple Gadget lover and follower of all things Apple that I’m going to hate the film.

There are other things to see this weekend too, though, but I’m thinking JOBS will most certainly be the best one of the lot of new films.

New Films

JOBS — PG-13

There is no doubt that Ashton Kutcher looks like Steve Jobs. In fact, so much so, that in many of these pictures, you could be forgiven for thinking that it was a picture of Jobs himself. From what I’ve…

The sea is full of monsters, strippers, runaways, and drug dealers are teaming up, Matt Damon is trying to free us from a post-apocalyptic nightmarish future, planes are soaring through the air, and trailers are getting voiceovers this weekend! It’s a big one.

New This Weekend!

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters — PG

It’s hard for me to have a good opinion since I still haven’t even seen the first one, a problem I intend to rectify this weekend because it does look interesting and I want to come to this film with the proper context. I won’t get to see this film until next weekend probably,…

Well, you can either get your guns (2 of them to be exact) or you can turn blue this weekend. I know which one I would rather do…

New This Weekend

2 Guns — R

This film looks infinitely better than other new option(s) this weekend, and in fact doesn’t look like all that bad of a film to me. But we’ll see. It is rated R (what would you expect, it’s Denzel Washington!), but I don’t generally let that bother me too much depending on why it’s rated R.

For the past year, DEA agent Bobby Trench (Denzel Washington) and U.S. Navy intelligence officer Marcus Stigman (Mark Wahlberg) have been…