1. The Host (Open Road Films, 3,202 Theaters, 125 Minutes, Rated PG-13): If you were thinking, or, rather, hoping that Stephenie Meyer was a one-trick pony, well, think, or, rather, hope again. Because the master of the vampire/werewolf love triangle also wrote a romance about space aliens! And since Twilight did so well at the box office, they decided to make a film out of this book too!

The book and the movie detail an Earth overtaken by a race of body snatching aliens. One of these aliens takes over a woman named Melanie, Melanie resists. The two enter a psychic battle for control of Melanie’s body, complicated when they both fall in love with the same man–twice. No, not one man two times, both Melanie and her alien infiltrator gain feelings for a man named Ian and a man named Jared… oh, hell. I can’t even bother to continue.

If you haven’t guessed, I’m not a big Meyer fan. But there are a lot of them out there.It is unlikely this will do Twilight  numbers, but it could do quite well.

2. Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor (Lionsgate, 2,047 Theaters, 111 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Suffice it to say, I am not a Tyler Perry fan either. I do admire the way he followed his dream to the big screen and the way he found his audience. But I am not his target audience and even if I was,his films seem a bit flimsy and shallow to me. Yet they are presented like they are weighty pieces of art. Not for me.

Take this one, for example. It’s about a marriage counselor who decides to cheat on her husband with her client. On the surface, that seems like ready-made drama. But, really?  A trained professional willing to forgo her ethics in such a grand fashion? Because her husband watches TV instead of paying attention to her? Eh, doesn’t ring true to me.

Needless to say, as the affair goes on, it takes a nasty turn that will change the counselor’s life forever.

And if that is not bad enough, we have that legendary thespian, Dame Kim Kardashian in a supporting role. Granted, it appears to be a best friend/co-worker type of part, so it’s not like she’s going to have to do any heavy lifting. But, seriously? If you’re casting Kim Kardashian in your drama, you are scraping the bottom of the barrel.

1. Identity Thief (Universal, 3,141 Theaters, 112 Minutes, Rated R): Melissa McCarthy earned an Oscar nomination for her role in Bridesmaids last year. Unfortunately, that role was so weirdly unique that it would be nigh impossible to replicate that formula. So, her return to the big screen in a bigger role no less will be closely scrutinized.

In this film, she plays a Florida scam artist that steals Jason Bateman’s identity. Bateman travels from Colorado to Miami in order to catch McCarthy and bring her back to the Rocky Mountain State so she can face charges. Since she has managed to raise the ire of a group of dangerous individuals in her hometown, a cross-country trip is exactly what she needs.

I have to admit that McCarthy garnered the biggest laughs from me as I watched the trailer. But the laughs came with shame because I chuckled when ever an act of violence was done against McCarthy. I’d like to blame the way McCarthy throws herself into these scenes with an abundance of slapstick gusto, but it’s still violence against women I was laughing at. I’m not really comfortable with that.

2. Side Effects (Open Road Films, 2,605 Theaters, 106 Minutes, Rated R): Another Oscar nominated actress is making her return to the big screen after an iconic and distinctive film role. But people are not going to be talking about Rooney Mara this time. Instead the will probably be talking about this being a legendary director’s final film.

Steven Soderburgh has stated that he will be retiring from feature films to focus on his art career. He has an eclectic resume he leaves behind. From his indie breakthrough, sex, lies and videotape to Ocean 11 and its sequels, from Erin Brockovich to Magic Mike, Soderburgh hasn’t been afraid to work in whatever genre tickled his fancy. He was all over the map, but he was never boring. Hopefully, he reconsiders his retirement. But if he doesn’t, his past work deserves to be celebrated.

This film has the makings of a Hictchcockian thriller. Mara plays a woman batting depression who is prescribed an experimental drug by her psychiatrist (Jude Law). Unfortunately, the drug has a nasty side effect, it causes Mara to sleepwalk in such a way that she does a number of mundane things in the middle of the night–cooking breakfast, setting the table, killing someone.

Yes, she kills someone and all of a sudden, Law’s character license and freedom is threaten. He must unravel the mystery before its too late.

1. Gangster Squad (Warner Brothers, 3,103 Theaters, 113 Minutes, Rated R): If you read Rich Drees’ column on Movies and Tragedies, you’ll know that this film was originally scheduled to hit theaters in September of last year. Unfortunately, the theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado caused a skittish Warner Brothers to reshoot a scene where gangsters shoot up a movie theater, which caused a delay until today.

Of course, this adds something to the film that it really doesn’t deserve. It casts a pall over the film that makes it hard for fans to judge it in its own merits.

Although, that in and of itself might not be a bad thing. The film seems like a whole lot of great actors in a script that has been done over and over again (anybody remember 1996′s Mullholland Falls? That too starred Nick Nolte, only he shared the screen with Chris Penn and not his brother Sean. Similar premise and adapted from the same true-life source). The less you think about that, the better.

2. Zero Dark Thirty (Sony/Columbia, 2,937 Theaters, 157 Minutes, Rated R): So, who wants to guess that the timing of this film going into wide release today was meant to capitalize on what the powers that be thought would be a slew of Oscar nominations?

Well it got five, including Best Picture and Best Actress. But the buzz after nomination day is all about the fact that Kathryn Bigelow got snubbed by the Academy for Best Director.

I don’t know if that slight will have any effect on how it does in the theaters. I can see the subject matter–the hunt for and the killing of Osama Bin Laden–as both bring in the curious and keeping the skittish away. But the fact that the Academy chose not to recognize Bigelow for the great job she did has no bearing on the quality of the film, which I understand is quite good.

3. A Haunted House (Open Road Films, 2,160 Theaters, 86 Minutes,Rated R): Back in 2000, when the Scream franchise was at the height of its popularity, the Wayans Brothers came out with a parody of that genre called Scary Movie. That franchise is still going although the Wayans have long left it behind. A fifth installment of that parody franchise is imminent.

Nowadays, the “found footage” horror film is all the rage,and, at least for one Wayans, ripe for parody.

Marlon Wayans wrote and stars in this film, which apes the current state of the horror genre in a similar way that the first two Scary Movies did to the horror films of their generations. But will films like Paranormal Activity be as good fodder as Scream was?

1. Fun Size (Paramount, 3,014 Theaters, 90 Minutes, Rated PG-13): On one hand, this film is a starring vehicle for Victoria Justice, star of such Nickelodeon shows as Victorius, iCarly and Zoey 101 (Nickelodeon is also a producer of this film) and certainly an attempt to transfer her small screen success to the big screen.

On the other hand, it has a plot that harkens back to such 1980′s classics such as Adventures in Babysitting. Justice plays Wren, a girl who is forced to spend Halloween night babysitting her little brother. However, when her brother gets lost in a sea of trick or treaters, Wren has to get him back before her parents know that he is gone.

We’ll see if this film works and what effect it has on Justice’s career. But Elisabeth Shue garnered an Oscar nod in her post  Adventures in Babysitting career.

2. Silent Hill: Revelation 3D (Open Road Films, 2,933 Theaters, 94 Minutes, Rated R): It wouldn’t be the weekend before Halloween without a horror film, typically a sequel, to get us in the mood. This year, it’s this one.

This film is a sequel to 2006′s Silent Hill and adapts another installment of the successful Konami video game.

Heather Mason is drawn into an evil alternate reality when her father is kidnapped. She is drawn to the evil town called Silent Hill, and must figure out the macabre secrets of the town in order to bring her father back home alive. Of course, the town, and Heather’s connection to it, is not what it seems.

3. Cloud Atlas (Warner Brothers, 2,008 Theaters, 172 Minutes, Rated R): It’s rare that the most talked about film of any given week would be the one appearing in the third most number of theaters, but here we go.

This the first film the Wachowski siblings have wrote and directed since 2008′s noble failure Speed Racer. And for their first movie back, they aren’t shying away from a challenge, joined on both fronts by Tom Twyker, they are adapting David Mitchell’s ambitious novel to the big screen.

The story travels from the far flung past to the distant future, as the narrative passes from one era to the next in the form of journals, letters, and other forms of entertainment. Much of the cast, which includes Oscar winners such as Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon and Jim Broadbent, play multiple characters over the span of the six stories the film portrays.

It’s a risky venture. It has a rock solid cast that could make the most of even the worst story work. If they pull this off, there could be talk of the film around Oscar time (most likely about how it was hideously snubbed), and if the don’t, well, it will be another noble failure.

4. Chasing Mavericks (Fox, 2,002 Theaters, 115 Minutes, Rated PG): Finally, we get this one. It’s a surfing movie that applies some of the plot points from the Karate Kid to it. And, of course, it was based on a true story.

This is based on the life of surfer Jay Moriarty(Jonny Weston),  who has a dream of surfing the biggest, most dangerous wave in America. To accomplish this task, he enlists surfing legend Frosty Hesson (Gerard Butler) to teach him to not just surf the wave, but also to survive it. The mentor/student relationship morphs into a surrogate father/son dynamic, which cause problems with both men.

I’m impressed by how the trailer shows that surfing is far more difficult than I originally thought. But whether or not it will make a mark for itself in a busy weekend for films is anybody’s guess.

1. Trouble With The Curve (Warner Brothers, 3,212 Theaters, 111 Minutes, Rated PG-13): For the longest time, the buzz around this film had been that it was Clint Eastwood’s first on screen acting role since 2008′s Gran Torino, his first role in a film he didn’t direct since 1993′s In The Line Of Fire, and quite possibly the last film he’ll ever make. A lot of hooks for a P.R. flack to use to sell the movie.

Then Clint Eastwood had to go and talk to a chair at the Republican National Convention. Now every interview he does for the film will be about that. Yikes.

The film deals with a Major League Baseball scout who’s vision is failing. He drafts his estranged daughter to act as his eyes as he tries to stay in the game.

2. House At The End Of The Street (Relativity, 3,083 Theaters, 101 Minutes, Rated PG-13): I don’t know if it’s because I am getting older, because I am not seeing as many movies as I used to, or because the studios are doing a horrible job promoting their films, but this is yet another movie I know very little about.

Let’s see what IMDB has to say:

A mother and daughter move to a new town and find themselves living next door to a house where a young girl murdered her parents. When the daughter befriends the surviving son, she learns the story is far from over.

Well, that description, the poster and the trailer leads me to believe that we have a horror film on our hands. Further research indicates that this was supposed to come out in March. I don’t know if the film was moved to capitalize on Jennifer Lawrence’s post-Hunger Games popularity or that was just a happy accident. Either way, Lawrence’s drawing power is just about all the buzz the film has going for it, yet it is opening in over 3,000 theaters.

3. End Of Watch (Open Road Films, 2,730 Theaters, 109 Minutes, Rated R): This film applies the found footage/mockumentary approach to the cop drama, which is a unique take on the genre.

Brian (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a beat cop who is taking a course on film making at a local college, and he thinks film his life on the force would be a great way to get an A in the class. However, when a routine traffic stop results in a confiscation of a large amount of drugs and money makes a powerful drug lord come after them, the documentary Gyllenhaal is shooting might record the last days of him and his partner (Michael Pena)

The film is written and directed by David Ayer, who did Training Day (but, to be fair, also Street Kings) and the cast, which includes Anna Kendrick, David Harbour and and America Ferrera, is top notch.

4. Dredd 3D (Lionsgate, 2,506 Theaters, 95 Minutes, Rated R): You have to feel sorry for the Judge Dredd character, at least as it comes to movies.

In it’s first foray into the Hollywood film world in 1995, the property suffered the triple indignity of having Sylvester Stallone play the lead role, having Rob Schneider playing a supporting role, and Dredd taking his helmet off throughout most of the movie, something the comics character never did in the 18 years prior .

Now, it seems like the comic book antihero finally has an adaptation that hews close enough to the original source material, and it comes out on one of the busiest weekends of the fall with the lowest screen count. If it wasn’t for bad luck, Judge Dredd would have no luck at all.

1. Hit and Run (Opened Wednesday,Open Road Films, 2,870 Theaters, 100 Minutes, Rated R): This film is a vanity project. And not a vanity project in the sense that Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks has an important work only their star power can bring to the screen vanity project, but rather a D-list celebrity wants to make a movie with his girlfriend vanity project.

Upset that I called Dax Shepard, who wrote and co-directed this film,  a D-list celebrity? Okay, name me one A-list film he’s been in? The closest he’s come has been either Zathura or When in Rome (where he worked with and possibly first met girlfriend Kristen Bell) and neither of those films made any cultural or box office impact.

This film has a basic plot. Shepard’s character is in the witness protection agency, but goes on a road trip with his girlfriend (Bell). This brings him to the attention of the Feds and his old gang, both who want to catch up with him for different reasons.

When the “funniest” scenes you put in the trailer, which should be the best scenes film so as to entice the audiences in, include a discussion about a character being raped in prison and a grown man dropping the F-bomb in front of small children, eh, I’m not really sold.

2. Premium Rush (Sony/Columbia, 2,255 Theaters, 91 Minutes, Rated PG-13): 2012 is turning out to be the the year of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, or at least the last half of it is. Between this film, last month’s The Dark Knight Rises, and the forthcoming Looper, he has the makings of a Michael Caine/Gene Hackman/Jude Law type of omnipresence at the cineplexes.

In this film he plays as bike messenger who gets a envelop he has to deliver across town in less that 90 minutes. Unfortunately, in addition to having to deal with crosstown traffic, he has to deal with a dirty cop who wants to steal the package from him. High-speed chasing ensues.

Judging by the running time of the film, the action might unfold in “real-time.” That’s fairly interesting.

1. John Carter (Disney, 3,749 Theaters, 132 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Schadenfreude is the pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. I don’t know if a movie can qualify as one of those “others,” but if it can, then this film is a shining example of the term in action. There’s a lot of pre-schadenfreude going on here. A lot of people are actively rooting for this film to fail.

To be fair, the film is calling a lot of the schadenfreude upon itself. It is a $250 million dollar film based on a character celebrating his 100th birthday this year. It has a writer/director with no live-action film experience, an unproven lead, and it’s a sword-and-sorcery concept melded with science-fiction that doesn’t usually set the world on fire.

However, that writer/director is Andrew Stanton, who has two, count’em, two Oscars for his work at Pixar (for Wall*E and Finding Nemo) and four other Oscar nominations.  That unproven lead is Taylor Kitsch, an actor who is playing a lead or co-lead in three huge pictures this year (this one, Battleship in May, and Savages in July), so it’s not that Hollywood doesn’t have faith in him. And that character and concept was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs (of Tarzan fame) who has lasted this long by building generation after generation of fans.

I’m typically negative here, but I’ll tell you what–I’m pulling for this film. I’m rooting for it. I hope it’s great and it pulls the audiences in. Try anti-schadenfreude sometime. It’s fun.

2. Silent House (Open Road Films, 2,124 Theaters, 85 Minutes, Rated R): For a horror film, this one has a lot going for it. It has Elizabeth Olsen, who probably should have gotten an Oscar nomination last year for her work in Martha Marcy May Marlene. And the film was shot as one continuous take–no editing. That is a great technical accomplishment.

However, it is a horror/suspense film. So, not being edited might not be the best thing for the film. You can build a lot of tension with a jump cut here and there. And the plot–a young women is sent to close up her familiy’s lakeside retreat, but while she is there, evil things starts to happen, would be totally conventional if it wasn’t for the continuous shot gimmick.

Who knows? The gimmick might work. But it might not.

3. A Thousand Words (Paramount/Dreamworks, 1,890 Theaters, 91 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Remember a couple months ago, when Tower Heist came out? You couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting some article stating that Eddie Murphy was back to his raunchy comedy film self. Those writers should have held off on publishing those articles until this film came out, because it has more in common with The Nutty Professor than 48 Hours or Trading Places.

Murphy plays a man who screws over a guru and becomes cursed. Whenever he says a word, a leaf falls off a tree in his yard. When the last leaf falls, he dies. The rest of the film involves him trying to make amends as quietly as he can so he can save his own life.

Doesn’t seem as bad as some of Murphy’s worst movies, but that’s not saying much.

1. The Grey (Open Road Films, @2,850Theaters, 117 Minutes, Rated R): So, over the last couple years, Liam Neeson has fought against all odds to save his daughter from white slavers in Paris, has fought against all odds to save his identity from a sinister conspiracy in Berlin, and, now, fights against all odds to save his life from a pack of wolves in Alaska. If I was Neeson, I’d just stay home.

Yes, a plane accident sets Neeson and his team of oil drillers down in the wilderness where the local wolf population sees them as intruders/lunch. It’s up to Neeson to lead his people to civilization by kicking as much wolf ass as he can.

This is a formula that works for Neeson, so this might not be that bad to see. But you know what I’d like to see? Neeson in a role that earns Oscar talk. He’s long overdue.

2. Man On A Ledge (Summit Entertainment, @2,800 Screens, 102 Minutes, Rated PG-13): This is a pretty high concept which ever way you look at it.

The plot appears to be about an ex-cop who is on a ledge of a high-rise building and threatening to jump. Seems he was sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit, and now he wants to end it all.

However, as his cry for help is going on, thieves are attempting to steal some diamonds. Is the suicide attempt real and the buglary a coincidence, or is the ex-cop in on the robbery and trying to draw attention away from the crime? Or is there something else going on?

The film’s mix of a crime caper with a personal drama is a unique concept as well. If it works, this could be a pretty darn good film.

3. One For The Money (Lionsgate, @2,700 Theaters, 106 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Stephanie Plum is one of the most popular female characters in modern genre fiction. She has appeared in 18 novels (the latest? Explosive Eighteen), four novellas, a bunch of short stories and has made Janet Evanovich (one assumes) a very rich woman. She is a character with quirks and personality out the wazoo with a large and loyal fanbase eager for more adventures of the female bounty hunter.

So, why then is the adaptation of the first novel in Evanovich’s Plum series sneaking into theaters this week under the radar? I have not seen anywhere near the amount of publicity this film should have received or needs to make a mark. Is the film that bad? Has Katherine Heigl’s stock plummeted that much that her movies are risky propositions? I don’t know.

Regardless, it is interesting to see the “brokeback pose,” most often seen done by female superheroes on comic covers, put into play on the film’s poster. It couldn’t have been easy for Heigl to stand in such a way that patrons can look at both her derriere and her breasts at the same time. I hope her efforts bring some people in to see the movie at least.