Movies opening this week

(No podcast again this week because of the holiday; it'll be back next week. Also, I missed all of notable new releases due to being out of town last week.)

The Dukes (Robert Davi, Chazz Palminteri, Elya Baskin, dir. Robert Davi)
My review in Las Vegas Weekly
It's sort of sad that Davi's life's ambition has resulted in such a mediocre movie, but I guess on the other hand it's heartwarming that after years of toiling away in the character-actor trenches, he finally got to make his passion project. Either way, his personal journey is probably more interesting than this lame, forgettable movie. Opened limited November 14; in Las Vegas this week

Let the Right One In (Kare Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, dir. Thomas Alfredson)
My review in Las Vegas Weekly
I've been reading about this movie for months now, and often movies like that tend to be disappointing by the time I get around to seeing them. But this one is about as effective as everyone said it would be, and a nice contrast to last week's crappy but much more popular vampire movie Twilight (I had actually hoped they'd bump this up a week so I could have written a combo review of the two). It nicely connects vampirism to a metaphor for outsider status and lost innocence without hammering home the allegory like so many lame vampire stories do. It's genuinely creepy and genuinely touching, and doesn't cop out when following through on the consequences of its horrific subject matter. It's just a well-made movie, vampires or no vampires. I can't wait to see how the forthcoming American remake screws it all up. Opened limited October 24; in Las Vegas this week