What's Playing: 4-2-2010

It’s Easter weekend and you can Clash with Titans or Train Your Dragon or visit Wonderland with your 3-D glasses on.  Last week there was a little kerfuffle when Dreamworks told exhibitors that if they didn’t show Dragon in their 3-D theaters, they couldn’t have the 2-D version either. Theater owners didn’t much like that, so they were happy to turn over a bunch of 3-D screens to newcomer Clash. Clash is actually a remake of a 1981 film that was a bit of a hit in its time, using stop motion photography to tell the story of Perseus and his epic battle against Hades. This time around the story gets told in 3-D, and the filmmakers are counting on the kind of audience that made 300 a hit. There are a lot of fantasy/ Comic Con types who are hotly anticipating this film. The cast is intriguing: Sam Worthington, lately of Avatar, stars as Perseus, with Ralph Fiennes as the evil Hades and Liam Neeson as Zeus. (Neeson as Zeus? Why is that automatically funny?) Early reviews are mediocre, and it's probably good to bear in mind that this film wasn't shot in 3-D, so it may not add much to the experience. Also out this weekend is Tyler Perry’s latest, Why Did I Get Married Too, starring Janet Jackson. It’s about four couples who travel to the Bahamas together and begin to question their marriages. In a funny way. No critical opinion on this because Perry’s films are never screened in advance, but they  generally do well at the box office, so expect this one to make a splash. Miley Cyrus’ latest attempt to leave Hannah Montana behind, The Last Song, is holding on from its Wednesday opening; this is a weepy love story Nicholas Sparks thing, with a father/daughter conflict thrown in. Lousy reviews, but so far popular with tweeners on Spring Break.

Lots of kid stuff, because of Spring Break; next weekend grownups are targeted with the Steve Carell/Tina Fey comedy, Date Night.  Meanwhile, have you seen An Education?  It's out now on DVD.

Photo - Warner Bros