This Week's New Movies: “Footloose” vs. “The Thing” in an '80s Redux Battle

What's interesting about this week is that in addition to a pair of high-profile reboots, there are four films with A-list star that no on eis excited about...

Footloose (2011)
A kid from the big city (Kenny Wormald) moves to a small southern town where dancing has been outlawed by the local preacher (Dennis Quaid), leaving the newcomer no choice to but to try to overthrow the law and date the preacher's daughter (Julianne Hough). In theaters everywhere, read our review and watch the trailer

The Thing (2011)
Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton star in this prequel/reboot to the 1982 John Carpenter classic about a team of researchers who discover an alien frozen in the ice, one that absorbs its victims before turning into a perfect replica of them. In theaters everywhere, read our review and watch the trailer

The Big Year
Steve Martin, Owen Wilson and Jack Black star as three men who engage in an around-the-world birdwatching competition. In theaters everywhere, watch the trailer

Bombay Beach
A documentary about three boys struggling to stay afloat in a failing community development in the Salton Sea in the middle of the Colorado desert. In limited release, watch the trailer

Chalet Girl
Future movie star Felicity Jones pays her dues in this lame looking romcom about an ex-skateboarding champ who falls for snowboarding and her handsome young boss. In limited release, watch the trailer

Fireflies in the Garden
Ryan Reynolds stars as novelist trying to come to terms with the reign of terror by his father (Willem Dafoe) that he and his mother (Julia Roberts) had to endure, This movie was finished three years ago, suggesting that it might not be as good as you would hope. In limited release, watch the trailer

Father of Invention
Kevin Spacey plays a man sent to jail for an invention that accidentally chopped the fingers off people. When he's freed eight years later, he finds himself out of touch with the modern world, technology, his ex-wife and his young daughter, with whom he moves in. In limited release, watch the trailer

The Skin I Live In
Actor Antonio Banderas and director Pedro Almodovar reunite for this revenge film about a plastic surgeon obsessed with developing a synthetic skin that could've saved the life of his wife, who was terribly burned 12 years earlier in a car accident. In Spanish with English subtitles. In limited release, watch the trailer

Texas Killing Fields
Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Jessica Chastain star in this muddled mess of a thriller from director Ami Canaan Mann (daughter of Michael Mann) about cops on the trail of serial killer dumping the bodies of young girls in the middle of a vast wasteland. In limited release, watch the trailer

Trespass
Nic Cage and Nicole Kidman star in this home-invasion thriller. In limited release, watch the trailer

The Woman
Some people at Sundance were angered by this film about a man who finds a feral woman in the woods and brings her home to keep. In limited release, watch the trailer

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