Dollar movie

American Teen Thursday, Oct. 30 8 10 12 American Teen is a 2008 documentary abut five graduating seniors at a high school in Warsaw, Ind. Nanette Burstein won the Best Directing for a Documentary award at the Sundance Film Festival for the film. After 90 out of 100 schools she asked declined the offer, Burstein chose Warsaw out of the 10 who agreed to let her interview students. Living up to certain social stereotypes, the film follows a heartthrob guy, princess girl, nerd, jock, and loner, making the film more of an unfunny real-world remake of The Breakfast Club, only without Judd Nelson. Critics of the film have accused the film of being sensationalistic and scripted, but the film’s stars and director have vehemently denied the accusations. All in all, the men and women documented are refreshingly realistic, so if you want to attempt to relate to some pre-college students, this is a decent enough chance.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army Friday, Oct. 31 7:30 10 12:30 In the sequel to 2004’s Hellboy, we rejoin the titular character and his band of paranormal heroes as they prepare to save the world from a rebellion of the mythical world against mankind. Continuing a trend of very good sequels to superhero films — X-Men 2, The Dark Knight, Spiderman 2 — the film was a financial success, grossing approximately $783 million and receiving widely positive reviews from critics. This continues a string of well-made movies from director Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth), who’s set to direct The Hobbit. There have even been talks of rounding out the series into a trilogy, and del Toro has already stated that the direction they’d go with a third film has been finalized.

Boogie Nights Saturday, Nov. 1 7:30 11 Anyone care for a little Dirk Diggler? Maybe I shouldn’t say “little,” but I’m getting way ahead of myself. Mark Wahlberg stars as Eddie Adams, who makes his way through the porn industry after being discovered while working as a dishwasher. Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood) directs this 1997 R-rated — for all the right reasons, of course — drama about all kinds of living that were done in the late ’70s in sunny California. Boogie Nights also features a star-studded cast including Don Cheadle, William H. Macy, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, and many more. Dubbed a startlingly good film, made even better by Wahlberg’s fantastic performance, Boogie Nights will make you laugh, squirm, cry, and squirm again as you traverse the cinematic glory that is this film.

Diary of the Dead Sunday, Nov. 2 8 10 12 Diary of the Dead is George Romero’s fifth film in the zombie cycle. This one, filmed in a similar style to Cloverfield, follows a new format as we look on as a group of college students set out to make a horror movie, but find themselves in the midst of a real scare when a zombie outbreak occurs during filming. Although not as “fun” as some of Romero’s other films — Day and Dawn, for example — this film’s style brings on more than a few good scares and, like all his other movies, makes some interesting points about our current social and political society. In addition, this film has more classic zombies (a.k.a. they don’t run), a hallmark of Romero films, and gives a sense of rest and relief to all those tired victims of recent movies like 28 Days/Weeks Later.