While Twilight will still be ruling the cinemas this weekend, there are still a few Oscar-bait films getting releases over the Thanksgiving holiday. Click above for Peter Travers' thoughts on Gus Van Sant's Milk and Baz Luhrmann's epic Australia. And if you're really into suffering, stick around to watch the Rolling Stone film critic toss Transporter 3 into the scum bucket.

• Movie Review: Milk

• Movie Review: Australia

• Movie Review: Twilight

---

Photo: Getty

It's official. Fangirls with a thing for vampires ruled the weekend. Twilight opened even better than expected, taking a staggering $70.6 million bite out of the box office. As I predicted last week, James Bond and his Quantum of Solace suffered a huge decline, nearly 60 percent (that'll happen when you don't deliver the goods). So Twilight is being celebrated as the biggest estrogen epic of the new century (Sex and the City only took in $57 million in its debut). New Moon, the first of three possible Twilight sequels if they film all of Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling book franchise, has just been given the green light. Can't have star Kristen Stewart, 18, as the high school human in love with vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), waiting two or three years between movies like Harry Potter. But you know what? I'm getting tired of Twilight being dissed as just a girl movie. OK, I know 75 percent of the get-there-first audience was female. But what about that 25 percent of testosterone that came out to watch Bella stay celibate and still be sexy. I want to hear from guys who went to Twilight with their Twi-hard girlfriends or had the guts to go on their own. Was the movie good? bad? unbearable? Would you tell other guys to see it? Tell us why. It's about time we heard from the other side. And you Twi-hard girls, how about sharing what the guys told you about the movie. Did they like it more than they let on? Maybe that will bring us closer to the truth.

(more...)

---

The day has finally arrived. Twilight, the first film based on the tween vampire book series by Stephenie Meyer, gets its release this weekend. But is it worth the hype surrounding undead dreamboat Robert Pattinson? Click above for the complete review from Rolling Stone's film critic.

&#8226 Read Review: Twilight

---

Don't get me started about the experts who say the critics are wrong for feeling wronged by Quantum of Solace. The reasoning goes that since Quantum delivered the biggest opening of a James Bond movie ever—that's $70.4 million compared to $47.7 million for the previous record holder, 2002's Die Another Day (the one where Halle Berry joined Pierce Brosnan)—it must be the best. That kind of thinking suggests Beverly Hills Chihuahua has a good shot at a Best Picture Oscar. My theory is that audiences flocked to see Daniel Craig as 007 in Quantum because they were totally pumped by Craig's debut in 2006's Casino Royale, one of the very best Bond movies. I'm thinking their disappointment will be reflected in next week's box office. And even if I'm wrong, there's no way in hell Quantum matches Casino Royale on any level. So let Quantum take the title as best ever Bond debut and, at $200 million, the most expensive Bond movie ever to produce. I'm interested in something more lasting. Like what's the best Bond ever in terms of quality? Of the 22 Bond films, here are my three favorites.

(more...)

---

One of the most hotly anticipated movies of the season makes its way to cinemas this weekend, as the latest James Bond film Quantum of Solace enters the ring. But how does it hold up against the rest of the Bond flicks — and more importantly, against the weekend's other major releases Slumdog Millionaire and Filth and Wisdom? Click above for Peter Travers' weekend picks.

• Movie Review: Quantum of Solace

• Movie Review: Slumdog Millionaire

• Movie Review: Filth and Wisdom

---

It's unofficial poll time. I want to know whether your blood is up for Twilight, the Stephenie Meyer bestseller of near Harry Potter proportions that hits the multiplex as a movie on Nov. 21st. I won't see it until three days before the opening, which is usually a sign that something sucks. I mean, if it's good why does a studio have to hide it? Most guys I know say they haven't read the book because the girly story about a teen virgin, Bella Swan, in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen, is an offense to their macho sensibilities. Despite the guy aversion to Twilight and its three bestselling sequels (New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn), these manly men seem to know an awful lot about what happens in the saga of the ever-youthful Cullen family and their civilized decision to hunt animal predators for blood instead of humans. They know enough to say that the book's lack of hardcore sex is a turnoff. They prefer HBO's True Blood where vampires get it on with humans every 20 seconds or so. Women are more honest about the book's romantic appeal. They can see beyond Meyer's breathless overwriting to discover the book's hidden power: the fears it raises about aging. Bella is eager for Edward to bite her since that will make her a vampire and freeze her for centuries at the primo age of seventeen. But what will she have to give up? So obviously there's more to Twilight than vapid vamping. Which leads me to ask these biting questions:

(more...)

---

Forget the DVD crap out today. Like you really need the unwatchable *Star Wars: The Clone Wars*. What you really need is *Casino Royale* from 2006, the first James Bond movie starring Daniel Craig. And you need it on Blu-ray with all the extras. Here's why. *Casino Royale* is a great Bond movie, up there with the best of them. *Quantum of Solace*, the followup which opens this weekend, is not great. In fact, it's a major letdown. But you are all going to see it. You know you will. For a few days you will pretend to love it. You will do this because you actually were jazzed by *Casino Royale* with Craig reinventing James Bond for the new century. But Craig's followup as 007 in *Quantum of Silly Titles* just doesn't cut it. Craig is still a primo hardass and the best Bond since Sean Connery. But the sizzle is gone from the movie. All you have to do is make some camparisons to *Casino Royale* and you'll see my point. So let us begin:

(more...)

---

Paul Rudd, whose artful way with a comic line makes bad movies bearable and good ones way better, just moved closer to the stardom he so richly deserves. *Role Models*, the raunchy, R-rated comedy in which Rudd steals every scene he's in, nearly doubled box-office projections and grossed $19 million in what Variety termed, "the biggest surprise of the weekend." OK, *Role Models* didn't beat the animated kiddie sequel *Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa*, which took in a gargantuan $63 million as America again narcotized itself in family blather. Chihuahuas, high school musical and now this! But Rudd, who's hosting *Saturday Night Live* this weekend, scored big time in a role that suited his deadpan comic wizardry to a tee. Rudd and co“star Sean William Scott play two losers who are forced to do 150 hours of kid-mentoring community service after destroying public property with their monster truck. Rudd is assigned to mentor McLovin' (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), but gets huge laughs just by ragging on life's idiocies like Starbucks using "venti" to describe a large coffee. So it's time to praise Paul Rudd, a supporting actor who is ready for the star spot. Here are my top picks for Rudd at his best. Chime in with yours.

(more...)

---

In this week's video review, Peter Travers takes a look at three new movies taking up real estate at your local cineplex. Click above for the Rolling Stone film critic's take on the Paul Rudd comedy Role Models, the late Bernie Mac's final performance in Soul Men and the organ transplant-based sci-fi horror musical Repo! The Genetic Opera. Guess which one ends up in the scum bucket?

• Review: Role Models

• Review: Soul Men

• Review: Repo! The Genetic Opera

---

Give me some Seth Rogen. That was the weekend message from the box office as Rogen's R-rated comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno opened to an estimated $10.7 million. Good for the No. 2 spot. I'm not talking about what was No. 1 since it involves a candy-colored musical that had me puking pastels. I'm assuming eight-year-olds put the muscle into that one. My kind of twisted youth came out in support of Rogen's comedy, even though some TV ads reduced the title to Zack and Miri believing the very word "porno" would corrupt the souls of innocents. Sheesh. What kind of world are we living in? Written and directed by Kevin Smith, Make a Porno (as I now like to call the movie) is far more romantic than raunchy thanks to the sweet chemistry between Rogen and costar Elizabeth Banks. But the big topic on the blog table today is Rogen. Consider this:

(more...)

---