This weekend, we’re going to do a slightly different Weekend Roundup. For those of you who are already in blockbuster sequel fatigue, we’ll tell you what else is in theaters this weekend, if you look carefully.

At this point, you’ve already decided whether you’re going to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. But be warned. THIS MOVIE IS THREE HOURS LONG. That’s right, not including trailers and seat-saving time, Pirates 3 is 167 whopping minutes.

Bug is the only other major release opening this weekend. Since horror films really aren’t my thing, here’s the summary from Fandango: At a rundown desert motel, Agnes (Ashley Judd) begins a tentative relationship with a newcomer named Peter (Michael Shannon). He has a strange charisma, one that offers fearful and unstable Agnes a flicker of hope. When Peter reveals that the military deliberately infected him with a bug and that he has tiny insects crawling under his skin, paranoia begins to envelope the desperate pair. Early reviews have been good. Horror fans, SEE IT.

Away From Her: Oscar season starts now. Critics are salivating over this atypical love story from writer and director Sarah Polley. Away From Her is the story of Fiona (Oscar-winner Julie Christie) and Grant, whose 45-year marriage is being torn apart by Fiona’s Alzheimer’s. After Fiona moves into a nursing home, she falls for another patient. Grant seeks out the other man’s wife, played by Olympia Dukakis. It’s much more complex than my summary, of course. Even the trailer is haunting. SEE IT.

Don’t forget about those films that have been out for a few weeks. Disturbia, aka Rear Window for teenagers, was number one for two weeks. Fracture fizzled at the box office, but it is still a cat-and-mouse thriller starring Ryan Gosling and Anthony Hopkins. The Namesake is my favorite film so far this year–you’ll love seeing Kumar in moving a story of Indian-American identity. Finally, Waitress deserves to be seen, not just because it’s Adrienne Shelley’s farewell. See it for Keri Russell’s performance and for the take-charge ending. SEE THEM!

Apparently a fictitious Ogre has got the rest of Hollywood running for the hills. It’s probably the smart move to not try and compete against a sure thing, but I’m personally disappointed since I have no intention of seeing Shrek the Third this weekend.

Shrek the Third: The first Shrek was a great great movie, mainly because it succeeded in turning the fairy tale genre on its head. However, now that Shrek is an established fairy tale itself, it sort of loses its appeal. Unlike Spider-Man and Rush Hour, in which the second showing was even better than the first, I thought that the second Shrek was significantly worse than the first. Because of that, I have very little impetus to see the third. But I suppose I’ll RENT IT just in case I’m wrong. (Official Site)

Fay Grim: I am strongly in favor of Parker Posey becoming a bona fide leading lady. Unfortunately, there’s little else that I find appealing about this film. This movie is a sequel to the 1997 film Henry Fool. I’ve personally never heard of Henry Fool, and I’m not sure why you’d make a sequel to a movie that didn’t do that well in the first place. I’m going to SKIP IT, but somebody please correct me if Henry Fool was in fact a sequel-worthy movie. (Official Site)

The Wendell Baker Story: This is Luke Wilson’s directorial debut, so I’m inclined to watch it. However, the plot line – a paroled conman takes a job at a retirement hotel and gets advice on how to win back his ex-girlfriend – just sounds cliché and kind of stupid. Sorry, Luke, but I’m gonna have to SKIP IT. (Official Site)

Even Money: Never before have I seen such a good cast in a movie that looks so very bad. This thing’s got Forrest Whitaker, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito, Kelsey Grammer, Nick Cannon and Ray Liotta. Unfortunately, it’s also got a melodramatic plotline about gambling addicts that let it all ride on a rigged basketball game. It’s no secret that this movie only got a distribution deal because Whitaker won the oscar, so I’m definitely going to SKIP IT. (Official Site)

Well, the good news is that I’m gonna save a lot of money this weekend. The bad news is that I really do like seeing movies in the theater, if only there were a reason for me to go.

These poor, poor movies. Based on last weekend’s box office receipts, they’ll all be rolled over by the Spider-Man juggernaut.

The Ex: It’s really too bad that Spider-Man will just flatten this movie. We here at TrailerSpy are looking forward to this comedy starring Zach Braff, Amanda Peet, and Jason Bateman. Three of our favorite actors in one movie? Rock on! I felt a tad guilty laughing at the guy-in-the-wheelchair jokes, but they are funny. We can’t wait to SEE IT.

28 Weeks Later: This is the follow-up to the smash hit 28 Days Later, which made a star of Cillian Murphy. This time around, London faces a second deadly outbreak of the rage virus. Horror and sci-fi fans, run and SEE IT.

Georgia Rule: More people will see the photos of Lindsay Lohan snorting cocaine than will see this movie. Early reviews are scathing. To quote the AP, “With Georgia Rule, Lindsay Lohan has made her Gigli.” Ouch. Lilo is overpriced and overrated, and maybe now studio heads will stop hiring her. (But if studio heads stop hiring her, then we won’t get to read any more warning letters blasting her penchant for calling in sick due to “exhaustion”.) I love Felicity Huffman and I’d love to see her do well, but she’s playing third banana to La Lohan and Jane Fonda. I originally said I wanted to rent it, but now I plan to SKIP IT.

For Mother’s Day, go take Mom to see Waitress instead.

I’m gonna keep this week’s weekend preview short, mainly because I’m tired, but also because it’s Spider-Man weekend, and that’s all that really matters.

Spider-Man 3: It’s rare that a sequel is better than the original, but Spider-Man 2 was most definitely better than the Spider-Man 1. So now the question is can Sam Raimi continue the trend? My instinct says no, but it’s not impossible. From the trailer, this movie looks like a massive juggling act of a whole lot of subplots, and if it doesn’t end up being horribly confusing, it may just be an amazing movie. Definitely a SEE IT.

Lucky You: Julie was really excited about this one, but I’m still on the fence. I like both Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore, but I’m not sure they were good choices for this particular movie. Bana does a great job at portraying nuanced and complicated personalities, neither of which seem present in this cocky poker player. And Drew Barrymore seems far too smart to ever fall in love with a cocky poker player. Personally, I say RENT IT.

Waitress: It looks like everyone on the TrailerSpy team agrees that this is a SEE IT (read Julie’s post and Rachel’s review). Like them, I think that this movie looks quirky and interesting. But most importantly, I find Keri Russell incredibly attractive and since I’ll never be able to actual date her, my only choice is to go see her movies and pretend that it’s actually me playing her male love interest. Unfortunately, this movie is only opening in L.A. and New York right now, but feel free to come and crash on my couch.

You know it’s a sorry weekend when the most appealing film that’s opening up stars Jamie Kennedy. I can’t quite figure out why a more exciting film didn’t change dates to take advantage of the weak competition. Oh well. Fortunately, I have the Tribeca Film Festival to keep me entertained this weekend, so it’s no big deal. But I feel bad for all you non-New Yorkers.

The Condemned: As Ryan just pointed out in the previous post, this film is basically just one giant brawl to the death. It’s like the Royal Rumble for sociopaths. My feeling on this movie is that the only reason it got made is because it was so ridiculously over the top that it’s almost too obvious to criticize it. Which is actually kind of genius. Ryan said that he would rent it, but I’m definitely going to SKIP IT.

The Invisible: A dead High School student needs to solve his own murder…sounds like Ghost meets CSI. In my opinion, the only interesting thing about an invisible High School student would be watching him sneak into the girl’s locker room and play practical jokes on the High School bully. However, since this movie clearly has no interest in attacking it from that angle, I’m going to have to SKIP IT.

Kickin’ It Old Skool: I wrote a post a few weeks back about how the trailer for this movie was surprisingly effective in making me actually want to see a Jamie Kennedy movie. I still wish that someone else was in the lead role (Rob Schneider seems like the obvious choice), but I’m at least going to RENT IT, mainly because it allows me to relive my breakdancing-filled youth.

Next: My thoughts exactly. I really do like Nicolas Cage, but I can only be expected to watch the exact same movie so many times. Since Next looks exactly the same as The Rock and Gone in 60 Seconds and National Treasure, I’m afraid I’m going to have to SKIP IT. Next is about a guy who sees the future, and my own premonition is that this movie is going to be a carbon copy of all his past movies.

Sorry to be such a downer this weekend, but there really just isn’t all that much to be excited about.

Then again, Julie just told me that Keri Russell, Cheryl Hines and Jeremy Sisto will be at Madison Square Park on Sunday, turning the Shake Shack into “Lulu’s Pies” to celebrate the premiere of Waitress. (details can be found here)

So it’s not all bad news this weekend. At least we get to eat some pie.

The Nanny Diaries was originally scheduled to open this weekend, but instead MGM decided to move the movie to September to better position it for the Golden Globes. What’s left to open this weekend? A bunch of movies aimed at guys and one really awful chick flick.

Fracture: As Tal wrote back in February: Hopkins and Gosling? ‘Nuff said. Anthony Hopkins is accused of murdering his wife and Ryan Gosling is the hotshot District Attorney sent to put him away. Gosling’s character discovers that the case isn’t as open-and-shut as he’d thought, and then things start to get interesting. Ryan Gosling’s career is on fire right now, and you can’t go wrong with Hopkins’ chilling stare. SEE IT.

Hot Fuzz: Did you ever notice how when an English person says something funny, it’s even funnier? Hot Fuzz would be funny set in any country, but add British humor to the mix and it looks downright hilarious. A big city cop is reassigned to Podunk, UK, and he must lead the small town cops. There is something fishy about this town, though, and City Slicker cop sets out to investigate. As the trailer says, this one is “brought to you by the guys who watched every action movie ever made.” RENT IT.

In the Land of Women: The official site for this film is myspace.com/itlow, and that’s just stupid. Really. First off, not every film is meant to be promoted on MySpace. Secondly, itlow? (I get that it’s an acronym, but itlow is still lame-o.) That was the best they could come up with? Anyhoo, In the Land of Women stars Seth Cohen, oops, I mean Adam Brody, as a dumped guy who somehow meets Meg Ryan and starts dating her young daughter, played by Kristen Stewart of Panic Room. With a title like that, the film is obviously aiming at women. As a woman, I say yuck–and I love a good chick flick. SKIP IT.

Vacancy: I’ll admit that I really don’t like horror films, so it is hard for me to be impartial here. Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale that are stranded and check into a motel for the night, and then realize that all the room’s previous occupants have died horrible deaths. It seems like these two bonafide movie stars have wandered into a movie that should be starring Chad Michael Murray and Sarah Michelle Gellar. SKIP IT.

Disturbia: I am generally not a fan of thrillers or horror movies, but this one looks interesting. Shia LeBeouf is under house arrest, so he spies on his neighbors from his bedroom window. When he becomes convinced that he is watching a murderer, he and his friends take the investigation into their own hands. It’s a teenage Rear Window. RENT IT.

Perfect Strangers: Halle Berry and Bruce Willis are playing cat-and-mouse in this predictable thriller. $11 bucks says they are only in it for the easy paychecks and the movie will tank. SKIP IT.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters: Fans of the Adult Swim cartoon on the Cartoon Network will be running to SEE IT. The rest of us aren’t as sold. Ryan has already bought his ticket for the 10pm show in Williamsburg.

Lonely Hearts: File this one under “why don’t more people know about this movie?” After all the movie has a great cast, and it is based on true events. Jared Leto and Salma Hayek play the “Lonely Hearts” killers, who got their name by luring their victims via the personal ads. John Travolta and James Gandolfini play the detectives who are hot on their case. The trailer looks intriguing, but the lack of a big distributor could be a bad sign. RENT IT.

Year of the Dog: Rachel saw this one so you don’t have to. Molly Shannon stars as a lonely dog lover in the new film from Mike White, who wrote The Good Girl and The School of Rock. John C. Reilly, Peter Sarsgaard, Regina King, and Laura Dern round out the cast. Although the trailer looked promising, the movie is a dud. SKIP IT.

Even though the new movies aren’t the best bunch we’ve seen in a while, there are still some good films in theatres. Blades of Glory is as funny as you’ve heard it is, The Namesake is a true work of art, and The Lookout has received some major kudos from our friends at Oscarwatch. SEE IT!

I almost feel like it’s a waste of energy to go through the list of movies that are opening this weekend, because we all know that none of them mean diddly-squat when they’re put up against a movie that’s directed by a man named Quentin Tarantino. And the fact that Tarantino’s new film is part of a double feature means that we’re all going to be even less inclined to see a second (make that third) movie this weekend.

But hey, this is the weekend preview, and there are plenty of other weekends coming up when you can watch one of these films, so I guess I’ll go through the motions.

Grindhouse: SKIP IT. Just kidding. (Official Site)

The TV Set: I’ve seen a number of movie blogs that seemed to be really jazzed up about this movie, but I’m not buying it. The TV Set is David Duchovny’s latest love-child, where he plays a TV writer trying desperately to keep the company suits from stripping the integrity out of his TV show and ultimately out of him. Unfortunately, as much as I like the idea, I can’t help but think that this movie would have made a lot more sense if it were being shown where the title suggests: on the TV set. With that in mind, I think I’ll just do the job for them and RENT IT. (Official Site)

The Hoax: I doubt that this has anything to do with anyone in Hollywood reading my earlier post about The Hoax, but I do find it interesting that the recent trailers for this new Richard Gere movie have stopped mentioning the fact that “the hoax” he’s trying to pull off is pretending to write an authorized biography of Howard Hughes. It’s still my contention that few moviegoers really care about Howard Hughes (unless he’s being played by Leonardo DiCaprio), so I think the new marketing strategy is smart. Unfortunately, the damage has already been done, so I’m going to SKIP IT. (Official Site)

Are We Done Yet?: My thoughts exactly. I don’t have any children, so I have absolutely no interest in Ice Cube’s new family comedy. Then again, even if I did have kids, I’d probably make my wife take them to see it, and I’d still SKIP IT. (Official Site)

The Reaping: I know that not everyone agrees with me on this one, but as I said last week, I’m definitely going to SEE IT. Hilary Swank plus 10 commandments equals at least the $11 I’m gonna spend on my theater ticket. (Official Site)

This week I’m going to start with the little guys first, because they need the love.

Peaceful Warrior is based on the book The Way of the Peaceful Warrior. Even though I’ve read the book, Peaceful Warrior isn’t easy to sum up without making it sound like hooey, so I’ll let the PR people do the talking. “In the film, Scott Mechlowicz plays Dan, a talented-yet-arrogant college gymnast with Olympic dreams and a golden future. The athlete thinks he has it all: bookcases of trophies, endless friends, fast rides and disposable relationships. But all that is about to change. One day, Dan’s world is turned upside down after a chance meeting with a mysterious stranger he comes to know as Socrates (Nick Nolte)—a man who holds the power to tap into new worlds of strength and understanding. After he suffers a debilitating injury, with the mystical help of Socrates and an elusive young woman named Joy (Amy Smart), Dan will grow to realize that strength of spirit is what leads a man to his true greatness.” I had pictured someone more peaceful than Nick Nolte (he of the scraggly mug shot) as Socrates, but he’ll do. The book was quite interesting and the trailer makes the movie look even better. RENT IT. (Official site)

Live Free Or Die (not to be confused with the next Die Hard sequel, Live Free or Die Hard) is the latest addition in the bumbling criminal genre. John “Rugged” Rudgate is a criminal legend in his own mind. When Rugged and his friends get the chance to commit a real crime, of course everything goes awry and hijinks ensue. Michael Rapaport and Zooey Deschanel co-star. The trailer is pretty funny, so I say RENT IT. (Official site)

After The Wedding was nominated for Best Foreign Film this year, with the tagline of “Champagne is poured, and secrets are spilled.” Based on the title, I was expecting a bit of a chick flick, but the trailer is all sex, lies, and intrigue. Mads Mikkelsen acts in his native language, proving he can be more than just Bond’s nemesis in Casino Royale. RENT IT. (Official site)

The Lookout was written and directed by Scott Frank, who also wrote Out of Sight. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays an injured former athlete who gets conned into participating in a bank robbery. The Lookout could go one of two ways: forgettable heist movie or dark, twisting crime drama. Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers) and Jeff Daniels co-star. RENT IT. (Official site)

Blades of Glory: Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard of Will Ferrell’s lampoon on the world of figure skating. Jon Heder, Craig T. Nelson, Jenna Fischer, William Fichtner, Amy Poehler, and Will Arnett co-star. SEE IT, not that you need prodding. (Official site)

The weekend box office will probably once again be dominated by 300, but there are some new entrants in the race.

Tops on my agenda is Reign Over Me, starring Adam Sandler as a man destroyed by the loss of his family on 9/11, and Don Cheadle as his former college roommate who helps him attempt to deal with the pain. Sandler blew me away in the trailer, and I daresay that he could generate some award buzz. According to IMDb, Reign Over Me was slated for a December 1 release, but Sony bumped it in favor of The Holiday, costing Sandler a potential Oscar nod. (Perhaps the studio thought Sandler’s Oscar chances would be better this year, without Forest Whitaker dominating the category.) Don Cheadle is always amazing, but I can’t wait to SEE IT for Adam Sandler’s performance. (Official Site)

Shooter is Mark Wahlberg’s first outing since his Oscar nominated performance in The Departed. Wahlberg plays a secret service agent who is framed for an assassination attempt and then (dum, dum, dum!) wants vengeance on his enemy. Shooter is directed by Antoine Fuqua, who has hasn’t had a hit since Training Day in 2001. I doubt that Shooter has as good as a script as Training Day, so I’m going to SKIP IT. (Official Site)

Pride has quite possibly the lamest movie poster that I’ve seen in quite some time. Seriously. I walk by the poster every morning on the way to the subway, and it just makes the movie look so horribly cheesy. Terrence Howard and Bernie Mac star in this story of an underdog, all-black swim team in the 1970s, though the poster made me think it was about boxers. Terrence Howard has had his pick of scripts since Crash and Hustle & Flow, but I can’t give him the benefit of the doubt on this one. SKIP IT. (Official Site)

Color Me Kubrick is the mildly intriguing story of a con man who poses as Stanley Kubrick during the filming of Eyes Wide Shut. John Malkovich plays “Mr. Kubrick” and the trailer may give away the film’s funniest moment. When starstruck fans ask who “Kubrick” has in mind for his next film, he answers “John Malkovich,” to which they all reply, “who?” If you’re a big Kubrick fan, you may want to RENT IT. (Official Site)

Also opening this weekend are TMNT, the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, and slasher sequel The Hills Have Eyes 2. SKIP IT and SKIP IT.

I’m just biased. I want Reign Over Me to reign at the box office.