By Jason Adams, MyNewPlaidPants

I never bothered to see the first Ghost Rider movie because it just looked like more over-the-top malarkey from Nic Cage’s School of Paying For His Beach House, but I have to say I’ve been curious about the second one, called Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, ever since hearing it was going to be directed by the insane clown duo of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who made the Crank movies. I love the Crank movies, and if anybody was going to tap into the fun aspect of the craziness of Cage it’d be the guys who made the Crank movies. The reviews have not been kind though, so I ‘m having second thoughts. They also made Gamer, I am reminded.

Speaking of bad reviews, the spy versus spy rom-com This Means War has been pretty well brutalized by the critics who have been calling the movie unfunny and sexist. It stars Reese Witherspoon as a girl caught between two CIA agents, one played by Star Trek’s Chris Pine and the other Inception’s Tom Hardy. I guess there’s a lot of “Hit the guy in the nuts!” humor to be had. Standing on the side-lines as Reese’s potty-mouthed BFF is the braying comedianne Chelsea Handler. It’s from the director of the Charlie’s Angels movies, McG, who really needs to be sat down about his name, it’s been far too long without anybody saying something to him. The film was set to come out on Valentine’s Day but at the very last minute the studio decided to just give some “exclusive previews” earlier in the week and open it properly today. Running scared is always a good sign of quality, right?

The documentary Undefeated takes a Hoop Dreams-ish look at a trio of inner-city football players trying to make it against excessively high odds.

Based on the classic kid’s story The Borrowers there’s the animated tale The Secret World of Arrietty out for the kids today, from the same animation house that gave us the wonders of Spirited Away and Ponyo. If you’re unfamiliar with the story, it’s about teeny tiny people who live in the walls and “borrow” little items – think thimbles and matchbooks – to build their home. I wonder if this will be the time that this story ends with the normal-sized family setting off a bug bomb to rid themselves of the infestation.

In limited release there’s the dark comedy Thin Ice, which stars Greg Kinnear and Billy Crudup amongst others in a story about a rare and super-pricey violin getting swindled by con-artists in the tundra of Wisconsin. Based off the trailer it looks like somebody wanted to make their own version of Fargo, which is an uphill battle, to put it mildly.

Also in limited release is the Best Foreign Film contender out of Belgium called Bullhead, which apparently has an impressive lead performance from the actor Matthias Schoenaerts. It’s all about shady cattle deals and meat-salesman, so it’s probably right up your alley if you love meat like I do. Viva Meat!

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