RT @david_cornelius The Diary of Anne Heche #slightlylessinspiringmovies

(Previously linked article contains much bleeped-out swearing, because Mamet, etc.)

Rebecca Pidgeon is in RED; she’s usually only in David Mamet films; what if Mamet had written RED? http://bit.ly/bS67hx

@AuntMarvel Diddler on the Roof.

OK, I’m sorry for posting the awful 9/11 song earlier. (This one: http://bit.ly/cHoSfT ) Clearly 3 NINJAS was my punishment.

This is the weekend of movies about people doing serious bodily harm to themselves and others. All hail pain!

“RED” is about some retired CIA people who are called back into action to do some killin’, and it’s OK, not great. Then “Jackass 3D” (review at Film.com) is more hilarious idiocy from the guys who brought you such films as “Jackass: The Movie” and “Jackass Number Two.”

Over at Film.com, this week’s “What’s the Big Deal?” is about “High Noon,” while “Eric’s Bad Movies” addresses “At the Earth’s Core.” Peter Cushing takes a journey to the center of the Earth! My thanks to whichever reader pointed me in the direction of this cheerfully stupid adventure film.

And at Cinematical, I’m doing a li’l roundup of new trailers every Friday, with the trailers selected based on how easy they are to make fun of. I think this will be a source of amusement for myself.

Subscribe to “In the Dark,” a weekly e-mail with the latest movie reviews, DVD releases, and other pertinent info.

Listen to “Movie B.S. with Bayer and Snider,” a weekly Internet radio show featuring Jeff Bayer and Eric D. Snider, at PDX.fm. It’s live at 11 a.m. (Pacific) every Friday, then downloadable as a podcast. Ignore the iTunes “explicit” tag; we always keep it PG.

Do you like horses who run very fast in comparison to other horses? Then the story of Secretariat is probably among your favorites! The movie “Secretariat” (review at Cinematical), however, pretty generic stuff.

Do you like romantic comedies in which a baby’s parents are killed and two people who dislike each other must raise the orphan? Really? You do? That is weird. Anyway, “Life As We Know It” is up your alley.

Do you like clinically depressed teenagers who address their problems with humor and warmth? Then may I present “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” (review at Film.com), which is indeed kind of a funny story.

There’s also a new horror film written and directed by Wes Craven, “My Soul to Take,” but it wasn’t screened for critics. In fact, there was a promotional screening Thursday night, and the studio representatives were specifically told not to let any critics in. Review to come.

In limited release, the documentary “Catfish” is one of the most intriguing and compelling true stories you’re likely to see, and a fine counterpart to “The Social Network.” You also have “Enter the Void” (review at Cinematical), a trippy and technically marvelous rumination on a drug addict’s journey through the afterlife.

Let’s see, what else happened? “What’s the Big Deal?” at Film.com is about “Stagecoach,” and “Eric’s Bad Movies” has “In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale.” And at Cinematical, I made some jokes about Darren Aronofsky and Zack Snyder.

Subscribe to “In the Dark,” a weekly e-mail with the latest movie reviews, DVD releases, and other pertinent info.

Listen to “Movie B.S. with Bayer and Snider,” a weekly Internet radio show featuring Jeff Bayer and Eric D. Snider, at PDX.fm. It’s live at 11 a.m. (Pacific) every Friday, then downloadable as a podcast. Ignore the iTunes “explicit” tag; we always keep it PG.

Welcome to the fourth quarter of the year, i.e., the one where the good movies are! Good day to you, late-summer-blahs! I said good day!

October brings two excellent films that could easily have been terrible. “The Social Network,” about the founding of Facebook, is whip-smart, funny, and riveting, despite being about geeks writing computer code. “Let Me In” (review at Film.com) is a remake of an acclaimed Swedish horror-drama that didn’t need remaking, but it proves to be outstanding in its own right.

Also opening in wide release is one of Hollywood’s Shameful Secrets®: “Case 39,” starring Renee Zellweger as a social worker (presumably a squinty one) dealing with evil parents and/or an evil child. It was shot four years ago and already released everywhere else in the world, and finally opens in the U.S. today without advanced screenings. Trailer doesn’t look too bad, so who knows? (Spoiler: I don’t.)

My Film.com columns didn’t run this week because I was at Fantastic Fest in Austin, which was a lot of fun but exhausting. I loved it, but I couldn’t have done the whole week. It would have killed me. Here are some li’l reviews I wrote:

Film.com: Dispatch #1, with “Heartless,” “Mother’s Day,” “A Somewhat Gentle Man,” “I Saw the Devil,” and “Bedevilled.”

Film.com: Dispatch #2, with “Undocumented,” “We Are What We Are,” “Outrage,” “A Horrible Way to Die,” and “Stake Land.” (By the way, the title “A Horrible Way to Die” could easily be the name of the film festival.)

Cinematical: “30 Days of Night: Dark Days.”

Also at Cinematical, I think I’m doing a regular feature now about the week’s new movie trailers. Here is the first entry.

Subscribe to “In the Dark,” a weekly e-mail with the latest movie reviews, DVD releases, and other pertinent info.

Listen to “Movie B.S. with Bayer and Snider,” a weekly Internet radio show featuring Jeff Bayer and Eric D. Snider, at PDX.fm. It’s live at 11 a.m. (Pacific) every Friday, then downloadable as a podcast. Ignore the iTunes “explicit” tag; we always keep it PG.