In Theaters Now: The Wolfman, Valentine’s Day, Percy Jackson & More

The Wolfman
directed by Joe Johnston
Okay, okay, vampires are the hot thing right now. We know. But isn’t it time to branch out a little? Joe Johnston is doing just that with his release of The Wolfman, which, from the trailers, looks appropriately dark and Gothic. It stars Benicio Del Toro as English nobleman Lawrence Talbot, who (spoiler!) gets bitten by a werewolf. The movie has received an R rating, which goes a long way toward ensuring that it won’t be a watered down version of the monster classic (unlike another monster movie I won’t name… but rhymes with Van Helsing).

Valentine’s Day
directed by Garry Marshall
Fans of Julia Roberts will definitely want to see this movie. And fans of Jamie Foxx. And Bradley Cooper. And Jessica Alba. Okay, fans of the more than a dozen movie stars in Valentine’s Day will probably enjoy going to the theater on February 12 to see this movie. That must be what New Line was thinking when they packed the film with so many recognizable actors: With so many people in this movie (including—seriously—Jessica Biel, Taylor Lautner, Anne Hathaway, Kathy Bates, Ashton Kutcher, Taylor Swift, Patrick Dempsey, even Shirley MacLaine) chances that any moviegoer will like at least one of them is pretty high, right? Cha-ching!

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
directed by Chris Columbus
Chris Columbus, who directed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, turns his attention away from child wizards and toward child demigods in this adaptation of the first book in the Percy Jackson series, written by Rick Riordan. First book, you say? Why, surely that means sequels! As of today, there are five books in the series, so if this first movie does well we can probably expect more. The movie has various figures from Greek mythology popping out of the woodwork: Zeus (Sean Bean), Medusa (Uma Thurman), Persephone (Rosario Dawson), Hera (Erica Cerra), Hades (Steve Coogan), etc., etc.