This weekend, after seven weeks at the top of the box office, “Avatar” dropped down to the second most profitable movie at the megaplex. The film that beat blue alien ass? “Dear John,” the Nicholas Sparks-penned love story starring Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum. And I helped contribute to its success—it made $32.4 million in its opening weekend—by seeing the film opening night. My assessment of the film, which includes spoilers, after the jump ...

It’s the first weekend of February, and Punxsutawney Phil totally saw his shadow again, which means we’ve got another six weeks of winter on our hands. Unless, like the National Climatic Data Center, you believe Groundhog Day is hogwash. (The party poopers say Phil’s accuracy is 39 percent). Either way, it’s cold as hell out there and it might be best to hibernate for the remainder of the season. My recipe for hibernation includes lots of soup, 24/7 robe time, and movies. This week’s releases include tearjerker chick-flick “Dear John,” adventure blowing-stuff-up movie “From Paris With Love,” and an almost-funny horror flick, “Frozen.”

Empire Magazine recently released a list of the “Top 50 Worst Movies Ever.” This roll call of horrible flicks was not compiled by Empire cinephiles; instead it was concocted from online votes cast by the magazine’s readers. Usually I would think this approach would create an accurate list, and for the most part it did. I found myself nodding and smirking through the majority of the 50 flicks (I’m looking at you, “Gigli”, “Glitter”, and “White Chicks”). But there were a few inclusions that I audibly gasped at. And so, I am willing to risk my self-given titles of “film buff” and “woman of good taste” in an attempt to defend some of these marked movies. Don’t worry. I’ll offer new sacrifices in their place.

Valentine’s Day is coming! And with it the usual traditions that include an outrageous price hike in roses, an outrageous price hike in restaurant dining, and the well-timed rom-com. The role of the latter belongs to a flick to be released on Feb. 12, “Valentine’s Day.” (What a clever title, eh?)

The recent announcement of Academy Award nominations may have people blogging, talking, tweeting and a host of other verbs ending in -ing about the best films of the past year. But what about the worst? To keep things in perspective, on the same day of the Oscar nomination announcements, the Razzies also released their nods. For those who don’t know, the Razzies are the awards created to celebrate, or at least point fingers at, the worst films and performances of the year. And this year, like most, they seem to have done a pretty accurate job, even if they did pick on “New Moon”—gasp.

TGIF! It’s what you’ve been toiling all week for—the weekend! And you can do whatever you want. Drive to Mexico, learn French, floss for once—the world is your oyster. And of course, there is always the movies. If you had a rough week and need to get out some aggression, you might want to watch Mel Gibson beat up some shady folks in “Edge of Darkness.” If you’re totally sick of all the dead-beat dudes in your life, pretend that you believe in magic and catch Kristen Bell in “When in Rome.” And if you’re just in a mood to run away to Vegas, catch Steve Buscemi in “Saint John of Las Vegas.”

OK, first of all, who’s sexier than Adrian Grenier? Pretty much nobody. On film, in person, digitally—the guy’s just hot. It’s hard to call a favorite film at Sundance this year, but if I have to recommend a purely fascinating film, go see the absolutely scrumptious Adrian’s “Teenage Paparazzo.” It’s a documentary but, wait, don’t stop reading. This flick has got everything: friendship, suspense, danger, (fake) romance, and personal growth. The cast is composed of a long list of stars, all talking about the invasion of their personal lives by paparazzi—one of whom is 13 years old.

Actress Zelda Rubinstein passed away yesterday at the age of 76 of natural causes. Zelda may be most well-known as Tangina in “Poltergeist,” but as far as I’m concerned, her finest work was in a little-known film called “Teen Witch” that I was obsessed with back in the day. If you had cable in the late ‘80s, there’s no way you missed Zelda as the witch, Madame Serena, in this classic musical. I have one word for you: Netflix. Get back to me after you’ve seen it and we can have a “Top That!” sing-a-long. Zelda may have been small, but she had some huge acting chops. After the jump, some more of Zelda’s performances you might have missed.  [PopEater]

The Sundance Film Festival is the place for new movies to get initial buzz. For Michael Winterbottom’s film “The Killer Inside Me,” the reaction seems to be outrage. The film is an adaption of Jim Thompson’s 1952 novel of the same name, and offers a dark and cruel look inside the mind of a vicious serial killer who takes a sickening delight in torturing and murdering women. It’s an aspect of the book that Winterbottom gruesomely exploits on screen. The trailer/highlight reel shows footage of Jessica Alba‘s character getting violently whipped and later beaten by the murderer, played by Casey Affleck. A beating that viewers of the film have said not only leaves Alba’s character dead, but her jaw bone exposed. The rest of her face resembles “hamburger meat.” Kate Hudson’s character is also brutally attacked in the film in a similar display of violence that leaves her with a broken windpipe.

Over the weekend, “The Runaways” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Joan Jett and Cherie Currie joined their Hollywood versions, Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, on the red carpet. And we gotta give it up for the casting on this flick—both pairs are dead ringers.

“Blue Valentine” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival yesterday, and while the crux of the movie seems a little depressing—a married couple trying to save their relationship— Amelia and I are excited to see it, but for very different reasons ...

Everything Tim Burton touches turns to genius. So we’re pretty excited that his next project looks like it will be the story of “Sleeping Beauty,” from the perspective of Disney’s most villainous villainess, Maleficent. The movie will hopefully fill in all those question marks we had with the original movie. Like jeez, why so pissed off, lady? Or how do you get those crazy arches on your eyebrows? And, as the most sinister Disney villain, why didn’t you think of just killing the prince? [AintItCool]

When Cherien Dabis was a teen growing up in small town Ohio, the First Gulf War broke out. Her family began getting death threats and her Palestinian father, a doctor, lost patients. These experiences came to inspire the filmmaker to write and direct the award-winning “Amreeka,” a movie that tells the story of Muna, a single mother who leaves her life in the West Bank and moves to Illinois with her teenage son, Fadi. While their move to the United States is filled with obstacles, the movie isn’t a total downer. In fact, it’s filled with amazing family moments that are often sweet and funny, showing a different side of the conflict. Cherien spoke to The Frisky about how similar life experiences drove her to become a filmmaker, what it was like to make a film in Palestine, and which movies we should add to our Netflix queue.

Lifetime Original Movies are always tabloid-y (my pops calls them “women in distress films that Mom watches”), but the upcoming flick “The Pregnancy Pact” really takes the cake. Remember a few years ago when the scandal broke that 17 teen girls at Gloucester High School in Massachusetts made a “pregnancy pact” to get knocked up and have their babies together? Remember how everyone freaked out? Then remember how the pregnant girls all agreed the media just made it up and there was no pregnancy pact?

No matter. Lifetime has made a sure-to-be-fantastic, made-for-TV movie all about it, which will air Jan. 23.

Oh, snap! Could Madonna have a 36-year-old son she gave up for adoption as a newborn when she was teenager? A new film called “Material.Boy” tells the story of a young Madonna who got knocked up at 15 and gave birth to a baby boy at a hospital in Michigan in 1973. Who knows if there’s any truth to the tale, but the flick sure does look slick. [via Jezebel and WoW]

Every single time I see the trailer for “Dear John,” a new tearjerker based on the book by Nicholas Sparks, two things happen. My chest starts to ache and my brain wallows, “I wish this movie was starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams!” Actually, the film stars Amanda Seyfried, whose coolness you probably recognize from “Big Love,” “Mamma Mia!” and “Jennifer’s Body,” and Channing Tatum, a hot piece of ass (with a burnt d**k). The story is about a young couple that falls in love just before he ships off to war and they keep their relationship alive via letters. It looks cheesy and heart-wrenching, if it’s even possible to be both at once, and I cannot wait to see it when it opens on Feb. 5 and have my emotions messed with. After all, Sparks’ novels all have sad, depressing endings and while I haven’t read this one (or any of them, I just see the movie versions), I expect it will be tragic too. But don’t spoil it for me, OK?

Oompah-Loompa, Doompity Doo. I’ve got an exciting update for you! If you weren’t obsessed with “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”—the 1971 version, not the Tim Burton remake—when you were a kid, then you probably weren’t born yet or maybe you lived in a remote cave. Weird kids, candy galore, a magical factory with little singing orange men? What’s not to like? I drove my parents crazy, watching the VHS tape no less than four times a week, learning all of the songs. I still do a great rendition of Veruca Salt’s “I Want the World” British accent and all. I begged my parents for lick-able wallpaper (anyone know what a “snosberry” is?), and tried to chew as much gum as Violet Beauregarde—I hid Hubba Bubba under my bed so I could pop a piece in before bed. I’m not ashamed to admit that I still watch the movie about once a year just to stay young at heart. I’m waiting for the film to lose its appeal, but so far, it hasn’t. I mean … there’s a chocolate freaking river! That’s why I was so psyched to see that Celebuzz tracked down the kids from the film. Aren’t you just dying to know where their Golden Tickets led them?

Yes, Michael Cera is a cool dude and I adored him in “Arrested Development” and “Juno.” But now that he’s been on the scene for at least five years, essentially playing the same roles, I’m a little over his schtick. So are the fine people at The High Definite, who made this pretty accurate chart of the last four movies he’s been in. Though they forgot “rumple hair.” [BuzzFeed]