It's always one of the bleakest times of the year at the movies: the last weekend of summer, when people would rather be outside enjoying one last blast of fun than inside a cool, dark multiplex. So the pickings are slim — and the reviews reflect that accordingly.
Only one of the week's major releases was shown to critics before opening day: the thriller "The Debt," starring Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson and Jessica Chastain. AP Movie Critic Christy Lemire called it "classy, solid and well-acted" in her three-star review.
Critics didn't get to see the week's other wide releases — the horror film "Shark Night 3D" and the sci-fi mystery "Apollo 18" — beforehand, but both were getting savaged early.
In limited release is the comedy "A Good Old Fashioned Orgy," starring Jason Sudeikis, Lake Bell and Nick Kroll. AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle gave it two stars out of four, saying: "It's a party of a movie, for better or worse, with ambitions of generational resonance."
Here's a look at how these movies and others fared on the top review websites as of Friday afternoon. Each score is the percentage of positive reviews for the film:
— "The Debt": Metacritic, 66; Movie Review Intelligence, 65.7; Rotten Tomatoes, 77. Average: 69.6.
— "Shark Night 3D": Metacritic, 26; Movie Review Intelligence, 27.2; Rotten Tomatoes, 33. Average: 28.7.
— "Apollo 18": Metacritic, 23; Movie Review Intelligence, 32.2; Rotten Tomatoes, 31. Average: 28.7.
— "A Good Old Fashioned Orgy": Metacritic, 44; Movie Review Intelligence, 50.6; Rotten Tomatoes, 29. Average: 41.2.
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Online:
http://www.metacritic.com/
http://moviereviewintelligence.com/
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/