Across the Universe. (2007, 131 minutes, PG-13, musical, trailer) I have been dying to see this movie. The trailer is, hands down, one of the best I have seen in years. I can only hope that the movie lives up to the trailer's promise. It is a musical/romance/drama set to the music of the Beatles and placed in the midst of the turbulent sixties. It traces the lives of those moving through the era of free love into the world changed by the Vietnam War. Julie Taymor (Frida) directs a cast that includes Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood, and Joe Anderson.

Eastern Promises. (2007, 100 minutes, R, thriller, trailer) David Cronenberg follows up his excellent A History of Violence with another collaboration with Viggo Mortensen. It is the story of a Russian hit man whose existence is thrown into chaos when he crosses paths with Naomi Watts, who is looking into the death of a young woman. It has been receiving extremely good notices from critics, hopefully it will not disappoint. The cast also includes Vincent Cassell and Armin Mueller-Stahl.

Also opening this week, but not near me:

• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
• Into the Wild
• The Jane Austen Book Club
• The Last Winter
• Transformers IMAX

Box Office Predictions

Who will win this week? Whatever film it is, it will almost assuredly do better than either of the past week's winners. I think it will probably be the latest Resident Evil outing. The last one opened to the tune of $23 million back in 2004, and I think this will open in that vicinity, if not a little bit higher. The other possibility is the Cook/Alba comedy Good Luck Chuck. The problem is that neither Cook nor Alba have proven to be much of a draw on their own. Together may be another story, and the studio has had advertising in heavy rotation. The rest of the field is going to be wide open; Sydney White will likely pull the tween audience, and hopefully Across the Universe and Eastern Promises have good showings.

Here is how I think the top ten field will play out: