Bachelorette is a solid and engaging character study wrapped up in vulgarity. The raunch feels organic and the film never reaches for a 'water-cooler moment' at the expense of its characters and its story.

2012 has been a banner year for, among other things, somewhat original, non-franchised *movies* often targeted at adults.

The major limited release story was the record-killing debut of Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master , which earned an eye-popping $730,000 from just five theaters. That's a per-screen average of $145,949.

It wasn't so much a "something for everyone" weekend as it was a "multiple things for the same general audience" weekend.

The Dark Knight Returns Part I delivers exactly what it promises and little more.  It does indeed bring the Frank Miller comic to animated life with as much faithfulness as can be expected.

Rian Johnson's Looper is less an out-and-out original work as a hodgepodge made up from bits and pieces from other iconic science fiction stories stirred into a relatively tasty stew.

While the whole 'measure the cumulative weekend box office' trend is usually stupid if not dangerous, I must admit that this is indeed an 'everybody wins' weekend. Sony had the top two films, with one setting a record and the other merely opening in line with realistic expectations.