TEMPTOS

“2012”

Starring: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover.

Director: Roland Emmerich.

Rated: PG-13 for intense disaster sequences and some language.

Story: It’s 2012 and a global catastrophe has hit the earth. Who will survive and what will be left of them?

Buzz: You’ve probably heard about Nostradamus’ predictions and the Mayan Calendar speculation about how we’re all going to be in deep trouble in the year 2012. Anyway, Emmerich, the director of “Independence Day,” “Godzilla” and “Day After Tomorrow” wants to illustrate it for you. I’m not the biggest fan of Emmerich (to put it mildly), but, based on his other movies, you can expect to hear a lot of bad dialogue and a lot of things getting blown up or generally destroyed. To quote REM, “It’s the end of the world as I know it, and I feel fine.” One potential upside: Cusack and Peet had great chemistry in the very underrated film “Martian Child.”

“Pirate Radio”

Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy.

Director: Richard Curtis.

Rated: R for language, and some sexual content including brief nudity.

Story: Quirky period comedy about a pirate radio station in the North Sea.

Buzz: This is what studios call counter-programming. Take an unusual, niche film and position it against a big-budget movie and see what happens. It’s already opened overseas and has received decidedly mixed reviews. On the plus side, you’ve got good actors in Hoffman and Nighy.