We all like to make fun of the Saw series as one of those never-ending horror franchises, but to be honest, I actually enjoy these movies. The kills are inspired and the insane, weaving storyline that continues throughout each film actually makes it fun, a necessary tactic when making a seven-movie horror series. Go ahead and watch the last few movies in the Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, or Friday the 13th series and look at the quality of those films. You’ll at least appreciate the effort that those behind Saw are putting forth.

That being said, here is the final animated poster for Saw 3D, the inevitable and fitting way to end this above-average series of horror films.

There weren’t too many surprises at the box-office this weekend, except for the fact that Inception is still in the top ten. The Ben Affleck-directed The Town, the second consecutive well-executed film by the actor who is transforming into a formidable director, opened at the top with $23.8 million. Easy A, buoyed by the charm of Emma Stone and its likable story, came in second with $18.2 million.

Devil – despite the incredibly annoying trailers of that woman yelling for someone to “Turn on the liiiiiiiiiights!” – still looks intriguing, and plenty of other people thought so, too. The M. Night Shyamalan-produced film (which was probably cause enough for some people to stay away) opened with $12.6 million. The other major release this week – a 3D animated film entitled Alpha and Omega – disappointed by making only $9.2 million. If you despise 3D like I do, this is a small victory.

Like I said before, Inception is still in the top ten, coming in eighth with $2.02 million, bringing its total to $285 million. With the way it’s been chugging along, the movie has an outside shot at making $300 million in the United States.

Here are the rest of the weekend box office numbers:

1. The Town – $23.8 M (new)

2. Easy A – $18.2 M (new)

3. Devil – $12.6 M (new)

4. Resident Evil: Afterlife – $10.1 M ($44 M)

5. Alpha and Omega – $9.2 M (new)

6. Takers – $3 M ($52.3 M)

7. The American – $2.76 M ($32.9 M)

8. Inception – $2.02 M ($285 M)

9. The Other Guys – $2 M ($115 M)

10. Eat Pray Love – $1.7 M ($77.7 M)

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is expected to hit theaters in 2011, but I can’t imagine too many people at this point are excited about it. But wait! What if it was in 3D?! As if there was any real doubt about this, it seems as though the Ghost Rider sequel will be shot in 3D to further suck the money out of unsuspecting moviegoers.

The one saving grace of this movie is not the return of Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze but the fact that Crank directors Neveldine and Brian Taylor are taking over those duties on this sequel. The Crank films were fun and fresh, so Neveldine and Taylor could bring a little fire to the series, but what kind of superhero hangover could there be by 2011?

Furthermore, what kind of 3D hangover will there be by 2011? I don’t think anyone disagrees (other than those people trying to make money off of it) that 3D is just a fad, but with projects set two, three years down the road already being given the 3D treatment, movie studios are taking a big risk by assuming that moviegoers will still want to spend what will be even more money on these films. And for a sequel to a lackluster movie? Good luck.

Until now, I didn’t really know who BooBoo Stewart was, even though I’ve somehow managed to see two of the three Twilight films. Nevertheless, the man who plays Seth Clearwater in the series is excited to see the newest spoof movie from the same masterminds who brought us Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans, and, sigh, Disaster Movie. This time, the atrocity that will abuse your eyes and ears is called Vampires Suck, and it stars Jenn Proske as the Bella-esque main character of the film. She met BooBoo Stewart earlier this week, and he told her how excited he was to see the movie.

I’m pretty sure he was just being nice.

Proske also had this to say when asked if she was worried about potentially upsetting the Twi-hards of the world:

“Not at all, I think the movie is actually for the fans most of all,” she said. “They’re the ones that are going to love it and get all the little laughs and jokes, I’m challenging them to see the movie and not laugh.”

Sigh. I think that’s a challenge just about everybody is going to win.

I know that the rumors surrounding the Arrested Development movie have toyed with your heart for quite some time – one minute it’s on, the next it’s dead. However, we should all be able to breathe easy, as series creator Mitch Hurwitz is halfway through the script (seriously) and star Jason Bateman is throwing out a potential co-star in Jennifer Aniston.

Bateman probably gets asked about the Arrested Development movie in every conversation he has with another human being, and obviously Aniston’s name was thrown out there as she was his co-star in The Switch, which is currently being promoted for its release on August 20th. Nevertheless, Batemen says that “there’s a real good part for her in the Arrested Development movie.” Whatever that role is, fans should want her in it. Aniston certainly knows how to handle comedy and it would be nice to see her work with such vaunted comedic material.

If more star power does get added to the cast, it might become a nightmare getting everyone’s schedules to match up, like Bateman suggests. However, it seems as though fans of the show can begin thinking of the movie as something tangible, not just a ludicrous pipe dream.

Until there is more Arrested Development news, enjoy a little bit of a magician named Gob:

The Deadpool movie, like many other superhero films that have been saturating the genre lately, generated very little interest in me at first. Not to mention audiences will be getting a healthy dose of Ryan Reynolds the Superhero when they see him in the Green Lantern next year. This news, however, could change all that.

Talks are apparently in place for Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Planet Terror) to direct Deadpool, which would inject some much-needed life into what could be “just another” superhero movie. It’s still early, as both sides are apparently negotiating and Rodriguez is set to make Spy Kids 4 first, but I have a feeling a superhero movie directed by Robert Rodriguez would be well worth the wait.

In the meantime, let’s all look forward to the glory that will be Machete.

Dinner for Schmucks is the third movie that stars both Paul Rudd and Steve Carell, but it’s far different from The 40-Year-Old-Virgin or Anchorman. Instead, Dinner for Schmucks is a lighthearted, but largely forgettable comedy that wastes the cast’s best efforts. It’s oddly formulaic for such a promising premise, full of the same misunderstandings and mishaps that we’ve all seen too many times before.

The movie stars Rudd as Tim, an executive who is looking to rise up the ranks of his company. In order to do so, he has to attend his boss’ dinner. There’s just one caveat: each employee has to bring an idiot to dinner, and the biggest idiot wins that employee a promotion. Carell plays Barry, who is Rudd’s guest. Naturally, Rudd plays his impressive straight-man self as usual, while Carell does his best to make lame jokes that are usually in a sixth-grade boy’s repertoire even remotely funny to an audience. He is actually fairly successful, offering a more hit than miss performance, though I will say that Barry’s taxidermy hobby is actually quite impressive rather than something to mock.

Jemaine Clement, most notably from the comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, gives the funniest performance of the movie as an eccentric artist, though I could never get over the fact that, with his long hair and witty, sometimes existential, one-liners, he reminded me of Russell Brand’s Aldous Snow from Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek.

Dinner for Schmucks certainly had more potential, especially if it had decided to dive headfirst into the slapstick route, but the story and characters consistently stay safe and relatively stale. The dinner itself, which should have been the pay-off to an entire movie full of build-up, comes off as rushed and is one of the more lackluster moments of the entire movie. Even Zach Galifianakis’ eccentric brand of comedy can’t thrive in this.

That being said, Dinner for Schmucks is not a terrible movie, but the writing sure does border on it. Like Carell’s Date Night, the performances bring this movie back from the edge of a volcano full of wretchedness. However, even they can’t stop Schmucks from being lumped in with the rest of the movies that have helped to make this one of the longest, most bland years for film in recent memory.

It’s never a bad thing to see Paul Rudd and Steve Carell working together, but Dinner for Schmucks should only whet the appetite for a movie that might never come: Anchorman 2.

AMC finally released the trailer to The Walking Dead, the network’s new zombie series created by Frank Darabont and based on the excellent comic book series by Robert Kirkman. So far, the trailer has only been released at Comic-Con but there are plenty of leaked versions out there, and the one below does enough justice to make this show a must-see.

Make sure to check out the rest of our Inception coverage

The role of Cobb in Inception is just the latest in a long line of emotionally complicated characters that Leonardo DiCaprio has chosen to play. There are few actors who pick roles as precisely as DiCaprio, aiming high and getting it right nearly all the time, whether it’s pairing with Martin Scorsese or collaborating with some of the greats in Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg, Sam Mendes and now Christopher Nolan.

When DiCaprio got his big break with Titanic, I don’t think there was anyone who thought he would become a Scorsese regular or have three Oscar nominations only ten years later. Yet, here he is, establishing himself as one of the best actors working today. When it’s all said and done, DiCaprio has a very real opportunity to be listed as one of the best of all-time.

DiCaprio is dependable and versatile, effortlessly taking roles to a bigger and better level. He has the kind of talent that, when you see him in one of “those scenes” that really showcases what he can do, you realize that there are no other actors who can come close to what he does.

You hear of movies being described as ambitious, but DiCaprio is an ambitious actor. He has certainly been linked to summer movie roles before but, for one reason or another, has not gotten or taken the part. Instead, his track record suggests that when you see his name attached to a film, you can expect a certain level of filmmaking. For that, audiences should be appreciative.

An Oscar or two are assuredly in DiCaprio’s future as he continues to challenge himself with gripping roles. He seems underappreciated in this blockbuster-heavy Hollywood, with everybody often saving their praises for the actor or actress who can deliver a big box office gain rather than just a great performance. With Inception, DiCaprio is able to tap the best of both worlds: his performance is memorable and the movie itself is one of the best original summer blockbusters in years.

With that combination, and the success that Inception is bound to have, we should all be able to start appreciating Leonardo DiCaprio even more.

After sitting through Twilight: Eclipse, this much I can surmise: Robert Pattinson will have a career after Twilight because, well, he can actually act. Taylor Lautner, not so much. Kristen Stewart too often falls back into the same awkward, mumbling character but I blame her performance more on the insanity of a character like Bella Swan. Her blind devotion to someone (a vampire, no less), which would in turn cause her to have to one day leave behind her entire family forever is mind-boggling. The acting is laughable and I find it hard to believe that these supposedly ruthless members of the Volturi are all teenagers sporting haircuts that belong in an emo band. Pretty ridiculous, but not the worst movie I’ve ever seen.