April, as most diehards could tell you, is a habitually weak month at the cinema. It has the misfortune of being the month immediately preceding the summer season — which, as an aside, will now officially begin on April 30, given that Iron Man has been bumped up two days to a Wednesday release — and it is also habitually where many studios fling their less promising projects in the hopes that they'll draw an audience before the megabuck titans hove into view. But even though April is not a month of much quantity, it can often be a month of some measure of quality, and all three of the films I will be analyzing today do possess, depending on the tastes of the individual moviegoer, a measure of quality. These three films, coming to theaters on the inaugural weekend of the fourth month of the year, may make decent No. 3, No. 4 or No. 5 picks on your slate. Or, then again, they could make your roster, already weighted down with Semi-Pro, only semi-conscious. So, on we go!

I've always thought that George Clooney had the bearing, the countenance of an actor from a bygone era. I mean, seriously, can't you picture him acting opposite Gable, Cagney or Curtis in the classics of the Golden Age of Cinema? I sure can. Coming off of his Oscar-nominated performance in Michael Clayton, George is now bringing us his unique brand of talent in Leatherheads, a film that he not only stars in but directed as well. This is Clooney's third major film as a director, following the critically-acclaimed Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Good Night and Good Luck.

Of course, we already know that he can slip into the setting of a period drama/comedy like a comfortable old coat. We've seen him do World War II dramas like The Thin Red Line and The Good German, as well as Depression-era crime comedy O Brother Where Art Thou? So playing the part of a 1920s footballer is not exactly a huge stretch for the multi-talented Clooney. And, of course, who better to play his leading lady than Renee Zellweger, an actress who has made a veritable career out of playing Prohibition-era flappers like in Chicago, Cinderella Man and Miss Potter? I'm quite sure she's got the lingo of the time down pat by now ...

In Leatherheads, Clooney plays Dodge Connolly, an aging football hero who must find a way to save the fledgling pro football league in which he plays from collapse after they lose their sponsor. To that end, he convinces a hotshot college-star-slash-war-hero named Carter Rutherford (The Office co-star John Krasinski) to breathe some life and excitement to a weakening sport. Joining the fray is pioneering sportswriter Lexie Littleton (Zellweger), a precocious journalist who eventually becomes the target of affection for both men.

Obviously, whether you're a football fan or not doesn't matter. Whether the names of Knute Rockne and Red Grange mean anything to you or not makes no nevermind. This is merely a forum to allow two well-known and well-respected actors to strut their stuff in all its funny, cock-eyed glory, and I think that, as April releases go, it will do all right. Critics will probably be quite favorably disposed to Leatherheads, so look for a decent User Rating, probably considerably higher than the estimated 6.2 (I'd say somewhere in the low 7s).

Of course, temper your enthusiasm with the notion that period dramas don't ALWAYS go over so well (see: Cinderella Man), no matter how good the film is or how big its principal stars are. It will run you a hefty $16 in the March Ultimate leagues ($14 in Box Office), which is just barely enough for a film that could give you anywhere from 6-8 Top Five points, 1-3 PTA points, and anywhere from $35-$55 million. (Sorry to be so vague, but this is a tough one to pinpoint, really.) At least you'll have it for the whole month, so there's that.

A title with quite a few more question marks, at least in my mind, is Nim's Island, the latest release from 20th Century Fox and Walden Media. It's not Disney, but from the looks of the trailer, it might as well be, as it seems to be pushing all of the family/action/adventure buttons: well-known actress in the lead (Jodie Foster), well-known child star (Abigail Breslin) opposite her, and a dashing Indiana Jones-ish hero (Gerard Butler of 300 and P.S. I Love You) thrown in for the mothers to gawk at.

The plot is an interesting, if contrived, one: Foster plays adventure author Alex Rover, who has built a vast literary empire by creating a whole series of books centered on a dashing hero named Jack (Butler). The thing is, she's done this all from the comfort of her home, a place she rarely ventures outside of, given that she is agoraphobic, germaphobic, and probably a few more –phobics as well. However, she decides to traverse the globe and brave the wild when the father of her most ardent fan, an 11-year-old girl named Nim (Breslin) is lost at sea. Oh, and Alex seems to be a little on the eccentric side as well, given that her hero, Jack, is fully manifested in her own mind, and travels with her wherever she goes.

Directed by newbie helmers Jennifer Flackett and Marc Levin, this film has it all to tantalize the 8-14 age bracket: a beautiful but remote island, friendly and funny animal helpers, swashbuckling action, pirates, a daring rescue at sea and (hopefully) no colorful tropical diseases. However, I think that anyone who is not in the 'tween crowd, or parent of same, just won't be all that interested in this flick. The fact that it is being given an April release instead of say, June or November also tells me quite a bit.

I happen to love Jodie Foster, just for the record. Her diminutive spitfires from films such as Maverick, Inside Man, Contact, Panic Room and Flightplan were all fairly well received. Last year's The Brave One, however, was a huge box office disappointment. Jodie's not the sole focus of this particular film, yet I have to conclude that she's just not the draw she once was. And even though Abigail Breslin, rapidly becoming arguably the most sought-after under-14 actress in Hollywood (after her mildly successful turns in No Reservations and Definitely, Maybe), is being given her meatiest role to date, I can't see this film making much more than $50 million total.

It seems clear that Nim's Island and Leatherheads will finish in the top two spots on their shared opening weekend (in whatever order), and with only Prom Night, Smart People and Street Kings opening the following weekend, I think Nim's could pull in as many as 10 Top 5 points ... but only if it's marketed very, very well. Five PTA points may be pushing it, given that April 4 is also the release weekend for The Flight of the Red Balloon, Shine a Light and My Blueberry Nights, so consider yourself warned. The projected User Rating of 6.5 seems about right. Add all that up, and is it worth the $21 you'd spend on it in Ultimate ($15 in Box Office)? I ... just don't think so. This is THE most expensive film of all the April releases (along with arthouse flick Young@Heart), so if you haven't already spent the bulk of your funds on Semi-Pro, 10,000 B.C. or Horton Hears a Who!, then you may want to opt for something a little more economical.

Remember last April, when there were no less than FIVE horror movies on the docket? Let's run them down: Grindhouse, The Reaping, Vacancy, The Tripper and Wind Chill. (Possibly Are We Done Yet? as well, I don't know.) Not to mention that there were several others that involved scary, murderous drama as part of their plot: Perfect Stranger, Disturbia, Pathfinder, Slow Burn, Fracture, The Invisible and The Condemned. Ye gods, that's a lot of bodies. Well, given that only one of that list of a dozen movies was a box office success (you should really know which one that is, and if you don't, I ain't tellin' ya), and looking at this April's docket of movies, it seems clear that Hollywood is at last wising up.

There are only two, count 'em, two, horror films coming out this month, and both of them just might be worth a look, as far as picking them for your slate. I'll cover the remake of Prom Night next week, but for now, I'll talk about The Ruins, another cautionary tale about being a good-looking American vacationing abroad. This time, they are not taking a railroad tour through Eastern Europe (Hostel) or backpacking in Brazil (Turistas), but damned if these gorgeous young 20-somethings don't find themselves in a peck of trouble after they venture into the jungles of Mexico to do some amateur archeologizing.

Shawn Ashmore (Iceman from the X-Men movies), Jena Malone (Into the Wild) and Jonathan Tucker (In the Valley of Elah) star as three of the unlucky souls who happen upon an ancient Mayan pyramid in the heart of the Mexican wilderness only to find that the place is plagued by an ancient curse (along with some not-too-friendly locals who seem hell-bent on keeping them there). Free advice, dear readers: never accept an invitation to go anywhere in a foreign country that involves the phrase "off the beaten path." I mean, seriously?

Based on the bestselling book by Scott B. Smith (who also wrote the novel that became 1998's A Simple Plan, as well as the film version's screenplay), The Ruins seems to have creep-you-out scares aplenty. And given that the genre isn't as horribly diluted as it was a year ago, this may be one to keep your eye on. I mean, the only films to skim the "horror" surface so far this year are Cloverfield and Untraceable, and both of those were back in January. And with only the aforementioned Prom Night, along with May's Midnight Meat Train and The Strangers coming in the foreseeable future, this could be the one with the proper spacing to pay dividends.

Even so, I would probably think twice about putting it on my Ultimate Roster. Even for $9, you're looking at only a scant few Top 5 points, probably even fewer PTA, and a User Rating below 5. For the same amount of money, you could probably bring in better numbers in one or more categories with Superhero Movie or Forbidden Kingdom. However, it's priced at a very trim $6 in Box Office, which makes it a very tempting pick if 1) its theater count is well over 2,000 and 2) you've convinced yourself that the horror genre's self-imposed veil of indifference has been lifted somewhat. Ask yourself this: which will make the most money? Will it be The Ruins ($6), 21 ($7) or 88 Minutes ($7)? Your call.

Not for the first time, I want to thank everyone who has helped make the First Annual Super Leagues such a big hit. Over 100 of you answered the call back in December, and with Round One coming to a close and the dreaded "cuts" looming large, things are going to get VERY interesting from here on out. If you are one of the hopefuls who are looking to make history or just an interested spectator, check out the Message Boards weekly for up-to-date results. It's been a ton of work, but worth every minute.

NOTE: The following films have had their dates changed, so if you have them on your roster, you may seriously want to consider replacing them ASAP: The Foot Fist Way (now May 30), College (now Aug. 29), Henry Poole is Here (now July 25), The Rocker (now Aug. 1), Possession (unknown), Amusement (now Sept. 5), and Big Stan (unknown). Pathology is now being released on April 18.

Well, that will do it for me for another week. Please return next week when I will be running down the three-strong lineup of wide-releases for the weekend of April 11: American Dreams star Brittany Snow leads a cast of 20- to 25-year-old, uh, high school seniors getting unceremoniously whacked one by one in the remake of the 1980 horror "classic" Prom Night; Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker and Juno star Ellen Page team up in a quirky comedy that was a Sundance Film Festival darling, Smart People; and Keanu Reeves leads an all-star cast in gritty cop drama Street Kings, which also features Forest Whitaker, Chris Evans, and ... HUGH LAURIE? From House?!? Oh, baby, yeah ...

TTFN!

Shrykespeare's man crush on Hugh Laurie is of such potency that he owns all three Stuart Little movies. Or maybe that's because of his man crush on Michael J. Fox. Or his entirely garden variety crush on Geena Davis. Or because of his little-known fanatical M. Night Shyamalan completism. Tell him for whom your own fanaticism knows no bounds at shrykespeare42@gmail.com.