Friday Flicks: Can This Means War Win Over Both Sexes?

Grab some popcorn! TIME's Glen Levy brings you the movies you should check out (or avoid) this weekend.

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Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

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Tagline: He Rides Again.

Heeeee’s back. Everybody’s favorite leading man, Nicolas Cage, returns as Johnny Blaze in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, which was a sequel you didn’t even know you needed until Sony did the decent thing and offered it to the world. And if we believe the press notes – and why on earth shouldn’t we? – “in this gritty new vision for the character, Johnny is still struggling with his curse as the devil’s bounty hunter — but he may risk everything as he teams up with the leader of a group of rebel monks (Idris Elba) to save a young boy from the devil… and possibly rid himself of his curse forever.” We don’t know about you, but it all seems a long way from accepting an Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas.

That said, Johnny Blaze sounds like the kind of name that would go down a storm on the Vegas Boulevard.  But if you want to out-do a name such as Blaze, call yourself The Devil, which is what Ciaran Hinds’ character clearly did. And he wants to take over his mortal son’s body on the child’s birthday! Is it possible to have any more fun in a movie theatre?

And if those pesky critics could play ball, we’d surely be looking at next year’s Oscar front runner. But for some strange reason, it’s not been screened for them (loyal readers will be used to this taking place every now and again). Sony Pictures presumably have their own reasons for doing this – though we’ll take a wild punt and guess that we’re not dealing with the new Citizen Kane.

LIST:See Nicolas Cage in the Top 10 Wacky Celebrity Baby Names

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