… “The Debt” opens today. It’s got people in it of whom I’m quite fond, including Sam Worthington, Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastain, and it’s a remake of an Israeli thriller that was pretty good. I’ve been trying to catch up to it for about a year now; hopefully I’ll see it one of these days.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for today. Come back tomorrow morning for some really cool stuff, though …

It was a slow weekend for megaplex owners, as a hurricane kept people away from the movies on the east coast and people found better things to do with their time in the rest of North America.

Thus, “The Help” ended up staying on top with just $14.3 million, while newcomers “Colombiana” and “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” came in second and third with $10.3 million and $8.7 million, respectively.

Fun fact: “The Help” is expected to break $100 million sometime this week, making it one of the few summer hits that didn’t involve superheroes, giant robots, three guys yelling at each other or superintelligent primates. Which reminds me: “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” was right on the heels of “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark“, taking fourth place with $8.65 million. Their positions might switch when final totals are released later today. Won’t make either film any better, though.

You’ll have to forgive me; I’ve spent most of the last 48 hours in a white heat, putting together my last contributions to NOW’s TIFF preview issue and assembling a massive thing for MSN. Stay tuned; you’ll find them all here as they become available. But right now, more work.

Given that “The Guard” is the best thing going this weekend, I figured I’d throw it a little love in my latest MSN Movies gallery, which uses its release as jumping-off point for a run through some other memorable fish-out-of-water cop movies.

Before we get all OCD with each other, please note that the films in question aren’t necessarily buddy-cop movies, and that the character who is out of his element has to be a cop, so “48 HRS.” doesn’t qualify — though its echoes can certainly be felt in at least one of the titles I did pick.

Also, “Die Hard” is not technically a fish-out-of-water sequence, as Mr. Officer John McClane of the New York City Police Department certainly looks confident and capable as he runs around the upper levels of Nakatomi Tower dispatching henchmen. Maybe he’d been taking tactical classes on the side.

For a change, the last Friday is not the Friday before Labor Day, so we get another week’s reprieve before that frame’s traditional Dumping of the Crap. Don’t get too excited; there’s still some weak offerings. But we also get one of the year’s finest genre hybrids, as you’ll see if you read on.

“Bamboo Shoots”: An errant condom is the catalyst for comedy in Chinese director Jian Yi’s political satire, screening at Toronto’s newest independent cinema, the Projection Booth. Phil found it decent enough.

“Chasing Madoff“: This documentary recounts financial analyst Harry Markopolos’ dogged, decade-long attempt to expose Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t as dull as director Jeff Prosserman makes it seem.

“Colombiana”: Zoe Saldana fires automatic weapons while acting all sultry. Strangely, this is not a spin-off for her character from “The Losers”. No press screening. Can’t be arsed.

“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark“: Guillermo del Toro remakes the TV-movie that gave him the willies as a child, but adding an extra half-hour of subplots and a buttload of CG doesn’t do the material any favors. Also, director Troy Nixey never figures out how to split the height difference between Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes, resulting in some very weird two-shots.

“5 Days of War”: Oh, Renny Harlin, you lovable rogue — trying to get all serious with a story about the 2008 Russian-Georgian conflict, without a single superintelligent shark in sight. Andy ain’t buying it, taking particular exception to the multiple accents employed by the cast. In fairness, have you ever heard Renny Harlin speak? This is a man who has no business telling anyone to consult a voice coach.

“The Guard“: If you enjoy watching Brendan Gleeson be larger than life, you will fookin’ love him in John Michael McDonagh’s blistering Irish cop comedy, which pairs him with Don Cheadle for some fine anti-buddy action. Seriously, don’t be missing it, it’s grand.

“Ingredients”: I’m pretty sure I caught Robert Bates’ advocacy doc on DVD about six months ago. Wasn’t terribly impressed — it’s got the same hectoring tone as most of the current eco-docs aimed at middlebrow liberal audiences — and it would seem Glenn feels about the same.

“Our Idiot Brother“: Paul Rudd sails blissfully through Jesse Peretz’ charming comedy about a naive free spirit who wreaks havoc on his sisters’ relationships. Fine performances all around, actually — I even think Zooey Deschanel’s exasperating wide-eyed hipster persona is meant to be annoying in the context of the film.

There, that’s everything. Guess what I have to do now! If you guessed “more frantic typing”, you are correct! Congratulations!

The latest issue of NOW is out, celebrating the life and legacy of the late Jack Layton — and rightly so, I might add. But there’s a lot of other content that was produced before Layton’s death … and some of it is mine, like my interviews with Guillermo del Toro, co-writer and producer of tomorrow’s “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” remake, and Lance Henriksen, who’s in town for Fan Expo Canada and a special screening of “Near Dark” tonight at the Underground. Lovely guys, the both of them.

Also, this week’s MSN DVD column went up yesterday, finding the common ground between Jodie Foster’s “The Beaver” and Tom McCarthy’s “Win Win”. You might want to check that out as well, while I wade back into the nightmare whirlwind that is the run-up to TIFF 2011.

While we wait for my MSN DVD column to go up, take a moment to read Glenn Kenny’s excellent blog post about the invented media kerfuffle over Sean Penn’s comments on “The Tree of Life” — in which what seems to have been a thoughtful discussion of Terrence Malick’s ultimate unknowability was spun into an attack on both the filmmaker and the actor by writers trying to fit a difficult film (and, sure, a difficult actor) into a conventional, convenient narrative.

See, they don’t understand Sean Penn’s role in “The Tree of Life”, so they have to convince us that Sean Penn didn’t understand it either. But I’m pretty sure he does.

Kenny then segues into a discussion about movie-star acting — which is to say, movies that use movie stars for their history as well as their acting ability — that’s also quite interesting. And don’t forget to read the comments.

Jack Layton, dead at 61.

I think I speak for all of us when I mutter “Fuck you, cancer,” and get on with my day.

When a “Spy Kids” sequel beats out “Conan the Barbarian” and “Fright Night”, I think we can declare the ’80s revival officially over. (This is going to come as a shock to the producers of the new “Footloose”.)

Instead, what I presume to be a horde of middle-aged, megaplex-averse ladies charged the box-office this weekend, driving “The Help” to the top of the charts with a $20.5 milion take. Last week’s champion, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”, dropped into second with $16.3 million.

The new releases barely challenged them; “Spy Kids 4” placed third with $12 million, “Conan” fourth with $10 million, and “Fright Night” fifth with a piddly $8.3 million, which suggests that David Tennant’s “Doctor Who” fan base trooped out to see it — understandably so, as he’s the best thing in the movie — but no one else did. (One Day”, which presumably would appeal to the same warm-n-fuzzy crowd that saw “The Help” last weekend, barely beat “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” for ninth place, earning $5.1 million to the older film’s $5 million.)

Kinda makes you wonder whether “Spy Kids”, “Conan” and “Fright Night” would have done better if they’d been released in 2D, huh? It hasn’t hurt the top two pictures any …

A rare Sunday post, in honor of my latest MSN Movies piece going up over the weekend. It uses the release of “One Day” to look at other films which keep us wondering whether a couple will get together.

I suppose I could have included a lot of bog-standard rom-coms, but they’re all so formulaic that they barely rate inclusion. Still, if you think I missed something obvious, the comment box awaits you …