It might be Thanksgiving, but I’m still beavering away at my desk, putting together a DVD column and finishing a couple of other things for this week’s paper. And this evening, as everyone’s tucking into their turkey, I’ll be down at the AGO to introduce Allan King’s last documentary, “EMPZ 4 Life“, at 9 pm.

It’s screening in Cinematheque’s “Toronto on Film” series, which kicked off over the weekend — and which I wrote about in Friday’s web column on the NOW site. It’s an interesting program, and even if you’ve seen the movies before, it might be worth your while to check them out in this new context.

I mean, come on! “Videodrome“! On a big screen and everything!

Vince Vaughn may not be able to produce movies that anyone could call objectively good: “Couples Retreat” is okayish as entertainment, I guess, but like “Four Christmases” and (especially) “Fred Claus” it’s less a narrative than a series of noisy arguments strung along the thinnest of narrative structures.

But who cares? Audiences love the fast-talking schlub, and showed up for the movie in droves this weekend — to the tune of a $35.3 million opening gross. So, once again, Vince Vaughn is king of his very particular castle. The doors aren’t secure on their hinges, so it’s awfully drafty, and there’s a little kid running around peeing on stuff, but it’s still a castle.

I have a feeling Jon Favreau isn’t going to get the credit he deserves for the script, but he’s probably okay with that, given the props he pulls for the “Iron Man” movies. So that’s nice.

With Ruba Nadda’s “Cairo Time” opening this weekend, my latest MSN movie gallery naturally focuses on people who make unexpected connections in far-flung places.

I really, really wanted to include “King Kong”, but I just couldn’t make it work …

For the first time in a long time, I’ve actually seen all the films opening in a given week … though I’ve only ended up reviewing a fraction of the films. Doesn’t keep me from offering my opinions here, though!

“Cairo Time”: “Sabah” director Ruba Nadda returns with another tale of a middle-aged woman tempted by forbidden cross-cultural attraction. This one’s a much better film, with fine performances from Patricia Clarkson and Alexander Siddig, and though it chickens out in the end, it’s still watchable enough. Your parents will think they’ve seen an art movie.

“Couples Retreat”: Okay, so Vince Vaughn saw “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and decided he wanted a tropical vacation of his own. He’s a mogul now; he’s entitled. And while this is somewhat smarter and funnier than “Fred Claus” or “Four Christmases”, it’s still way too long and doesn’t give Peter Serafinowicz or Jean Reno enough screen time.

“Crude“: Can white type on a black screen convey a quiet sense of outrage? It certainly tries to in Joe Berlinger’s documentary profile of two dogged lawyers labouring to bring a class-action suit against Chevron in the name of the indigenous peoples of Ecuador. Yes, it sounds dreary. But it has more to say about the destructive nature of capitalism than, well, “Capitalism”.

“Haundae”: If you’ve ever wondered whether the all-star disaster movies of the 1970s would have been improved if they’d thrown a cast of screeching comic caricatures into the mix, Youn Je-kyoun’s Korean tsunami epic arrives to answer that question. It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Tsunami!

“Paranormal Activity“: I don’t want to oversell Oren Peli’s amazing horror movie, which Paramount is moving heaven and earth to turn into a viral hit. I’ll just say that you should see it with a crowd — and preferably before people start talking about why they think it doesn’t work. Because it totally does. My review should be up shortly. UPDATE: There you go!

And that’s everything — there’s a lot of stuff still ahead of me today, so I’ll check back with you later on.

The lovely and talented folks at The House Next Door have been hosting a very engaging series of back-and-forths all week on the subject of Pixar, and the specific levels of its wonderfulness — including Colin Low’s love letter to “Toy Story 2” and “The Incredibles”, Stephen Russell-Gebbett’s frustrating contention that Pixar’s digital artistry pales next to the hand-drawn magic of Studio Ghibli, and Tom Elrod’s intriguing defense of “Cars”, a work I’d call Pixar’s only true failure of concept.

It reached a zenith with yesterday’s excellent conversation between Jason Bellamy and Ed Howard on the studio’s strengths, weaknesses and (arguable) blind spots. You’d be crazy to miss out — though I should warn you that spoilers abound, so if you haven’t seen “The Incredibles”, “Ratatouille” or “WALL-E”, you should really watch them before reading.

Actually, wait a second. If you haven’t seen “The Incredibles”, “Ratatouille” or “WALL-E”, what the hell are you doing reading this? You’ve got some work to do, pal.

“We continue to be of the opinion that he is a high risk of flight.”

– a spokesperson for the Swiss Justice Ministry, on the refusal to release Roman Polanski on his own recognizance while he awaits extradition to the U.S. on that pesky fugitive charge.

I can’t imagine why.

Looking over the weekend box-office numbers, it’s not surprising to see “Zombieland” standing tall with a $25 million gross … everything else was kinda nichey, really, with the possible exception of “Whip It”, which just didn’t take off.

But, really. Ellen Page in a helmet versus a broad splatter comedy sold with vivid images of Woody Harrelson smacking the lumbering undead with a banjo? How was that ever going to compete?

I’m sort of surprised that Disney’s “Toy Story” 3D twofer didn’t do better — it came in third for the week with $12.5 million, behind “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”, which held strong in second place with $16.7 million. But I guess if you’re taking the family out to a movie, it makes more sense to shell out for the one that isn’t already sitting on your DVD shelf at home.

If you have the time, though, the “Toy Story” double-feature is totally worth your while. Even if you don’t have kids.

“Zombieland” may not be very good, but its release does open the door to one of my favorite pastimes: Writing about zombie movies.

Over at MSN (and with apologies to Max Brooks), this week’s movie gallery considers what cinema has taught us about surviving the zombie apocalypse … and once you’re prepped, hop back to the NOW site for a quick scroll through the movies from which “Zombieland” harvested all its best ideas. (I can’t believe I forgot “Night of the Comet”.)

And further along the zombie trail, Sony’s long-awaited DVD of Fred Dekker’s “Night of the Creeps” arrived yesterday. Halloween brings out the best in everyone, don’t it?

You know, this week’s films should be stronger than they are. It does get better from here — “A Serious Man” is just two weeks away! — but as far as Oscar baiting goes, it ain’t looking good.

“Capitalism: A Love Story“: In which Michael Moore rages against the money machine because, like, there has to be something better out there, man! But that’s not exactly the best thesis upon which to build a two-hour movie.

“Coco Avant Chanel”: In which Audrey Tautou’s bright-eyed, gamine presence is applique’d to the early life of a fashion designer. Andrew (the other one) was unmoved; Kieran, even more so.

“The Invention of Lying“: In which Ricky Gervais takes a frankly brilliant notion and breaks its back to fit it into a feeble romantic comedy. Dammit, man! Engage with the material! Engage with it!

“Unmistaken Child”: Nati Baratz’ documentary follows a Buddhist monk on his quest to find the reincarnation of his deceased master; Susan says it’s the week’s one good movie, and naturally it’s playing on one screen at the Cumberland with no chance of competing against the big studio pictures.

“Whip It”: In which Drew Barrymore makes her directorial debut, and everybody (including Susan) says a lot of supportive things, but there’s a general shrug to the coverage that kept me from rushing out to catch the TIFF screenings.

“Zombieland“: In which Jesse Eisenberg dithers at length, Woody Harrelson swaggers around appealingly, and audiences are expected to pretend my beloved “Shaun of the Dead” never existed. Can you blame me for being a little unenthused?