When movies aren’t shown to critics in advance, there’s usually a reason. A possible explanation is that a movie is so awful that the studio behind it believes that critics will only say terrible things about it. That seems to be the case for the movie “Shark Night 3D,” which unsuccessfully tries the replicate the formula of “Piranha 3D.” When I saw “Shark Night” recently, I thought it was the worst movie of 2011 but after watching the horrendous new film “Creature,” I’ve changed my mind. “Shark Night” is now the second worst movie of the year.

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The first scene of ”Shark Night” tries to replicate the memorable “Jaws” opening. However, unlike that classic shark movie, “Shark Night” has the subtlety of a man hitting a board over your head. It completely lacks suspense and excitement. While “Jaws” was imaginative and exciting in its first scene, “Night” is underwhelming and tiresome.

As the story gets underway, a young woman named Sara (Sara Paxton) brings her friends to a lakeside home that she hasn’t visited in three years. The group of unremarkable friends settle in and decide to visit the nearby lake. Shortly thereafter, one of the characters is viciously attacked by a shark and soon enough, several of the friends are attacked by a group of super-powerful sharks.

Last year, “Piranha 3D” took a familiar concept and made it fun and refreshing. The story was full of cliches but the cast was fun to watch and the story was memorable. The cast in “Shark Night 3D” is so mediocre that “Dancing with the Stars” would reject them outright. Two of the main characters are played by Dustin Mulligan, who was booted off of the show “90210″ after one season, and Chris Carmack, who is known for creating an unremarkable character on “The O.C.” While “Piranha” offered up Richard Dreyfuss, Christopher Lloyd and Steve McQueen’s grandson, “Shark Night” offers up a cast of easily-forgettable unknowns. (more…)

Writer/director Mike Judge’s “Extract” is being promoted as: “The creator of OFFICE SPACE heads back to work,” but this isn’t exactly true in the purest “Office Space” sense. Our protagonist Joel (Jason Bateman) does spend time at the company he owns, a flavor extract plant, but for the most part those goings on are a subplot to what is essentially a relationship comedy — and only a mildly amusing one at that.

Joel’s problem is that he can never get home from work before his wife Susie (Kristen Wiig) puts on the sweatpants at the strike of 8pm … and once the sweatpants are on there will be no sex for the Extract King. What makes him late is the personnel and personality nonsense at the office; what slows him down is Nathan (a terrific David Koecher), one of those boorish nightmares of a neighbor whose lack of self-awareness eventually forces you to be rude to them. So Joel is frustrated — very frustrated, and taking advice from the exact wrong person: His buddy Dean (Ben Affleck), a long-haired bartender who has only one answer to every imaginable problem: Narcotics. (more…)