Much like last week, it looks like we have a pair of strong possibilities to come out ahead in terms of being worth your viewing pleasure and we also have a pair of stinkers. So grab your popcorn and a soda, kick back, relax, and check out my movie previews for this upcoming weekend!

1) Moneyball (Sony/Columbia)

Based on the true story of the late 1990s-early 2000s Oakland Athletics, Moneyball follows how General Manager Billy Beane was able to turn one of the cheapest organizations in baseball into a winner for several years while teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers were trying to buy championships.

Living in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area for the past 25 years, I was always aware of how my Yankees were considered the “evil empire” and how everyone rooted for this perennial underdog Oakland team. And they did push us and others to the brink a few times. But always came up short in the end. Still, Billy Beane changed baseball for a time and it was a great story to see these rag tag misfit players come away with AL Western Division Championships. If you’re a fan of baseball and are older than the age of 15, you’ll probably really appreciate this story and to me this is the must see movie of the weekend.

2) Abduction (Lionsgate)

Triggered by seeing his face on a missing persons’ website, a young man will uncover a giant conspiracy on his quest to find out the truth about himself and where he comes from.

This movie seems completely unbelievable and this is coming from a guy that worships Star Wars and Batman. You expect me to believe that this kid from Pittsburgh goes from being a mild mannered nobody to a super-spy in an instant after his home gets invaded? No radioactive bugs, cosmic rays, or being from another planet? And what was with that scene with him at the Pirates game running around a crowded PNC Park? Going back to our first movie, anyone who knows baseball knows that there hasn’t been that many people at a Pirates game in 20 years. It’s really a shame that tremendous supporting cast with Alfred Molina and Sigourney Weaver will be wasted, but I still can’t believe they’re casting the werewolf kid in other movies now. Are they banking on his teen fan-base following him into other franchises? All in all, Abduction has flop written all over it.

3) Dolphin Tale (Warner Bros.)

Based on the true story of a boy who helps develop a prosthetic tale for an injured dolphin after it was caught in a fishing trap.

Would it be insensitive to say I’m eating a tuna sandwich right now? Anyway, this might appeal to a very young audience as it has Free Willy written all over it and I loved that movie when I was seven. Now, not so much. What kills me the most is this is “based on a true story”. I would love to get the dolphin’s point of view on this whole thing. Seeing it show up to the movie premiere and flop down the red carpet in a nice suit and tie. But you can’t. Because it’s an animal. And at the end of the day, animal stories hold no real value for me in terms of entertainment. This is a 200-word article buried a dozen pages back in the NY Times, not a feature film. I think it’ll do alright this weekend because little kids will eat it up, but I don’t see this as being anything more that a solid kid empowerment movie and so I’m personally steering clear.

4) Killer Elite (Open Road Films)

After his mentor is taken hostage, a retired member of Britain’s Elite Special Air Service will do everything in his power to get him back, including taking down an entire top-of-the-line hit squad, and get to the bottom of the kidnapping.

Although this looks like a somewhat generic action movie, I’m actually very interested to see it because of its all-star cast of Robert DeNiro, Clive Owen, and the current king of the over-the-top action film, Jason Statham. Big explosions, lots of elaborate action sequences, and some cool fight scenes and stunts, has me rather curious to see just what this movie is all about. Although I still expect Moneyball to easily win the weekend, I think this could quietly sneak into a number two or three spot depending on how many guys are looking for their action fix this weekend. It definitely has a lot more potential to be entertaining than Abduction, that’s for sure.