A week dominated by death and destruction — some for your amusement, some to punch you in the gut.

The Messenger: Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster deliver outstanding performances as two soldiers assigned to the Army’s casualty-notification service.

2012: At nearly two hours and 40 minutes, Roland Emmerich’s disaster porn about the end of the world plays like a bloated and miserable video game. Who would have guessed that  seeing the Earth and its inhabitants dying piece by piece wouldn’t be fun?

Pirate Radio: This comedy about offshore radio stations in 1960s Britain hasn’t been completely panned, but even starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, and Nick Frost, it’s likely to be completely forgotten about Taking Woodstock-style.

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire: See Precious get festival drool.  See Precious get overexposure-backlash. Now, finally go see Precious for yourself.

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day: Its 1999 predecessor received bad reviews and no box office but a cult following on DVD. This sequel seems to be on the same path.

TEN9EIGHT: Shoot for the Moon: A documentary about inner-city students competing in a business-plan competition.

Rashomon: A  rerelease of Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 classic, now you can see its multi-perspective story lines again (and again).