In one of those moments that gives you hope for the future, David Fincher’s Gone Girl kept the un-good Dracula Untold from topping the weekend box-office, which with any luck will make Universal reconsider its fairly stupid plan to build a shared universe out of its classic-monster properties.

(Said shared universe would presumably stitch together Luke Evans’ unimpressive Dracula with Hugo Weaving’s newly anointed Wolf Man and have them stare daggers at Brendan Fraser for two hours while waiting for some new version of Victor Frankenstein to arrive. Bleah.)

But yes! Gone Girl made $26.8 million to Dracula Untold‘s $23.5 million, so pulp-literary adaptations win out over CG monster mashes and all is right with the world.

Disney’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good Very Bad Day came in third with a just-okay $19.1 million, while The Judge opened in fifth with $13.3 million. And the Conjuring prequel Annabelle dropped to fourth with $16.4 million, because scary dolls are a lot less scary on their second weekend.

Okay then.

October means endless openings — though once again The Guest was bumped from release at the last minute. Which is actually okay, since every delay brings it closer to Halloween, when the movie itself is set. I could think of worse release strategies.

In the meantime, here’s a list of what is arriving in theatres today. Some of them are even worth your time.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day: The beloved children’s book becomes a movie! Because all is entropy and everything you love dies! Also, Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner make faces in it. Rad was unmoved.

Bjork: Biophilia Live: Susan is wowed by the Icelandic pixie’s latest concert movie. Co-director Peter Strickland made Berberian Sound Studio and The Duke of Burgundy, so I can see how that would happen.

Dracula Untold: No, Universal’s latest monster reboot isn’t very good, but at least it isn’t very good in a different way from the incoherent flailing of The Wolfman. I mean, I guess that’s a net positive.

God Help the Girl: Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch makes a musical. It is a mess, but if you’re a fan you might enjoy some of it. God knows I tried to.

The Judge: Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall are so frickin’ good in this movie — and Vincent D’Onofrio and Vera Farmiga are as well — that it almost doesn’t matter that the movie itself isn’t that great.

Kill the Messenger: Speaking of actors being good in movies that aren’t exactly punching at their level, Jeremy Renner does a fine job of playing California journalist Gary Webb in Michael Cuesta’s middling biopic. Also very good, in smaller roles: Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Michael Sheen.

Mudbloods: This is a documentary about the brave lads of the UCLA Quidditch team, which demonstrates that you really can make a documentary about anything. Rad ain’t buying it.

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared: Susan doesn’t have a lot of time for Felix Herngren’s Swedish satire, and from the way she describes it I can’t say I would either.

And there we are. Enjoy your Turkey Day, everyone!

On the cover of today’s NOW: Robert goddamn Duvall, ladies and gentlemen. This one was pure pleasure, both to research and to write; play the audio clips to understand how much fun it is just to sit and listen to the man speak. (I especially love his pronunciation of the word spoon.)

I also take a look at his five best roles as part of the package — though this particular Top 5 could have gone to a Top 15. And here’s my TIFF interview with Duvall’s equally engaging co-star Robert Downey Jr., just because you’ve been good all week.

And in the film section proper, I preview the Reel Indie Film Festival, which takes over the Royal as of next Tuesday. Because I am a comprehensive sort of fellow.

Finally, a box-office hit we can believe in.

David Fincher’s Gone Girl was the top movie in North American theatres this weekend, opening with a healthy $38 million — which kept it ahead of Annabelle, the creepy-doll prequel to The Conjuring, which took second place with $37.2 million.

I do not know anyone who liked Annabelle, but there you go. It is October, after all.

Today is a very busy Friday, so you will forgive me for playing the six-word review game.

Annabelle: A Conjuring prequel. About the doll. [Glenn, later today]

Art and Craft: A forger confronts reality. Sort of.

The Good Lie: Not the Witherspoon joint you’d think.

Gone Girl: Fincher, Affleck, Pike. Slick, crisp, crackling.

Harmontown: Dan Harmon. Community genius. Miserable bastard.

Kite: The week’s worst movie. Just awful.

Left Behind: Not the week’s worst, thank Christ.

Men, Women & Children: Jason Reitman worries about the Internet. [Andy]

Mommy:  Magnificent wanker gonna wank magnificently, yo. [Susan]

My Old Lady: Good actors, thin premise, no joy. [Glenn}

Tusk: Kevin Smith horror comedy. So, yeah.

And there we go! Gotta run, catch you later.

In this week’s NOW, I cover The Good Lie from a couple of angles. There’s an interview in the paper with Philippe Falardeau, a very nice person who’s about to level up substantially on the world stage, and a web Q&A with stars Arnold Oceng, Ger Duany, Emmanuel Jal and Kuoth Weil. (No, Reese Witherspoon is not the movie’s star. The poster is lying to you.)

I also take a look at the second half of TIFF’s Jean-Luc Godard retrospective, and throw a little love at the Goethe Institute’s series looking at the cinematic legacy of the Berlin Wall, a quarter-century after its collapse. I’ll be introducing the first one — Christian Petzold’s excellent Barbara — tonight at 6:30 pm at the Lightbox. Perhaps you would care to join me?