Well, look at that: “The Social Network” held on to the top box-office slot for a second week! David Fincher’s acclaimed Facebook creation myth pulled in another $15.5 million to stay ahead of the $14.6 million opening of its closest competitor, “Life as We Know It”.

“Secretariat” came in a distant third with $12.6 million; that’s a shame, I’d hoped the critical dust-up between Andrew O’Hehir and Roger Ebert over the film’s subtext would encourage audiences to check out the source of the controversy.

… okay, not really. It’s a vile film and should be left alone to wither. But it would have been nice to see critical writing drive attendance. Although I suppose that’s happening with “The Social Network”, on some level, so I’ll stop griping now. Enjoy the holiday Monday!

It’s a slower release week than usual, which means that for the first time TIFF got underway it’s actually possible to stop and think about what you might want to see at the megaplex without being overwhelmed by all the big-name, big-studio options. That’s a good thing, trust me. And there are some good movies to see, as long as you keep your head straight. Let’s take a look:

“The Concert”: Radu Mihaileanu, director of the odd but engaging Israeli drama “Live and Become”, returns with an Oscar-bait tale of a defrocked Russian conductor (Alexei Guskov) who gets the chance to put his band back together for a performance in Paris. (“Inglourious Basterds” breakout Melanie Laurent is his ringer.) Glenn hated it like poison, which is not a good sign for anyone.

“Deliver Us from Evil“: Ole Borndeal, director of the excellent “Nightwatch” (and its considerably less than excellent remake, but let’s not bring that up right now), gets his groove back with this vicious little thriller that basically transplants the village-siege dynamic of “Straw Dogs” to rural Denmark. Wicked nasty, this one.

“It’s Kind of a Funny Story“: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck follow “Half Nelson” and “Sugar” with a lighter tale — if “lighter” is really the appropriate term to apply to a story about a suicidal teen who gets himself locked in an adult mental ward. But it is, thanks to fine performances from Keir Gilchrist, Zach Galifianakis and Emma Roberts, and Boden and Fleck’s excellent sense of tone.

“Life as We Know It”: Look, I’ve given Katherine Heigl plenty of chances to charm me. It’s not happening. So we sent someone else to review her new parenthood comedy, in which she and Josh Duhamel inherit an infant and spend two hours covered in goo. (I’m just going from the trailer here, you understand.)

“My Soul to Take”: A group of small-town teenagers start falling victim to the spirit of an executed murder in Wes Craven’s new horror movie … which sounds an awful lot like “A Nightmare on Elm Street” from the log line. No press screenings, so all we’ll find out together, I guess …

“Return to El Salvador“: Jamie Moffett’s superficial look at the beleaguered nation’s path to recovery is a test case for people who confuse passion with technical competence. Does an important subject automatically make a weak documentary great? Obviously, I don’t think so … but the commenters on the piece clearly do.

“Secretariat“: Randall Wallace redefines the art of populist pandering with this risible attempt to repackage the story of a millionaire and her racehorse as a great underdog drama. Yes, yes, rich people have problems too. But setting the stage by quoting the Book of Job is kinda pushing it.

And don’t forget, “Howl” and Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child” opened at the Lightbox yesterday, along with a new print of “The Godfather”. (That alone is a reason to get down there this weekend.) And there’s a whole bunch of other stuff playing around the city, which I examine in this week’s online column at NOW Daily. So, you know, we’re still spoiled for choice. Hope I didn’t scare you earlier.

It seems incredible, I know, but I don’t have any interviews in this week’s issue of NOW. Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty next week — and putting them together has been taking up most of my time, so today’s post will be short. I’ll draw your attention to a couple of new films opening at the Lightbox this evening — “Howl”, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s experimental look at Allen Ginsberg and his epic poem, which Susan quite liked, and “Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child”, Tamra Davis’ documentary about the visionary artist whom she knew in the 1980s. Fran liked it, but with reservations.

Not much else happening today, other than yet more writing. For your entertainment, I offer Andrew O’Hehir’s terrific takedown of “Secretariat” at Salon, which digs into the ickiness of Randall Wallace’s movie at much greater length than I was able in my tiny 200-word window. Do enjoy it. Oh please let’s do.

Word is spreading around the interwebs that Zack Snyder has been tapped to direct “Superman: The Man of Steel”, presumably on the strength of his batshit crazy 3D owl war movie. Christopher Nolan is producing, which seems like an even odder fit for this project.

Look, I know I’m in the minority for unreservedly loving what Bryan Singer did with “Superman Returns” — so far in the minority, in fact, that I couldn’t even get Brandon Routh to talk seriously about the experience during his “Scott Pilgrim” press visit earlier this summer — but there’s no question Singer understood the complex mixture of optimism, innocence and alienation that informs the character. Snyder gave “Watchmen” as good an adaptation as it was likely to get, but innocence just isn’t in his wheelhouse … to say nothing of complexity.

I guess it all comes down to the writer. Any chance Whedon has a free weekend before his “Avengers” movie starts shooting?

David Fincher’s “The Social Network” drew enough of an audience to conquer the box office this weekend, though its $23.1 million gross is still kind of modest. That said, it’s a stronger opening than Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street” sequel managed last week, so yay.

Notably not strong was the horror genre; both Paramount’s long-delayed “Case 39” and Overture’s spanking-new “Let Me In” failed to register, landing seventh and eighth with around $5.3 million apiece. I can’t speak to “Case 39”, but “Let Me In” absolutely deserves better; maybe after you see the Facebook movie, you might consider catching up to the vampire movie, just to give it the edge for next week.

I’m taking things a little easy this morning, since I spent last night helping a couple of good friends celebrate their marriage. (Way to go, Adam and Tanya!)

But I can still post my latest MSN Movies Gallery, which uses the arrival of “Buried” to look at ten other intensely claustrophobic movies. Can you get through it without breaking into a cold sweat, or will you crumple by the halfway mark?

If you’d prefer something a little less constricting, you could always watch this Global National piece on “The Social Network”, in which I appear just long enough to remind viewers that one should never, ever do a TV hit without makeup.

Enough already with the movies! Thirteen openings last week, twelve this week — surely the studios know we can’t see everything they’re throwing at us. I mean, I do this for a living and I’ve only managed to see a fraction of this week’s releases.

Let’s get to it, then …

“Buried“: Ryan Reynolds spends 95 minutes in a box in Rodrigo Cortes’ stylish, quietly ingenious thriller. Claustrophobes may want to sit all the way at the back of the cinema.

“Case 39”: Social worker Renee Zellweger comes to suspect her latest charge (Jodelle Ferland, of Terry Gilliam’s “Tideland”) is at the center of a supernatural conspiracy, or something. I dunno, nobody’s seen it yet.

“Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie”: Sturla Gunnarsson gives the rightly venerated Canadian icon a loving portrait in this feature documentary patterned after “An Inconvenient Truth”. Glenn notes the one-sidedness of Gunnarsson’s presentation.

“FUBAR II”: Michael Dowse’s 2002 no-budget mockumentary has its admirers, though I’m not one of them — so it was easy enough to let Andrew take the sequel. He found it “funnier and livelier”, so take that under advisement.

“Hatchet II”: Victor Crowley is at it again in the souped-up sequel to Green’s old-school splatter romp. Hey, if “FUBAR” gets a sequel, anything’s possible. No advance screenings, though.

“Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story”: Peter Miller’s workmanlike documentary is basically a chronological list of the sport’s Jewish players. (Did you know that Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax both struggled with the decision to take Yom Kippur off? Gosh!) Susan wasn’t terribly impressed; my reaction to the doc is captured for posterity, weirdly enough, in the National Post.

“Let Me In“: As utterly unnecessary movies go, Matt Reeves’ American remake of the great Swedish vampire thriller “Let the Right One In” is pretty damn great, with strong performances and an unsettling sense of Reagan-era America. Plus, Richard Jenkins atones for “Eat Pray Love” with a tremendous supporting turn.

“The Social Network“: Speaking of atonement, I’m willing to allow David Fincher to make another “Benjamin Button” if it means he delivers something this good as his follow-up — a crackling social comedy with a terrific cast, a throbbing pulse and some of the subtlest and most inventive CG work in a long while. Also, Armie Hammer delivers what may be the line of the year.

“Streetdance 3D”: England challenges America’s dominance of the dance movie by offering up its own 3D extravaganza, featuring Diversity, the troupe that stomped all over Susan Boyle’s yard on “Britain’s Got Talent” back in 2009. Rad says it’s the same old song, story-wise, but the dancing delivers.

“Waiting for ‘Superman’ “: Davis Guggenheim, director of the actual “An Inconvenient Truth”, sets his sights on the sorry state of American education in this TIFF favourite. I missed it at the festival, but Glenn‘s review has me trying to figure out when I can catch up to it.

“You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger”: Susan likes Woody Allen’s latest — a London roundelay starring the likes of Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin, Gemma Jones, Lucy Punch and Frieda Pinto. I haven’t been able to see it yet, but if it’s as good as she says, I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Yes, I know, that’s only eleven films. The twelfth is Bruce McDonald’s “Trigger“, which started a limited run at the Lightbox yesterday. It’s very good, and you should see it. So there.