“The Fourth Kind” may not be a particularly good movie, but its fact-based packaging (which is, again, total bollocks) has sparked some conversation, and put the alien-abduction genre back in play.

Ever the opportunist, I made it the subject of my latest MSN Movies gallery … and yeah, I know, it’s all the usual suspects, but in my defense there just aren’t that many alien-abduction movies.

If you’re in a more serious mood, I’ve also got a piece up on the NOW site about Cinematheque’s essay-film series, which is screening some very rare titles over the next few weeks.

Sure, you could pick up the Criterion DVDs of “Sans Soleil”, “Night and Fog” and “F for Fake” — come to think of it, why don’t you? — but good luck finding “Je Tu Il Elle” or “Letter to Jane” on this side of the Atlantic. Best to see ’em with a crowd.

It’s the battle of the freaks this week, with your local megaplex is flooded with fact-based aliens*, psychic soldiers, spastic Scrooges, and the terror of the scary button. Shall we leap right in?

“The Box”: Richard Kelly expands Richard Matheson’s short story “Button, Button” into an epic study of temptation, manipulation and creepy stares. It doesn’t work, but it doesn’t work in a really interesting way. My NOW review should be online later today.

“Disney’s A Christmas Carol“: In which Robert Zemeckis admirably retains much of Dickens’ dialogue, and not so admirably turns everything around it into a theme-park ride. And that motion-capture technology? It’s still not quite there.

“The Fourth Kind“: Olatunde Osunsanmi’s alien-abduction thriller — in which Milla Jovovich plays a therapist who uncovers otherworldly goings-on in Nome, Alaska — insists it’s based on factual studies and evidence. It’s not, but it got your attention, right?

“Gentlemen Broncos“: A deeply repressed kid (Michael Angarano) writes a ridiculous sci-fi novel, which is immediately stolen by his pompous idol (Jemaine Clement). That doesn’t sound like the hardest sell of Jared Hess’ career, but throw in the projectile vomiting, the Battle Stags, the general unpleasantness of the film’s universe and Mike White in wrestler hair, and there you go.

“Inside Hana’s Suitcase”: I feel like a heel for not liking Larry Weinstein’s adaptation of Karen Levine’s children’s book about the Holocaust, but it’s an awfully patronizing work, undermining its powerful true story with mawkish re-enactments and a manipulative musical score. Best viewed as a teaching tool for middle-schoolers, rather than a documentary for adults; Susan had similar reservations, but she was nicer about it.

“The Men Who Stare at Goats“: Grant Heslov’s adaptation of Jon Ronson’s fne book about the U.S. Army’s attempts to develop a force of psychic warriors is a lot of fun for its first hour, as George Clooney and Ewan McGregor goof around in the Middle Eastern desert. But then it tries to get serious, and that’s just wrong.

“When We Were Boys”: Both Susan and I have far fewer reservations about Sarah Goodman’s documentary, which takes DV cameras into a Toronto boys’ school and tracks the development of the student body over a couple of years.

And that’s everything. Which is good, because there’s plenty of other stuff ahead of me today and I should really get on it …

* aliens not actually fact-based.

I do meet some fascinating people. Just pick up the latest issue of NOW …

This week, in a flashback to TIFF, I talk to Jon Ronson, whose excellent book “The Men Who Stare at Goats” has been turned into a rather less than excellent military comedy by Grant Heslov; I also chat with one of Heslov’s stars, Jeff Bridges — who turns out to be not just the Dude, but the man, as well.

And then there’s Jared Hess, whose latest film, “Gentlemen Broncos”, has been getting quite the pasting from critics in the U.S. — I mean, if you thought they were hard on “Nacho Libre”, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

We had a really interesting conversation about the challenges of making and marketing very strange movies — which, sadly, is only available online, rather than being published in the paper itself, where more people might notice it and decide to check out the weird movie where Sam Rockwell plays a space tranny.

Ah, well. Since Fox Searchlight is now rethinking its release strategy on “Broncos”, you probably won’t see it until the DVD comes out, anyway.

If you’ve spent any time on Boingboing, you’ve probably seen at least one remixed version of the London tube map — you know, the mash-ups that replace the names of stations with other thematically connected things. The musical connections version was a particular favorite around here.

Well, there’s a new iteration of this particular meme: A French blogger known only as David has built a tube map for cinema, organizing the IMDb’s 250 Best Movies (as of June 19, 2009) along sixteen rail lines.

It’s not perfect — “WALL*E” is only accessible on the Animation line, not on the Sci-Fi line, and the Drama(s) About Tolerance route feels like an attempt to sort a bunch of titles that couldn’t be fit in anywhere else. But it’s still pretty amazing … and lists like these are intended to spark debate, after all.

Go on, go play. Click the image above to see a larger version, or download the PDF here.

The media may have used the “King of Pop” term ironically, but people believed it; “This is It”, the Michael Jackson rehearsal documentary, ruled the box-office this weekend, pulling in $32.5 million domestically between Wednesday and Sunday. Not bad for a limited-run concert movie slapped together from reference footage. (Expect Madonna to say she did it first with “Truth or Dare” any day now.)

But what of the horror movies, you ask, this being Halloween and all? Well, “Paranormal Activity” keeps luring them in, grossing $16.5 million to take the #2 spot. (Its cumulative take is $84.8 million, which may not be “Blair Witch” booty but puts it on the same phenomenal playing field.)

And “Saw VI” continues to bleed out; it made just $5.6 million over the scariest weeked of all, for a total of $22.8 million to date — a figure that’s less any of the other sequels made in their first three days of release. But before you start dancing on Jigsaw’s grave, remember: These movies don’t cost much, and the DVD sales will be strong. It’ll take a couple of flops to kill the franchise for good … but let’s see what we can do, folks!

In case you missed it on the NOW film section’s Twitter feed — god help me, they’ve got me twatting — I popped up on CTV News Channel yesterday afternoon, chatting up scary movies from a dungeon somewhere in the bowels of the old CHUM-City building.

Here’s the clip. If I look a little uncertain just after each clip plays, that’s because I didn’t have a monitor and couldn’t quite tell when I was on the air.

And yes, I’ve been using the hepatitis line about the “Saw” movies for three or four years now. Can you blame me?

It’s an absolute dead zone this weekend for studio releases, Sony having apparently claimed the frame by opening its Michael Jackson concert movie/necro-doc “This Is It” on Wednesday. So it’s an indie battleground out there.

“Amreeka”: Fresh from its debut at the Toronto Palestine Film Festival last month, Cherien Dabis’ drama about a woman and her son who exchange the tensions of Gaza for the garden of tolerance that is the American Midwest drops into commercial release this week. Susan liked it, but for some reason her review has yet to go up on the NOW site.

“Bronson“: Powerhouse director Nicolas Winding Refn (he of the “Pusher” trilogy) tries his hand at prison psychodrama with the true story of Britain’s most violent prisoner … and comes up a little short, though Tom Hardy gives a thoroughly committed performance in the lead. As in, he should be.

“The Collector”: The screenwriter of the fourth through sixth “Saw” films wants to play his own game … but don’t worry, kids, sado-porn is still on the menu! Andrew liked it more than I liked “Saw VI”, so factor that into your considerations.

“More Than a Game“: True story: I was at the ACC when LeBron James played his 50-point game against the Raptors. Didn’t really appreciate it at the time, and now that I’ve seen Kristopher Belman’s thrilling documentary about James’ formative years in Akron, Ohio, I wish I could be there for it again. Even if that does mean cheering against my own team …

“Three Blind Mice“: Matthew Newton’s deft little drama about three Australian sailors trying to enjoy one last night’s leave in Sydney has been kicking around the festival circuit for more than a year now. I finally caught up to it last week, and really liked it. You should check it out.

Plenty more stuff to do today, so you’ll excuse me if I dash out early …