We continue our journey through a month of frightening, bloody and violent films. For more, check out our 31 Days of Horror homepage. Synopsis: A small town becomes ground zero to an alien invasion, which reaches Earth in the form of alien slugs on a chunk of space rock. After the meteor lands in the woods, a local big shot Grant Grant (Michael Rooker) becomes infected with the alien parasite, which controls his body and memories. It’s a story we’ve seen many times before, and understandably so. Director James Gunn creates a loving homage to movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Blob and Night of the Creeps, in which the small-town sheriff Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion) must battle an onslaught of infected, zombified humans while trying to stop the spread of the parasite to the rest of the world. Helping the sheriff is his long-time crush and girl next door Starla (Elizabeth Banks), who also happens to be married to patient zero.

That Thing You Do! is the kind of movie only a man with a particular amount of clout can get made. An off-beat comedy about a fake rock band from the ’60s starring a bunch of unknowns and unfamiliar songs to boot? Maybe if it was a comic book first. But thank the powers that be for Tom Hanks and his odd sensibilities. He may be a two-time Oscar winner and an impassioned producer of WWII serialized dramas, but when it came to his directorial debut, the end product was something closer to his Bosom Buddies/The Man with One Red Shoe days. When That Thing You Do! hit theaters it bombed, barely making back its budget and putting Hanks’s directing career in question. Not even Tom Freakin’ Hanks could get his passion project to play with audiences. That very well could have been the end of the actor behind the camera. But lo and behold, a decade and a half later, Hanks returns this weekend with another oddball flick, Larry Crowne. Whether the new comedy (sporting plenty of familiar faces) can counter-program Transformers 3 and survive the competitive summer isn’t the point — we should be happy enough he made something. With Larry Crowne, Hanks has succeeded in doing what so few of his actor-turned-director friends have managed: to make a second movie. Here are a few thespians who took the plunge into filmmaking, only to return to their day jobs after one outing.

The Farrelly Brothers return to comedy with the film Hall Pass. Some may say they never left the genre, but those people haven’t seen The Heartbreak Kid. If you want to determine whether Hall Pass is a triumphant return or if it strikes out like a 40-year-old fat dude at a bar trying to hit on a sorority chick, check it out with this drinking game. We guarantee that it will help you get in someone’s pants… even if those pants are your own.

Episodes and seasons and weeks after its inspiration and its humor have peaked, I still continue to watch new episodes of The Office week in and week out. I don’t know why – I never do this with dramatic shows, only with comedies – but I tend to stick with comedy shows whose legacy I appreciate even if their time has passed, either out of respect, blind hope, or simply the desire to have some noise in the room while I take a break to eat a meal or fold laundry. While The Office certainly isn’t what it used to be, even before Steve Carell left, it’s still an inoffensive and enjoyable way to pass some time. I can’t deny that the affinity I developed for the show’s characters early on in the series has carried me through a lot of its creative droughts (in other words, I hardly watch it only for its comedy) even as more recent network sitcoms like Modern Family, Community, and (especially) Parks and Recreation have made me LOL significantly more often. But in the bizarre cameos leading up to a strange and dry seventh season finale, The Office seems to have encountered much greater problems than a rudimentary lack of inspiration typical for the (possibly cyclical) lifespan of a long-running television show. The Office seems to have rejected the defining characteristics that made it unique in the first place.

Would it be cooler to say that you father died in 9/11 or of a heart attack in your driveway? What will the kids at your middle school think? These are the pressing questions that will hopefully get answers in the first feature film written and directed by Emmy nominee Michael J. Weithorn. There’s no telling what kind of tone A Little Help is going to strike because, from the trailer, it looks like a happy-go-lucky comedy shoved into a drama that’s unafraid to get dark and tell jokes that will leave some uneasy. This very well might be a sunshinier version of World’s Greatest Dad or it could be an animal all its own. An animal that annoyingly repeats everything you say. Either way, you get to see what Chris O’Donnell’s been doing (and you get to see what Jenna Fischer‘s been doing on her nights off from The Office).

A Little Help – directed by Michael J. Weithorn Festival screening times – 3/9 @ 12pm Laura (Jenna Fischer) is a dental hygienist who likes her daily alcoholic beverages almost as much as she dislikes the thought that her workaholic husband (Chris O’Donnell) is cheating on her with his new receptionist. Making matters worse is a family that’s far from the source of inspiration and support she needs. Her sister and mother (Brooke Smith and Lesley Ann Warren) judge with every breath and her father (Ron Leibman) prefers to look the other way and reminisce about the good old days. It’s not an ideal life, but she manages to trudge through it without help from anyone else. And then her husband dies while on the receiving end of a particularly enjoyable sex act.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr snubs his nose at all the films up for the Oscar in order to enjoy the R-rated smorgasbord that is available in the theaters. He kisses his wife and takes six days off from marriage, just like Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis in Hall Pass. He takes those six days to find a fast car so he can Drive Angry, following Amber Heard and her short shorts in 3D. Apparently no one told him she’s a lesbian now.

The Farrelly Brothers return to R-rated adult comedy in a sometimes naughty but mainly soft-hearted touch about marriage, suburban hell, and fidelity in Hall Pass. Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis exemplify their body of comedic work here as the slacker Rich and hyperactive Fred, two good-natured 40-plus year-old men living the middle class life in New England. They have the cars, the houses, the children, and wives of the American dream but feel the need to break out of this mundane existence. Luckily for them, their wives (played by Jenna Fischer and Christiana Applegate) allow them a week off of marriage in order to see what they do with a week of freedom.

At the center of the Farrelly Brothers’ newest film, Hall Pass, is a fundamental question about relationships. At least, it’s the kind of fundamental question that might get someone slapped. Is Olive Garden or Applebee’s the best place to meet hot, horny women? Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis seek to answer that question when they’re wives give them a Hall Pass (or a Kitchen Pass if you’re nasty) – total freedom from marriage for a week. From the looks of the trailer, the women (played by Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate) are doing it to prove a point about male delusion, and it’ll probably be completely harmless until someone gets hurt. There’s some clever moments amidst the generic (a pot brownie sequence? Really?), but the film at least hints at going off the rails a bit. No word yet on if anyone’s scrotum gets caught in a zipper.

The company picnic offers a chance for Michael (Steve Carell) to win back Holly and the Scranton branch to go for volleyball glory.

Michael has to mediate a dispute within his new sales team. Meanwhile, trouble brews in the office when several employees take the term “casual” Fridays too loosely.

10 major clients are moving over to the Michael Scott Paper Company, and the Dunder Mifflin looks to stop the bleeding by buying out MSPC.

Dwight (Rainn Wilson) crosses over to Charles Miner’s (Idris Elba) way of doing business, and Michael (Steve Carell) looks to avenge the betrayal.

Michael (Steve Carell) looks to assemble a team of stud salespeople that can make his company competitive in this epic double-dose of The Office.

Barack Obama was on Jay Leno recently but it was The Office that brought about change that we can believe in by bringing in new regional manager Charles Minor (Idris Elba). His no nonsense attitude is the perfect catalyst to set Michael Scott off, and set him off he did.

The office park hosts a blood drive and the Scranton gang hosts a Valentine’s Day party for the single people in the office.

Michael (Steve Carell) takes his lecture circuit up to Nashua to see Holly (Amy Ryan). Angela (Angela Kinsey) takes her love of cats to a whole new level.

Michael (Steve Carell) gets sent around to the other branches to explain how the Scranton branch has become so successful. Meanwhile, the new heads of the party planning committee, Jim (John Krasinski) and Dwight (Rainn Wilson), forget a birthday and get hell for it.

In a special post-Superbowl show, Dwight (Rainn Wilson) fumbles a fire safety test, causing the Scranton gang to have to find a way to relax. They end up finding the root of their frustration, Michael Scott.

Phyllis’ (Phyllis Smith) Moroccan-themed holiday party goes up in flames when Meredith’s (Kate Flannery) hair catches on fire and Michael (Steve Carell) is forced to deal with the accident.