Battleship

Life Happens is also available on DVD this week.

The Lucky One

Zac Efron stars as Logan, a conflicted marine in this schmaltzy adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks romantic novel. While overseas in Iraq, Logan finds a picture of a beautiful girl (Taylor Schilling) and comes to believe she's the reason he was able to get out of duty alive. Upon his return to the States, Logan finds her in Louisiana and becomes a part of her and her son's life, much to the chagrin of some protective friends. Efron is appealing, but the movie is cheesy and formulaic. The DVD comes with the "Zac and Taylor's Amazing Chemistry" featurette.

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Battleship

Taylor Kitsch and Alexander Skarsgard are brothers and navy men in Battleship, an overblown actionfest inspired by the board game of the same name. Alex (Kitsch) is a stubborn but lovable rule-breaker, while Stone (Skarsgard) is the dependable leader, but their world is flipped upside down when aliens touch down near their Hawaiian naval base. Suddenly, it becomes up to Alex to save his fellow troops, the country, and his girlfriend (Brooklyn Decker) from being demolished. The DVD includes an alternate ending and seven film featurettes.

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One more release when you read more

Snow White and the Huntsman topped the box office this weekend, opening with $56.3 million. Last week's number one flick, Men in Black 3, dropped to second place with $29.3 million, followed by The Avengers with $20.2 million. Battleship came in fourth with $4.8 million, and The Dictator rounded out the top five with $4.7 million.

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Raking in $55 million this weekend, Men in Black 3 managed to finally bring down box office behemoth The Avengers, which took second place with $37 million. Battleship came in third with $10.8 million in its second week in theaters, followed by The Dictator, which earned $9.6 million. The newly released Chernobyl Diaries came in fifth with $8 million.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

I don't remember aliens making an appearance in my own childhood sessions with Battleship, but I suppose when you try to make a toy into a feature-length film, you're afforded a few liberties. Unfortunately, the producers of Battleship may have spent too much time finding creative ways to explode things and not enough time on a plot, ending up with underutilized actors, in a wishy-washy destruction story.

Battleship starts out in 2005, when the US establishes the Beacon Project, an effort to reach out to potential life forms on a planet that has a similar climate as the Earth. The government sets up a powerful signal on Hawaii capable of sending transmissions to the foreign territory. Little do they know the frequencies are being received, and not by friendly folks. Enter brothers Alex (Taylor Kitsch) and Stone (Alexander Skarsgard). Stone is clean-cut and responsible while Alex is generally a mess. We first meet them in a bar scene that turns to Alex breaking into a convenience store to steal a chicken burrito for his future girlfriend, Sam (Brooklyn Decker). Thanks to Kitsch's surprising physical comedy skills, the scene is the highlight of the movie. It all goes to the aliens after that.

Read the rest of my thoughts on Battleship after the break.

To get in shape to play Battleship's hard-hitting Petty Officer Cora Raikes, Rihanna geared up to work alongside the real-life Navy. From weapons training to boot camp, find out how the pop songstress got in shape for her big-screen debut.

Drop and give me 20: Forget what you think you know about bootcamp workouts. Rihanna's training was the real deal. She worked alongside Navy soldiers, performing drills that challenged her entire body. She describes the experience as "really intense with lots of yelling," and, of course, lots of push-ups. The goal was to get her in action-hero shape while also breaking her out of the "celebrity mindset." In order for Rihanna to really connect with her role, she needed to understand the mentality of a soldier. You can train just like Rihanna — minus all that yelling — by doing our 11 total-body bootcamp workouts.

A weighty affair: Wielding a big gun is no easy feat. Aside from a ton of weapons training, Rihanna needed serious upper-body strength to maneuver around with such a heavy arsenal. Her trainer's answer? Weighted sandbags. Working out while carrying added weight helped Rihanna prepare for running, jumping, and kicking her way across the screen with heavy artillery strapped to her chest. Feel like challenging yourself with military-style tactics? Get going on these CrossFit workouts that anyone can do, or wear a weighted vest the next time you hit the treadmill.

Battleship hits theaters this Friday, and that has us eager to play the classic game. Whether you are looking to improve your strategic skills or indulge in a little nostalgia, we've listed four ways to digitally sink some battleships via iPhone apps, the Android Market, Facebook, and more. And for the serious players, check out this man's algorithm for the perfect Battleship game.

• iPhone — Play the classic Battleship ($1) game on your for iPhone, or opt to play the Super Weapons mode to earn higher player rankings and to unlock new weapons. The app also has WiFi, Bluetooth, and Pass & Play capabilities, so you can play Battleship with another player. In honor of the film, you can also play the game with its new cinematic twist Battleship Alien Invaders (free). All the classic features, but now with play options as the human navy or the alien forces.
• Facebook — The Facebook game Navy Battles: The Pacific Campaign is actually wildly addictive. Play is on a standard grid and includes bonus attack strategies like air attack, missile strikes, and guided torpedoes to help target the enemy's fleet.
• Android Market — In the Android Market, Dragonplay brings you Sea Battle Live (free), an online game based on the classic Battleship. The app is a true winner — earning nearly five stars from 5,745 reviewers. Play against friends or online opponents.
• Online — While you can't play Hasbro's official version of Battleship online, you can play a series of Battleship minigames, like "Quick Fire," a steer-and-shoot game.