Books at the movies this weekend

It's a great time of year to be a book readin' person going to the movies. "The Lovely Bones" is here as previously mentioned and the Clint Eastwood-directed movie "Invictus" is also based on a book (John Carlin's PLAYING THE ENEMY). But here are a few smaller flicks you might not have heard about:

"A Single Man" is based on a Christopher Isherwood novel about a day in the life of a gay middle-aged college professor (played by Colin Firth). He's supposed to be great in it although the reviews are mixed. I haven't heard anything about "The Last Station," a movie about Tolstoy and his wife starring Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren, but the names alone (also involved, James McAvoy and Paul Giamatti) have me curious. Richard Linklater's "Me and Orson Welles" isn't about a writer but follows a production of "Julius Caesar" in 1930s New York.

Also, since the movie described is expanding to more screens, here's Walter Kirn's spoiler-free essay on "Up In The Air," "George Clooney Saved My Novel." If that doesn't get him Sexiest Man Alive 2010, who knows what will.