January's still being pretty skimpy with the DVD treats. This week we get another slob comedy, another football movie, another action movie, another slasher flick and another video-shelf sequel to a movie that nobody really enjoyed all that much in the first place. So please, friends, rent before you buy.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning -- So here we have a prequel to a remake of a classic, and the law of diminishing returns is in full effect. What we were promised -- a dark and nasty tale of Leatherface's icky origins -- is relegated to a sketchy prologue, and the rest of the movie is sub-standard slasher fare in every sense of the term. Points to the team for doling out the gory stuff, but with characters like this (and a pace this glacial) there's very little reason to care who gets sliced and when. Still, the mega-rabid R. Lee Ermey is always good for a few goofy laughs. Extras on the unrated edition include a producer/director audio commentary, a 46-minute 'making of' documentary, four deleted scenes and three alternate endings.

If you read this site very often (and my stuff in particular) you know I don't like going out to the movie multiplex as much as I used to. When I do venture out, I'm usually at some sort of screening and so I'm not exposed to one of the things I actually miss about going to the movie multiplex -- trailers.

A good trailer can make you excited to see a film just like a bad one can make you wonder how something like that ever got made in the first place. Maybe somebody lost a bet or something? Sadly, we'll probably never know. Good or bad, interesting or ridiculous, trailers are still one of the most effective ways to market a film and build awareness of it out there with the public.

Without trailers, the public would have to rely on word of mouth or the press to help them decide which movies to see. Believe me, no studio wants that -- so instead, we get trailers. Over at iFilm they've listed their top-ten worst trailers of the year -- at least according to iFilm users. Some of the cinematic gems represented by this list include Employee of the Month, Zoom and the superbly bad Codename: The Cleaner. Hey, how did that movie get made? Did someone lose a bet or something? Enjoy.

To be fair, Employee of the Month is not a bad movie. It's just not a very good one either. Pic, which takes place in a Costco-like store called Club Super, feels a lot like its setting; the cast, the jokes and the story all come in bulk with very little quality attached to them. Dane Cook (who's recently made the transition from world's most popular stand-up comedian to that dude who stars in mediocre films) plays Zack, a guy who still lives with his grandma, has no car and never aspired to be anything more than box boy at the local Club Super -- a job he's owned for years.

While Zack has perfected his underachiever status, Vince (Dax Shepard) is the complete opposite. As a cashier (known to have the fastest hands in the Southwest with a 9.1 pass-through rate), Vince has won employee of the month 17 times in a row. At the beginning of the film, the employees of Club Super are told that if Vince wins the prize for a 18th time (a new store record), he will be awarded with a brand new Chevy Malibu. Vince wants that Chevy. In his mind, he deserves that Chevy. Thus, his mission is set: win employee of the month one more time and all of his wildest dreams will come true. And things are great ... until she shows up.

A few changes have been made to the release dates for some upcoming films. So, in case you're interested in that sort of thing (admit it, you're a release date nut!), stick around and check out the following:

• Those of you itching to catch Jessica Simpson ruin another movie with her horrible acting skills won't have to wait as long anymore seeing as the release date for Employee of the Month has been moved up from September 29 to September 15. The comedy (which currently sports some brand new posters) also stars Dane Cook and Dax Shepard.
• No one knows what's going on with the upcoming Pulse, except that the film has swapped more dates than Lindsay Lohan. Originally, pic was supposed to hit theaters on July 14, only to have its release pushed back to September 8. Now, it seems they've settled into August 8, though, with still a month to go, chances are this puppy will be heading somewhere else. We'll keep you posted.
• The supposed last martial arts-related film in Jet Li's career also has a new release date. Yeah, and Sean Connery is really retiring too. C'mon Jet, you'll be back kicking ass in no time -- just admit it already. Li's Fearless has been pushed back to September 22 after originally settling down to an early August bow.
• Man, and here I was really looking forward to a new werewolf flick. Seriously, I was. I like werewolves. They're cute. Anyway, something is up with the new flick Skinwalkers, as its release date has been pushed back from December to sometime in April 2007. Either production is running long or the filmmakers want to wait until the season's change and the sun stays out longer. Yeah, that joke failed. I'm out of here.