There are some new flicks out this week, let’s take a look.
Click here to listen to this weeks previews!
Five Feet Apart
If you liked Me Before You, or one of about a dozen other tear jerker flicks where some form of forbidden or difficult young love is in play, you will love this. This is the story of two young CF patients in a hospital who fall in love, and are torn between thier love and the very real dangers of sharing each others germs which could be fatal, or for other reasons that they make clear. So they must stay six feet apart at all times.
But do they? Or will they? Or can they be expected to? This may not be a gigiantic hit in actual numbers this weekend, but one thing can be made sure. This will be with the ones that go see it. These kind of movies find a loyal following and become big hits within their circle. And this will. National critics will shred this, but the patrons will love it. Hard to review these kind of movies, because they are what they are. Nothing really wrong here, just not anything really new or original. And that’s OK, go have a good laugh and a good cry. Movies are made for a ton of reasons, not all are supposed to win Oscars, and this will not.
Captain Marvel
Here at last is Brie Larson in Captain Marvel. The makers of this have scoffed at the idea that this is their answer to the incredibly successful, Wonder Woman. This is groundbreaking in the sense that this is the first time a woman has been cast in a superhero role tradionally held by a male.
This movie deals almost exclusively about the origins of the good Captain. Her past, and how becomes, or learns she is “Captain Marvel.” Being honest, perhaps they spend too much time on it. This is not too long overall, just a bit draggy at times as it spins its wheels in the same mud a few times. I also believe that the best superhero movies spend time dealing with, and saving real people, and not aliens we don’t understand. That was one of the strengths of Wonder Woman, and some of the earlier huge Marvel successes, but not as much here.
Even though she is an Oscar winner, and has been in a few blockbusters before, this is the chance of a lifetime. for Brie Larson. To land a role that will pay her in incredible amount of money, and huge fame for years to come. She is the right person, in the right role. And this is a tough cast too, as the comparisons to Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman can’t be avoided, where I thought she was terrific. Larson is good here, but the writers do not allow her character to develope on a human level as well as they could have. But at the movies end, you do get paid off in the big finish.
This is the first major hit of the upcoming big movie season, and will be inspiring to young girls that see this, and that’s a good thing. Is this great? No, but it’s a solid good.
Greta
The new Greta is a nice and tidy attempt to scare you, and for the most part this is compelling. This stars Chloe Grace Moretz, whom I really like and is a fine young actress, she stars as. This also stars Isabelle Hupport as the insanely mentally twisted, Greta. She is a very lonely upper middle aged woman who lures young women into her life, and eventually stalks, and then kidnaps them to hold them as a kind of “daughter” figure.
This has a strong hint of the Stephen King classic, Misery in it, as Greta is a demented woman bent on being horrible, and doing unspeakable things to people for her own gratification. This has some originality, but not enough. The story is predictable, and you are way ahead of it most of the time.
But our principles are strong and give good performances, even if what they are dealing with is mostly rehashed. This is suspenseful at times, and entertaining as well. Short and sweet too at an hour 38, it ends when you are ready for it to.
Fighting With My Family
Here comes one of the best surprises in a long time at the movies. This is the true story of “Paige” and her rise to fame in the WWE, opening the door for other women to get better chances in wrestling. This is certainly a story none of us has seen before, and that always scores points with me.
This is an interesting story that you need no knowledge professional wrestling to understand what is going on here. And that is the movies absolute strength. This is loaded with cameos from that world and that’s fun too. This is funny, and this is entertaining. This is well cast, paced nicely and overall just fun. Vince Vaughn is great here as a real guy, reinventing his career and he is terrific!
This is simply good cold weather fun. Take your favorite wrestling fan and go see it.
The Lego Movie 2
Not to really belabor this point, this movie is mildly fun, and not nearly as original as the first one, or as a few of the spin-offs that have come from this. It is fun to hear some of the snappy pop culture humor, and tons of your favorite stars voicing a bevy of Lego characters. But this concept is limited, and we may ave seen the best shot this franchise dish out with the original.
Cold Pursuit
Here comes Liam Neeson again with a well timed mid winter action movie. This formula has done well for Neeson with the Taken franchise and others. Make action movies that are released when the box office competition is low, and the return can be high.
Problem is, over the years, they all have started to look the same with little variance. And no one is questioning the acting ability of Neeson, but how much longer are we to believe he can still mow down legions of bad guys at his age. There is an attempt to deliver some dark humor here, and some if it does work. But in the end, it’s much the same
What Men Want
Didn’t we go down this path a few years ago with Mel Gibson? Isn’t this about the same flick were one can hear the inner, private thoughts of the opposite sex?
Well, yes, and I guess turn around is fair play. I like Taraji P. Henson, and here are moments here that she is funny, but she is asked to do too much, and some of this is not as funny as they may have envisioned. This movie makes a nice statement on women in the workplace, especially in businesses where women are rare. This has some nice momentum and belabors the same point, all at the same time. Fun cameos, for those who are into that. This is OK, not a bad day at the movies.
