Posted by Hey geeks!
Sorry I missed last week! We’ve got a butt ton of snow here in Seattle and it tossed off my schedule so let me run down the 4, FOUR!, wide releases of last week. As always, check out our podcast looking at January through end of March releases here.
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part – animated family film – Almost as good as the original, so it’s a fantastic film just as the first was five years ago. Bob’s score: A. Metacritic score: 65. Bob also did a review for all the films in the series so far here.
The Prodigy – horror – Creepy kid horror flick, Taylor Shilling is unsure how to deal with her son and the serial killer possessing him. It’s… alright, it has moments but really hold back. Kim, Bob, and Cody saw it. Bob wrote a review with a C-. Metacritic: 45.
Cold Pursuit, dark comedy/revenge -It’s February, so it’s time for Liam Neeson to kill people to get revenge. This time with a snow plow. A remake of a Norweigan film, In Order of Disappearance, now streaming on Netflix, the director returns trading out Stellan Skarsgard for Neeson. We’re very excited for it over here. Trailer looks like a comic blast, treating itself with a tongue in cheek nature, giving people exactly what they want. Metacritic is a 58, just shy of “green great” but still solid.
What Men Want – comedy – I don’t want it, but I’m not the target audience. I’ve never seen the original film What Women Want with Mel Gibson, nor do I care to. This gender bent version looks to be just as general and broad as any other comedy. I do like seeing men taken down a notch, but the jokes in the trailer are stereotyped based and seems too easy. Try harder! Metacritic: 51.
On to this week!
Happy Death Day 2U – horror/comedy, written and directed by Christopher Landon. Starring Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine; PG-13, 100 minutes.
The first Happy Death Day, released on Friday the 13th, in October of 2017, was a huge surprise. You can read my thoughts about it here, so I’ll leave it to: we here at City of Geek loved it and have been looking forward to the sequel since the surprise “hey, we’re making a sequel… btw, we actually made it already -here’s the trailer” announcement. The sequel looks to be revisiting the original and taking it an insane level – more murder, bigger deaths! TIME TRAVEL? Yeah, going for broke and we’re in.
The Metacritic is 57, oddly enough the exact same score as the first (as of Tuesday afternoon). I’ve not read any of the blerbs to remain spoiler free as best I can. I’d call that good for genre expectations. BOB’S REVIEW.
Alita: Battle Angel, action/Sci-fi ;written by James Cameron, Laeta Kalogridis, Robert Rogriquez – based upon the graphic novel series by Yikot Kishiro; directed by Robert Rodriquez; starring Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali; 122 minutes. PG-13.
The much delayed action-epic is finally upon us. I’m honestly excited; no matter how the story might turn out, Alita has a great look and should be visually amazing if nothing else. It’s an easy gag to rip on the big eyes and iffy trailer. I think this may bomb, but my ass will be in the seat the night before this is published. Expect a review. I’m iffy on Rodriquez here – he’s a great director when working with five dollars and all-in-actors. When handed a giant budget, he seems to fail. Cameron has gone mad in the last decade since Avatar so we’ll see how this works. If it’s a failure, it should be an interesting one, but I honeslty hope it works and gets over the “heh, that looks dumb” feel the genpop seem to have.
As I write this Monday afternoon, the score on Metacritic is at 55. The blurbs all say it looks spectacular but range on the story’s effectiveness. Good to note none of the reviews are in the Red. That’s something. — UPDATE: I rather enjoyed it despite some pretty big problems. Thoughts here: REVIEW.
Isn’t It Romantic?; comedy; Written by Erin Cardillo, Dana Fox, and Katie Silberman; directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson. Starring Rebel Wilson, Liam Hemsworth, Betty Gilpin; PG-13, 88 minutes
The Final Girls with a romantic comedy. Oddly enough, from the same director! And also trading out a handful of capable leads with an actress is really hate. No mincing of words, Rebel Wilson is a bad actress. But I’ll cut it off here. Plotwise, Wilson for whatever reason wakes up to find her life a PG-13 rated comedy. This could have some fun jokes and dig on a genre I don’t care for either. I fully admit the genre follows as much to expectations as my beloved slasher flicks (as The Finals Girls – also featuring Adam Devine- lovingly explored), but I find them cynical and without love behind the camera. Anyway, at only 88 minutes they might not be stretching the concept; and as I noted above, the same director means this could replicate the success of The Final Girls.
The Metacritic score of 62 bodes well, stating the genre is jabbed and skewered in fun ways.
Fighting With My Family, true story/drama/comedy/sports; written and directed by Stephan Merchant; starring Florence Pugh, The Rock, Lena Heady, Nick Frost; 108 minutes; PG-13.
The true story of Paige, from the WWE, from the creator of the Office with a great cast? Yeah, I could be talked into it. I’ve not watched WWE in about 17 years, but it absolutely has it’s fans and I won’t fault anyone for it. Wrestling is cheesy-fun. Soap opera with more face smashing and sportspersonship. The trailer looks to follow the basic plotting of “up from nothing” biopic, but everyone involved does solid work continually. The reviews at 68 show a suplex of a film. I’m in.
One comment