In Theaters March 4th, 2016
We’ve survived an extra day in February and made our way into March. You know what that means, don’t you? Yes, fine readers, that means the movie season is officially in full bloom. As the beginning of Spring is a mere three weeks away, as the trees and bushes bud, new and highly anticipated movies begin to spring up in your local theater. And while this week’s wide releases might be more like a lamb, Terrence Malik roars back into theaters with his brand new movie, Knight of Cups. Not that Malik’s movies ever feel like an intimidating lion, but you get what I mean, right? Anywho, just read the new movie preview and let us know what you are excited to get out and see!
Opening In Wide Release
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Tina Fey. A national comedic treasure. Also, a personality who can often make confusing movie choices. Whenever she ventures out beyond television, where her comedic talents seem born to thrive, it can be very hit or miss. I loved her alongside Steve Carrell in Date Night, which is one of my wife’s favorite movies, and also as Nadya in Muppets Most Wanted, the only good thing Disney had with the Muppets. However, despite my wife’s insistence the movie is good, Sisters could have been better and This Is Where I Leave You was far from good. It remains to be seen if her new movie based on the memoir of journalist Kim Barker can deliver on the laughs, but I am leery of making this something worth seeing. If it disappoints, just go watch The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which Fey created and wrote and also appears in. That show, on Netflix, is comedic gold!
Zootopia
After the disappointment of The Good Dinosaur from Pixar, Disney Animation returns to hopefully wash the bad taste out of our mouths. And while Pixar had two releases last year, their complimentary studio does likewise in 2016. Later this year, Disney hopes to introduce a new princess in November with Moana, first up is their anthropomorphic hat tip to the crime noir genre, Zootopia.
Taking place in Zootopia, a rookie cop (Judy Hopps voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) and a fugitive con artist (Nick Wilde voiced by Jason Bateman), must uncover a conspiracy. It also has voice performances from Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Tommy Chong, J.K. Simmons, Shakira, Octavia Spencer, and everyone’s favorite reoccurring Disney voice actor, Alan Tudyk. I have barely seen any trailers of this movie because I genuinely want to be thrilled and excited to see this movie. This is one movie I will be pushing people out of the way to go see, so make sure you do likewise and get out to see it this weekend!
London Has Fallen
So I guess Olympus Has Fallen made money? The only conceivable reason it seems this movie was greenlit was because the previous movie, set in Washington D.C., made the box office numbers light up. Now, given the performance of the other Gerard Butler starring movie, Gods of Egypt, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I guess…
What disturbs me about this movie is how generic and bland it seems while still making money. Just like its predecessor, it has lots of explosions, a loud action star, an almost implausible premise, and smaller parts by famous stars making money (Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart). I cannot encourage you to see it, especially because of how poor the previous iteration was, but if you do see it, let us know what you think.
Opening In Limited Release
Knight of Cups
Ah, nothing like a Terrence Malik movie to divide people! Malik is a profoundly talented filmmaker who has often made films that can astound, bewilder, and enrage audiences. There are few filmmakers with the visual and emotional palette like him, but often his viewpoint can be seemingly lost in a dense fog of images and meandering narrative. As a relative newbie to Malik’s aesthetic–I have only seen two of his movies, both of which I liked–I cannot make any judgments, but I will definitely say opinions on him are very split. In fact, among our own contributors, some love him and others detest him with everything they have. IF you go to the IMDb page, you can see how divided even the sharpest of critics are. However, I will leave you with this: Malik is an incredible and important talent and seeing his films are necessary. While his newest movie starring Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, and Cate Blanchett might not be his best work, it is worth checking out if you can see it this weekend. Let us know what you thought and be sure to play nice.
