Here to take a look at the films coming out in wide and limited release this coming weekend. I’ll give you my thoughts to help you decide what’s worth checking out.
- If you want to spend Oscar weekend seeing a movie starring 3 Oscar nominated actors in an action thriller:
Non-Stop – Your basic Liam Neeson set up at this point – a man with [a certain set of skills] becomes mixed up in [some dire circumstance] and must [fight dudes to survive]. In this case he’s an air marshall who is on a flight being highjacked and must figure out who the culprit is before passengers are killed. The twist shown in the trailer is that the hijacker makes it seem like Neeson is behind the attack. This sort of flick can be a fun watch if it doesn’t get too hokey or too serious, but also runs the risk of being too generic to stand out. Besides Neeson, Julianne Moore, and Lupita Nyong’o there’s also some other noteworthy mentions like Michelle Dockery, Corey Stoll, Shea Whigham, and Scoot McNairy. It’s a good cast for this type of movie yet it still feels like an at home watch unless you’ve been a fan of all those other Neeson action joints. - If you loved the History channel miniseries The Bible, or like the actual Bible I guess:
Son of God – It’s bothersome to begin with that this movie is just a re-edit of all the Jesus scenes from the miniseries with a few deleted scenes added in to make it seem like you’re getting some value from your ticket price. That just is such a desperate money making ploy that it makes me cringe. The other thing that makes me cringe is the trailer. It has such an odd feeling to it. I can’t quite put my finger on it, and maybe it’s because of the nature of it’s production, but it seems so melodramatic. This is not your brutal Passion of the Christ. Also, Jesus seems really cocky which is kind of dope.
- To see the comedy that’s already been out for months in the UK with glowing reviews:
Alan Partridge – So I feel really out of the loop not knowing about this Steve Coogan character (like not Coogan the actor but Partridge his character, obviously) even though he’s been playing the role in various forms throughout his career.. Either it’s one of Britain’s secrets or I am just ignorant. I’ve always enjoyed Coogan’s appearances in comedies, usually playing a douche, and now I know how he’s gotten typecast into those sort of roles. Over the past few years I’ve come to enjoy even more facets of his performance in films like The Trip and Philomena. I feel like it’s about time I became familiar with what somehow happens to be his biggest claim to fame as well as my biggest blind spot when it comes to the guy.
Available on Video On Demand before its U.S. release on April 4th.
