The weekend is right on schedule this week, positioning itself right at the end. It's probably best that it's done that way, since we have some movies that need watching, and this work schedule really interferes with my ability to make it out to the theater.
We see the full return of Arnold Schwarzenegger in "The Last Stand"; personally, I am excited to see him back in full swing! "Mama" is the new Guillermo Del Toro horror flick, in which my interest is above average. "Broken City" rounds out the trio as a new crime thriller with some good names attached. All in all, I'm excited for this week's releases.
Take the jump and I'll get a little more in depth on each.
"The Last Stand", directed by Jee-woon Kim, looks to be a decent amount of fun. It doesn't want to be a "good" movie - nothing Oscar worthy or anything like that - but it should have some good explosions and amazing one-liners! Arnold is back in the action and I'm excited to watch him headline a film again. The director they chose here seems interesting, as the movie he appears to be best known for is "Tale of Two Sisters", which is a horror/thriller that is extremely creepy and a bit gory. It's not a happy family film; it's full of depressing atmosphere and mind-twisting terror. On the other hand, he also directed "The Good, the Bad, the Weird", a western of sorts with a touch of sci-fi. So who knows where this latest film is going.
Russell Crowe and Mark Wahlberg split the screen in the upcoming "Broken City", a movie that I have seen almost zero marketing for. I have seen the preview...once, maybe twice? Aside from that, I know almost nothing about it. I know its a crime/thriller/revenge movie about an ex-cop looking to get justice for something that happens to him caused by the Mayor. Seems like a solid cast with a solid crew behind it. It may not offer much new to the genre, but I think if you've liked similar sounding movies then you will probably enjoy this one enough. My guess here is that the stars will at least be able to lift this above the norm. Worst case scenario, you're out seven bucks and two hours.
Can "Mama" surpass "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark"? A better question, is there anything to "Mama" we haven't seen in the trailer? I think what I'm most excited about here is seeing Jessica Chastain take on a ghostly creature feature like this. I think she will elevate the entire aura of the experience. Del Toro has been letting it slip a bit recently, so I really hope he can bring it back home for this one and throw in some great atmosphere here. I want to get scared. Can this do it for me? I'll probably have to at least head to the theater to find out.
As for some quick box office numbers, I'll make this easy and say that I think all three will be fairly evenly matched; I expect each of them to finish somewhere in the $15MM range. My guess would be that, of the three, "Mama" comes out on top - because young kids do love their horror movies - but it should be a close finish. As for last week's holdovers, "Zero Dark Thirty" looks like about the only film that should make any noise. Overall, it looks like it'll be a pretty good weekend for Jessica Chastain!
Whatcha think? Which of the three would you see if you had to see one of them but you could only see one?
"The Last Stand", directed by Jee-woon Kim, looks to be a decent amount of fun. It doesn't want to be a "good" movie - nothing Oscar worthy or anything like that - but it should have some good explosions and amazing one-liners! Arnold is back in the action and I'm excited to watch him headline a film again. The director they chose here seems interesting, as the movie he appears to be best known for is "Tale of Two Sisters", which is a horror/thriller that is extremely creepy and a bit gory. It's not a happy family film; it's full of depressing atmosphere and mind-twisting terror. On the other hand, he also directed "The Good, the Bad, the Weird", a western of sorts with a touch of sci-fi. So who knows where this latest film is going.
Russell Crowe and Mark Wahlberg split the screen in the upcoming "Broken City", a movie that I have seen almost zero marketing for. I have seen the preview...once, maybe twice? Aside from that, I know almost nothing about it. I know its a crime/thriller/revenge movie about an ex-cop looking to get justice for something that happens to him caused by the Mayor. Seems like a solid cast with a solid crew behind it. It may not offer much new to the genre, but I think if you've liked similar sounding movies then you will probably enjoy this one enough. My guess here is that the stars will at least be able to lift this above the norm. Worst case scenario, you're out seven bucks and two hours.
Can "Mama" surpass "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark"? A better question, is there anything to "Mama" we haven't seen in the trailer? I think what I'm most excited about here is seeing Jessica Chastain take on a ghostly creature feature like this. I think she will elevate the entire aura of the experience. Del Toro has been letting it slip a bit recently, so I really hope he can bring it back home for this one and throw in some great atmosphere here. I want to get scared. Can this do it for me? I'll probably have to at least head to the theater to find out.
As for some quick box office numbers, I'll make this easy and say that I think all three will be fairly evenly matched; I expect each of them to finish somewhere in the $15MM range. My guess would be that, of the three, "Mama" comes out on top - because young kids do love their horror movies - but it should be a close finish. As for last week's holdovers, "Zero Dark Thirty" looks like about the only film that should make any noise. Overall, it looks like it'll be a pretty good weekend for Jessica Chastain!
Whatcha think? Which of the three would you see if you had to see one of them but you could only see one?