Weekend Watch – 12/2/16

Welcome to the Weekend Watch. Where we try to point you towards the best ways to spend your viewing time (or, at least, steer you clear of the garbage).

Movies

Jackie

Loren: This isn’t for me. I want to like Natalie Portman but I haven’t really since she was a kid. Unless I hear that this ends up being a “must see”, I think I’ll pass.

RDT: I’m hearing the quality of her performance outweighs the quality of the film overall. Unless I get access to a screening/screener (yay for industry connections!), I doubt I’ll rush out to see it. But I’ll give it a view eventually.

Rick: I know I’ll wind up seeing this, and I have a feeling it’ll be worth it. However, I’m anticipating an on-again, off-again accent from Natalie Portman. It (hopefully) won’t be enough to distract from the rest of her performance.

Jen: This is right up my alley, a mid-century, female-led historical drama. I have no strong feelings on Natalie Portman (which surprises me) but I can’t imagine I won’t be seeing this.


Incarnate

Loren: Look I’m a wrestling fan, but this is co-produced through WWE studios. That should tell you about the quality of this flick. Pass-a-jawea.

RDT: If you read this column with regularity then you know I’m not gonna see this movie (unless Rick deems it Whitsett Theater worthy at some point in the future).

Rick: Exorcism movies are REALLY hard to do well. They all, on some level, wind up being clones of The Exorcist. There are very few in the genre that are worth your time. This flick does have a clever conceit, but it’s still borrowing bits of Insidious. I may catch this at a second run theater just out of curiosity or on Netflix down the line.

Jen: This feels like Hackers meets The Exorcist. I’m sure there is an audience for that. I’m not part of it though.


Things to Come (Limited)

Loren: I’m sure this will be acted well on Huppert’s part. That’s all I really have to say about it.

RDT: Someday I will catch up on all these foreign films. Today is not that day.

Rick: This feels oddly familiar, but it’s hard to ignore the lure of Isabelle Huppert’s talent. Feels like more of a matinee than a night out, but I’ll give it a shot.

Jen: Is this about a middle aged woman dating an attractive younger man? The older I get the more compelling these stories become.


Old Stone (Limited)

Loren: This is something that I think I just want to read the wiki on later down the line. I don’t feel like I have to devote two hours to it.

RDT: Looks like it’s foreign film week here at the old HPN. I have nothing else to say.

Rick: This looks like a strong drama, but I just have this feeling it’s going to fall off my radar.

Jen: A movie about the nightmare of bureaucracy. That might be scarier than any slasher flick. No thank you.


The Duelist (Limited)

Loren: It’s kinda like Russian Westworld. Could be interesting. It’s a maybe from over here.

RDT: Ok, at this point, I should probably just acknowledge that I’m never going to watch some of these movies. I’m sure someone, many ones, will. Just not me though.

Rick: *starts searching for theaters showing this in IMAX*

Jen: I have to agree with RDT, even though I watch thousands of trailers, read tons or reviews, and listen to cool pop culture podcasts (like the Hollywood Picture News) I still don’t have the time to see that many movies. And this will slip through the cracks for me.


Man Down (Limited)

Loren: It’s too bad The Beef is a nutball. It sort of takes me out of his performances. He looks like he’s doing an excellent job in this though. I don’t know. Another solid maybe from me. (Not my best week).

RDT: Is this the movie American Sniper should’ve been? I dunno, but I’m intrigued. Shia LaBeouf has been and can be a good actor (even if he is a weird dude). And Gary Oldman is always solid to downright amazing. Wait…was that Jai Courtney? Eh, I guess I’ll see it anyway.

Rick: I’m on board with LaBeouf pushing himself as a performer. At least he’s trying to improve his art instead of just being content and stale. If it turns out he can hold his own with Gary Oldman I’ll be impressed.

Jen: Cards on the table, after seeing the glowing pull quote about Shia LeBeouf at the end of this trailer I dug up the reviews, including the one the pull quote is from. The context being that the film itself is dreck, but his performance is gold and a big waste. All of the reviews I could find were pretty scathing, but, also, universally filled with praise for the performance. Is it possible an amazing performance in an awful movie would be enough to persuade awards accolades? That’s not rhetorical, someone answer me!


TV/Netflix/Blu-Ray

Pacific Heat: Season 1 (Netflix)

Loren: Meh, if I run out of Archer and I really need a fix then maybe.

RDT: I haven’t seen Archer (it’s on the list), so I’m probably not gonna watch an Australian ripoff of Archer.

Rick: So, it’s basically Australian Archer? Sure, why not.

Jen: ::Insert Archer in Australia joke here::


So that’s your upcoming weekend in review. Let us know what you saw, liked and/or hated.

As always, you can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/hollywoodpicturenews, or @HWPicNews on Twitter. And send in your questions/comments to questions@hollywoodpicturenews.com.

From Hollywood,

–Loren, RDT, Rick, and Jen

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