Weekend Watch – 01/25/19


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

Wide Release

The Kid Who Would Be King

Loren: Terrible title aside, that looks like a lot of fun. I’ll check this out down the road for sure.

RDT: So, reviews of this are pretty good. And it’s directed by Joe Cornish, who did Attack the Block. I don’t think I’ll rush out to see it, but I’ll give it a watch once it hits streaming.

Rick: If I were ten I’d totally be into this movie. Even at my age I’m kind of into it. It looks like a fun fantasy adventure. I’ll catch it via one of those seven hundred streaming services that are out there now.


Serenity

Loren: It’s like tropical Shutter Island. I’m in for a good mystery but I have a bad feeling about this one.

RDT: I was going to make a Firefly reference/joke. But it’s early late and I’m tired. Like Rick said, good cast, but otherwise “meh.”

Rick: Man, I really want this to be good, but I have a feeling it’s going to be disappointing. If it gets decent reviews I’ll check it out. Otherwise it’s a waste of a good cast.


Limited Release

Tito and the Birds

Loren: Cool concept and I love the painted art style. I don’t know that I’ll ever see this but I kinda want to.

RDT: It looks beautiful. So, I feel a little bad saying this. I’m never going to see this movie. Sorry.

Rick: Yep. I’m into this, especially the art style. It’ll be a nice change from all the anime I’ve been watching.


The Image Book

Loren: This seems like every collection of random images that played on the TVs of the bars that I worked at. Maybe the trailer doesn’t do it justice and you need to see it from start to finish. Or maybe it’s just weird for weird’s sake. Who can tell?

RDT: I apologize for literally repeating myself. But…..it looks beautiful. So, I feel a little bad saying this. I’m never going to see this movie. Sorry.

Rick: The aging film school student in me wants to go see this at a midnight screening in some quiet, tucked away art house theater. It seems like the best way to take this movie in. It’ll lose something if I watch it at home.


The Girl in the Orange Dress

Loren: Boy I hope those two crazy kids can make it work.

RDT: So, yeah, Lady (but not The Lady™ Hangover?). I’m all set.

Rick: It’s the mashup of The Hangover and Notting Hill that you never asked for and could absolutely live without!


The Challenger Disaster

Loren: Holy shit that looks awful and kind of in poor taste. I’m good.

RDT: Christa Mcauliffe went to my high school. She was from my home state. I remember that day so vividly. Her legacy and the legacies of the other astronauts deserve way better than this piece of shit. Fuck these people.

Rick: Ugh. I went into this thinking it was a documentary. It most definitely is not. It’s like bad community theater with stock footage. No, thank you.


King of Thieves

Loren: I loved this story when I first read about it. I hope that this can live up to that.

RDT: Daredevil is teaming up with Alfred the Butler to pull a caper? Count. Me. In.

Rick: It’s a bit of a real life Going in Style. I love me a good caper movie and this cast is hard to pass up. Put it on the list!


In Like Flynn

Loren: I just want this to look better. Like better production value. It could be a fun story to be told but it just looks so cheap. Also a lot of the shots do match stylistically and that’s very distracting. Too bad.

RDT: Yeah, this needs to, deserves to, look better. I’m a hard pass.

Rick: If this were made twenty years ago and starred Cary Elwes you’d already have my money. Whomever this guy is in the lead role doesn’t have an ounce of the charisma that Elwes or the real Flynn had. I’m all set.


Heartlock

Loren: I don’t really do prison stuff. I think I’ll just pass on this.

RDT: Like the boys said, I’m all set with this one.

Rick: Feels like a leftover story line from Oz or Orange is the New Black. I think I’m good.


Extreme Job

Loren: I’m just glad the cop car from Police Squad is getting work.

RDT: If Rick deems this worth a screening at the Whitsett, I’ll give it a whirl.

Rick: This reminds me of something Jackie Chan and his Five Lucky Stars group would have made back in the 80s. I’m into it.


Dead Ant

Loren: Jake Busey looks WAY too much like Bret Michaels, at first I was like, “Is that Bret Michaels?” Also this just looks bad, not fun bad.

RDT: First of all, you can’t be an “instant cult classic,” Blurbs at the Front of the Trailer. Second, I think I’ll just watch Arachnophobia again. Thanks!

Rick: Look, I’m usually the first guy to line up for a giant creature movie, but I’m super tired of these projects that are designed from the ground up to be cheesy for cheesy sake. Maybe try a little bit harder and you’ll get something like Tremors or even Eight-Legged Freaks. The world has enough things like Lavalanchula and Mega-Shark vs. Crocasaurus. Just…just aim higher, man.


Antiquities

Loren: It’s so quirky. Everyone is quirky. Except him. He’s a normie living in a quirky world.

RDT: Well isn’t that just so quaint. But I think I’m gonna watch Mumford instead. That’s legit charming and you should all check it out.

Rick: I’m always wary of trailers that start with that super light, jaunty guitar music. It’s usually the sign for a lighthearted/quirky indie comedy that is like nearly every other lighthearted/quirky indie comedy ever. In this case I was not wrong. I’m good, thanks.


TV/Streaming

NETFLIX

The Punisher: Season 2

Loren: It’s on the list. I’ll get to it soon. I have some free time coming up.

RDT: I really want to watch this. But I need to get through, at minimum, Daredevil, season 3, first. That being said, I love Bernthal in this role and will be sad when Netflix announces the cancelation in a few days.

Rick: I watched this over the long weekend (no spoilers). It’s one excellent season of TV and one really shoddy one jammed into 13 episodes. Unfortunately, the shoddy one is the Jigsaw storyline. The changes they made to the character aren’t bad on the surface. They just don’t pay off in any satisfying way. Also, 1) The psychologist character’s actions make about as much sense as smacking your head against the wall to cure cancer, and 2) Too many super long speeches. On a positive note: the story about the girl and the photographs is like watching a solid season of Justified. Tight, smart storytelling, great character work, and an excellent resolution. It made slogging through the half-assed Jigsaw material worth it.


IO

Loren: I’m really glad that Netflix has upped its game as far as movies are concerned. This looks pretty good and I like seeing Anthony Mackie doing other things with his time. You can’t be Falcon all the time, you know?

RDT: I’m down with some good sci-fi. I don’t know that this is that. But I’ll give it a shot at least.

Rick: Things I also watched while sick over the weekend. I’m not as down on this as a lot of other critics, but it is definitely a slow-moving, grounded sci-fi story. You could have trimmed ten minutes (mind you, it’s only 90 minutes long) and you wouldn’t miss them. Overall, it has some interesting ideas, but they’re not exploited to any great degree. The pacing and atmosphere reminded me a lot of Bokeh, but that film did a much better job of conveying its ideas. It’s the kind of movie that makes me wish Netflix had a rating between a thumbs up and thumbs down. Not great, but not awful either.


Trigger Warning with Killer Mike

Loren: I like Killer Mike and shows like this. I’ll give it an episode or two.

RDT: I have no idea who this guy is. But I’m into what he’s selling. I may watch an episode or two. (He’s one half of the rap duo Run The Jewels and a now pretty popular activist – Loren)

Rick: I like the impetus behind it, but I’m never going to watch this show.


Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes

Loren: I’m with Rick below, I feel like we’ve learned everything we can about Bundy and I don’t need to know more.

RDT: I have no desire to learn, well, anything about Ted Bundy.

Rick: I’m reluctant to believe that the twenty-plus already produced TV specials and documentaries that have featured Ted Bundy have failed to cover anything you’re going to find in this repackaging of old evidence and audio tapes.


Black Earth Rising

Loren: Wow. Ok you have my attention here. This looks well acted and shot. It’s a story we don’t hear to much about in the states so I’m glad it’s getting it’s due.

RDT: Definitely a story worth telling. Likely a film worth watching. It’s in the queue.

Rick: Now this…This looks solid and compelling. Into the queue it goes.


Polar

Loren: This looks right up my alley. Into the queue for you Polar.

RDT: It’s already in my queue. When I’m in a John Wick mood, but not John Wick specifically, I’ll give it a watch.

Rick: I’m sure that the success of John Wick got this made, but the graphic novel it’s based on predates that movie by two years. If anything, our killer Keanu was probably spawned from this, at least in part. Anyhow, yes to all the murderous Mads Mikkelsen. Please and thank you.


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, Instagram at instagram.com/hollywoodpicturenews, or @HWPicNews on Twitter. And send in your questions/comments to questions@hollywoodpicturenews.com.

From Hollywood,
–Loren, RDT, The Lady™, Rick, and Jen

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