There’s only one movie on the docket this week, but it’s a big one. It finally feels like this is the official beginning of summer, as Ultron makes his way to theaters.
Just remember, I'm not reviewing these movies, but rather predicting where they'll end up on the Tomatometer. Let's take a look at what This Rotten Week has to offer.
POSTER HERE, LINK IT TO PREVIEW PAGE
PREDICTION RATING HERE, LINK IT TO ROTTEN TOMATOES PAGE
Rotten Watch Prediction
Man, it’s a great time to be a geek. We are truly in the Golden Age of Fanboy-dom and I couldn’t be any happier. We are in a seemingly never-ending roll of comic-book and sci-fi flicks coming one right after the other with an immeasurable amount of hype, and it all seems deserved. The upside of this barrage of flicks is that the bar continues raising across the industry. It makes for better and better products with more thought and interconnectivity between material than we’ve ever seen before. It’s fantastic – and hopefully a stretch that will continue with The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Keep getting excited by watching the trailer for the film below:
I t speaks a great deal to the state of the industry and the Marvel Cinematic Universe specifically that I am almost surprised that this is only the second Avengers movie. It feels like the millionth, and I don’t mean that necessarily as a negative. The Avengers, or at least the sum of their parts, seem to have been around forever in the collective movie consciousness. Part of this is stems from the stand-alone flicks from the individual characters like Iron Man, Captain America and Thor, but it also is a byproduct of a movie-making machine that keeps pushing the bar higher and higher. Marvel has a clear path and vision that keeps their name and product in an around the culture at an unending pace. And most of what they do is really good (some of it really great).
Director Joss Whedon is basically Mr. Certified Fresh. Back helming the sequel after crushing the original Avengers (92%), he’s in a unique spot among film directors. He is performing a balancing act with the myriad of moving parts within the Marvel cinematic universe. Forget for a second that almost all of these characters have their own stories and stand-alones. That alone is difficult enough. But he needs to put them all on the screen at the same time, working in the litany of superpowers, backstories, and personalities. That’s all while putting together a fluid story and enough action to keep the masses happy. This has to be one of the most challenging pieces of work ever for any director. He said as much in a recent interview. But this kind of attention to detail and ability to juggle a who’s who of both actors and characters has come out in great work. And early reviews of Age of Ultron keep the streak alive.
It almost certainly won’t finish as high as the first one, but that’s only comparing it to the franchise’s own lofty standards. This movie looks poised to join the ranks of movies that have made this Golden Age of Superhero movies. The bar continues to raise both on the big and small screen. The results are exciting and there’s still so much to come. It’s a great time to be a geek.
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What was going to be a nice little win with The Age of Adaline (Predicted: 75% Actual: 53%) fell well out of range over the last couple of days. I predicted it would dip over the course of the week, and that happened. Most critics were warm on it and even those who rang in a bit negative still enjoyed Blake Lively’s performance. This movie appears singularly produced for a couple’s date night and the reviews all admit as much. When I looked at this score on Wednesday I was sure this was going to be a win. Nope.
Unfortunately, I was way off with Little Boy (Predicted: 54% Actual: 14%) as well. Movies like this can be tough to get a handle on early. On the one hand, it should have been a red flag that no early reviews were in on the flick. That’s typically the worst kind of sign in that the creators know very much they have a stinker on their hands, so why let anyone ring in early? But at the same time, things this vanilla and schmaltzy don’t tend to illicit tons of bashing. That can keep the scores toward the middle. I never would have gone sub 15%, but I certainly should have hedged a bit on the first consideration and gone somewhere in the low 40’s. It still would have been a miss, but at least I would have had the general critical tone correct.
Next time around we are in hot pursuit . It’s going to be a Rotten Week!
