Daylight Savings time messing you up too? Losing that extra hour throwing off your typical schedule? Me too. It sucks. But we do have some movies on the docket to brighten your day. This week we are running all night with Cinderella.
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
I don’t think it will surprise you to know that Liam Neeson is skilled in the art of acting like he can kill people. He’s proven this over a number of different movies. Few people play the hardened, battle-scarred, rough around the edges, hitman with a moral cause like Neeson. He’s created his own niche, and I daresay he’s great at it. These kinds of roles never get old for the guy. He could do another hundred Taken rip-offs and I wouldn’t blink.
See him back at it in the trailer for Run All Night
In Run All Night, Liam Neeson is a retired hitman who, to no one’s shock, is called out of retirement in order to protect his son from his former mob boss. Honestly, I don’t really care what story they fabricated around the star in this one. Those flimsy premises are merely there to round out a script. No, the real gravity here is seeing the new skills Neeson has picked up in every subsequent movie. That’s what really are paying for. I love it. Director Jaume Collet-Sera has experience directing Neeson in these roles after helming Unknown (55%) and Non-Stop (60%). These movies were much of the same. Action. Dribs and drabs of story. Neeson doing his thing over 90 minutes, and kicking ass while rarely taking names.
What I find crazy is that it continues to work. At this point it’s almost a cliche (down to Liam playing his over-serious self in coffee shops) without really sacrificing anything in the actual movie itself. When you’ve got it, flaunt it and that’s what is happening with <="">. We know how it all goes down, but do we care? No, and most critics won’t either. It’ll finish closer to the middle than many other movies of a similar ilk will simply because we know what we’re getting. And what we’re getting is good.
PREDICTION RATING HERE, LINK IT TO ROTTEN TOMATOES PAGE
Rotten Watch Prediction
At this point, with a preschool-aged daughter at home, I’m well versed in the world of the Disney princess. She of the elegant gowns, terrible early luck and eventual fairy tale ending. This wasn’t a fate I sought out necessarily, as I’m not a huge fan of many of the underlying messages in these films. But nonetheless, I forge ahead into a world of Ariel, Jasmine, Belle, Snow White and of course Cinderella. These ladies have taken over a better part of my house and I guess if you can’t beat em, join em.
Take a look at another movie I’m bound to see soon in the trailer for Cinderella
Because a time-honored Hollywood tradition is to recycle the same thing over and over again, repackaged for new audiences to infinity, we are getting another remake of Cinderella. I’m not surprised by this at all. I’m not sure I even find it disappointing considering this flick actually looks pretty good. I just find it funny that it is completely accepted practice to pump out the same thing over and over again. I’m not positive if it’s a shout out to the timelessness of some of these stories, or laziness on the part of studios. The answer is most likely somewhere in between. But of course we know the story here all too well. The only real trick would be to give it an update and make it visually impressive.
Director Kenneth Branagh (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit-56%, Thor-77%) seems like he’s done just that. Early reviews are overwhelmingly positive with it sitting at 95% though about twenty write-ups. That’s an impressive number. Some of the early love comes from Branagh having given the film a glossy feel without being over the top. The story has been told a thousand times, but he seems to have given it a bit of new life thanks to a very strong cast and tight visuals. Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham-Carter have their resumes while Lilly James and Richard Madden bring their Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones chops respectively.
That critics can be this high on a movie this early in the run is a great sign. It may fall in score over the course of the week, but I suspect it stays well above the fresh marker with this much of a head start. If it does, then I really need to hand it Branagh. Without seeing some of these early reviews I would have surely gone lower with my score, expecting a high-on-fluff, low-on-substance affair that some Disney films fall prey to. And don’t worry. I’m sure my daughter will drag me to this soon enough.
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Not a great week. Not a terrible week either. First of all, Chappie (Predicted: 79% Actual: 30%) was a disaster. It becomes somewhat of a critical stain on Neil Blomkamp’s record and fell hard under the weight of what it was trying to accomplish. The Tomatometer score dipped steadily throughout the week thanks to reviews like Nick Romano’s, in which he called out the numerous issues with plot, casting, timing and message. It seems like the flick was a mess throughout.
I had the right idea on Unfinished Business (Predicted: 28% Actual: 13%), but missed with the score. I had a feeling it would be terrible, but hedged a bit at the end because I have a soft spot for Vince Vaughn. This was a mistake, because it finished in the gutter. All of the problems I had with the trailer seemed to play out in in the actual film. It appears a shallow, mostly unfunny mess that never really goes anywhere. Come on Vince, you used to do quality things. What happened? And finally, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Predicted: 70% Actual: 64%) was a win, though I can’t take too much credit for that. There was a couple of reviews in early and movies like this are as safe as safe can be. Old people. Hotels. Love stories. Veterans cast. What critic would hate on this thing? It was all lukewarm, and so were the reviews.
Next time around do you believe we get Divergent with a gun? It’s going to be a Rotten Week!
