3/4 – 3/6 New movies come out each weekend; come here to find out which bald-headed action hero saves duck movie should be avoided. Three new wide releases this weekend, with a few completely unavailable limiteds. Keep reading to find out how you should spend your movie going weekend:
Misc. Limited Releases
(Opening on fewer than 10 screens.)
Two limited releases of note in theaters this weekend, Dear Frankie in five theaters and Gunner Palace in seven. Of course they’re so limited that almost none of us will get to see them, but Gunner Palace looks like the sort of movie that might be worth keeping an eye out for later on video. It’s a documentary of sorts, following around U.S. soldiers currently based in Iraq in one of Saddam’s old palaces. The cameras simply follow them on patrol, in and out of the palaces of Iraq. The film promises a politically unbiased look on what U.S. soldiers have been dealing with there for a couple of years now. Think of it as a day in the life of. Will it change your views on the war in Iraq? I don’t know. But from a purely educational perspective, for a non-soldier sitting safely in Texas in front of a computer, the subject matter could be fascinating.
The Pacifier
(Opens on 3000+ screens.)
Vin Diesel plays babysitter and jokes involving child body secretions ensue. This was a role originally intended for Jackie Chan. Strangely enough his thick accent might have improved it. It would have helped mask how unoriginal the dialogue is. You see, it’s funny because men don’t know how to take care of kids. Men are idiots! Perhaps that attitude explains why fathers in America have so few parental rights. Whether he’s propagating an anti-father bias intentionally or not, there’s no escaping the fact that Vin Diesel’s Pacifier is a soul sucking black hole of anti-entertainment. That big flushing sound is Vin pulling the “give up” handle on his career. Maybe the guy will at some point get it together, but this movie certainly isn’t going to do it. You’ve seen all these jokes a thousand times before, and they weren’t any funnier when delivered the first five times by Hulk Hogan. I’ve defended Vin Diesel before, but there’s no defending this one.
Be Cool
(Opens 3000 screens.)
A fun, shallow little movie, Be Cool delivers plenty of splashy laughs, but not much in the way of plot. It’s easy to bash, but also easy to enjoy the heck out of, courtesy of great performances from people like Andre 3000, The Rock, and yes, even Cedric the Entertainer. Any movie in which Cedric actually does some entertaining has to have something going on under the hood, doesn’t it? Normally, the guy is a beating, but here he pumps the picture up every time he’s on screen. The story, what little there is, consists mostly of putting Chili Palmer in various sticky situations, and then presenting him with plenty of opportunity to be cool. Cool is something John Travolta does pretty well, a fact I’d forgotten after the slate of crap films he’s been participating in since he starred in Get Shorty, the film for which Be Cool is a sequel. Be Cool is empty entertainment and there’s nothing wrong with going for a few guffaws, but with the movie-going misery of February behind, there may be a better weekend movie-going option ahead.
The Jacket
(Opens on 1300 screens.)
Ironically enough, the most interesting movie hitting theaters this weekend is the only one I haven’t already seen. The Jacket stars Adrian Brody as a military veteran who gets the power to travel into the future by being locked up in a straight jacket and thrown in the morgue Actually, in some ways the plot is faintly reminiscent of another good Sci-Fi thriller that came out around this time last year, The Butterfly Effect. Time travel is a tired plot device, but Butterfly Effect managed something a little new with it, so perhaps The Jacket can too While I’m still not sure when and how Adrian Brody became a marketable leading man, he’s certainly an upgrade over Ashton Kutcher. Throw a potentially topless Keira Knightly into the mix and you’ve got the sort of flick that’s worth a long look in a slow starting movie year.
Still In Theaters and Worth Your Time: The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Million Dollar Baby, Sideways
