It isn't often you get three movies that come correct with critics right from the jump, but man that's the case this time around. We have a nice crop of movies coming out this week, and many of them already have notices flying in. We've got Doctor Strange, Hacksaw Ridge and Trolls. It's gonna be a Rotten Week!
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 This Rotten Week has to offer.
Because the comic book movie genre continues to get bigger and bigger, we're seeing more and more of what some may call 'B-List' superheroes get their own movies. Some might take umbrage with putting Doctor Strange on that level, but let's face it, he's not exactly in the upper register of popular comic book dudes. And yet here he is with a big budget flick. And I have to say it looks pretty damn cool.
Benedict Cumberbatch plays the titular character in Doctor Strange, as director Scott Derrickson tells the origin story of how a genius neurosurgeon became a dude who can literally bend space and time. This looks to be Derrickson's best work yet, with critics loving it in early reviews. The filmmaker's previous work lived more in the horror genre with The Exorcism of Emily Rose (45%) and Sinister (63%). This one's sitting in the mid 90's through almost 100 reviews. We are locked up here and I can't take much credit with the prediction.
Sometimes I like to poke fun at movies or get a little tongue-in-cheek with my thoughts on a trailer or movie premise, but not this time. Hacksaw Ridge isn't that kind of flick. It tells the story of Desmond Doss who fought in the Asian Theater in World War II. The interesting thing about Doss (played by Andrew Garfield) is he refused to take up weapons against the enemy. It's based on a true story, and appears an emotional and heartbreaking look at war in all its awfulness. Doss's decision to enter battle as a medic without protection (so to speak) was/is rather unheard of, and yet he managed to save scores of soldiers during battle.
This is Mel Gibson's first foray back into directing since Apocalypto (65%), though, of course, his best work in this arena is Braveheart (78%). Hacksaw Ridge is earning rave reviews out of the box, sitting at 91% through 23 reviews. I suspect it comes down some over the course of the week as war films can get a little polarizing at times. But overall, it appears Gibson has made a critical darling which we might hear about during awards season.
DreamWorks Animation isn't on the Pixar level of cranking out critical hit after critical hit, but they are definitely in that next tier below. They have plenty of upper echelon animated movies in their catalogue, mostly in the the ongoing variety with franchises like Madagascar, How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda movies always scoring well with critics. Sure they have some stinkers in there, but they're few and far between. Now their latest has arrived in the form of Trolls.
Trolls is already looking good with critics (81%), though it's worth mentioning most of the reviews are of the "it's good, not great" variety. The key to good animated movies is cross-appealing to both kids and adults. It's a trickier feat to pull off than you might think. Pixar does it with great stories and arcs. DreamWorks seems to focus a little more on the marketable character. Trolls seems to fit into that mold completely, and if everything works out as it looks like it should, we will almost for sure see a Trolls 2.
There was only one movie put into wide release last week, and my prediction for Ron Howard's Inferno (Predicted: 22% Actual: 20%) was a hit. I can't take a ton of credit here, as many reviews were admittedly already in prior to my write-up. That being said, I likely would have gone in this range anyway because the first two movies in the Dan Brown/Robert Langdon franchise (The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons) both sucked also. This one fell right in line with the other junk piles we've seen before. It's a shame to attach a guy like Tom Hanks to these films. The source material just isn't very good (it's hokey historical stuff,) and seemingly it definitely doesn't translate to the big screen.
Next time around we've got Almost Christmas, Arrival and Shut In. It's gonna be a Rotten Week!
