It's only been a few weeks since the release of Deadpool 2, but this weekend we are getting yet another superhero movie - though this one is much less adult-oriented and much more family friendly. And if that's not your speed, we also have a comedy about a neverending game of tag, and a reboot of a 70's cult classic. Get ready for The Incredibles 2, Tag and Superfly.
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.
When we last left the Parr Family, their superhero alter egos (Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl) along with the kids (Violet and Dash) had defeated Syndrome and reestablished themselves as the crimefighting family they'd always meant to be. The Incredibles (97%) crushed it with the critics, and was at the time just another in the very long line of Pixar Studios hits. Now we have The Incredibles 2, which picks up only moments after the original, and from the trailer it looks like we are getting a lot of the same... in a good way. The on-screen laughs, family dynamics and light-hearted nature around superheros are all on display, and I suspect we are in for another Pixar win.
At this point, we don't need to go through the superlatives of the studio. Every year they come out with another critical hit. Last year it was Coco (97%), the year before was Finding Dory (94%), and the list goes on. They are the premiere animation studio and it isn't particularly close. Looks like they have another hit on their hands with The Incredibles 2, and I suspect that few critics will give this one a negative review.
On the surface, a movie about a group of adults still playing the same game of tag they started 30 years earlier just shouldn't work at all. It sounds so stupid that you'd question how it was ever turned into a movie. And yet here we are with Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Hannibal Burress and Jake Johnson (among others) doing just that. And Weirdly enough, there are enough funny moments in the trailer to give me hope this can actually be a real comedy.
Tag is based on a true story about a group of real-life friends who've been playing the same game of the titular playground diversion for decades. Considering I barely even talk to any friends from back in grade school, this kind of commitment feels completely foreign. It feels like the movie is too silly to score in the upper echelon of the Tomatometer, but I suspect it has enough laughs and just the right amount of emotion in the long-lasting friendships that critics score it above average.
I'm not a connoisseur of the original Superfly movies, so I don't know exactly how close this remake comes to the general beats of the one from the 1970s. I will say that this latest edition does everything humanly possible with the makeup and outfits to make you question your sanity and wonder if it is actually taking place four decades ago. But then the cars and guns come in, grounding you right back in our current time period. In this reboot, Youngblood Priest is an Atlanta hustler who makes a living doing... well, I'm not exactly sure what he does. It seems like he just kicks ass, trades crypto, and just basically looks cool all of the time.
If that's what Superfly is set out to do first and foremost, it certainly looks like it will succeed. That being said, I'm not totally convinced all of the glitz and glamour will be enough if the story doesn't hold up. It was difficult getting a handle on any kind of real plot, and I suspect that's what ultimately holds the film down on the Tomatometer. This is Director X's first widely released movie, and while I suspect it will perform decently at the box office, it will get middling reviews from critics.
I had only one out of three predictions fall within 10 percentage points of my estimate last time around, but the two misses were awfully close (only off by four points combined). Starting with the win, I had something of a head start on Hereditary (Predicted: 95% Actual: 93%), which will go down as one of the best-reviewed wide release films of the year. It's even more impressive considering it falls into the category of "horror movie" - but then again there is no questioning the moment that the genre is currently having.
Meanwhile, Ocean's 8 (Predicted: 55% Actual: 68%) fell just barely out of range and might even tick to within ten percent if a few more negative reviews come in. From the tone of the many reviews I read you'd have thought the score would have been much lower. Most seemed to have just been completely underwhelmed by the flick, even those who weren't directly comparing it to its Steven Soderbergh-directed predecessors. And yet the score is still pushing close to 70%. I'll stand by my original prediction, and do feel like the final score is something of an outlier when one actually reads the reviews.
Finally we have Hotel Artemis (Predicted: 46% Actual: 57%), which was another near miss. Some critics recognized it as B-movie win, featuring an amazing ensemble cast featuring Jodie Foster, Jeff Goldblum, Sterling K. Brown, Charlie Day, and more, while others thought it strived to be more and missed. That left the score really close to the middle, and prevented my prediction from meeting my standard of success.
Next time around we've got Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. It's gonna be a Rotten Week!
