It’s a light week of movies this time around with just one new title in wide release. All we get is a tourist whose trip to Mexico lands her in the crosshairs of both a drug cartel and the DEA. Get ready for Miss Bala.
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.
Miss Bala probably isn’t exactly the film that the Mexican tourism board wants getting out there. A young woman played by Gina Rodriguez takes an innocent trip south of the border only to end up deeply involved with the actions of a drug cartel. It looks flashy and slick, though I have some reservations about whether the story comes together completely.
Catherine Hardwicke’s directorial career has been all over the place. She kicked things off with the excellent (though sometimes tough to watch) Thirteen (81%), and had a decent follow up with Lords of Dogtown (55%). Then, of course, she went big budget and commercial with Twilight (49%). The last few years have seen her make much smaller flicks like Miss You Already (71%) and Plush (29%). The critical reception and tone of her movies run the spectrum. I think Miss Bala falls somewhere in the middle. While I think some critics will like the female empowerment angle to the action, and the original was reviewed well, I suspect others have issues with the story.
I had one hit and one miss last time around with the Rotten Watch. The Kid Who Would Be King (Predicted: 85% Actual: 86%) missed by only a single percentage point, and was a big critical success in general. I said in my writeup that I was a bit lucky to have some early reviews in on the movie that were overwhelmingly positive, as I don’t think I would have trended the score that high based on the concept alone. But critics really took to the film - a modern day update to the Sword in the Stone from writer/director Joe Cornish.
Meanwhile, I didn’t have any early reviews on Serenity (Predicted: 60% Actual: 22%), and it showed with the prediction falling well away from the mark. Critics panned Steven Knight’s psychological thriller about a fisherman on an island played by Matthew McConaughey. who is asked by his ex-wife (Anne Hathaway) to chuck her new, abusive husband (Jason Clarke) to the sharks. Reviews used words/ phrases like, “terrible,” “infuriating mess,” “insane,” “wacky,” and “terrible” to name a few. Critics really, really didn't like this one, and my prediction was way, way off.
We’ll be back next time around with The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, Cold Pursuit, The Prodigy, and What Men Want. It’s gonna be a Rotten Week!
