In Theaters: March 28th, 2014

Three wide releases this weekend!

Cesar Chavez

I will admit that I know very little about the politics of Cesar Chavez.  But with what I know about movies I can still guess pretty well what kind of movie this will be.

I can tell you that Cesar Chavez was a real person, and that he was an activist.  I can tell you he's from Arizona (Yay!) and there are schools here named after him.  And I can tell you that this is a biographical film about him.

This feature is from director Diego Luna.  Until a few minutes ago I didn't even know he directed anything - he's an actor most of the time, and I like the roles I've seen him in.  He has directed one small feature in the past and the reviews were mostly positive.  The two writers who worked on Cesar Chavez were both nominated for oscars in the past.

I expect it to do good business.  And rightly so.

Noah

Darren Aronofsky's latest film, Noah, is also a pet project finally fulfilled.  We have known for several years now that Darren would love to do a Noah film, and it was only a matter of time before he had the clout to get it done.

For those of my readers who were raised by wolves, or who otherwise managed to get this far not knowing the story of Noah, it's from the Bible.  God flooded the Earth after instructing his prophet, Noah, to build an ark and save two of every animal and his own family.

My only concern about this movie was the current trend of taking beloved characters (real or fictional) and "humanizing" them (read: giving them massive flaws).  These worries were put to rest when I read an interview with the director, Mr. Aronofsky, a couple months ago.  Basically he said that while he is taking some liberties with things, the character of Noah is not one of them.  He knows much of this movie's audience will be religious people, and he has no intention of alienating them.  Although apparently test audiences didn't react well with a scene where Noah gets drunk (which is funny, because that is also straight from the Bible).

Bottom line: I have every reason to believe this movie will be quality.

Sabotage

Normally, when a movie says "from the writer of Training Day and the director of End of Watch" it's referring to two separate people, but in this case both refer to David Ayer.  I was going to make fun of him a little bit but then I read that he wrote The Fast and The Furious.  I have a deep love for those movies so now I can't make fun of him.

However, I sense more Arnold here than David.  For David it's another movie but for Arnold it's another part of his attempt to come back.  And that attempt has not gone well, financially speaking.

I don't expect this movie to be anything special.  It's very familiar territory.

What is most concerning though, has almost nothing to do with the movie itself.  Sam Worthington is in this movie and doesn't even have a line in the trailer.  Is his career over until James Cameron summons him to film more Avatar movies?

      The one.  The only.  Big Shot Critic

In Theaters: March 21, 2014

Three wide releases this weekend!

Divergent

I have high hopes for this one.  This runs solidly in the same vein as The Hunger Games, as have many young adult novel adaptations with female leads lately, but this one has a lot more going for it.  The lead herself, Shailene Woodley, made a splash a couple years ago with her turn in The Descendants.  A role for which she was nominated for approximately one billion different awards and she won eleven of them.  When she was hired for this part the producers were effectively saying to the world "we're serious about this."  And most things about this movie indicate that they are still serious and are taking care to produce something good.

God's Not Dead

The entertainment news industry only pays attention to two kinds of movies, for better or worse.  Major studio films that are meant to entertain, and small independent films that are meant to be seen as art.  So when a small independent film is made to entertain I don't usually hear about it.  But then they usually go the direct to video route and never end up in theaters, and certainly not as a wide release if they do make it to theaters.

Here is one exception.  God's Not Dead is centered around the classic case of a christian college student in a class with an atheist professor.  It's a common situation that - I daresay - almost all christian college students today have faced.  And if they haven't then they know someone who has.  It is probably for this reason alone that this is getting a (barely) wide release.  There will be many preachers freely urging their congregations to see this movie.  (I took this copy of the poster image from the website of one such church)

The director is Harold Cronk and by the looks of his IMDB page he's directed half of all the movies you didn't rent at Redbox in the last two years (they are the types of movies that go straight to Redbox).

The trailer features other characters in other situations, but only long enough to get you confused.  The movie will likely be similarly disjointed and seemingly undecided on which message to share first.  So, if this movie is good, I expect it will be entirely because of the message upon which it is based, and not because of the technical ability and talents of those involved.

Oh, did I mention the atheist professor is Hercules??  Maybe that's why I kind of want to see it.

Kevin Sorbo plays the atheist professor

Muppets Most Wanted

I'm a big Muppets fan so I'm looking forward to this.  I'm not as excited as I was for the last one, but I am excited.  On the one hand, it is almost exactly the same creative team as the first, and that can be problematic.  And on the other hand it is Disney, and they have been handling all their properties extraordinarily well in the last few years.

The basic premise is that there is a bad frog that looks almost exactly like Kermit, and he secretly trades places with Kermit.

At least the title was changed from the original and much worse title "The Muppets . . . Again!"

Also, Ty Burrell's character was originally going to be played by Christoph Waltz, which leaves me pondering right now on what might have been.

      The one.  The only.  Big Shot Critic

In Theaters: March 14th, 2014

Two wide releases this weekend as well!

Need for Speed

Starting a few years ago in 2011, movies about people racing cars (read: Fast & Furious movies) became very big business.  And when a franchise becomes successful every studio that doesn't have that franchise wants a similar franchise, and they start digging through their potential properties to see if they have something similar.  Dreamworks dug through their stuff and came out with Need for Speed.

Dreamworks seems to be pretty serious about the way they handle this property.  They hired Act of Valor director, Scott Waugh.  That seems like a good fit.  One of the writers generated a lot of buzz when his screenplay for Flight was nominated for an oscar.  I'm not sure if that's a good fit.  But Dominic Cooper is in this movie and I like him.  So go see it.

Oh, and Michael Keaton is in it too.

Tyler Perry's The Single Moms Club

Tyler Perry is a genius.  He is one of the smartest people in Hollywood.  He found a little niche market where there was demand with no supply and he has been supplying ever since.

The Single Moms Club is exactly what it sounds like.  It's a heartwarming sort of support and friendship thing.  Has there ever been a movie where all the main characters are single moms?  No.  That's the genius of Tyler Perry.

Of course it was written and directed by Tyler Perry so if you have liked any of his movies in the past you will like this one.

      The one.  The only.  Big Shot Critic

In Theaters: March 7th, 2014

Two wide releases this weekend!

300: Rise of An Empire

Well, it's been eight years now and Zack Snyder has mostly moved on to bigger - if not better - things.  So where can we find some boob of a director to basically pretend to be Zack Snyder for eight months of his life?  Enter Noam Murro.  The director of 300: Rise of An Empire, and two other things from the last six years that no one has ever heard of or will ever care about.

The trailer makes it look as if Zack Snyder is directing by saying:

from producer Zack Snyder

director of 300 & Man of Steel

But we don't fall for this.  We are Big Shot Critic.  We didn't even see the first one anyway.  But if you did see the first one, and you liked it, get ready for a big fat rehash with no soul.

Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Okay so the source material here is a recurring character on a cartoon from the sixties.  A lot of people remember Rocky & Bullwinkle, but almost no one remembers the recurring segment with Mr. Peabody.

I can't argue with the director, Rob Minkoff.  He was part of the directing duo responsible for The Lion King.  The writer, however, was not.  His name is Craig Wright and he writes for television.  It's not even kids's television that he writes for.  Just a bunch of second rate stuff that gets cancelled.

Call it intuition - you won't remember this movie in two months.

      The one.  The only.  Big Shot Critic