In Theaters: February 23, 2018

There are three wide releases this weekend.

Annihilation

A shelved movie that resurfaced after the success of Arrival.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Annihilation is also a medium sized science fiction adaptation.  It's also from an acclaimed director, also has a very respected cast, and also has a psychological twist to it.  But make no mistake, this one is the wannabe.  To prove it I'll just show you pictures of the directors.

Denis Villeneuve (director of Arrival)

Alex Garland (director of Annihilation)

I don't know how he pulls off looking more pretentious than a French film director, but he does.

Anyway, you know how some science fiction novels get concepts and plot points all mixed up, so everything is thematic but nothing has face value anymore?  Annihilation is one of those novels.  The basic idea is that there is this thing called The Shimmer in south Florida.  It's a region so titled because its boundary is marked by a shimmering wall.  Nobody knows what it is or what is inside, but it's expanding, so they send people in to find out what's going on.

Annihilation is rated R for violence, bloody images, language and some sexuality.

Every Day

Do you know why they're kissing in the poster?  It's because both actors look about twelve years old.

Every Day is a YA romance adaptation about a person (entity?) who wakes up in a different body every day.  It's like Invasion of the Body Snatchers reimagined as a tween romance, and that's about how appealing it is to me.

Every Day is rated PG-13 for thematic content, language, teen drinking, and suggestive material.  Sheesh, if I had a daughter in this target audience, no way I'd let her go see it.

Game Night

Game Night is an action comedy about a murder mystery party that gets mixed up with actual danger of some kind and the participants don't know it.

Game Night is rated R for language, sexual references and some violence.

      Big Shot Critic

Black Panther is gonna be number one again guaranteed.