In Theaters: August 17, 2018

There are three wide releases this weekend.  One of them could change things.

Crazy Rich Asians (Wednesday Release)

This is the one that could change things.

This romantic comedy is likely to become the movie to see for the next few weeks.  It's been picking up lots of hype and it has earned really good reviews.  If it does succeed, romantic comedies as well as ethnic representation in movies both stand to benefit greatly.  Even the film's director is Asian, John Chu.  You know him for directing Step Up 2 The Streets and G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

What most of you probably don't know is that I have written a screenplay, and it is a romantic comedy.  The genre is pretty dead right now, only receiving attention in independent films and in Netflix originals (I am not particularly interested in either of those avenues).  So in the event that my script actually gets sold or goes anywhere (the likelihood of that is . . . nevermind, I don't want to talk about it) this movie's success would translate directly into my success.  Because, in theory, romantic comedies would be more in demand.

I actually want to see this movie.  It's about an Asian woman in New York who is dating an Asian man.  Finally, her boyfriend suggests that she meet his family, so they fly out east so she can meet them.  She finds out that her boyfriend and his family are crazy rich Asians.  The main conflict seems to be between the would-be daughter-in-law and the boyfriend's mother, played by Michelle Yeoh.

Crazy Rich Asians is rated PG-13 for some suggestive content and language.  It will probably be the best romantic comedy since Hitch.  That's my honest opinion.

Alpha

You know how dog lover movies are almost their own genre now?  Well Alpha is to dog lover movies as The Dark Knight is to superhero movies.

Behold: the dark and gritty dog lover movie.

Alpha is about a boy who lives, according to the trailer, 20,000 years ago.  Naturally he speaks perfect english and so does the rest of his tribe.  They all like to put mud on their face and hunt buffalo and other things.  They're nomadic, and the boy's father is the chief.  He teaches the boy how to be a leader.  Good thing too, because one day when they're out hunting buffalo, the kid gets knocked off a huge cliff and the tribe thinks he dies, but it looks like he just gets knocked out and breaks his foot.  Anyway he ends up running in with some wolves and he becomes . . . say it with me now . . . the alpha.

So this movie sets out to tell the story of the original domesticated dog.

Alpha is rated PG-13 for some intense peril.

P.S. It looks like a live action Ice Age.

Mile 22

Mile 22 is just like every other action movie with a hard edge these days.  Mark Wahlberg is the government operative from the organization you've never heard of that is tasked to deal with problems that us regular citizenry aren't even aware of.  It's basically the IMF from the Mission: Impossible movies.

Mile 22 is rated R for strong violence and language throughout.

      Big Shot Critic