Manage your
expectations, people. That is not to say that the movies hitting
theaters this weekend will definitely be bad, but they don't look
like the types of things you will be talking about for years to come.
Of course, those are sometimes exactly the movies you do end up
loving. What do I know? Let's see what you can use to pass the time for a couple
hours this weekend.
The Boy
Director: William
Brent Bell
Writer: Stacey
Menear
Starring: Lauren
Cohan, Rupert Evans, James Russell
The Walking Dead's
Lauren Cohan plays an American nanny hired by a positively spooked
pair of late middle aged English people to care for their son.
Emphasis on the “late middle aged” part, because they should not
have a young boy needing care. Of course, there's more to it than
that. It appears their son, long deceased in the regular sense of the
word, has possessed the body of a large, creepy doll. He has specific
rules that Cohan's character must follow, or else. It all looks
rather silly, but maybe in a kooky and fun way. It's likely to give
you more than a couple of jump scares, at the very least.
The 5th Wave
Director: J
Blakeson
Writers: Susannah
Grant, Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Pinkner
Starring: Chloe
Grace Moretz, Matthew Zuk, Gabriela Lopez, Liev Schreiber
This adaptation of
a young adult alien invasion novel looks like it falls more on the
dreary Divergent side of the spectrum than The Hunger
Games, but you never know. Chloe Grace Moretz has been a strong
performer since she was a little kid in Kick-Ass, but she
hasn't fully gone into full-on heroic protagonist mode yet in her
still-young career. This could be a franchise starter or it could
fizzle in a slew of cheap, grayish-blue CGI. Despite co-writer Akiva
Goldsman's claim to notoriety being his screenplay for Batman and
Robin, he and other co-writer Jeff Pinkner helped make Fringe
one of the best science fiction series of the 21st
century, plus Susannah Grant wrote both Pocahontas and Erin
Brockovich. That's a lot of talent in the people cracking this
story, particularly with an eye toward character work. Maybe this
story about Moretz fighting aliens to rescue her little brother won't
be as dire as it looks.
Dirty Grandpa
Director: Dan Mazer
Writer: John
Phillips
Starring: Robert De
Niro, Zac Efron, Zoey Deutch
Robert De Niro
doesn't really do lascivious. There's a hint of sexual menace at
times – and overt, terrifying offenses in Martin Scorsese's Cape
Fear remake – but basically he has avoided much leering,
onscreen interest in women. Until now. He hangs out with his
character's grandson, played by Zac Efron, on a trip to Florida for
spring break. Efron's a wet blanket about to get married, but maybe
his grandpa teaches him about living a little or something. Don't get
your hopes up too high.
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