2016 Film Preview: February

February. Not quite the throw away month as January but there's usually a good picture or two worth watching. Although, the Oscars are approaching and Hollywood would prefer that you spend time viewing the nominated films. I get the list from Rotten Tomatoes, Fandango, some other source or from watching tv. So some titles may slip through the cracks. Anyway, here we go...

February 5th

• Hail Caesar: The latest release from the Coen Brothers that touts an all-star cast. Set in 1950's Hollywood where a studio "fixer" must locate a kidnapped star. I'm a big believer in the Coens so I will be seeing this film.

• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The zombie genre seems to be getting a little stale. What to do next? Send the zombies back to early 19th century England to let Jane Austen have a crack at them of course. It's perfectly natural to tighten up the old corset prior to laying waste to the zombie horde. This looks fun but also stupid. Kudos for trying to think of something different. Pass.

• The Choice: Another Nicholas Sparks adaptation where a studly white guy who can never keep a shirt on, falls a nubile, young blonde (there's a plot twist) hottie in an affluent North Carolina shore community. The blonde looks 19 and the shirtless stud looks about 30 but despite the odds they make it work I guess. The only "choice" is to not see this dreck. Who keeps reading Spark's books. They get adapted into the same movie. Every. Single. Time.

• Dad's Army: Hijinx in 1944 England (you know during funny part of WWII) where a group of elderly reservists try to catch a spy. Catherine Zeta Jones is the pseudo femme fatale and there's more of your favorite British actors whose names you may not know but have seen in a bunch of stuff, like Bill Nighy. Think Eye of the Needle meets a Monty Python sketch. British humor is hit or miss on this side of the Atlantic. Who knows how large of a release it will get here. Could be an interesting change of pace choice. Though, I didn't think the trailer was funny.

• Regression: Ethan Hawke is a Minnesota detective in 1990 who's investigating an alleged assault on Emma Watson based on repressed memories or something supernatural. I feel like this has been done before. Pass.

• Misconduct: Josh Duhamel is a good looking special prosecutor who's going after big pharma CEO Anthony Hopkins. Al Pacino, who uses a southern accent as a hot shot NYC lawyer, is Duhamel's boss or something. Malin Ackerman plays the Glenn Close role from Fatal Attraction. Seems a bit like The Firm. 

• Tumbledown: A small town music phenomenon dies unexpectedly and a reporter (Jason Sudeikis) goes to said small town to interview the dead artist's wife (Rebecca Hall). He's from the big city and she's small town. Can two total opposites fall in love? Given! By the looks of it, this picture is a refreshed version of Continental Divide.

• All Roads Lead To Rome: Sarah Jessica Parker takes her rebellious teenage daughter to Rome and coincidentally runs into old Italian heart throb she had a thing for. Standard middle aged American woman goes to Europe to find love snoozefest. Does Parker have any fans left? Are there studio execs who think the movie going public wants to see Parker in anything? 

February 12th

• Deadpool: Marvel tried to bring Deadpool out in the ill fated X-Men Origins: Wolverine film back in 2009. Ryan Reynolds gets another crack at the character in an adaption that appears to be a little closer to the source material. Deadpool was a little after my time as a comic book guy so I have no emotional investment in the film like I would say X-Men Apocalypse. The trailer looks good and I will probably find a way to see this film. Perhaps while I'm in Pomona in a few weeks.

• Zoolander 2: Why? Was there a real cry for a Zoolander sequel in the last 15 years? It's more than very possible that I missed it if there was. Did people miss the jokes from the first film? Because you're going to get the same ones this go around. Ben Stiller is creative, talented and funny with a proven track record. My only hope is that the studio gave him such a large truckload of money that he couldn't turn it down. I was never enamored with the original back in the day. Pass.

• How To Be Single: Pure dreck! Admittedly this film is not geared toward my demographic but the trailer is painful to watch. Rebel Wilson plays an Amy Schumer-esque (Trainwreck) mentor to Dakota Johnson's cutesy "small town girl in the big city" or "fish out of water" trope. Take your pick. Awful. It's set in NYC so there are awesome apartments that no one can remotely afford in real life and all the other stuff that goes along with these types of films. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

• Remember: This is a Canadian film that is getting it's U.S. release on this date. The subject matter is a difficult but worthy. Christopher Plummer plays a holocaust survivor who hunts down the Nazi guard that killed his family. 

• Standoff: Check out the trailer here. Laurence Fishburne is an assassin who gets IDed by a young girl after he kills everyone at a funeral. The girl runs to Thomas Jane's house for protection. Jane is a veteran who vows to protect the girl. Good cast. Good looking trailer. Might be worth the time.

• Bad Hurt: Another film with heavy subject matter. A small town family copes with having a veteran son with PTSD (that's my guess as it's not specified in the trailer) and a special needs daughter. Things take their toll as they try keep it together and weather the storm.

• The Final Project: Found footage film about a group of Southwest Louisiana University students that go and spend some time at a haunted plantation. Been there. Seen that. Next.

February 19th

• Race: The based on a the true story of Jesse Owens. For those who may not know, Mr. Owens went to the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. The capital of Nazi Germany run by that Hitler guy. He managed to win 4 gold medals and put a fly in the ointment of Hitler's master race theory. Mr. Owens was also Black. At a time when being Black wasn't easy in America, the bastion of freedom and equality. My hope is the this film can stand in the same room as 42 (2014's Jackie Robinson biopic). I would like to see this film at some point this year. 

• Risen: This is the 1st of two Jesus films in 2016 (how could get so lucky?). Ralph Fiennes brother plays a Roman soldier who goes on a manhunt for the body of Jesus Christ. Apparently there was a lot of hullaballoo about Jesus rising from his tomb and Fiennes is dispatched to find out what the hell is going on. 

• The Witch: Set in the 17th century, weird sh*t starts to happen to some pilgrim types and their simple minds go immediately to witchcraft. It doesn't help that one of the townsfolk has a creepy black horned goat that does creepy things. I'll be honest, the trailer wasn't bad but I'll wait to see what the buzz around the film is before viewing. 

• Forsaken: Jack Bauer goes back to the old West and is trying to escape his past but finds it hard to do so. Eventually he gets pulled back into what he does best. Killing. I don't care what century you're in, you DO NOT F*CK WITH JACK BAUER! Solid cast but it looks like a slowed down version of Tombstone without any historical reference. Pass.

February 26th

• Gods of Egpyt: Remember not too long ago when the film Exodus caught heat for having an all white cast set in ancient Egypt? Well this time, Gods of Egypt has made baby steps as it merely has predominant caucasian cast (progress!). Though, there's not too much diversity amongst the main characters. The very white, very British Gerard Butler is a shirtless villain who has a lot of power and is a bit of a despot. Lots of CGI. Not too different from Clash of the Titans except the gods are Egyptian. Instead of shirtless dudes with great abs in togas, you get shirt dudes with great abs in tunics. Pass!

• Triple 9: Set in Los Angeles, Casey Affleck joins Anthony Mackie's elite police unit and learns that there's more than meets the eye. Think Training Day with a little Point Break thrown in (bank robbing cops with Woody Harrelson in the Gary Busey role). This could be interesting or it could be terrible. I'm going to play it safe and wait & see. 

• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny: Can a sequel be successful with 15 years between installments and without the entire original cast or director? The majority of the time that answer will be "not a chance." However, I'm a bit intrigued by the trailer considering Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one of my all-time favorites. Michelle Yeoh is back but Ziyi Zhang (she jumped off Wudan Mountain at the end of the film, fate unknown?). Can Yeoh carry the film as the only major returning character. Who knows. The film is set for a limited Imax release on this date and will be available on Netflix as well. I will most likely watch this on Netfilx and get back to you later.