Dark Tower

Weekend Movies That Forgot The Faces of Their Fathers

Although we’re still in a summer month, this weekend’s big movies feel more suitable for January. It has taken years and passed through the hands of countless directors, but a dumbed-down big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s most beloved book series finally arrives. In additional, Halle Berry is back in a yet another bad-looking thriller, Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar-buzzed drama expands from its limited opening last week, and Taylor Sheridan has a new acclaimed murder mystery.

Considering how long it took ‘The Dark Tower‘ to get a theatrical treatment, you’d expect it to be the movie that Stephen King’s built-in fan base would love. However, they seem to be the most critical of Nikolaj Arcel’s adaptation. Instead of featuring the story from one of King’s seven books, the movie takes pieces from all of them while building a new universe that’s supposedly set to unfold on both the big and small screens in the near future. I imagine that this weekend’s box office results will determine whether or not that happens.

‘The Dark Tower’ is told from the perspective of a New York City teenager named Jake Chambers. Experiencing terrifying dreams that show children being used by a Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey) and a lone Gunslinger (Idris Elba) whose sole purpose is to stop him, the kid is misdiagnosed as being “troubled.” When dark elements from his dreams appear to be hunting him down in the real world, Jake runs away and follows his instincts to seek help from the Gunslinger. The adventure of self-discovery takes him to another world and back while the Gunslinger named Roland seeks revenge on the Man in Black. King’s biggest fans seem to hate everything about ‘The Dark Tower’ movie, but for those of us who know nothing about the book series, it makes for an okay, albeit rushed, introduction to what might be a fun and creative franchise. Only time will tell if the saga will continue.

I haven’t seen any of them, but it seems that as of late Halle Berry is stuck remaking the same bad movie over and over again. In the new thriller ‘Kidnap‘, she stars as a mother whose child is abducted right before her eyes. Without hesitation, she gets in her car and follows the kidnappers, willing to do whatever it takes to bring her child home. I not only wonder how this movie made it to the big screen, I’m curious as to how it landed a $21 million budget.

My favorite film from the 2017 Sundance Film Festival finally begins its platform release this weekend. Taylor Sheridan kicked all sorts of ass with his recent screenplays for ‘Sicario’ and ‘Hell or High Water’. For ‘Wind River‘, he directed his own screenplay and cast two Avengers – Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen – as the leads. Set on a reservation in the dead of winter, Renner stars as a professional hunter and tracker who’s assigned to assist an FBI agent (Olsen) in uncovering the facts behind a tragic murder in a remote area of the mountains. If you love Sheridan’s recent films, you’ll also love ‘Wind River’. It doesn’t disappoint. Read my Sundance review.

Finally, Kathryn Bigelow’s racially-charged true story ‘Detroit‘ saw a decent limited opening last week. Now it raids 3,000 screens in an early Oscar push.

2 comments

  1. Bolo

    ‘Wind River’ will get a watch from me when I can see it. I don’t really care for Jerry Renner as an actor, but he’s slightly better in supporting roles in more grounded dramas than when tries to do far-fetched larger-than-life stuff. Olsen’s pretty good though.

    • Luke Hickman
      Author

      I see what you mean – but you shouldn’t have a single issue with him here. The character is fleshed out well, making this (IMO) his best performance yet. And Olsen is as great as always.

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