Take your pick. This weekend offers a silly PG family flick and two PG-13 adventure movies that were each pushed back from their original 2014 release dates. Choose wisely.
‘Paddington’ has had three full weeks to pull in family audiences, but it’s about to lose its thunder. ‘The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water‘ brings Mr. SquarePants to the big screen once again – but unlike you’ve seen him before. The 2D animated underwater creature and his pals have come topside for a mix of 3D animation and live-action. When their special crabby patty recipe is stolen, they leave Bikini Bottom and enter the real world to retrieve it. Cameos ensue.
Delayed from a summer 2014 release, Warner Bros. is pushing ‘Jupiter Ascending‘ to more than 3,100 locations this weekend. From the Wachowskis, the 3D sci-fi fantasy flick stars Mila Kunis as a Cinderella type who learns that she’s reincarnated from a very wealthy upper-class alien. Being the heiress of the Earth, she finds herself caught in a Shakespearean tale of a devious family willing to do whatever it takes to rob her inheritance. Channing Tatum co-stars as her bodyguard/protector, while Oscar nominee Eddie Redmayne plays the villain. You’ve seen ‘John Carter of Mars‘. Get ready for ‘Jane Carter of Jupiter’.
Originally set to open in January 2014, ‘Seventh Son‘ is finally opening now as well. In this ‘Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters’ knock-off, little-known actor Ben Barnes leads the cast as the apprentice to an evil-fighter (Jeff Bridges). Julianne Moore appears to ham it up as the villain, while Bridges looks to give the same Rooster Cogburn performance that he re-delivered in the horrible ‘R.I.P.D.’
No notable indie releases take the screen this week, which is a good thing because this is a perfect catch-up time considering that the Academy Awards are just two weeks away.
llibal
I saw both Seventh Son and Jupiter Ascending this past weekend. I was totally pleased with Seventh Son while Jupiter Ascending left me somewhat empty. I love sci-fi movies and I am not quite sure how there can be that much going on in Jupiter Ascending and yet it didn’t draw me in and I found the movie rather lifeless and dare I say somewhat boring.
Seventh Son, on the other hand, was one of those movies when I got done watching was thinking “What was wrong with that movie? I liked it and will purchase it on Blu-ray. It is nice to see that Seventh Son has done well in the foreign markets even though the US market will be rather bleek.
Oh well, each to his own, I guess.