Weekend Movies: ‘Killing’ Spree

After several huge weeks at the box office, nothing significant dares challenge the flooded market. Only two movies open wide this weekend, one on 2,400 screens and the other on 1,400.

The wider of the two is a film that I haven’t been able to screen yet, but I’m dying to. From Andrew Dominik, the director of ‘Chopper’ and ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford‘, ‘Killing Them Softly‘ looks like a good ol’ gangster movie. Brad Pitt plays an “enforcer” hired to bring a harmonious balance to a city’s criminal front after three jackasses knock off a mobster’s card game. Based on the main players alone, I will definitely see ‘Killing Them Softly’ this weekend. Getting me even more amped up to see it is my favorite under-used and under-appreciated actor, Richard Jenkins.

The smaller of the two releases is ‘The Collection‘, a movie whose poster I’ve seen on the wall of the local cinema for (what feels like) a year, yet I still know nothing about. The horror flick comes to us from Marcus Dunstan, writer of the ‘Feast‘ movies, the fourth, fifth and sixth ‘Saw‘ movies, and ‘Piranha 3DD‘. I love my geek cinema, but not enough to deem any of this guy’s work truly entertaining. ‘The Collection’ follows a man who escaped a serial killer, only to find himself snared in another of the killer’s booby trap-filled games. Sounds like just another ‘Saw’ sequel to me.

Because they gotta eat too, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren return to the ‘Universal Soldier‘ franchise in ‘Day of Reckoning‘. The stories of the several ‘Universal Soldier’ movies leading up to this one have been pretty awful, so I wouldn’t go into ‘Day of Reckoning’ expecting anything coherent – that is, if you’re lucky enough to live near one of the three screens across the U.S. actually showing it this weekend.

Continuing the kill-tastic theme is ‘Dragon‘, a martial arts film that sounds like it could be a promising cult classic. The plot follows a retiring bad guy who’s being hunted by his disgruntled master and cop who’s hellbent on catching him. If you get a chance to see ‘Dragon’ this weekend, I beg you to give us a full report in the Comments section below.

5 comments

  1. Marcus

    “…Return to the ‘Universal Soldier‘ franchise in ‘Day of Reckoning‘…that is, if you’re lucky enough to live near one of the three screens across the U.S. actually showing it this weekend.”

    My local Alamo Drafthouse here in Austin is one of those 3 screens; they’re running it strictly as a Midnight movie which I think is kind of genius. Seems like the perfect compliment for latenight nachos and a couple of margaritas.

  2. You are Wrong. You are So Wrong. Psuedo Prometheus quote out of the way, “The Collection” is Actually a Sequel to “The Collector.” Not a terrible flick, but not good by any means. Has picked up a small colony of fans over the last few years however. Either way, THIS movie is a sequel to The Collector, which in turn seemed like a sequel to Saw. So I guess I’m trying to disagree and approve of your statement at the same time…? Heard Killing them Softly was terrible too. Let us know Your opinion, as I agree completely with your Richard Jenkins comment.

  3. Chaz

    Big fan of The Collector, really looking forward to The Collection, been waiting a while for that one. Universal Soldier is awesome, hate to say, the last one was too, excellent action, fight scenes, violence, John Hyams does wonders with a small budget and how can you go wrong with Van Damme, Lundgren and Scott Adkins?

    Give the latest two Universal Soldier movies a shot, you might just enjoy them 🙂

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