The holiday season means family-friendly crowdpleasers are back. But there’s also a host of dramas and prestige productions hitting theaters this month. The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers. Starring Rebecca Hall and Dan Stevens.
Morbius
After failing to grab fans with his Joker turn in Suicide Squad, Jared Leto is back with Morbius, a film about a vampire who becomes a hero. The movie, directed by Daniel Espinosa and written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, stars Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes / Vulture. In his vampiric form, Morbius can fly and has heightened speed, strength, and durability. He can also ride wind currents to travel through the air like a bat and his bones become partially hollow, allowing him to use them as weapons.
As he battles Spider-Man, Carnage, and the Lizard, Morbius seeks a way to control his blood lust. Along the way, he has encounters with the otherworldly Caretakers, the Cat People in their own dimension, a cult, possessed maniacs, and the haunted town of Brownsville. He also reunites with Martine who now remembers him.
The Finest Hours
The Finest Hours is a competently mounted, solidly executed nautical disaster drama. It benefits from excellent acting, top-notch special effects and a few heart pounding moments of suspense. Unfortunately, it’s also saddled with a romance and useless moral lessons that slow the film down and add nothing to its story. The หนังใหม่ชนโรง was adapted by screenwriters Scott Silver and Paul Tamsay from the book by Casey Sherman and Michael J. Tougias, and directed by Craig Gillespie. It stars Chris Pine, Academy Award winner Casey Affleck and Ben Foster, with Holliday Grainger and John Ortiz.
The new Disney flick about a heroic Coast Guard rescue in 1952 opened to a disappointing $375,000 on Thursday night, a weak start for the $70 million picture. It could struggle to cross the $10 million mark over the weekend. The tepid response to the film is especially surprising given that other recent big-screen seafaring adventures such as Million Dollar Arm and McFarland have performed much better at the box office.
She Said
Based on a true story, She Said chronicles New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s quest to crack the code of silence surrounding Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assaults. The film features outstanding performances by Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan, who capture the reporters’ unfussy fortitude in balancing their work and home lives. The movie largely skips over the celebrity victims (although Gwyneth Paltrow and Rose McGowan appear in one chilling call). Instead, She Said examines the lesser-known women Weinstein abused and how he and his Miramax company paid them off to keep their allegations quiet.
She Said lacks the exhilarating tension of great journalism movies (All the President’s Men and Spotlight come to mind). But it’s a riveting film about the search for truth, even when that truth is harrowing. The film doesn’t shy away from the ugliness of what it uncovers, and its portrayals of Twohey and Kantor are honest and affecting. It’s also a reminder that powerful predatory men can be brought down only by dogged reporting and a flood of brave voices.
The Creator
After scoring with 2010’s Monsters, followed by Godzilla and Rogue One, director Gareth Edwards has been quieter than usual. He is hoping to change that with his sci-fi drama The Creator. The movie takes place in a future in which a nuclear blast in Los Angeles sparked a war between humans and artificial intelligence. Human leaders, led by a hard-bitten colonel played by Allison Janney, recruit an ex-special forces agent named Joshua (John David Washington) to hunt down the “Creator” of advanced AI and retrieve an unusual weapon that could end the war once and for all.
The movie’s plot follows Joshua and his young AI sidekick Alphie across volcanic islands, Buddhist temples, and the ruins of Cambodia as they search for the Creator. The film is set to open in theaters on Sept. 29. Early social media reactions have been positive, so The Creator could be the big original sci-fi hit everyone involved hopes for.
Conclusion
No matter your film preferences, there’s a lot to love about the movies hitting theaters this weekend. Mean Girls fans can check out Tina Fey’s stage-to-screen adaptation. Viola Davis stars in a powerful historical drama about Dahomey Amazon general Nanisca and her female warriors.
