What New Movies Start Playing on Friday, March 16th?
It is nice to have another week with some actual movie choices. This Friday there are four movies that are opening in my area, up here in Seattle. According to First Showing there are seven movies being released this week. Overall it looks like there are 13 movies hitting theaters around the country, just not always near you. So, what are these new movies starting this Friday? Well, read on and find out.
Nationwide Movie Releases for March 16th:
Movie: Dead Silence (R)
Starring: Ryan Kwanten, Amber Valletta and Donnie Wahlberg
Genre: Horror Suspense
Synopsis: A guy wants to find out what happened to his wife who died in gruesome way. He goes back to their hometown of, the spookily named, Ravens Fair to investigate where he learns of the Mary Shaw legend. She was a ventriloquist that was murdered and now is thought to haunt the town. As he gets closer to finding out what happened, he discovers the curse that killed his wife and is now going to take his.
First Thoughts: This movie has a bunch of murderous ventriloquist dolls. It is like somebody was sitting at home watching Child’s Play on DVD
Movie: I Think I Love My Wife (R)
Starring: Chris Rock, Kerry Washington and Gina Torres
Genre: Romance Comedy
Synopsis: Richard is a guy that has become completely bored with his life and wife. He has everything you could want, a great house, kids, a beautiful wife and good job. Yet, he starts to wonder about what else is out there. What other women he could be with. One day an old friend, who is unbelievable beautiful and un-tethered comes for a visit. What will he do with temptation starring him right in the face? He does, after all, love his wife. Doesn’t he?
First Thoughts: Chris Rock comedy on the big screen can be very hit or miss. With a great supporting cast like Gina Torres and Steve Buscemi, it could be pretty good.
Movie: Premonition (PG-13) (Read Review)
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Julian McMahon and Nia Long
Genre: Drama Suspense Thriller
Synopsis: Linda is living a very good life; until a knock at the door reveals that her husband has died in a car crash. The next day she wakes up to find her husband still alive and thinks she was having a very realistic nightmare. When it happens again she starts to figure out that she is not dreaming and that she needs to figure out a way to keep her family intact. Or, does she?
First Thoughts: This has an interesting premise and leaves the possibility of many different outcomes. It all depends on how well they execute it.
Movies in Limited Release this Friday:
- Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon – A horror comedy with Robert Englund and others. What would you find out if you sent a documentary crew out to film a psycho slasher do his work?
- Caffiene – Mena Suvari, Katherine Heigl and Breckin Meyer in a comedy that has a bunch of young people trying to repair their relationships that they have flushed down the toilet with stupid decisions.
- Nomad – Jason Scott Lee and Jay Hernadez in this adventure drama set in the 18th century. A baby gets saved and then raised to fulfill a prophecy.
- The Wind That Shakes the Barley – Cillian Murphy stars in this drama about the Irish Republican Army in the 1920s.
Other limited release options, according to Fandango, include: comedy Adam’s Apples, drama Beauty and the Beast: A Latter-Day Tale, action Hat Trick, documentary Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs, drama My Brother and comedy Tortilla Heaven.
Tomorrow I will pick which new movie to go see and review from Dead Silence, I Think I Love My Wife, Premonition and Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, as they are the only ones playing at a theater near me.
What new movies coming out this Friday look good to you? Will you be seeing any of them this weekend?
Movie Review: 300 – Starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey and Dominic West
Released: March 9th, 2007
Runtime: 1 hr. 57 min.
Ticket Price: $5.00 Early Matinee
Refreshments: Swedish Fish
Starring: Starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey and Dominic West
Director: Zach Snyder
Rating: Worth a Matinee
Synopsis: The king of Sparta leads 300 of his best warriors into battle with the overwhelmingly large Persian Army. They will most definitely be killed, but their willingness to fight for freedom against huge odds gets all of Greece to stand up against the enemy.
Review: 300, while visually appealing, in the end leaves you with a, “is that all there is,” feeling upon leaving the theater. The movie is based on the graphic novel
King Leonidas, played by Gerard Butler (The Phantom of the Opera), leads 300 of his best soldiers into battle against the encroaching Persian army and King Xerxes I who sees himself as a god and is intent on conquering the world. Leonidas was raised to be a great warrior, where death on the battlefield was of the highest honor one could achieve. He leaves his wife Queen Gorgo, played by Lena Headey (The Cave), and young son at home where she must deal with the politics of the situation.
The battle scenes are well choreographed and computer enhanced, as is the whole film. The blood splatter in the movie title logo is a signal of what you are about to watch. Plenty of virtual blood splatter, beheadings and piles of dead bodies to behold. This may be the one thing the ads for the movie got right. The way the movie was filmed and created may do for film making what The Matrix
That was the major problem with the film. It tells the story of a great leader fighting for freedom. This is the type of story that should be able to get you fully behind it, get you emotionally attached to the characters and maybe even give you the occasional case of goose bumps, as you realize the significance of the events taking place. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen. I found myself sitting there in the theater wishing I were watching a movie about the real Battle of Thermopylae and the real people involved, instead of this comicization of the story. It may have made a great graphic novel and have been beautifully transferred page by page onto the big screen, but that is all there is.
The soundtrack
Do to the spectacular visual effects; the movie 300 gets a Worth a Matinee rating. It should be scene on the big screen, if at all. The visuals will not be as impressive on the average home TV system. Since visual stimulation is what this movie is all about that would be a truly disappointing experience. Lastly, it looks like The 300 Spartans might deserve a spot in the old Netflix queue.
300 is the One
Or, so they say in the commercials. With stuff like, “this film will do for movie making what the Matrix did” and other such big time hype statements, 300 sure better be really good and mesmerizing to watch on the big screen.
What is the deal with the over-hyping of things these days? It happens all the time on TV for both products and the shows themselves. Most movie trailers give away too much of the film. Or, give you the impression that it is something different than it turns out to be.
You would think the people who get paid to create advertisements would have heard of the idea of under promise and over deliver. Give you just enough to get you interested in the movie with out showing you every good joke, dramatic moment or big explosion it has to offer. With all the creative people in Hollywood, you would think this could be possible, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.
Well, at any rate (or for the $5.00 early matinee ticket price), I will be going to see 300 tomorrow. Then I will post my review tomorrow afternoon and let you know if it is the ultimate gift or an over-hyped mess. Hopefully, it is the former and not the latter. We shall see.
Will you be going to see 300 this weekend?
What New Movies Come Out Friday, March 9th?
Well, pretty much there is only one movie coming out and that is 300, but according to Fandango there are seven movies hitting theaters this week. Only four of these movies are playing near me. One is opening nationwide, 300, and the rest are in limited release.
Nationwide Movie Releases for March 9th:
Movie: 300 (R)
Starring: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey and Dominic West
Genre: Action Adventure Drama
Synopsis: Based on the graphic novel
First Thoughts: The trailer and commercials for this film sure are promising a lot. It looks like it could be good, but you could leave feeling under-whelmed if it doesn’t live up to the hype. You may also find this on an IMAX screen in your area.
Movies in Limited Release this Friday:
Movie: The Host (R)
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-bong and Park Hae-il
Genre: Horror Comedy
Synopsis: For many years the American military has been dumping chemicals into the Han River. One day a creature from these waters emerges and wreaks havoc among the local population. When the daughter of a food stand worker is taken by what the government is calling the Host of a virus of unknown origin, the father takes it upon himself to head into the forbidden zone and rescue his daughter. Frights and laughs ensue.
First Thoughts: Horror comedy sounds like and oxymoron. Can you be both frightened and laugh at the same time?
Movie: The Ultimate Gift (PG)
Starring: Drew Fuller, James Garner and Ali Hillis
Genre: Family Drama
Synopsis: Based on the book
First Thoughts: I saw the trailer for this movie when I went to see Amazing Grace and it actually looked pretty good.
Other limited release movies not in my area, but maybe in yours:
- Believe in Me – Jeffrey Donovan and Bruce Dern in a drama about a man in the 1960s who wants to coach boys’ basketball and get stuck coaching the girls’ team instead. They learn to trust each other and win, but something could be standing in their way of a state championship.
- Beyond the Gates – John Hurst and Hugh Dancy in a drama about a priest and a schoolteacher who gets caught up in the 1994 genocide in Rawanda.
- Maxed Out – Documentary about the debt life style many in the U.S. lead. Attempts to show you how the financial credit industry really works and how bad things have gotten.
- The Namesake – A foreign drama about a family from India that moves to New York and tries to balance their heritage and traditions with living in America.
That leaves me with three movies available in my area to choose from. Come back tomorrow and find out which movie will be the chose one. What new movies releasing this Friday look good to you? Anything you will be heading out to see this weekend?
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