Moviefone Editorial

Tag: only the brave

  • What’s New on TV, Netflix, Digital, and DVD/Blu-ray This Week: January 22-28

    At a loss for what to watch this week? From new TV, we’ve got you covered.

    New Video on Demand, Rental Streaming, and Digital

    “Only the Brave”
    This past year has seen so many devastating wildfires on the West Coast, making this film even more timely. Popular with critics and viewers, “Only the Brave” is based on the true story of the elite firefighting team the Granite Mountain Hotshots.

    Josh Brolin, Miles Teller, Taylor Kitsch, Jeff Bridges, James Badge Dale, and Jennifer Connelly star in the movie, which will be available for digital viewing on January 23, then on Blu-ray and DVD on February 6. Bonus features include deleted scenes, three behind-the-scenes making-of featurettes, audio commentary with director Joseph Kosinski and Josh Brolin, and Dierks Bentley and S. Carey’s “Hold the Light” music video and featurettes.

    “Little Bitches”
    Jennette McCurdy, Kiersey Clemons, and Virginia Gardner star in the R-rated high school comedy “Little Bitches,” which premieres on digital Tuesday, January 23. Annie, Marisa and Kelly are three rowdy high school freshman friends who vow to open their college acceptance letters together at their epic senior bash in four years. Instead, life pulls them apart and the friends become frenemies by senior year. Things look bad unless they can somehow find the friendship they’ve lost in this wild coming-of-age empowerment comedy.

    This exclusive clip from the movie features a high school conversation between two police officers, played by Andrew Santino and Adam Lustick:“Showdown in Manila”
    Alexander Nevsky, Casper Van Dien, Mark Dacascos, and Tia Carrere star in this action film available on VOD and Digital HD on January 23. Here’s the synopsis: “Private detectives Nick (Alexander Nevsky) and Charlie (Casper Van Dien) live and work in Manila. A murder investigation leads them to the jungle camp of an international terrorist called The Wrath. Not trusting the police, Nick and Charlie assembly a team of daredevils to walk straight into the Wrath’s lair and fight an army of his goons.”

    “Suburbicon”
    George Clooney directed Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, and Oscar Isaac in this dark comedy-thriller (and box office bomb) available on Digital January 23 and then Blu-ray and DVD on February 6.

    When a break-in leads to the shocking murder of his wife, Gardner Lodge (Matt Damon) must navigate the town’s underbelly of deceit and violence to protect his family from further harm. The “Suburbicon” Blu-ray comes with more than 50 minutes of bonus features, with the cast, composer, and writer/director Clooney discussing the film.

    New on DVD and Blu-ray

    “Geostorm”“Independence Day” writer Dean Devlin made his feature film directing debut by trying to end the world again with this global climate disaster movie. Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris, and Andy Garcia star in “Geostorm,” which is out on Blu-ray and DVD this Tuesday, Jan. 23. Extras include three behind-the-scenes featurettes on the cast, visual effects, and global warming inspiration.

    “Jigsaw”
    The eighth “Saw” movie is ready to scare you at home on 4K Ulra HD, Blu-ray, DVD, or On Demand on January 23. There are several extras with the discs, including a seven-part documentary, and a featurette on the props.

    “Goodbye Christopher Robin
    Domhnall Gleeson, Margot Robbie, Kelly Macdonald and young Will Tilston star in this poignant story of fame and family, following beloved children’s author A.A. Milne, who created Winnie-the-Pooh. The movie is out on Blu-ray and DVD this Tuesday, including several behind-the-scenes featurettes on the making of the film and the real-life story of the author.

    “Thank You for Your Service”
    This drama exploring the post-war experience faced by American soldiers comes out on Blu-ray, DVD, and On Demand January 23. Miles Teller, Haley Bennett, Keisha Castle-Hughes star in the movie, which comes with a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie; and “The Battle at Home,” a look at the “after-war,” a battle fought at home by veterans of all ages, abilities, and rank.

    • Redbox: New titles coming to the big red box on Tuesday, Jan. 23 include:

    “Blade Runner 2049,” “Jigsaw,” “Thank You for Your Service,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” “A Dog and Pony Show,” “#Captured,” and “Goodbye Christopher Robin.”

    TV Worth Watching

    “Mosaic” (Monday on HBO at 8 p.m.)Steven Soderbergh is trying something new with this murder mystery, being released in two ways — as a mobile app and a TV drama.

    HBO airs “Mosaic” as a six-episode series starting Monday, Jan. 22. But viewers who download the iOS/Android app can go interactive, choosing which perspectives they want to watch. It’s an interesting experiment. Whether you watch HBO’s version or go the interactive app route, “Mosaic” stars Sharon Stone, Garrett Hedlund, Frederick Weller, Beau Bridges, Paul Reubens, Jennifer Ferrin, Devin Ratray, Michael Cerveris, James Ransone, Jeremy Bobb, and Maya Kazan.

    “The Alienist” (Monday on TNT at 9 p.m.)
    This psychological drama series, based on the novel by Caleb Carr, starts Monday on TNT, starring Daniel Brühl, Luke Evans, and Dakota Fanning.

    The 10 episodes are set in 1896, “when a series of gruesome murders of boy prostitutes has gripped New York City. Newly appointed police commissioner Teddy Roosevelt calls upon Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a criminal psychologist – aka alienist – and newspaper illustrator John Moore to conduct the investigation in secret. Joining them in the probe is Sara Howard, a headstrong secretary at police headquarters.”

    “Waco” (Wednesday on Paramount Network at 10 p.m.)
    “Waco: Madman or Messiah” (Sunday on A&E at 9 p.m.)
    This week, two series — one scripted, one documentary — explore the 1993 Waco, Texas, standoff between FBI, ATF, and David Koresh’s Branch Davidians.

    • The newly rebranded Paramount Network (formerly Spike TV) premieres the original series “Waco” on January 24, starring Taylor Kitsch as David Koresh, and costarring Michael Shannon, Melissa Benoist, John Leguizamo, Rory Culkin, and Andrea Riseborough.

    • Over at A&E, they’re airing a four-hour, two-night documentary special, “Waco: Madman or Messiah,” with first-person accounts and archival footage, starting Sunday, Jan. 28.

    New on Netflix

    “A Futile and Stupid Gesture” (Netflix Original)
    This star-studded movie, available January 26, tells the story of comedy wunderkind Doug Kenney, who co-created the National Lampoon, “Caddyshack,” and “Animal House.” He’s played by Martin Mull in the movie, and in real life was at the center of the 70’s comedy counter-culture which gave birth to “Saturday Night Live” and a whole generation’s new viewpoint.

    The cast is massive, including Joel McHale, Emmy Rossum, Natasha Lyonne, Seth Green, Domhnall Gleeson, Matt Walsh, Martin Mull, Thomas Lennon, Jon Daly, and more. Joel McHale plays Chevy Chase, so watch it for that “Community” meta-value alone.“Dirty Money” (Netflix Original)
    This new documentary series from the creators of “Enron” and “Going Clear” features multiple directors tackling different topics related to the greed, corruption, and crime spreading through our global economy. Get more details on each episode, and watch them on Netflix starting this Friday, January 26.

    “One Day at a Time” Season 2 (Netflix Original)
    The Alvarez Family returns for more humor and heart when Season 2 premieres January 26 on Netflix.

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  • How ‘Boo 2! A Madea Halloween’ Scared Off All Box Office Rivals

    This weekend’s box office results weren’t surprising, just disappointing.

    As predicted, Tyler Perry‘s “Boo 2! A Madea Halloween” premiered on top, with an estimated $21.7 million. That’s a solid number but still well below the $25 million some pundits predicted and 24 percent below where its predecessor, “Boo! A Madea Halloween,” opened a year ago.

    The rest of the box office was a crowded mess, with four new wide releases, most of them chasing older audiences and doing collateral damage to each other in the process. Long-delayed disaster epic “Geostorm” lived up to its low expectations and debuted in second place with an estimated $13.3 million. Firefighting drama “Only the Brave” opened in fifth place with an estimated $6.0 million. Thriller “The Snowman” did as poorly as expected and premiered in eighth place with an estimated $3.4 million. And faith-based drama “Same Kind of Different as Me” entered the chart at No. 12 with an estimated $2.6 million and the lowest per-screen average ($1,880) of any of this weekend’s five new wide releases.

    If this weekend’s dismal results were predictable, the lessons they offer are not. Here are the takeaways:

    1. Never Underestimate Tyler Perry

    Tyler Perry’s morality plays aren’t all hits, but every time he dresses up as gun-toting granny Madea, he’s all but guaranteed an opening above $21 million. Last year’s comedy “Boo! A Madea Halloween” was one of his biggest Madea hits, premiering with $28.5 million. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it; “Boo 2!” comes out exactly a year later, working the same horror-spoof formula. Critics didn’t think much of either film, but Perry’s movies are critic-proof. “Boo 2!” earned an A- at CinemaScore from the largely older female audience that is Perry’s base, suggesting that word-of-mouth will be strong enough to keep the popcorn flowing at least until trick-or-treat time.

    2. Critics Can Smell Blood

    Nonetheless, many older viewers still care what critics have to say, and the reviewers were merciless regarding “Geostorm” and “The Snowman.” In hindsight, neither movie was poised to earn critics’ favor, not just because of what’s on screen, but also because of what went on behind the scenes.

    “Geostorm” has taken three years to reach the screen since production began under director Dean Devlin, the longtime producer of Roland Emmerich‘s disaster films, making his directing debut with a disaster movie of his own. After sitting on the shelf for two years, the rough cut underwent an additional $15 million worth of reshoots under another director, along with some radical re-editing. After all that, Warner Bros. still seemed to have little confidence in the $120 million would-be blockbuster, since the studio didn’t schedule any Thursday night previews. No wonder critics thought something was fishy, resulting in a Rotten Tomatoes rating of just 13 percent fresh. Audiences didn’t think much of “Geostorm” either, giving it a weak B- at CinemaScore.

    As for “The Snowman,” even the Nordic noir’s director, Tomas Alfredson, badmouthed the movie in the press, complaining that the murder mystery’s plot makes little sense because the rushed production left him unable to shoot as much as 15 percent of the script, so there was a lot missing when it came time to edit the film. Critics took note and gave the film such negative reviews (9 percent fresh at RT) that even Twitter piled on, creating a Twitter moment whose headline read “‘The Snowman’ could be 2017’s worst film.” Audiences agreed, giving the movie a D at CinemaScore, a very low rating given how generous with grades CinemaScore poll respondents usually are.

    3. Question: Are Gerard Butler and Michael Fassbender Actually Stars?

    Sometimes. Since “300” made him a reliable leading man a decade ago, Butler has been hit or miss. “Olympus Has Fallen” did very well; sequel “London Has Fallen” did not. His biggest hits in recent years have been voice performances in the “How to Train Your Dragon” cartoons, which have helped raise his average wide-release opening above $20 million. According to PostTrak, some 24 percent of “Geostorm” viewers bought tickets because of Butler. Even so, that means three-fourths of the audience didn’t care that the rugged Scottish actor was the movie’s hero.

    Fassbender is a star — as long as he’s playing Magneto. Outside of the “X-Men” movies, however, he’s not much of a box-office draw, as his dual role in this summer’s “Alien: Covenant” proved. He certainly wasn’t enough to sell viewers on what looked like a been-there-seen-that snowbound serial killer thriller.

    4. One Disaster Too Many

    The real head-scratcher this weekend will be the failure of “Only the Brave” to break out. Critics loved it (90 percent fresh at RT), and so did moviegoers (A at CinemaScore). Based on a recent true story, it’s an uncynical, unabashed celebration of American heroism, the sort of movie that ought to have done well among middle American audiences. Yet hardly anyone came out to see it; ‘Brave’s dismal per-screen average of $2,332 means that the movie played to largely empty houses.

    It’s possible that the movie suffered from disaster fatigue. Not only was the Arizona wildfire drama competing for attention with “Geostorm” (a flashier movie with a lot more action scenes and special-effects spectacle), but with several real-life disasters, including three recent hurricanes and the current California wildfires.

    There’s also the fact, ignored by Hollywood, that these real-life disaster movies seldom do as well as expected, as proved by “Deepwater Horizon,” “The Finest Hours,” and “The 33.” Finally, there’s that terrible title, so bland and generic that even moviegoers who knew about the 2013 Yarnell Hill fire didn’t realize that that’s what this movie was about.

    5. It’s a Scary Time of Year

    And not just because of Halloween. It’s frightening because overall box office remains down. Coming in just under $94 million in total sales, this was the fourth worst weekend of 2017 to date.

    But the slump that’s been going on since the middle of summer isn’t the only problem affecting this weekend’s releases. The weekend before Halloween week has become a spooky graveyard for the studios, which have made a practice of quietly dumping many of their weakest prospects there. Last year, it was “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” and “Keeping Up with the Joneses.” Two years ago, it was “The Last Witch Hunter,” “Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension,” “Rock the Kasbah,” and “Jem and the Holograms” — a slate that gives new meaning to the phrase “disaster movies.”

    Why is Hollywood unloading so many of its potential write-offs just before Halloween? The studios may have recognized that this weekend was bound to be a wash, with moviegoers saving their money for next week’s horror reboot “Jigsaw,” not to mention November’s superhero sagas “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Justice League.” Those upcoming films ought to prove that, when Hollywood puts out compelling, crowd-pleasing movies that people want to see, they’ll come back to the theaters in droves, as they have for many of this year’s hits. And when Hollywood fills the multiplex with movies it lacks confidence in and doesn’t know how to sell, you get a weekend like this one.

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