February at the Movies
February is looking to be a fun month at the movies. There are a number of heavily advertised releases (if you somehow avoided the trailers for Cocaine Bear, I’m thoroughly surprised), but also keep your eyes peeled for limited releases at your local theaters. Oscar nomination were announced at the end of January, and many of the best picture nominees will see brief rereleases. In a similar vein, I was going to have a bonus recommendation this month of the 25th Anniversary rerelease of Titanic, but it’s only showing in 3D. :-/
Knock at the Cabin – Theaters, February 3rd
M Night Shyamalan’s films have been hit-or-miss with me, but I find the premise of this movie intriguing. Dave Bautiste is certainly having a moment right now (Guardians of the Galaxy, Glass Onion) and is joined by Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley!) and Jonathan Groff (King George from the original Hamilton cast), the trailer has the Shyamalan ‘what can you believe’ style. Is it really the end of the world, or are we dealing with a shared delusion?
80 For Brady – Theaters, February 3rd
Look, I know I’m not much of a NFL fan, and even was less of a Tom Brady fan, but Rita Moreno, Jane Fonda, Sally Field, and Lily Tomlin are enough to get me interested in pretty much any film. Based on true events, the movie follows four octogenarians as they travel to Super Bowl LVI to see their hero, Tom Brady. Laughs and shenanigans and good times – I think we can all use more of that, nowadays.
Your Place Or Mine – Netflix, February 10th
I like Reese Witherspoon a lot and was excited to see a new movie with her in a starring role. Witherspoon house swaps with her close friend in NYC – played by Ashton Kutcher – so Witherspoon can follow a lifelong dream while Kutcher watches her teenage son. Definitely released to coincide with Valentine’s day, unrequited love never looked so pretty.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – Theaters, February 17th
Early reviews for the latest film in the MCU are already out, and frankly they aren’t great. I hope that by going in with lower expectations I can be pleasantly surprised. This cast is stacked, and the environs look equal parts beautiful and artificial – overuse of CGI has also become a hallmark and crutch of the last few MCU films. Kang the Conqueror is a fascinating character in the comics, and Jonathan Majors portrayal of ‘He Who Remains’ in Loki was quite entertaining. Majors has said that the characters in Loki and Quantumania have nothing in problem, but I do hope his charisma is still able to shine through.
On a positive note, news did break today the Kevin Feige is aware that Marvel is over-saturating their own market, and plans are in place to space out releases of both films and Disney+ shows.