Unlike last time around, there is plenty to see coming out from Hollywood this first weekend of February, so let’s check them out.
Split
Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
With: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Haley Lu Richardson
What is it about? Three girls are kidnapped by a man with a diagnosed 23 distinct personalities, and must try and escape before the apparent emergence of a frightful new 24th.
Heads Up: M. Night Shyamalan triumphant return to relevancy. With a strong performance (or a dozen) from my man James McAvoy, I’d say hell yeah!!
Silence
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
With: Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, and Liam Neeson
What is it about? In the seventeenth century, two Jesuit priests face violence and persecution when they travel to Japan to locate their mentor and propagate Catholicism.
Heads Up: The latest film from Martin Scorsese was met with mostly positive reviews, and even its detractor says it’s worth seeing, at least for its beautiful Oscar nominated photography by Rodrigo Prieto. Our own Lloyd Bayer watched and gave it 4/5 stars. In his review he wrote: “Silence has the potential to be Scorsese’s magnum opus but only time will tell if this film reaches that level of reverence”. I think it’s a must see for cinephiles.
Jackie
Directed by: Pablo Larraín
With: Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, and Greta Gerwig
What is it about? Following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy fights through grief and trauma to regain her faith, console her children, and define her husband’s historic legacy.
Heads Up: This film, which is nominated for 3 Oscars including a nod for Natalie Portman, has been highly acclaimed by our Filmphoria Gang. In his 5 stars review Lloyd Bayer described it as “it’s a version of Jacqueline Kennedy that we have never seen before, and perhaps a version that we were never meant to see“, while Faizan Rashid gave it 4.5/5 stars and in his review he wrote: “Jackie is entirely about an event and the performance that brings this to life is an achingly raw embodiment of personal anguish“.
Live by Night
Directed by: Ben Affleck
With: Ben Affleck, Elle Fanning, Brendan Gleeson, and Zoe Saldana
What is it about? A group of Boston-bred gangsters set up shop in balmy Florida during the Prohibition era, facing off against the competition and the Ku Klux Klan.
Heads Up: Critically panned and financially flopped is an apt descriptive of Ben Affleck‘s 4th directorial effort, after a great run with Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and Argo. Considering the weekend is packed with stronger releases, I’d sit this one out to a later date.
Kung Fu Yoga
Directed by: Stanley Tong
With: Jackie Chan, Disha Patani, Amyra Dastur, Aarif Rahman, and
What is it about? Two professors team up to locate a lost treasure and embark on an adventure that takes them from a Tibetan ice cave to Dubai to a mountain temple in India.
Heads Up: Jackie Chan‘s latest film could fall in the realm of so-bad-it’s-good. The China-meet-India story partially filmed in Dubai looks so silly and fun. I would make time for it but with a good crowd.
