It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and it’s a good time to watch a romantic movies, but there are also other players in the field. Keep reading to know more.
Love Aaj Kal
Directed by: Imtiaz Ali
With: Kartik Aaryan, Sara Ali Khan, and Randeep Hooda
What is it about: Two different individuals on a journey of love, loss and life through the phases of Reincarnation.
Heads Up: A remake(?), rework(?), rehash(?), reincarnation(???) of the 2009 Imtiaz Ali‘s film (with the SAME EXACT name and premise) starring Saif Ali Khan (Sara Ali Khan‘s father) and Deepika Padukone. We (in Filmphoria) are split on that film, but for me personally it had it all, as it was a lovely rom-com with a gripping high concept, charming two leads, and a fantastic soundtrack composed by Pritam, who is returning as a music director for this one as well. There is a joke that was floating around recently and the gist of it is “while some directors copy Hollywood films, and some copy South films, Imtiaz Ali copies his own films” and it is funny because it’s true. I’m really not feeling this sexier copy of the same movie, so unless there is a “twist” (pun intended), I am sitting this one out.
Ordinary Love
Directed by: Lisa Barros D’Sa, Glenn Leyburn
With: Liam Neeson, Lesley Manville, and Amit Shah
What is it about: An extraordinary look at the lives of a middle-aged couple in the midst of the wife’s breast cancer diagnosis.
Heads Up: A mature love story about a couple in their golden years is something we rarely see on screen, and with two appealing actors in the lead, I must say I am intrigued.
Sonic the Hedgehog
- Directed by: Jeff Fowler
With: Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, Neal McDonough, and Tika Sumpter
What is it about: After discovering a small, blue, fast hedgehog, a small-town police officer must help it defeat an evil genius who wants to do experiments on it.
Heads Up: last year just a few months before its scheduled release date, the first trailer for Sonic The Hedgehog (based on the hit Sega video game) hit the web, and all of a sudden there was an uproar from an angry mob of fans expressing their disdain for the new design of the beloved rascal, which lead the studio to back-off, reschedule the film, and spend a reported US$5m on fixing the design of Sonic, and it seems like it was the right decision, as the new trailer looked much better, and the reviews are mostly good. Paramount is in a dire need for a hit franchise as they have been struggling for the last 5 years or so, and this one might just be the family crowd-pleaser that might give them a lifeline.This film features Jim Carrey in full 90s rubberface mode (ala The Mask and Ace Ventura) playing the villainous Dr. Ivo Robotnik, and he looks ridiculously fun. I for one am taking my Sonic obsessed nephew this weekend to see it, so I’m in.
Fantasy Island
Directed by: Jeff Wadlow
With: Michael Peña, Maggie Q, Lucy Hale, Austin Stowell, and Michael Rooker
What is it about: The enigmatic Mr. Roarke, makes the secret dreams of his lucky guests come true at a luxurious but remote tropical resort. But when the fantasies turn into nightmares, the guests have to solve the island’s mystery in order to escape with their lives.
Heads Up: This is an adaptation for the TV show Fantasy Island (which ran 7 seasons between 1977-1984), and while the TV show was a Sci-Fi mystery with a comedic element, this film belongs more to the horror genre, and no wonder since it’s coming from Blumhouse Studio. The trailer looks promising, so it might be kinda fun.
A Million Little Pieces
Directed by: Sam Taylor-Johnson
With: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Odessa Young, Giovanni Ribisi, Juliette Lewis, and Charlie Hunnam
What is it about: A young aspiring writer at the bottom of his addictions is interned in a facility center to face his traumatic past.
Heads Up: Based on the bestselling memoir by James Frey that was met by huge commercial success upon its release, but later was found out to be largely fabricated, forgery, and exaggerated, which subsequently lead to its designation as semi-fictional instead of memoir. This film adaptation was panned by critics too, as it was deemed “little more than a well-intentioned but unpersuasive echo of a deeply problematic memoir“. I’d say, don’t bother.
