January movies

January has always been a wash for movies. It’s one of two ‘dumping grounds’ for studios, the other being September. If a studio didn’t know what to do with a film, they’d release it in January and hope they got something back. Recently though, studios have begun to realize that the month of January belongs to the action genre. Films like Taken 3, Ride Along, Contraband and The Book of Eli have all been January top earners in years past. Fortunately for action fans that trend continues with January 2017. But fear not non-action fans! January is also the time when all of those big Oscar hopefuls get wider releases so check your theaters, there’s some good stuff out there amongst the bad.

Out of all of the movies coming out in January, Jamie Foxx’s Sleepless will be one of the bigger hits. It’s a remake of a French thriller called Sleepless Night that’s touted as a Die Hard esque action thriller, but it’s not that at all. It’s a very tense film about a corrupt cop who steals from the wrong drug dealer and that drug dealer in return kidnaps the cop’s son and holds him for ransom at his popular nightclub. Save for the kid there really is no good guy and it makes for an interesting dynamic. There’s a lot of sneaking around and fist fights and the lead is wounded from nearly the beginning so he’s not really at the top of his game. This remake looks to keep most of those tropes with the addition of Michelle Monaghan as a cop who might be on to Foxx and what looks to be more of an action packed ending. I’m fine with these updates and I’m sure audiences will enjoy this.

I could’ve sworn that Underworld: Blood Wars was coming out last October but it turns out it’s coming out this January. If the creators of this film series knew what they were doing they could be making serviceable action-horror movies, but they don’t seem to get it so it looks as if we’re getting a 5^th helping of the same vampires v. werewolves story. If you want a GOOD film where vampires and werewolves don’t get along, go watch What We Do in the Shadows.

If you happen to see an advertisement for Monster Trucks and you are in bewilderment at what you’ve seen don’t worry, you’re not alone. The PRODUCERS, the people who put up the money, thought the same thing and tried to back out AFTER the movie was nearly completed. Such actions are usually taken before the cameras start rolling, not after. The release date was also pushed back about a year and a half and while that might not always be a bad thing (Cabin in the Woods), it usually means the film was a few steps away from being a Red Box release. In this case though, the film cost a whopping $125,000,000.00 so they had to at least TRY to get some money back from it. The film focuses on a kid who wants out of his town and sees his only shot at this is to become famous in the world of monster truck rallies because…well, I have no idea. So he builds himself a monster truck and then, through what I’m sure will be a series of bonkers events, unearths a blob/shark/octopus creature that also likes monster trucks. Yup. So that creature winds up taking over his vehicle and they go really fast and, more than likely, take on some sort of corporate villain. If you see this 125 million times in theaters then the movie is sure to be a hit financially.

With the huge popularity of the Fast and Furious series it’s a wonder Vin Diesel wanted to go back to his xXx series, especially since he was unceremoniously killed off-screen in the Ice Cube starring sequel. In xXx: Return of Xander Cage, we find that our extreme sports loving super-agent was merely left for dead, not fully dead. The first one had him go up against a team of anarchists who want to see the world burn and this looks to be more of the same, except they’re seriously upping the cast with people from all over the world. The core cast includes actors like Ruby Rose (Australia, will be in a few action sequels this year), Donnie Yen (China, stole a few scenes in Rogue One), Deepika Padukone (Denmark, one of India’s biggest stars), Tony Jaa (Thailand, popped up in the last FF film, should be more famous the dude is awesome) and Rory McCann (Scotland, The Hound from Game of Thrones which, apparently, not everyone watches). The FF series proved that big films can have a multi-ethnic cast and be successful. Even if this film is a mess (a mess that I intend to see the moment it hits theaters) I think it’s worth mentioning that they’re putting all of these actors on a bigger stage.

The Sixth Sense was a huge hit when it first came out and Unbreakable, I feel, is a great follow up that is truly worth a revisit. People seem to be spilt on Signs but I like it. That’s usually where a positive conversation about M. Night Shyamalan ends. After that came The Village, The Lady in the Water and The Happening, none of which were beloved by audiences or critics. Then he took some for-hire jobs like The Last Airbender and After Earth and that certainly didn’t win him any fans. So then he took a step back for a couple years, took some producing jobs, quietly made The Visit, which was a modest hit, and he’s quietly made another film called Split. James McAvoy plays a man with 24 different personalities who has kidnapped a group of girls who then try and reason with some of his personalities before the evil ones take over. It looks like an interesting, small-scale thriller which I feel Shyamalan excels at.

In the beginning (2002-03) there was Resident Evil and Underworld. One featured zombies, the other vampires and werewolves. Both had a female lead and wore its influences on its sleeves. Resident Evil was based on a video game series that was loaded with references to its source material but went in its own direction. Underworld was an aesthetically bleak Matrix rip-off that never found its footing. I feel I may be laying it on pretty thick that I enjoy the RE series a whole lot more and am looking forward to Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. Now if for one second you’re thinking, “well I guess this is the last one,” I can tell you that the words ‘The Final Chapter’ is the furthest thing from a guarantee that a series is over. Saw, Friday the 13^th and even Lake Placid (yeah it’s a Sci-Fi channel film series now) have used that subtitle and each of those series has continued. 

So that’s January. Do you think you’ll search out the possible Oscar winners or are you looking to shut your brain off as a way to ring in the New Year?