According to HGTV (and plenty of other sources but they came up first) one of the most famous haunted houses in the U.S. is the Winchester house. Belonging to the heir of the Winchester rifle fortune, the story goes that Sarah Winchester (Helen Mirren) was haunted by the souls who lost their lives to a Winchester firearm. She came up with a pretty unique plan to build more and more rooms in the mansion she resided in and ordered day and night construction so that the evil spirits would become confused - this was her actual intention. Now aside from the ghost part, the rest is verified. The heir to the Winchester fortune had a massive mansion with loads of rooms (today the count is 161) and she was the sole, and possibly unhinged, architect. The movie posits that eventually these ghosts got loose and started terrorizing Sarah and her guests at the house. The directors have made some visually interesting films in the past so hopefully, since this about a house with bizarre features like doors and staircases to nowhere, this will look good and give audience members the jump scares they're looking for.
Clint Eastwood has been directing films since the 70's and looking through the filmography, there's more range than I expected. There's no shortage of action and war movies, but there's very few westerns and more comedies and dramas than I thought there would be. Lately, however, Eastwood seems to be sticking with recent events. American Sniper, Sully and now The 15:17 to Paris all stem from events that were big news stories only a few years prior to the film’s release. You may recall the story in the news about a man on a train to Paris with a rifle and a group of Americans, two of them soldiers, helped prevent the man from causing any fatalities. The incident took place over several harrowing minutes and you can't make a full length feature about that, so the film focuses on the three Americans as childhood friends and their journey that brought them on board the train. He's tasked the three men to play themselves and filled out the rest of the cast with comedians playing dramatic roles. Judging by the trailer, Eastwood knows his audience. If you think this is for you, it's probably for you.
When Family Guy was brought back on air after being cancelled, there's a bit where Peter lists many shows that were cancelled during the show’s absence, forcing FOX to reevaluate their decision and bring the show back. Peter Rabbit is by the creator of a couple of these cancelled shows, Will Gluck. He then went on to make Friends With Benefits, Easy A and Annie, all of which were modest hits (didn't break 100 mil domestic but still made money). So that's an adult comedy, a teen comedy, a preteen musical comedy and now he's got his animated feature. A cartoon like this is usually for kids but this one has the added advantage of coming out RIGHT before Valentine’s Day and going up against a horror, a true story and a certain movie about a guy with the last name of Grey. If none of those peak your interest then there's this story about Peter Rabbit (James Corden) who just wants to get into Mr. McGregor's (Sam Neill) garden and eat. I imagine this will have some updated jokes as the original story is over 100 years old and it's James Corden, so it'll probably be very charming.
I'm not sure what Universal Pictures is going to do next Valentine's Day. 2015, 2017 and 2018 all saw a 50 Shades of Grey movie, this year's series closer is 50 Shades Freed. 2016 was when Deadpool came out and I guess competitors saw no reason to go up against that film. This latest tale of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele sees them as a rich, happy couple living it up and doing...whatever it is they do in these movies. Something comes up, things aren't so hunkydory anymore and...look I have no idea what happens. If a talking rabbit, a Clint Eastwood film and a haunted house don't do it for you then this one is here too, that's all I know.
All previous films sure are lucky that Black Panther is coming out AFTER Valentine's Day. Chadwick Boseman reprises the role of T'Challa, alias Black Panther, who stole scenes in Captain America: Civil War - which is no easy task. He's now returned to his home, the technically advanced Wakanda, that is so advanced it is hidden from the rest of the world. After getting involved in the events of Civil War, he brought with him some unwanted attention to his home and threats from inside (Michael B. Jordan) and outside (Andy Serkis) which force T'Challa to don his super cool suit. He also teams up with Wakandan soldiers headed by Lupita Nyong'o and a curious C.I.A. agent played by Martin Freeman, also reprising his role from Civil War. This will be Michael B. Jordan's third film directed by Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed) and with ticket sales already supremely high a month before it premiers, the hype for this one is big.
It was only within the last year that I began getting together with friends and playing board games on a semi-regular basis. I never thought I'd enjoy it all that much but it turns out I love it. Game Night is also about a group of friends who get together to play games, but on this particular night one of the friends tells them things are going to be a bit different. He says that one of them will be kidnapped and things will get so crazy that they won't know if it's real or fake. When he's kidnapped by gunmen they eat snacks and laugh it off. When they find out the prop gun they come across is actually a real gun, they begin to realize this game might not be a game at all. Car chases and gunfights ensue and since it's Rachel McAdam's, Jason Bateman and plenty of other recognizable faces seemingly enjoying themselves, it looks like a fun time.
Happy Valentine's Day all!
