March

There is no shortage of action and adventure this March and more than a few movies involve traveling to different worlds.

In the late 90's there was a movie called Hard Rain where an armored car driver went up against thieves during a massive rainstorm. The Hurricane Heist takes that concept and injects a little Fast and Furious in there since it's from the director of the first Fast and Furious. I couldn't be happier with the look of this silly movie about thieves raiding a U.S. Treasury facility during a Category 5 storm that brings tidal waves and hurricanes to, what appears to be, the mid west. There are shootouts, car chases, a truck heist and actors from England and Australia putting on faux Southern accents. This looks like the kind of dumb fun that I want at the movies.

The Russia vs America thriller was pretty topical decades ago, then not so topical for a while and now it's very topical so Red Sparrow is coming out right on time. Jennifer Lawrence plays a Russian citizen forced into an elite group spies who are as intelligent and elegant as they are deadly. She is assigned to track a CIA agent carrying information that could unravel Russian and American governments. This looks to be a dark thriller, I'm not sure those looking for a Jennifer Lawrence action film will get that they want.

One of the undying action movie sub-genres is the 'widowed family man on a revenge fueled rampage.' They're usually sent straight to video and made on the cheap unless they carry the name Punisher or Death Wish. This newest incarnation finds horror regular Eli Roth directing Bruce Willis as the wronged family man bent on tracking down those responsible for his family’s demise. It's been several years since we've seen Willis on the big screen in a leading role and I'm not sure this remake will be his Willisaince that fans like myself are hoping for. Type in 'Bruce Willis' on Amazon Prime or RedBox and you'll see a long list of generically titled thrillers that quickly find rental or streaming homes. I'm just waiting for the Unbreakable sequel, did you know we're getting an Unbreakable sequel?

I didn't see the first and since it's not October I doubt I'll see The Strangers: Prey at Night anytime soon, but this series does slightly pique my interest. The Strangers is a well-regarded, 'based on  a true story' home invasion thriller starring Liv Tyler and the sequel stars Christina Hendricks. These two aren't regulars to the horror genre so what attracted them, I wonder? From what I can tell the masked intruders from the first are now attacking a family at an abandoned trailer park. This sort of horror seems to rely heavily on setting and mood over gore and that makes it much more interesting. Although I'm sure there are plenty of jump scares. 

Nash Edgerton is an Australian stunt actor who's been a stunt double for his brother Joel and has worked on Superman, Wolverine, Star Wars and Matrix movies. After years behind the scenes he's made some famous friends and he's brought them along to star in Gringo, which he's produced and directed. Gringo features David Oyelowo as a middle man for a drug manufacturer who is trying to cut out their old business partner, a Mexican drug cartel. He tries to enjoy himself during the business trip but is almost immediately thrown into several dangerous situations and his bosses, Charlize Theron and Joel Edgerton, are pretty much no help. Thandie Newton, Sharlto Copley and Amanda Seyfried also star in this action comedy that, from what I can tell, seems to have been made just for the fun of it.

Alica Vikander won an Oscar for her performance in The Danish Girl but she should've at least been nominated for her role in Ex Machina, where she played an all too human robot. She also appeared in the underrated Man from U.N.C.L.E. remake and is very good at genre jumping. I'm excited that she's the lead in Tomb Raider, based on the popular adventure video game. She'll play Lara Croft, rebellious daughter to a famed adventurer who's gone missing. When she takes it upon herself to track down her father, she finds an unknown island and comes across a shady acquaintance of her father, the always great Walton Goggins, who may be the key to his going missing. There will be no shortage of adventuring, jumping, climbing, punching, kicking, arrow shooting and, most likely, tomb raiding. This looks fun and may be the fabled 'first great video game movie' that video game fans have yet to see. 

The first Pacific Rim was a big robots v. monsters movie with a fun cast and cool action directed by the great Guillermo Del Toro. It did not do well in the U.S. but internationally it did big enough to warrant a sequel! This was exciting but then the director and most of the cast dropped out. Fortunately, Star Wars newbie John Boyega signed up and unfortunately he was joined by Clint Eastwood's son, Scott, who I am not a fan of because he was the replacement for Paul Walker in the Fast and Furious series and can't act. Pacific Rim Uprising sees the creatures from another dimension returning to Earth with new abilities that should promise fun destruction for viewers and hopefully provide distraction from Scott Eastwood. 

When a disease connected to dogs spreads across Japan it is decided that all dogs are to be transported to an Isle of Dogs. A young boy takes it upon himself to steal a plane and search for his dog. Sounds cute right? To make things more interesting this is from Wes Anderson, director of Rushmore, Grand Budapest Hotel and several other great movies. It's also an animated film in the style of his other animated film, The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Like many of his movies it's going to be weird and loaded with stars. I'm a fan of everything I've seen from him so I can't wait. 

When lawn gnomes disappear, Gnomeo and Juliet seek the help of Sherlock Gnomes. This sequel to Gnomeo and Juliet hits close to home because while I was away on vacation there was a snowstorm and one of the biker lawn gnomes  my wife and I got as an engagement gift got knocked over, losing both feet and part of the hat.Would my randomly placed lawn gnomes that my brother in law hid around my yard without asking or telling my wife and me also seek help to find out the truth behind the biker gnomes demise? Who knows? Anyways, this movie looks silly. 

A young girl who's a bit of a social outcast (constantly wearing bunny ears doesn't help) takes it upon herself to defend her community from evil in I Kill Giants. Unfortunately, only she seems to be aware of these incoming evil giants. Her sister, Imogen Poots, just thinks she’s weird and her counselor, Zoe Saldana, thinks she’s troubled but she's ready either way. The trailer doesn't reveal whether the giants are in her imagination or not. It does, however, allude to a fight with a pre-teen wielding a massive battle axe going up against a giant who looks like he walked out of a Transformers movie and into something with a little more heart. 

When the creator of a massive virtual reality world called OASIS, that serves as the most popular form of escape, passes away, he leaves behind a dying message. Somewhere within OASIS is a hidden item, the finder of which will be granted a huge sum of money and control over the VR world. This prompts kids and stock holders alike to scramble and one young man finds himself in over his head when the dangers of the VR world collide with dangers in the real world. Ready Player One is based on a popular book that is overflowing with movie references from the past 30+ years. In the trailer I saw Freddy Kruger, The Iron Giant and The Delorean. Not sure how they all work their way into the plot but with Steven Spielberg directing there's a good chance this will be solid entertainment. 

When a scientist, Chris Pine, working on a new way to travel through space goes missing, his daughter gets help finding him from three otherworldly beings played by Oprah, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling, possibly by utilizing A Wrinkle in Time. I originally thought this was more of an Alice in Wonderland deal, since it's a Disney movie and looks very strange, but I'm interested in the space travel aspect. Outside of a few massive movies (all owned by Disney) space adventures are rarely a hit. With Disney backing the project, a good following and that cast this might do all right.