It looks like the strategy of this February is aiming for the kids. The biggest movies of the month are geared toward families with two major animated sequels and a long awaited SciFi Robert Rodriguez/James Cameron production. There are still a few releases targeting to Valentine's Day crowd, but everyone is too cool to go straight romance. If anything, counter-programming for Valentine's Day is driving a lot of the decision. I'll have to check back on this a year from now to figure out if it's a trend or a phase.
Seeking Out
There's a new threat to the LEGO universe and somehow, Emmet is called upon to be the hero again.
Working For It: The LEGO Movie was blissful anarchy that I didn't see coming. It cemented Phil Lord and Chris Miller as comedy voices at the highest level and the movie assembled a stellar voice cast. I expect the same from the sequel, even if it will lack the surprise factor. What's really exciting is that the screenplay still has Lord & Miller and it has Raphael Bob-Waksberg, the man behind BoJack Horseman. Everything IS awesome.
Working Against It: Losing Lord & Miller as directors and replacing them with relative journeyman director Mike Mitchell is a downgrade. I'm not sure how much it will really matter though.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (Feb 22)
Hiccup and Toothless find another Night Fury which leads to discovering a hidden dragon world.
Working For It: This is the gem of Dreamworks Animation's catalog. I'm not sure what I need to say about this. The same great voice cast is back. The same writer and director. The animation still looks great.
Working Against It: What's going on with Dreamworks Animation? They took 2018 entirely off. In fact, they haven't released a movie since Captain Underpants back in June 2017. And this seems like a weird place on the calendar to release this movie. I would've thought this would be more of an event movie than something put out the same weekend as the Oscars. The whole year is in play these days, so I guess it doesn't really matter.
Alita: Battle Angel (Feb 14)
A young woman/robot finds her purpose in a future world. That purpose appears to be "to kick ass".
Working For It: I won't say I'm excited for this movie, per se. In my own parlance, this is a Long Ranger Rule movie. I've seen advertising for it for too long. It's got an interesting cast. There's Rosa Salazar in the lead role. Lana Condor (To All the Boys I've Loved Before) and Jorge Lendebrog Jr. (Love, Simon) too. Oscar winners like Mahershala Ali, Jennifer Connelly, and Christoph Waltz are peppered in. Robert Rodriguez is a director known for taking big swings and this has a lot of backing from producer James Cameron. That makes this one of the bigger curiosities on early 2019.
Working Against It: The movie has been delayed once or twice already. The title was changed (Alita to Alita: Battle Angel). This sure looks like it's getting the Jupiter Ascending treatment.
Fighting with My Family [Limited] (Feb 14)
A young British woman trains to become a WWE wrestler.
Working For It: My god, I have so many mixed feelings about this. Florence Pugh has quickly become my latest British obsession. I used to be a huge WWE fan and I still have some fond memories of all that, even though I haven't followed it for about 2 decades now. While I hated The Rock in his wrestling days, I love him now. This is written and directed by Stephen Merchant, who co-created the British The Office. And it's premiering at Sundance. I kind of want this to be my favorite movie, even though I have haunting flashbacks of Ready to Rumble.
Working Against It: This really looks like it's trying to be about a dozen different kinds of movies. With Nick Frost, I'm reminded of Edgar Wright's comedies. Pugh tends to be associated with more dramatic roles. It could just be fan service to WWE fans (It is produced by the WWE, after all). It could be too winky. It could be too earnest. There's a lot of ways this can go and I don't know which is the most likely.
Still Waiting:
Destroyer (December Preview)
Cold War (December Preview)
Undecided
After her friend is taken by a drug cartel, a woman works to infiltrate the cartel and take it down.
Working For It: I am all for Gina Rodriguez becoming a star. While I haven't seen her in Jane the Virgin, whenever she pops up in something (Deepwater Horizon, Annihilation), I like her.
Working Against It: I'm not sure I buy Gina Rodriguez in this role. I can buy her in a gritty movie. I can buy her as a badass in a lighter movie. I'm not sure she can be a badass in a gritty movie. I'm not there yet. And, Catherine Hardwicke as a director has been on a pretty steady decline since her debut film (Thirteen) back in 2003. There's kind of a B-movie feel to the trailer that I don't think is intended. It looks a lot like Peppermint: that Jennifer Garner revenge movie last year.
Cold Pursuit (Feb 8)
A snow plow driver gets revenge on the people he holds responsible for his son's death.
Working For It: Liam Nesson movies are self-parodies at this point, and they know it. They must. Look, Liam Nesson is reliable using his "special set of skills". I'm a fan of Emmy Rossum showing up in anything. Laura Dern too. If the movie is going to be silly, then at least it's owning it.
Working Against It: There is a reason I stopped seeing these Liam Nesson action movies. They are pretty lazy. I'm not sure any amount of winking at the camera can make up for that.
Arctic (Feb 1)
A man tries to keep himself and an injured woman, the only other survior, alive after a plane crash in the Arctic circle.
Working For It: The man vs. nature thing can be entertaining. I like Mads Mikkelsen and the idea that this will be a movie, I imagine, that won't rely much on dialogue to drive things.
Working Against It: The last thing I want to watch in the middle of winter is a movie about a guy trying not to freeze to death.
The Prodigy (Feb 8)
A mother with a genius young son realizes there may be something supernaturally wrong with him.
Working For It: I do have have built up goodwill for Taylor Schilling from years of Orange is the New Black, and "creepy horror kid" is an easy sell. Oh, and it's nice to see it get the R-rating.
Working Against It: Horror is tough to gauge in a trailer. The writer and director are both new to me. They aren't new to filmmaking. They have a number of credits. Just new to me. I get suspicious of horror from people I haven't heard of yet.
Everybody Knows [Limited] (Feb 8)
A woman's daughter goes missing and she starts to suspect that everyone around her knows something more than they let on.
Working For It: It screened at the Cannes Film Festival, stars Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, and comes from the writer/director of two Best Foreign Film Oscar winners (The Salesman, A Separation). The credentials are unassailable.
Working Against It: Cannes was 9 months ago. And it was at the Toronto Film Festival too 5 months ago. Why haven't I heard anything about it? This concerns me.
Under the Eiffel Tower [Limited] (Feb 8)
A pathetic man having a mid-life crisis goes on a trip to France and maybe finds meaning.
Working For It: This has a weird combination of supporting character from Veep and Casual like Matt Walsh, Reid Scott, Michaela Watkins, Dylan Gelula, and Gary Cole. I like all those people. The director hails from my hometown, so maybe I should support that.
Working Against It: This looks like a less restrained Sideways. As much as I like Matt Walsh, I'm not that interested in a movie about how he got his groove back.
What Men Want (Feb 8)
A business woman gets the ability to hear what men are thinking.
Working For It: Tarajih P. Henson is as well equipped for this premise as Mel Gibson was 18 years ago. The idea is an easy one for humor. I think it would be hard to make a version of this that's awful.
Working Against It: Simply put, the jokes in the trailer didn't work well enough for me.
Isn't It Romantic (Feb 13)
A woman who hate RomComs finds out that she's living in one, much to her dismay.
Working For It: I like Rebel Wilson, more in supporting roles than as a lead so far, but with the right role, I'm open to changing that opinion. I'm intrigued by people like Liam Hemsworth and Priyanka Chopra trying to be earnestly silly. And there's plenty about RomComs to make fun of.
Working Against It: Kind of like I Feel Pretty last year, this sure feels like one joke trying to be expanded into an entire movie. And I suspect this is also going to try to have its cake and eat it to: become a RomCom while making fun of them.
Avoiding
Total Dhamaal (Feb 22)The third installment of what looks like a wild series. This is a take on Cannonball Run or Rat Race. That really isn't my kind of humor, especially if I don't know the actors already. And there's a lot of bad CGI in this. It is notable anytime an Indian movie gets a wide release in the states. That only happen a few times a year, so I wouldn't be surprised to see really good per theater averages opening weekend.
Happy Death Day 2U (Feb 13)
The same girl gets stuck in a killer loop again. I never saw the first movie. Even assuming that I get around to that one and I like it, I'm not sure I need another helping of the same thing.
Ruben Brandt, Collector [Limited] (Feb 15)
An animated movie about a psychotherapist who gets patients of his to steal famous paintings that have been haunting him. I don't like the animation style and there's something about it I find hard to take seriously.
Sorry Angel [Limited] (Feb 15)
A foreign film about a writer and a student who fall for each other...at least, I think. I could only find a non-subtitled trailer. Nothing really jumps about about the movie.
This One's For the Ladies [Limited] (Feb 15)
This documentary about the black exotic dancing community isn't quite my cup of tea. Maybe it's OK.
Birds of Passage [Limited] (Feb 13)
A trippy South American drug epic that looks intense, but not really different enough from other cartel movies to hold my attention.
Run the Race [Limited] (Feb 22)
Two All-American brothers work toward getting scholarships so they can leave their dead-end town. And maybe they find God along the way. This movie reminds me why FNL is so special. Making this kind of family sports drama is hard to get right.
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga [Limited] (Feb 1)
I could only find a trailer for this Indian romance without subtitles so...I don't know. It looks sweet, I support. A little dull for what I'm used to seeing from Indian cinema
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