This week at the movies: Chris Evans fights evil in the world; Halle Berry fights the evil in her head; and Derek Lee becomes evil.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Chris Evans is back in the Marvel series as Steve Rogers, the superhero creation of an espionage agency. Retired and living in D.C. after several decades cold chillin’ (literally, he’s not been ‘activated’ since the second World War), he returns to the force, as it were, to help out a fellow S.H.I.E.L.D friend and catch up on the modern world. Also starring Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow (looks like there’s more screen time for her in this one, you salivating fanboys), Anthony Mackie as their new friend Falcon and Samuel L. Jackson returning as Nick Fury. Confusingly, there’s Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce, a high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who is in charge of this mess.
Perfect For: Marvel/comic book fanboys.
What the Critics Say: Efficient and a cookie-cutter by-the-numbers action adventure movie that’s fun while it lasts. Writes the Associated Press: “While ''The Winter Soldier'' succeeds as finely engineered merchandise built to be crowd-pleasing entertainment, for moviegoers and shareholder alike, it has a shelf life that won't last much past its running time.”
Our Take: It’s the only game in town for big franchises, so we’ll take it.
Frankie & Alice
Halle Berry stars as a woman with dissociative identity disorder, with two distinct personalities living inside her head. There’s Frankie, the go-go dancer; and then there’s Alice, a racist white woman from the South. Her shrink is Stellan Skarsgård, who tries to help Frankie defeat Alice. The film, despite early reviews and earning a Golden Globe nom for Berry way back in 2010, is only just now being released, due to distribution snafus.
Perfect For: If you like psycho-dramas—literally.
What the Critics Say: They are like McKayla Maroney—not impressed. Writes the Los Angeles Times: “Lamentably by-the-numbers, treated like an affliction-of-the-week TV movie by its eight (!) credited writers and directed by Geoffrey Sax as if he knew where commercials should go.”
Our Take: The story is intriguing enough to make us want to check it out.
Afflicted
Combine the rabid zombie concept of 28 Days Later, the characters’ constant chronicling of their lives via video, and the backwards narrative of Momento (at least, in the trailer), and you get Afflicted. Two bros set out on a worldwide trip. One of them, Derek, is dying and wants to see the world. But, the dreams are quickly derailed when Derek is mysteriously afflicted by a poison or virus of some kind that gives him superhuman powers.
Perfect For: Fans of the Blair Witch Project; Paranormal Activity.
What the Critics Say: Critics don’t tend to review lowly horror movies. But a few reviews are in and they say it’s not bad, just not necessarily breaking any ground. Writes Indiewire.com: “An uneven but effectively unnerving found footage horror entry opening this week about a pair of fun-loving vacationers who encounter dangerous, otherworldly forces, it illustrates the full cycle of evolution that the genre has endured since it first creeped us out.”
Our Take: I’d watch it only in the safety of my home, with the lights on.
