With 10 movies to be released on February 28th including this year’s Best Picture nominee winner, Moonlight, it’s a big week in terms of quantity. However, there’s plenty to wait to stream or just plain skip this week with less than half of the releases making the rent or buy list. Here’s what you should buy, rent, stream and skip for the week of February 28th:
Buy It!
Moonlight —MOVIE HOT TAKE REVIEW—
Super Simple Synopsis: Think Boyhood. Well, if the main character was played by three different people and was an African American growing up in a rough Miami neighborhood.
Why Buy?
Moonlight is a deserving Best Picture winner and the win for Adapted Screenplay also comes as no surprise. The three actors who portray Little/Chiron/Black, Best Supporting Actor winner Mahershala Ali and Best Supporting Actress nominee Naomie Harris are all excellent. Barry Jenkins who won for Best Adapted Screenplay also did an amazing job directing the film even though he came up short in the Best Director category. I feel like I might be gushing a little about Moonlight but it was one of the year’s best!
Doctor Strange —MOVIE HOT TAKE REVIEW—
Super Simple Synopsis: Benjamin Cumberbatch joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Doctor Strange and here’s another origin story of how Dr. Stephen Strange became Doctor Strange.
Why Buy?
The visual effects are impressive (which explains its nomination for Best Visual Effects) and Cumberbatch is a capable star to carry this character through the tales this character will likely intertwine with as the MCU expands.
Rent It!
Allied —MOVIE HOT TAKE REVIEW—
Super Simple Synopsis: Brad Pitt plays an intelligence officer during WWII who falls in love with the person he works with in North Africa (Marion Cotillard) and marries her. Upon their return to London, he finds out she might be a double agent. So, this year, Pitt had marriage troubles both on and off the screen. Maybe he should stick to being single.
Why Rent?
This Robert Zemeckis film has its moments but more often than not, it misses the mark. It’s still worth watching for Cotillard (not Pitt) alone. The first half of the film also takes place in Casablanca and that setting might work for movies. Don’t you think?
Rules Don’t Apply —MOVIE HOT TAKE REVIEW—
Super Simple Synopsis: Warren Beatty returns to the big screen to play billionaire recluse Howard Hughes. It’s also written, directed and produced by Beatty.
Why Rent?
From all indications, Rules Don’t Apply was Beatty’s passion project much like Martin Scorsese’s Silence. Beyond Beatty’s batty turn as Hughes, the film features solid performances from two up and coming stars: Alden Ehrenreich who plays young Han Solo in another Star Wars cash cow Disney will soon milk and Lily Collins, daughter of Phil Collins who is striking until you count unsee the resemblance between her and her father.
Stream It!
Chronic –NO REVIEW–
Super Simple Synopsis: Tim Roth plays an in-home nurse who cares for terminally ill patients showing extreme dedication and compassion toward his patients. He’s also suffering from chronic depression and needs those relationships to help him get through the day.
Why Stream?
You have something in your eye and it looks like watching the movie will help clear it out. This tearjerker won the Best Screenplay Award at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.
London Road –NO REVIEW–
Super Simple Synopsis: A small community must band together after finding five dead prostitutes.
Why Stream?
Based on a true story of the events that happened in the rural town of Ipswich in 2006, this movie looks like it has the potential to be a hidden gem. Plus, Tom Hardy is in it.
Officer Downe –NO REVIEW–
Super Simple Synopsis: Based on a 2010 graphic novel, this Sci-Fi comic adaptation ridiculously features a cop — Officer Downe — who is continuously brought back to life. Yup! It’s that ridiculous.
Why Stream?
Kim Coates who plays Officer Downe gets to deliver every cheesy one liner you could ever imagine in the trailer which shows this movie isn’t taking itself very seriously. Oh, there’s gun running nuns, too!
Skip It!
Contract to Kill –NO REVIEW–
Super Simple Synopsis: YASSA. That’s Yet another Steven Seagal Atrocity!
Why Skip?
Steven Seagal.
Shut In —MOVIE HOT TAKE REVIEW—
Super Simple Synopsis: A widowed child psychologist lives in a rural New England town. She’s caught in a deadly winter storm where she must take care of her paralyzed son and deal with the paranoia that a missing boy who was a patient of hers is inside her house.
Why Skip?
This mostly boring tale never quite gets going until it is way too late and even then, it’s just weird.
Wheeler –NO REVIEW–
Super Simple Synopsis: Stephen Dorff in a pseudo-documentary about a country singer named Wheeler who goes to Nashville to try and make it big.
Why Skip?
It’s a pseudo-documentary about a country singer named Wheeler who goes to Nashville to try and make it big… and it’s not a comedy.
And because Mahershala Ali played college basketball at St. Mary’s (Calif.) under the name Mahershala Gilmore.
http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/02/27/mahershala-ali-oscar-college-basketball-st-marys