February is almost upon us (or already upon us depending on when you are reading this) and that means that we have a whole new batch of film releases to look at this month. Again I have thinned it down a little as we do have quite a few to go through. Shall we?
7th February
Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
Probably the biggest release of the month and the one that has the most questions shrouding it. Will it be any good? Will this be the launch bad to create a mini-universe with all of these characters? Will it matter as it will still make a lot of money? It has a decent chance of breaking past $500 million, although projections have its opening weekend of between $40 -$60 million. A number of factors seem to be against it however and that is the buzz. There has been next to no buzz about the film. With it a week away there have only been 2 trailers (normally I would welcome that fact) but for this type of film, it is a strange strategy.
Of course, there is a lot of hope that it performs strongly at the box office and that Warner Bros are not hiding the film because it might be poor. Cross as many fingers and toes as you can, as I do not think anyone wants this to be bad or perform poorly.
The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle
While we all have hope still for Birds of Prey, the less said about The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle the better. The studio knew what it had and are trying their best just to break even. Sadly that appears to be the biggest story with this one. Can it break even? It still has quite a few markets to hit, but my guess would be sadly no. The film just isn’t very good and it deserves to fail the way it has. Too many poor decisions in this one.
Parasite
This weekend there is almost something for everyone, we have Birds of Prey for the comic book fans, Doctor Dolittle for the families and then Parasite for everyone who enjoys great films. It has taken so long for it to get here, but finally, everyone can head to the cinema and enjoy this brilliant film. If it performs well at the Oscars on the 10th then expect its box office to blossom even more. A film with no negatives and only positive buzz despite the story Parasite is not one to be missed.
14th February
Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island
From the jump, I was worried about this film for one reason and one reason only… They decided to put Blumhouse’s name at the front and that really makes me concerned about that production house. Why are they throwing their name in the front of the title of Fantasy Island? It sells itself pretty easily, especially when given the premise. From the trailer, again as I have spoken about, they have shown too much and needlessly as well. This looks like the horror option for couples to get scared over. Not much to see with it really. Such a shame as it could have had the chance to be excellent.
Emma
An adaption that is primed for Valentines. It looks like harmless fun, though it will need a little more to drive it from a film aspect as the novel was well known for not having much of a story. This should easily be fixed and it would be surprising if those who do go to see it come away disappointed.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Oh, what a journey this poor film has been on huh? Lots of fun buzz about the adaption was about and then THAT trailer hit and the chaos started! No one was happy with Sonic, sure the plot was easy to go with and Jim Carrey is hamming it up like his life happily depended on it. But Sonic… Oh, no Sonic. Happily, the creative team and studio listened and went back and tried their best to fix the issue and I do have to say he does look better, though I wouldn’t have been angry if they had kept their original version. You can’t please everybody.
Without a doubt, this looks like a fun movie and Dolittle should be very concerned as it will swipe almost all of its target audience one week in. I am not as excited about this as I was about Detective Pikachu, but it should be fun, and that’s all we can ask for in a Sonic the Hedgehog movie right?
21st February
Brahms: The Boy II
A sequel that was not needed, wanted or even hinted at from any audience member who saw The Boy. This is as misguided a sequel as there can be and I think we could get our third F rating of the decade. It looks poor and it is really disappointing to see it made.
Greed
This will really depend on your sense of humour it seems on whether or not you will like it. I think it looks okay. Maybe not in cinemas, but on streaming as that seems to be the destination for a lot of okay comedies these past years. Coogan and Fisher are always entertaining and the concept is great. Whether they can pull it off remains to be seen though.
Like A Boss
Reviews have not been kind to Like a Boss, but audience scores are actually pretty high, so there are obviously aspects of the film that are good. From reviews, there are issues at the script stage with just not enough jokes to keep the story going and in a film of this nature jokes are key, hopefully, they weren’t all burned in the trailer.
Little Joe
If you want something a little creepy post valentines then skip Brahms and find somewhere that is showing Little Joe. A small film for sure, but one that looks compelling and has an excellent cast. It should not be a hard sell, so let the trailer above do the work for me. I am looking forward to this.
The Public
Another film that is not opening wide, but looks strong, at least with audiences. An earnest film discussing social advocacy and the importance of community. Emilio Estevez is director, writer, and star here and he does an admirable turn. He also has a great cast to work with, though the poster is a bit too busy, with the trailer doing better marketing work.
28th February
Dark Waters
Dark Waters was sadly released at the exact wrong time for it to do well at the box office and at awards season. It was released just a little too late to make a dent in the push the other films had and really should have been released much earlier in the year to help it stay with the audience. Excellent reviews from critics and audiences means that this is one to watch for the end of the month. Do not miss this compelling drama.
Downhill
From what has been said, this was “inspired” by the film Force Majeure and really if you want to watch a superior film, watch that. However, if you are a fan of Dreyfus and Ferrell then there will probably a lot to love here. A silly film to end the month doesn’t hurt really.
Portrait of A Lady on Fire
For me this is the film of the week, it was tough to decide between this and Dark Waters, but Portrait of a Lady on Fire nudged it. It looks excellent and with all of the love that it has been getting it would be silly to think that it is anything other than good. Fingers crossed for this one to perform well at the box office.
The Invisible Man
Ehhhh, this just doesn’t look good does it? Shame, they keep butchering these remakes, which I think is the reason why people are so angry about remakes, even though Hollywood and cinema have been doing it for over a century. Ah well. Maybe it will be alright, though I have my suspicions that it won’t.
