Cornering out our last week of February we have two wide release movies hitting the big screen, "Dark Skies" and "Snitch". I want to get something straight here real quick before I delve into the "treasure" you are about to read: I may talk bad about a lot of the movies I have been writing about, but it's just as a precautionary warning to all of you readers out there. I want to make sure that you get the best experience you are able to get while hitting up your local theater. When I say that many movies are garbage-esque I merely mean for you to not expect a gem to hit you in the face. I watch garbage movies all the time, and I even enjoy most of them. I can't specifically recall the last movie I went to and was upset that I saw it. So with that in mind lets take a dive in the murky pool of the duo happening this weekend.
"Dark Skies" seems like a nice little sci-fi thriller to pass some time...until you take a quick glance at that director...does reading the title "Legion" give you a headache? Yeah, me too. Well, he is at it again. Scott Stewart leads the charge with this tale about a family presumably marked and hunted down by some extra-terrestrial force while they attempt to come up with a way to fight them off. I am sure that it wont be total garbage...maybe, but all of the signs seems to be lining up to tell us not to go check this one out. Let's take a look at this simple equation I have invented to determine the quality you can expect from "Dark Skies". [Not Rated on Rotten Tomatoes + Director of "Legion" + Skimped on the R-rating for a horror movie once again = I would probably rather bounce a tennis ball on the ceiling for an hour and a half than actually watch this movie]. Now, it isn't perfected but that gives you at least a rough idea as to what is actually going on with this movie. On the bright side though, I could be totally wrong and it will be a great movie. Who knows.
"Snitch" is also hitting the screens this weekend and seems to be about a father who attempts to free his son from a wrongful imprisonment involving drug charges. He goes undercover to find out what actually happened (I hope it turns out that his son was actually just guilty). I don't see any red flags hitting me in the face for this one specifically. It looks like the cast is pretty solid and the director, with still only a couple of titles under his belt - he has been in Hollywood doing stunts most of his career - really seems like he that he can at least provide us some decent action. But again, we'll just have to wait and see...
As far as we are concerned with its RT score, its hanging around the 60% range so far, which seems like a pretty understandable number for something of this genre. I can't promise that the movie will be any good, but if I had to pick from the two, I would say that "Snitch" will be your best bet.
As far as the box office numbers go. I don't think we'll be looking at another uptick like we've seen in the last few weeks. Neither of these films seem capable of anything more than $12MM or so, and I think even that is being generous. "A Good Day to Die Hard", "Identity Thief", and "Safe Haven" all recorded a bit more than $20MM last weekend, and of the group, last weekend's "A Good Day to Die Hard" will probably hang on the best. But again, I think all of these are due for pretty harsh drop-offs, and something in the $10MM-$12MM range seems likely for each of them. It should make for a crowded top five this weekend, but none should put up any numbers too inspiring.
Well it looks like that's about all the time I have here. As usual, feel free to leave any comments below about your thoughts on any of the titles mentioned above. Be safe, be courteous, and have fun watching those movies!