New Releases: February 18, 2011

1. I Am Number Four (Disney, 3,154 Theaters, 104 Minutes, Rated PG-13): So, this has the look of a comic book movie without a comic book attached to it. At least none that I know of. The premise doesn’t seem familiar to me from my extensive comic book experience.

It involves a teenage boy who has great superpowers. He has to spend his life hidden from view, moving from town to town, because there are evil people out to kill him. However, at his latest stop, he finds love. Love complicates everything, especially a run for your life. Will this now be the place where he makes his stand now that he has something worth fighting for?

Well, that’s the plot. And one of the girls from Glee is in it, so that might bring people in. But who knows if that will be enough. This film has some pretty stiff competition this week. We’ll have to see if I Am Number Four becomes I Am Number One at the Box Office.

2. Unknown (Warner Brothers, 3,000+ Theaters, 113 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Is it just me, or does this film remind you of Liam Neeson’s 2008 film Taken? In both films, Neeson plays a earnest and driven man  who traipses through Europe, hellbent on getting back something that was taken from him.

Of course, in the former, it was his daughter. In this one, it is his identity. This takes away some of the dramatic punch but adds more mystery and conspiracy to the mix.

The story goes that Neeson’s character has the perfect live, gets in a ar accident and then slips into a coma. When he awakens, he finds out someone else has taken his place. He then must fight to get his name back.

3. Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (FOX, 2,821 Theaters, 107 Minutes, Rated PG-13): And then we have this one.

If you asked me back in 2000 if Big Momma’s House would become a cinematic trilogy, I would have said, “Good lord, I hope not.” But here we are, with a third film. Yikes.

This one follows a logical progression as now instead of Martin Lawrence’s character being the only one in drag (and for some reason a fat suit), now he must dress up his stepson (Brandon T. Jackson) in order to protect him after the boy witnesses a murder. They hide out in an all-girl art school. I’m sure they’ll find a way to work a locker room scene under the PG-13 radar.

Here’s a scary thought. These films could quite possibly go on until the end of time. You could have more men dressing up as women, maybe a woman dressing up as a man, more girl’s only locations to hide out in.