This week’s New Releases features two tales of people taking big risks doing stuff that will eventually come back to haunt them.
1. American Made (Universal, 3,024 Theaters, 115 Minutes, Rated R for language throughout and some sexuality/nudity, Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer at press time: 87% Fresh [171 Reviews]): Now this is a role that present day Tom Cruise should be doing! A rogue who is trying to keep several steps ahead of everyone, old enough to know better, still young enough no to care.
Young enough not to care, but not young enough to play Barry Seal, the real life drug smuggler Cruise plays in the movie. Seal was a pilot working for the CIA during the 1980s who also got involved in the drug trade and the Iran Contra scandal. SPOILER WARNING: Seal was assassinated by the Medellin Cartel in 1986 at age 46, nine years younger than Cruise is today.
But despite that, this is Cruise reuniting with Doug Liman, who directed him in the criminally underrated Edge of Tomorrow. The reviews are good and the film might be worth a look.
2. Flatliners (Sony/Columbia, 2,552 Theaters, 108 Minutes, Rated PG – 13 for violence and terror, sexual content, language, thematic material, and some drug references, Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer at press time: 0% Fresh [29 Reviews]): Why would anyone ever remake Flatliners? That film’s only claim to fame was that it was Julia Roberts’ first film to be released after her breakthrough role in Pretty Woman.
The answer is no one made a remake of that film. This movie is actually a sequel! Yes, one of the cast of the original film appears in this film. Here’s a hint: It not Julia Roberts. No, she is not the “designated survivor” of the first film who appears in this one.
The plot is pretty much the same. A group of med students decide to test and see what happens when you die by killing each other for longer intervals each time. At first, everything seems hunky-dory. Then bad stuff starts happening and everything goes to Hell.
I’m writing this on a Friday night and there are only 29 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. That means the film wasn’t viewed for critics. The reason why? All 29 critics gave the film a bad review.
Next week, the new releases bring us a sequel to Blade Runner, whether we need one or not.
