New releases this week feature daddies and detectives. Let’s take a look.
1. Daddy’s Home 2 (Paramount, 3,575 Theaters, 100 Minutes, Rated PG-13 for suggestive material and some language, Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer at press time: 0% Fresh [23 Reviews]: Wow. Zero percent fresh. That bad even for a Will Ferrell movie.
Okay, Brad (Ferrell) and Dusty’s (Mark Wahlberg) co-parenting arrangement is put to the test when their dads (John Lithgow & Mel Gibson) arrive to spend the holidays with them. Soon their rivalry reignites and they have to decide whether they want to remain friends or go back to being foes.
The concept seems more than hackneyed but the cast is good. Too bad it wasn’t good enough to overcome the script.
2. Murder on the Orient Express (Fox, 3,341 Theatres, 114 Minutes, Rated PG-13 for violence and thematic elements; Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer at press time: 65% Fresh [113 Reviews]: Murder on the Orient Express is perhaps Agatha Christie’s most famous works. The 1934 novel, inspired by the Lindburgh baby kidnapping, has been adapted into films, radio dramas, TV-movies and even a computer game.
That being said, there are not a lot of surprises to be found. The plot is so well known that people who have never read the book or seen any adaptation know the story.
The way to make it appealing is in the way it is presented. This film takes one of the world’s greatest directors, gives him a cast full of award-winners and nominees, and lets him have at it. Looks like that ploy worked.
Next week, Justice finally comes to the DC Extended Universe, but faces two foes that will challenge it for box office supremacy. Check back next week cover those new releases.
