What to Watch in the Theater:
Countdown (PG13) is in theaters now. In this horror movie, an app predicts when people will die, and then, using mysterious ways, ensures that they do. When young nurse, Quinn, learns she has only three days to live, she works with someone who has a similar death time, to try to beat the system. It’s a thrilling ride, full of twists and turns, plus seriously evil forces teaming up with technology.
Our rating: 4.75 out of 5
Terminator: Dark Fate (R) opens today. This is not a reboot, but a continuation of the original franchise – taking place after T3. Grace has been sent back in time to protect Dani, and encounters both Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger), while running from the newest model of Terminator. The premise is interesting, and it’s kind of fun to see what happened to the original characters since the earlier movies in the franchise. There’s kick-butt action, with a bunch of female protagonists, which not only harkens back to Sarah’s origin story, but also gives us a glimpse into a (possible) even more female-centric future for the franchise.
Our rating: 4 out of 5
What to Watch at Home (Or Not):
Dolemite is My Name (R) is streaming exclusively on Netflix. Based on a true story, this movie marks Eddie Murphey’s triumphant return, as he plays Rudy Ray Moore, a singer/comedian turned movie maker, whose Blaxploitation films were rude, crude, cheaply made, and seemingly a lot of fun. In a similar style to The Disaster Artist, but much more entertaining, we watch as Rudy creates the Dolemite character, recruits a group of supporting players, and makes his first film. The cast is amazing, and we enjoyed learning about a genre we had never explored.
Our rating: 4.17 out of 5
Hellboy (R) is available as a rental. This reboot provides more of an origin story for Hellboy, and David Harbour plays the character well, with a twisted sense of humor. We like Ian McShane as his human father figure. This one is based more directly on the comics, with a much darker look and scarier monsters. The story is a gory mess, full of so many different types of evil (including Nazis), that it’s hard to follow the main plot about the reassembling of a dismembered sorceress. We would’ve preferred a sequel, with the original star (Ron Perlman), or at least the pairing of Harbour with the original creative force/director (Guillermo del Toro).
Our rating: skip this one
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