Let’s celebrate a religious holiday about resurrection with an action franchise that was revived (revved?) and became one of the most successful in recent memory.
The summer box office gets an adrenaline kickstart with the eighth entry in The Fast and the Furious franchise, which should obliterate the rest of the top-ten over the Easter long weekend.
April 14, 2017
The Fate of the Furious (Wide)
- Cast: Vin Diesel (Babylon A.D.), The Rock (The Rundown), Charlize Theron (Aeon Flux), Michelle Rodriguez (The Assignment)
- Official Synopsis: When a mysterious woman (Theron) seduces Dom (Diesel) into the world of crime and a betrayal of those closest to him, the crew face trials that will test them as never before.
- Good for fans of: Car chases, ridiculous stunts, muscles (people and cars)
- Is it worth your time? At this point you’re either on board for the long haul or you’re exhausted from the bi-annual arrival of these increasingly ridiculous films. While the latest iteration will likely underperform compared to its predecessor (which was fuelled partially by grief following co-star Paul Walker’s death), it will still be ridiculously successful. Get used to these films ’cause they aren’t going anywhere.
Spark: A Space Tail (Wide)
- Cast: Voices of Jessica Biel (The Illusionist), Susan Sarandon (The Rocky Horror Picture Show), Patrick Stewart (Green Room)
- Official Synopsis: Spark, a teenage monkey and his friends, Chunk and Vix, are on a mission to regain Planet Bana – a kingdom overtaken by the evil overlord Zhong.
- Good for fans of: Shitty, cheap looking, uninspired animation?
- Is it worth your time? Do you ever feel like movies come out and you’ve literally never heard of them? This is one of those films, which is seemingly being released with little to no advance notice. Expect a brutally savage smackdown courtesy of the still reigning one-two combo of Beauty & the Beast and The Boss Baby, plus some additional competition from the already-waning Smurfs.
The Lost City of Z (Wide)
- Cast: Charlie Hunnam (Cold Mountain), Robert Pattinson (Remember Me), Tom Holland (The Impossible)
- Official Synopsis: Tells the incredible true story of British explorer Percy Fawcett (Hunnam), who journeys into the Amazon at the dawn of the 20th century and discovers evidence of a previously unknown, advanced civilization that may have once inhabited the region. Despite being ridiculed by the scientific establishment who regard indigenous populations as “savages,” the determined Fawcett – supported by his devoted wife (Miller), son (Holland) and aide de camp (Pattinson) – returns time and again to his beloved jungle in an attempt to prove his case, culminating in his mysterious disappearance in 1925.
- Good for fans of: Jungles, period adventures, colonialism
- Is it worth your time? Reviews are mixed, and apparently it’s not a great adaptation of the best-selling book on which it is based, so be mindful of that if you’re a fan. The core cast is decent, albeit non-factors at the box office, so look for a polite sampling before this gets booted from theatres.
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That’s it for this weekend. Next weekend looks a bit bleak: newcomers include a crazy white lady Fatal Attraction-y flick starring Katherine Heigl, Disney’s annual animal documentary, a critically derided historical romance with Christian Bale and a super fun, low-budget 70s-set gunfight movie. See you then!