The Lucky One, Think Like a Man, Chimpanzee

New Movie Releases Reviewed in 7 Words Each

Chimpanzee - Please forgive me for this; It's bananas.

Darling Companion (limited) - Don't need 7 words to ask 'why?'

The Lucky One - Zac Efron? No, we're the lucky ones.

Marley (Limited & VOD) - Oh, it's not about a talking dog...

Think Like a Man - Gee, thanks for the advice Steve Harvey.

To The Arctic 3D (IMAX) - Waiting for global warming to heat up.

What? It's cold in the Arctic and if I'm going on a road trip I want it to be somewhere nice.

Seems fitting to cover both the nature docs at once. I'm a big fan of nature shows and films. I love seeing learning about wildlif-  Oh who am I kidding? I like watching cute fluffy animals and pointing at the freaks. I've never been a huge fan of the whole monkey-ape-thing, so my interest in Chimpanzee is far outweighed by To The Arctic and the promise of polar bears drinking coke. I know, I know, they won't have coke in the film. It'll be some non-specific soda. Either way it's delicious and cute. And it's IMAX, which is always the best when it comes to nature.

Hunger Games has held on to the number one spot for 4 weeks. That's pretty impressive in this box office day and age. The question is, does it have enough steam to take on two more new films? With The Lucky One, you have Zac Efron, who should pull some of the base on name alone. Add to that Nicholas Sparks whose name beckons to women, come be romanced, and to men, come, take your girlfriends and wives and feel like you did something romantic when really you just sat through a film that has all the appeal of a tepid glass of oil. 

The alternative, is really like no option at all. Think Like a Man, based on a Steve Harvey book and trying to ride the back of Kevin Hart, who I'll admit is a funny man, also looks to leave its tooth marks in the monolith that is Hunger Games. Also with a specific market it should be able to lure a demographic or two away from seeing a film for the umpteenth time. Frankly I think it looks pretty dreadful, but then it's been awhile since I enjoyed Steve Harvey. But that's probably oversimplifying it. It just has the look of a movie that should be rated R but has been neutered to a PG13 and will thus replace a lot of crude jokes with less funny crude jokes that nonetheless will fit the parameters of that rating box.

Will either of them be able to bring down the reigning champ? By themselves, no, together, I'm guessing yes. I give an edge to The Lucky One, but Think Like a Man should do alright to. Both strike me as hitting around high teens in their opening, and with the natural rate of drop added in to Hunger Games, it should just fall below, possibly even to third place. But who knows. That's the fun of watching the box office numbers. Trends come and go and there's always little surprises.

Getting out to the movies this weekend? What's everyone planning on seeing?