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Getting into the holiday movie season typically means a plethora of flicks to choose from. Big budget films, pet projects, star turns and everything in between. This is a solid time of year to hit theaters. Not that everything coming out is great (see below), but the variety is there. This week we’ve got Moses and Chris Rock.
Just remember, I'm not reviewing these movies, but rather predicting where they'll end up on the Tomatometer. Let's take a look at what This Rotten Week has to offer. ![]() Rotten Watch Prediction
Check out part of what I mean the trailer for Exodus: Gods and Kings I suppose there are certain stories we have almost fully formulated in our imaginations. The story of Moses is one of them. It’s not that I’m a religious nut who’s going to poke holes in the Biblical accuracy of the film, but I find it hard to believe many people at all will walk out of the theaters with any real insight into Moses’ story after seeing this film. (Or be able to get over that he isn’t a white-haired guy in a robe holding a staff). This film really just looks like Gladiator with a few more plagues and natural disasters thrown in. Frankly, it looks ridiculous. It stands to reason that director Ridley Scott has a "thing" with trying to make the past way more bad-ass than it probably was. He’s handled historical stuff, making it shoot for the big screen and had success with Gladiator (76%) and, uh not so much with Robin Hood (43%) and Kingdom of Heaven (39%). Sometimes the epic historical drama works. And, as appears to be the case with Exodus, sometimes it doesn’t. Ridley Scott has a bunch of great movies under his belt, but his fastball might be losing an mph or two down the stretch. Critics are panning this latest with words like "mediocre" and "boring." It’s sitting below 50% now, and I bet it doesn’t crest over that mark. Independent of some controversy about the less-than-accurate casting, the movie appears a retread, coming up with nothing particularly new. ![]() Rotten Watch Prediction
Check out the trailer for Top Five In a movie he wrote, directed and stars in, Rock plays basically himself as a dude who’s been recognized for being the funniest man alive for a time but struggled to find the same comedic voice on the big screen (this film has him having played a fast-talking grizzly bear cop called "Hammie". This alone had me cracking up in the trailer). Rock’s voice comes through even in the snippets here, and while it still doesn’t seem like he’s 100% comfortable on this side of the camera, this appears as close as he’ll get to crossing over his brand of funny into a flick. Early reviews have been glowing, with the movie sitting at 87% through fifteen reviews. Remember, this is a guy who is part of both Grown Ups movies (10% and 7%) as well as pieces of meh like Death at a Funeral (41%). Where those films had Chris Rock almost apologetically handling business and getting the hell out, this one he took full control. Rock also did himself a favor by pulling together an all-star cast. Rosario Dawson and Gabrielle Union play major roles while a whole host of others (Tracy Morgan, Adam Sandler, Whoopi Goldberg to name a few) round things out for a guy I’m sure they respect the hell out of (and might even owe a movie favor or two). If you can’t tell, I’m excited about this movie. As a big fan of Rock, I’ve wanted him to do something like this for a while. He finally seems to have rounded the comedic corner in film. Kudos. Which one of my predictions do you think will be closest?
Next time around is a big one with hobbits, orphans and another night at the museum. It’s going to be a Rotten Week! |
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