Three very diverse new films open on this third weekend of March, though I don’t expect any of them to be able to take down Zootopia.
The “biggest” film opening this weekend is The Divergent Series: Allegiant, the third film in the YA franchise based on Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy. This is a series that is clearly desperate to be the next Hunger Games — and the first two films were solid box office hits but nowhere near the phenomenon that that other franchise was. It surely doesn’t help that the Divergent films are pretty bad. The first film was a mediocre installment that did a decent job of world-building but that struggled hard to tell an engaging story. And the second film was outright terrible. None of this inspires too much optimism about this third installment. Series leads Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Miles Teller, and Ansel Elgort all return, along with slumming Oscary actresses like Naomi Watts and Octavia Spencer and Insurgent director Robert Schwentke. Sure enough, early reviews are awful — the film currently stands at 10% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The week’s second film, Miracles from Heaven, actually got a headstart by premiering on Wednesday. The film tells the true story of a young girl with an incurable disease who falls out of a tree and is miraculously cured of her illness. Jennifer Garner stars as the girl’s mother. This is a Christian film that aims to teach its audience about the power of faith, and that’s fine — however, the trailer for this makes it seem preachy and unbearably cheesy. Surely Garner can do better than this (though critics say that she gives an extraordinary performance). Mexican filmmaker Patricia Riggen (The 33) directs.
The third and final wide release this week is The Bronze, an indie comedy that premiered over a year ago at the Sundance Film Festival. The film stars Melissa Rauch (of The Big Bang Theory) as a former gymnast who is content to coast on her hometown celebrity status, until she starts to feel threatened by a new up-and-coming local gymnast. The Bronze has gotten negative reviews since its first festival debut, so make of that what you will. The film does apparently have a very memorable and crazy sex scene — does that affect your interest in seeing it? Director Bryan Buckley previously made one little-seen film that was credited to a pseudonym. Bizarre.
Films opening in limited release include Midnight Special, from writer-director Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter); Bollywood comedy Kapoor & Sons (Since 1921); Argentinean crime drama El Clan, which won the Silver Lion at last fall’s Venice Film Festival; and Krisha, a well-received American indie drama that did the festival circuit last year.llegiant
What are you planning to see this weekend?
