Tell me a story

It’s not the biggest weekend at the box office, but that’s fine with me as I’m still playing a little catch up. My mpm (movies per month) has seen a steep decline this year as my other hobbies edge in on my time. So I’m thankful for weekends like this where there’s nothing I’m dying to see. But let’s have a look at what new releases are in theaters today and if they’re worth seeing or not.

Think Like a Man Too

Think Like a Man was a fun little surprise, thanks to the funny little comedian, Kevin Hart. He made entertaining what would have otherwise been a mediocre romantic comedy about men and women playing games with each other’s hearts. (Did we learn nothing from ‘N Sync?) Now the entire cast is back for what seems like a hijinks-filled weekend in Vegas, and a I’m a lot less interested. (Not that I was entirely interested the first time around; that was a Stephanie-pick.)

It looks like this time we’re just getting a lot more silliness with a lot less compelling storylines, but in Vegas. Doesn’t look like anything we haven’t seen before in other movies. It could very well be another surprise, but given its 22% RottenTomatoes.com score as compared to the original’s 53%, I doubt it.

Directed by Tim Story. Written by Keith Merryman & David A. Newman, based on the book by Steve Harvey.

Jersey Boys

Now this one I can get into. Clint Eastwood brings us the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, adapted from the Broadway play. Now I didn’t know how many Four Seasons songs I knew until I watched the trailer and could sing along to almost all of them. So that’s already a plus going into the theater.

Clint Eastwood has a good reputation as a director, but as I look at his IMDB page I realize I’ve only seen two of his movies: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (I didn’t like it, but at 14 yrs old, I might have been too young to appreciate it) and Mystic River (I remember thinking this one was really good). But it’s obvious he takes his filmmaking seriously and aims to put out a good product. And that’s a great lure for me. I also like the fact that it looks like every character gets his chance to add to/tell his part of the story, and that storytelling itself will be a subject.

It also helps that I like a good musical biopic. Growing up I must have watched The Five Heartbeats at least a dozen times. I knew all the words to their songs, all of which were created solely for the movie. It’ll be interesting to see if I prefer a movie when I know all the music or when it’s new to me. Jersey Boys is only at 59% at RottenTomatoes.com, with claims that it’s “neither as inventive nor as energetic as it could be,” but I bet it’ll still be enjoyable. I’m all in.

Directed by Clint Eastwood. Written by Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice (screenplay), Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice (musical book).

See Posters Below:

 
Poster Sources: ImpAwards.com