This week at the movies: a disastrous disaster movie and a potentially disastrous romcom.
San Andreas
You know Americans are feeling secure again when Hollywood starts making unnatural disaster movies. San Andreas is about the Big One (the earthquake)—on steroids. It stars Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) who is a fire-and-rescue pilot (because, look at those biceps) and a big, bad earthquake. Paul Giamatti is a scientist who tells everyone doomsday is coming, but no one quite understands or believes him until everything in California crumbles, including the Golden Gate Bridge and all of Los Angeles.
Perfect For: Action adventure fans, and fans of destruction movies. It’s safe for the family but probably not the tiny kids.
What the Critics Say: Tre disaster. The only thing keeping this thing afloat is The Rock. The special effects are great, so are his biceps. The plot? Not so much. Writes the Miami Herald: “In San Andreas, The Big One finally hits California, and not even Dwayne Johnson's mutant biceps can keep those infamous tectonic plates from separating.” And says the AV Club: “It's hard to appreciate San Andreas as much more than a series of special effects vistas: impeccably detailed, completely plastic.”
Our Take: Unless you’re looking for some mindless fun, skip.
Watch the Trailer:
Aloha
Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous) wrote and directed this romcom starring an impressive all-star cast: Bradley Cooper, Rachel McAdams, Emma Stone, Bill Murray and Alec Baldwin. Cooper’s a defense contractor who returns to Hawaii and is paired up with Stone and ends up in a love triangle, because that’s also where his ex (McAdams) lives. Things gets weepy and sappy, fast.
Perfect For: Couples looking for a date night movie.
What the Critics Say: The studio embargoed reviews till Thursday. Never a good sign. But the gossip is that it wasn’t as good as it should be.
Our Take: It’s hard to say; we like all of these actors and we like some of Crowe’s other movies, but the plot looks hokey.
Watch the Trailer:
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