Editorial

The Bottom Line: January 13, 2016: Monsters AND Trucks? What A World!

Lucas Till Monster Trucks

The Bottom Line: January 6, 2016

Quick Takes – Oscar contenders go into wide release while the studios dump out their trash – it’s January, folks. Find out what you should go see in this week’s edition of The Bottom Line!

Box Office Top Five

Advertisement
 

It was a close call, but Hidden Figures became the movie to take down Rogue One with $22.9 million. Rogue One came in second with $22.1 million. Sing took third place with $20.8 million, while Underworld: Blood Wars opened in fourth for $13.7 million. La La Land rose into fifth place with $10.2 million.

Here is a look at a few films that are opening on January 13th.

Silence (R) 161 mins.

Martin Scorsese’s 30-years-in-the-making passion project Silence expands into wide release this week. Scorsese is one of the great American filmmakers, so you should probably go see this. I doubt this will do great business – a bleak, 3-hour religious epic doesn’t exactly scream “blockbuster” – but it’s almost guaranteed to be a rewarding viewing experience.

Patriots Day (R) 130 mins.

The third in a series of “docbusters” from director Peter Berg and starring Mark Wahlberg, Patriots Day stars Wahlberg as a cop present during the Boston Marathon bombing. This has been getting solid reviews, and based on its subject matter, I could see it doing pretty well at the box office. I’m predicting this opens at number three.

Live By Night (R) 128 mins.

Ben Affleck has not had quite as good a year as his brother Casey, Oscar contender for Manchester by the Sea. After starring in the critically-derided Batman v Superman, he returned to the director’s chair for Live By Night, a prohibition-era crime drama. This movie looks to break Affleck’s solid streak as a director, as reviews indicate the movie is a dull rehash of other, better stories. There hasn’t been much marketing for this either, so don’t expect it to make a huge dent at the box office.

Sleepless (R) 95 mins.

Sleepless is an English-language remake of the foreign action movie Sleepless Night. This new version stars Jamie Foxx. In all likelihood, you had no idea this movie existed before reading this paragraph. In all likelihood, I will forget this movie existed after I write this paragraph. So, let’s move on.

The Bye Bye Man (PG-13) 96 mins.

Horror fans may have had their interests piqued by The Bye Bye Man. Don’t fall for it. It’s a trap. Every January, there’s at least one lousy horror movie that gets released that people go see because there’s no other horror movies playing. This year, that movie is The Bye Bye Man. You have so much choice when you go to the movies this weekend; don’t make that choice The Bye Bye Man.

Monster Trucks (PG) 122 mins.

Monster trucks by themselves are apparently not interesting enough, so Monster Trucks has the brilliant idea of placing actual monsters inside the trucks. While this could have resulted in a cool, grungy, 70’s b-movie, it is instead made into another boy-and-his-pet story that’s been done by everything from E.T. to Transformers.

Advertisement
 

The Bottom Line

Hidden Figures will stay at number one, and there’s a good chance La La Land will ride that Golden Globes momentum into second place. Rogue One will take third, while Patriots Day will open in fourth place and Sing will round out the top five.

Movies To Look Forward To:

Split, The Founder, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (January 20th)


FilmBook's Newsletter

Subscribe to FilmBook’s Daily Newsletter for the latest news!

Thank you for subscribing.

Something went wrong.

Michael Smith

Mike Smith is an avid filmgoer from New York who loves to hear his own voice - luckily his work as a podcaster on FilmBook allows him to do just that. Mike graduated from The College of Saint Rose in Albany with a degree in communications, and is ready to dole out critical analysis of all your pop culture fixations. Mike is the host of FilmBookCast and can frequently be seen at his local movie theater, patiently explaining to his friends that Superman Returns is a misunderstood masterpiece.
Back to top button
Share via
Send this to a friend