What to Watch This Weekend: The Vigil, Night of the Kings, The Little Things, Croods A New Age, Billie Eilish, Greenland, Finding Ohana, Tom and Jerry

For The True Crime Buffs: The Little Things (HBO Max and Theaters)
The Little Things takes an all star cast and piles on some unsettling scenes, great writing, and some amazing characters in this creepy police procedural.  For more information, check out the review!

For The Kids: Tom and Jerry (HBO Max and Theaters)
Tom and Jerry translates the classic cartoon for the big screen, with all the craziness, slapstick humor, and lovable fighting from this cat and mouse duo that you would expect.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Slow Burning Night of Storytelling: Night of the Kings (Theaters)

Night of the Kings highlights the power and magic of storytelling, with a palatable energy and excitement accompanying this compelling, imaginative story.  For more information, check out the review!

For An Unsettling Night of Horror: The Vigil (Theaters and Digital)

The Vigil takes a wonderful, old school horror style and steeps it in Jewish tradition, with a masterful use of light, shadows, sound, and suspense.  For more information, check out the review!

For An Imaginative Kids Adventure: The Croods: A New Age (Digital and Redbox)

The Croods: A New Age adds some great new characters and plenty of silliness in this prehistoric family animated adventure.  And this film has quickly become my kids favorite movie!  For more information, check out the review!

For An Action Packed Disaster Film: Greenland (Digital and Redbox)

Greenland is the summer blockbuster you need for the wintertime, with exciting special effects, a great cast, wonderful sound, and some interesting moral choices.  For more information, check out the review!

For An Enlightening Documentary: Billie Eilish: The World's A Little Blurry (Apple TV+)

Billie Eilish: The World's A Little Blurry offers an enlightening and sometimes uncomfortable close look at the rise of this teen phenom.  

For A Needed Dose of Feel Good Film: Finding 'Ohana (Netflix)

Finding 'Ohana has a mix of comedy, drama, and family in this film that stays true to the Hawaiian culture.  It is a heartwarming adventure that might give you a much needed dose of the feels. 

News: Free Camp Croods Coming February 11, 13, and 23!

We are so excited to announce that Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has partnered with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) in Washington, D.C. and La Brea Tar Pits, part of the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County, to bring families and kids “Camp Croods” based on the DreamWorks Animation family film, The Croods: A New Age.

The two separate interactive programs will feature hands-on activities and scientific investigation to explore the Ice Age, human origins and fate of saber-toothed cats. Families will have the chance to meet real-life paleontologists and archaeologists, participate in DIY art projects, explore virtual tar pits (La Brea Tar Pits camp), take a virtual tour of the Human Origins exhibition (NMNH camp) and experience drawing demonstrations that bring the fan favorite prehistoric Croods characters to life.

 

The Croods: A New Age is available to own on Digital February 9, 2021 and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-Ray™ and DVD February 23, 2021 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

 

Camp Croods at La Brea Tar Pits

• Thursday, February 11, 2021, 3pm - 4:30pm PT
• Saturday, February 13, 2021, 10 - 11:30am PT

FREE. Registration required. RSVP at tarpits.org/campcroods.

Camp Croods at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

• Tuesday, February 23, 2021, 6pm-7pm ET

FREE. Registration required. RSVP at s.si.edu/croods

News: Croods New Age Watch Party To Celebrate PVOD Release

Universal Pictures is conducting a Twitter Watch Party for THE CROODS: A NEW AGE with Filmmakers, Cast, AND Special Guests this Friday, December 18th at 7pm ET to celebrate the PVOD release!  Get The Croods: A New Age on PVOD and watch along to find out more about this fun movie.  Review here.

About The Croods: A New Age

The Croods have survived their fair share of dangers and disasters, from fanged prehistoric beasts to surviving the end of the world, but now they will face their biggest challenge of all: another family

The Croods: A New Age features the voice talent of returning stars Nicolas Cage as Grug Crood, Catherine Keener as Ugga Crood, Emma Stone as their daughter, Eep; Ryan Reynolds as Eep’s boyfriend, Guy; Clark Duke (Hot Tub Time Machine) as Thunk and Cloris Leachman as Gran. They’re joined by new stars Peter Dinklage (HBO’s Game of Thrones) as Phil Betterman, Leslie Mann (Blockers) as Hope Betterman, and Kelly Marie Tran (Star Wars: Episode VIII-The Last Jedi) as their daughter, Dawn. 

 

Genre: Animated Comedy

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, Clark Duke, Leslie Mann, Peter Dinklage, Kelly Marie Tran

Directed by: Joel Crawford

Produced by: Mark Swift

What to Watch This Weekend: Sweet Parents, Croods, Uncle Frank, Jingle Jangle, Kindness, 2067, Deadpool, Stuber

For A Fulfilling Drama / Comedy - Sweet Parents (Digital)

Sweet Parents will start you off with its sweet comedy, before moving onto a darker, meatier drama that tackles relevant themes and showcases two very talented actors and writers.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Heaping Serving of Family Drama - Uncle Frank (Amazon)

Uncle Frank is a wonderful, period coming of age with an all star cast, fantastic writing, and a painful family story filled with heart, humor, and drama.  For more information, check out our review!

To Keep The Kids Occupied This Long Weekend - The Croods: A New Age (Theaters)

The Croods: A New Age adds some great new characters and plenty of silliness in this prehistoric family animated adventure.  For more information, check out our review!

For Those Getting Into The Holiday Spirit - Jingle Jange: A Christmas Journey (Netflix)

Now that Thanksgiving is over, the Christmas season can officially begin, and there are few better ways to start it off than with Jingle Jangle, a film that is getting rave reviews for its holiday spirit and uplifting message!

For An Uplifting Drama - The Kindness of Strangers (Amazon)

The Kindness of Strangers has an all star cast and good audience reactions, despite general dislike from critics.  The film has an uplifting message and some syrupy sweet sentiment, so it might be just what you need for this long weekend.

For the Sci-Fi Fan - 2067 (Redbox)

2067 is a breath of fresh air, with a new take on a post-apocalyptic scenario, strong acting from Kodi Smit-McPhee, and a well-paced story that concludes with a satisfying ending.  For more information, check out our review!

For the Irreverent Superhero Fans - Deadpool 2 (Hulu)

The fast talking, nearly invincible, and irreverent ninja is back in a super hero sequel that ups the ante in nearly every way.  Deadpool 2 is even more crazy, funny, and just downright enjoyable. 

For Those Needing a Good Laugh - Stuber (HBO)

Stuber is much better than I expected it to be, and this enjoyable buddy cop-style film is leaving HBO after this weekend!  It is a wild ride from start to finish that has plenty of laughs, ridiculous situations, and interesting commentary on societal norms. For more information, check out our review!

The Croods: A New Age Review: Some Great New Characters, Same Beautiful Animation, and Lots of Silliness

Release date: November 25, 2020
Running time: 95 minutes
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, Clark Duke, Leslie Mann, Peter Dinklage, Kelly Marie Tran
Directed By: Joel Crawford

The prehistoric family the Croods are challenged by a rival family the Bettermans, who claim to be better and more evolved.  In this follow up to the prehistoric family hit, the Croods discover a new member of the pack and try to find a new home.  However, when they find some place that seems like paradise, they learn that maybe this might not be all that it is cracked up to be.

The Croods: A New Age continues the same trend of the first movie with some amazingly beautiful animation.  The film, like the previous one, starts in a desert but eventually moves into a more lush environment that really showcases what this film has to offer.  The New Age also adds some new characters, and they are all good additions.  The original Croods voice cast was surprisingly good with Nic Cage and Emma Stone being the standouts.  This movie adds characters voiced by Ryan Reynolds, Peter Dinklage, Leslie Mann, and Kelly Marie Tran.  I really liked Ryan Reynolds's character, and the other new characters are well voiced, despite me not loving their overall demeaner.  But overall, the voice acting is convincing and entertaining.

And the story of the Croods: A New Age has an interesting dynamic between prehistoric times and more modern times.  It is fun to see the Croods contend with modern technology and interact with it.  Some of the changes are funny to see, like how one of the children becomes obsessed with screens.  But what characterizes this story the most is the utter silliness of it all.  The movie has some very random aspects, such as animals that communicate only in punches, strange mash up creatures, and some odd fruits and vegetables. They are all very colorful and should be very entertaining for kids and adults.  

The story of the film has a modern technology versus old ways push and pull, and a lot more family drama than I thought it would have. But don't worry about these somewhat heavy story points, the movie itself is very silly.  There is a really funny 80s / KISS type call out towards the end that is really entertaining.  And the whole film seems to be characterized by a lot of random and ridiculous scenes.  And this silliness is something that made my kids laugh out loud.  Your kids will love it and there is enough in here for adults to enjoy as well.

The Croods: A New Age adds some great new characters and plenty of silliness in this prehistoric family animated adventure.

Rent it.

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The Croods: A New Age is available in theaters on November 25.  

For showtimes, click here.

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