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. 

What to Watch This Weekend: Tenet, Lupin III, Boxing, 1994, Louis van Beethoven, Greenland, Hunter Hunter, Paint, KFC

For A Mindbending Blockbuster Film - Tenet (Redbox and Digital)

Christopher Nolan's time bending tale is finally available on Redbox and digital.  If you didn't want to head to the theaters this summer, now is great time to check out one of the few movies that came out in theaters this summer!

For The Anime Fan - Lupin III: The First (Digital

Lupin III: The First has beautiful animation, an upbeat soundtrack, and an exciting heist adventure that takes the gentleman thief all over the world.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Documentary About Rolling With The Punches - Suffer For Good (Digital)

Suffer For Good highlights the importance of hard work and determination, and shows that in life you are never too old to pursue your dreams.  For more information, check out our review!

For A Little Bit of Political History - 1994 (Topic)

1994 highlights an explosive and dramatic year in Italian politics, with interesting characters, an engaging story, and an impressive commitment to the time period.  For more information, check out our review!

For Some Musical History - Louis van Beethoven (Virtual Cinema and Digital)

Louis van Beethoven composes a wonderful portrayal of the Beethoven's life with its great cast, excellent use of music, and humanizing story of the larger than life figure.  For more information, check out our review!

For a Summer Blockbuster in Winter - Greenland (Digital)

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 our review!

For a Raw and Realistic Survival Horror - Hunter Hunter (Digital)

Hunter Hunter's interesting, low tech lifestyle, commitment to realism, brutal scenes, and palatable tension will trap your interest right from the start!    For more information, check out our review!

For An Artistic Drama - Paint (Digital)

Paint's interesting characters, multiple story threads, and unapologetic look at the image-conscious art world paints a wonderful picture of dark humor and deep drama!  For more information, check out our review!

For Some Deep Fried Advertising Ridiculousness - A Recipe for Seduction (Lifetime)

A Recipe for Seduction's spicy scenes, bite-sized duration, and piping hot cast led by a salt and pepper Mario Lopez make it one campy movie you'll want to dig into.  For more information, check out our review!

Greenland Review: A Summer Blockbuster In Winter

 

Release date: December 18, 2020
Running time: 119 minutes
Starring: Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roger Dale Floyd, Theodore Scott Glenn, David Denman, Hope Davis, Andrew Bachelor, Joshua Mikel
Writer: Chris Sparling
Director: Ric Roman Waugh

A family fights for survival as a planet-killing comet races to Earth. John Garrity (Gerard Butler), his estranged wife Allison (Morena Baccarin), and young son Nathan make a perilous journey to their only hope for sanctuary. Amid terrifying news accounts of cities around the world being leveled by the comet’s fragments, the Garrity’s experience the best and worst in humanity while they battle the increasing panic and lawlessness surrounding them. As the countdown to global apocalypse approaches zero, their incredible trek culminates in a desperate and last-minute flight to a possible safe haven.

Greenland feels like your standard summer blockbuster disaster movie, except it is coming out in December.  But not to worry, this film has everything you would come to expect in those movies.  A potential disaster, a loving family hoping to survive, and a long journey to try and overcome the impending doom.  First and foremost, the movie has some really good special effects.  It makes me miss the theaters as this would have been a movie to watch on the big screen.  From the explosions to the bright lights to the overall spectacle, Greenland at least presents an exciting experience.  And the sound is just fantastic.  The roar of asteroids and the shattering of glass are all well represented, but the film is at its best when there are quiet scenes.  An eerie quiet as animals flee the area, the tense build up before some disaster, or a scene late in the movie with an intense situation and almost silence, all of these really provide a nice audio accompaniment for your eyes.

 

And this disaster film is made all the better by the great cast headlined by Gerard Butler.  The man knows how to be a charming action star and this is no exception.  It is what you come to expect from him and he does not disappoint.  Morena Baccarin is also wonderful as Alison, and she gets a chance to stretch her dramatic chops in several emotional scenes during the harrowing journey.  And Roger Dale Floyd as their son shows that he is a future star in the making.  The kid already has a very impressive resume and his performance in this movie should add to that.  He was emotional when he needed and added some depth to some very challenging scenes and situations.  

But Greenland also has more going for it than you generic disaster movie plot.  Greenland presents some interesting moral questions during this disaster scenario.  Some people go to great lengths to survive and Greenland puts some difficult decisions in front of the audience.  Do you stick together or sacrifice one to survive?  How far would you go to protect your family from certain doom?  And often when these are highlighted, the film has a great sense of tension and distrust.  Are those characters looking to help you or do they just want you to let your guard down?  And it also has a nice scene showing the sacrifice of military individuals that I very much appreciated.  All that being said, the story of Greenland is pretty convoluted to get to their journey.  And as with most of the movies in this category, it seems to be an overly complicated plan to get there.  But Greenland definitely ticks the boxes for an exciting disaster movie and gives you a spectacle for your eyes, ears, and heart.  

Greenland is the summer blockbuster you need for the wintertime, with exciting special effects, a great cast, wonderful sound, and some interesting moral choices. 

Rent it.

If you liked this review and want to see more from Watch or Pass, please consider 

following us on our various social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube. 

Greenland is available on PVOD on December 18, 2020. 

For additional information about the film and to rent / buy it, check it out at the links below.

This site contains affiliate links. //Commerce or this site may be compensated when you click through links on our site.  

Screening: Greenland (Starring Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roger Dale Floyd) - Tuesday, December 15th

We have screening passes for the new action film Greenland on behalf of STX Entertainment!  The film stars: Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roger Dale Floyd, Theodore Scott Glenn, David Denman, Hope Davis, Andrew Bachelor, Joshua Mikel.  It debuts on Premium Video on Demand on December 18th, but you can see it EARLY AND FREE by entering for the virtual screening below.

Synopsis:

A family fights for survival as a planet-killing comet races to Earth. John Garrity (Gerard Butler), his estranged wife Allison (Morena Baccarin), and young son Nathan make a perilous journey to their only hope for sanctuary. Amid terrifying news accounts of cities around the world being leveled by the comet’s fragments, the Garrity’s experience the best and worst in humanity while they battle the increasing panic and lawlessness surrounding them. As the countdown to global apocalypse approaches zero, their incredible trek culminates in a desperate and last-minute flight to a possible safe haven.

SCREENING INFO

Greenland
Tuesday, December 15
7:00pm 
Virtual!
Check out the Trailer!

Screening Link: http://stxtickets.com/CnmhB66980