This week at the movies, we’ve got an undercover dad (Snitch, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Susan Sarandon) and terrorized suburbanites (Dark Skies, starring Keri Russell and Josh Hamilton). What do the critics have to say?
At first glance, Snitch appears to be a run-of-the-mill action flick. But critics say it’s a bit deeper than that, using a thriller framework to make a point about minimum sentencing laws, and while it doesn’t always hit its mark, it’s well-acted and often thought-provoking. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stars as a father who infiltrates a drug ring after his son is wrongly accused of drug trafficking; soon, he finds himself in over his head, caught between the cartel and an ambitious prosecutor. The pundits say Snitch is a smarter-than-average crime picture with a strong performance from Johnson, but it occasionally succumbs to plot contrivances.
It looks as if the people behind Dark Skies didn’t want to rain on the critics’ parade, as the film wasn’t screened prior to its release in theaters. Produced by some of the same folks who brought you Insidious and Sinister, Dark Skies is the tale of a family that moves into a suburban house and is increasingly subjected to terrifying and inexplicable events that seem to be supernatural in origin. Time to guess the Tomatometer!
11 Flowers, a coming-of-age drama about a Chinese schoolboy whose life intersects with that of a fugitive killer, is at 100 percent.
Red Flag, starring Alex Karpovsky in a road comedy about an indie filmmaker who finds himself in a strange relationship while on a promotional tour, is at 85 percent.
Bless Me, Ultima, a drama about a young boy who befriends an elderly woman with magical powers, is at 73 percent.
Rubberneck, also starring Alex Karpovsky as a research scientist who becomes obsessed with his coworker, is at 58 percent.
Inescapable, starring Marisa Tomei in a thriller about a man desperately searching for his daughter in Syria, is at 29 percent.
Finally, props to Pep Danguilan for coming the closest to guessing Escape From Planet Earth‘s 29 percent Tomatometer.
