TAGGED AS: Certified Fresh
This week at the movies, we’ve got demonic happenings (The Witch, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Ineson), a muddled military mission (Eye in the Sky. starring Helen Mirren and Aaron Paul), cheatin’ hearts (I Saw the Light, starring Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen), a contentious courtroom (God’s Not Dead 2, starring Melissa Joan Hart and Jesse Metcalfe), and a family under siege (Meet the Blacks, starring Mike Epps and Charlie Murphy). What do the critics have to say?
The Witch returns to exactly 666 theaters this weekend, so audiences will get another chance to bask in its sinister glow. Set in New England in the 1600s, The Witch is the tale of a family that establishes a homestead in a remote wooded area after being exiled from their Puritan community. But when they are threatened by otherworldly horrors, the family members accuse each other of consorting with the demonic. Critics say the Certified Fresh The Witch conjures a mood of profound dread that will linger long after the lights go up in the theater.
Eye in the Sky has earned praise for its thoughtful, tense depiction of the moral hazards of drone warfare, and now, this Certified Fresh thriller expands to wide release this weekend. A thriller about a military mission to capture a terrorist that escalates to dangerous levels, the film stars Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Barkhad Abdi, and, in his final role, Alan Rickman.
Hank Williams remains one of popular music’s most beloved and influential figures, but critics say that, despite a fine lead performance from Tom Hiddleston, I Saw The Light is too episodic and cliched to do justice to the astonishing songs and colorful life of its subject.
Neither God’s Not Dead 2 nor Meet the Blacks were widely screened for critics prior to their releases in theaters Friday. The former is a loose sequel to the wildly profitable eveangelical hit, and stars Melissa Joan Hart as a teacher on trial for teaching the Bible in her public school classroom; the latter stars Mike Epps in a comedy about a family whose relocation to a posh new neighborhood coincides with violent looting and burglary a la The Purge.
With strong performances, deep writing, and skilled direction, The Path offers an absorbing observation of the human condition, even if a rushed pace occasionally blunts the impact.
Also Opening This Week In Limited Release