2015 Preview: February

Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s year-long preview of the films that are set to come out in 2015. This is Part 2 of 12 and today we’ll be looking at the films that will be hitting theaters this February. Now that we’ve gotten out of the ‘dead month’ of Hollywood known as January, I believe that we’ll have plenty more noteworthy films to talk about this month than we did last month. We’re still a few months away from the Summer Blockbusters but hey, who knows? There may be some gems amongst this month’s lineup. So let’s get started as we look into the films of February.

FEBRUARY 6- The month starts off with three new releases the first weekend, two of which finally see a release after both were pushed back from previous release dates.

*After being pushed back from its original July 2014 release date in order for there to be more time for post-production work, the Wachowskis’ latest film, ‘Jupiter Ascending’, finally comes out. Mila Kunis stars as the titular Jupiter, a young woman from Earth who learns that she has the same genetic signature of a powerful alien dynasty that controls the planet and that she is an heir to the throne. But when one of the other potential heirs, Balem (Eddie Redmayne), puts out a bounty for her, a genetically engineered hunter by the name of Caine Wise (Channing Tatum) comes to her aid to protect her. The film also stars Sean Bean and Douglas Booth.

*The other major ‘finally getting released’ film this weekend is ‘Seventh Son’, which got pushed back multiple times mainly due to the film’s production company Legendary Pictures signing a new contract with Universal last year after having worked with Warner Bros. since 2005. Based on the book ‘The Spook’s Apprentice’ by Joseph Delaney (the first book in the ‘Wardstone Chronicles’ series), the film centers on a young man Tom Ward (Ben Barnes) who learns that he is the ‘seventh son of a seventh son’ which grants him special powers as he becomes the apprentice of a Spook (Jeff Bridges), who trains him in the art of fighting supernatural evil. The film also stars Julianne Moore, Kit Harington, and Djimon Hounsou.

*More than a decade after the release of its previous film, the hit Nick TV show ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ returns to the big screen with ‘The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water’. In this film, SpongeBob and his friends find themselves having to travel to the surface, where they acquire superpowers, when a pirate by the name of Burger-Beard (Antonio Banderas) steals the Krabby Patty formula.

FEBRUARY 13- One of the most talked about films of the year comes out around a ‘fitting’ time (Valentine’s Day Weekend, though I use the term fitting loosely) along with the latest from director Matthew Vaughn.

*Based off of the first entry in the best-selling erotic romance book series, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, centers on a young literature student named Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) who falls in love with wealthy business magnate Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) after first meeting him during an interview. As they grow closer, Anastasia soon learns of Christian’s ‘tastes’ (BDSM, for the record, in case any of you haven’t heard of the book).

*Director Matthew Vaughn takes on his second major adaptation of a Mark Millar comic (following 2010’s ‘Kick-Ass’) with ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’. Colin Firth stars as a veteran secret agent who recruits a young juvenile delinquent (Taron Egerton) into the Secret Service. The film also stars Michael Caine, Samuel L. Jackson, and Mark Strong.

FEBRUARY 20- Two comedies and a sports drama come out this weekend.

*In ‘The DUFF’, based on the book of the same name by Kody Keplinger, a high-school senior initiates a new social pecking order after learning that she has been deemed ‘fat’ and ‘ugly’ by her more popular friends. The film’s cast includes Bella Thorne, Robbie Amell (Firestorm from ‘Flash’), and Mae Whitman.

*The sequel to the 2010 comedy ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’, the main cast (save for John Cusack, who is replaced here by Adam Scott) returns for ‘Hot Tub Time Machine 2’, in which friends Nick and Jacob (Craig Robinson and Clark Duke, respectively) use the same hot tub time-traveling machine that previously sent them and their friends back in time to the 80’s to go back in time when their friend Lou (Rob Corddry) gets shot. However, they end up going a decade into the future instead.

*Disney’s newest true story sports drama, ‘McFarland, USA’, is based on the true story of a Latino cross-country team from McFarland, California who overcame numerous social issues in the 1980’s to achieve championship glory. Kevin Costner stars as the team’s coach.

FEBRUARY 27- Finally we have a Will Smith comedy and a new horror film from Blumhouse Productions coming out to close the month.

*Will Smith and Margot Robbie star in ‘Focus’, directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa. Smith stars as a seasoned con-man who recruits, and becomes romantically involved with, a young woman (Robbie) into the business. But soon they start to come into conflict with each other when the woman becomes involved with a billionaire (Rodrigo Santoro (‘300’)) who Smith’s character is planning to steal from.

*Finally we have the newest film from producer Jason Blum, ‘The Lazarus Effect’, which centers on a team of medical professionals who discover a way to bring the deceased back to life via a serum known as ‘Lazarus’. They first use it on a human when one of their own (played by Olivia Wilde) dies in a lab accident but soon they start to experience some trouble once she starts acting strange. 

    

And those are the films that will be hitting theaters this February. Check back next month for Part 3 of this Year-Long preview as we’ll be looking at the films coming out this March.