Upcoming Movie Roundup -- February

Looks like February is set and ready to live up to its tradition of continuing January's slow season of unexceptional and mediocre movies. Bring it on!

The Monuments Men
Feb 7th; PG-13
Written and directed by, and starring George Clooney, along with an all-star cast of Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, and Hugh Bonneville, this history pic about WWII soldiers tasked with rescuing art from the Nazis is already disappointing a majority of the critics. It never really caught my fancy to begin with, but apparently it uses its premise and Expendables-style cast to succeed in not much more than being the poster-child of this month's traditional mediocrity.




The Lego Movie
Feb 7th; PG
I expect this movie will be the most popular and highest rated movie of the month. Why? Because kiddie movies aren't as affected by the awards season. While everyone who wants to see serious movies skips The Monuments Men to catch up on all those films getting Oscar attention, kids (and discerning adults too) who just need some fun and silly escapism will hopefully find this to be exactly what the doctor ordered. The trailer is very funny and promising, so hopefully it'll deliver, and didn't use up all the good jokes.




RoboCop
Feb 12th; PG-13
I have never seen the original film, and haven't been following the production of this remake (which seems to have a lot of people talking about it with very strong opinions) so my impressions are pretty uninformed. My main impression is that the only thing that caught my attention and seems to hint at this being anything other than another unnecessary remake is Gary Oldman, because he is awesome... but I doubt it'll help. My second impression is that I don't understand the plot at all. Oh, remakes.




Winter's Tale
Feb 14th; PG-13
Aha, another defining feature of February movie releases: Valentines Day movies! This one looks confusing and complicated (apparently involves time travel of some obscure variety) but mostly it looks sappy. Overwhelmingly sappy. Sappy romance, sappy drama... Colin Farrel making sappy faces which you'll never notice because you're too distracted by his awful sappy hairstyle. I wouldn't even have included it here except for one thing; Jessica Brown Findlay. My one consolation for her leaving Downton Abbey is that I'd get to see her in movies... and then she does this.




Pompeii
Feb 21st PG-13
Okay, I can't figure out this one. At first I thought for sure it was going to be a overacted, cheesy and melodramatic romance with an underdeveloped backdrop of Pompeii used as a device, but then I actually watched the trailer and was surprised to discover that it has all the signs of being a two-bit disaster flick. That was unexpected. My impression now is 2012, but with Romans. I can't decide if that makes it more interesting or less...




Non-Stop
Feb 28th; PG-13
"Liam Neeson's plane gets taken" -- someone that was not me. Actually, a more accurate movie to compare this new Neeson mystery-thriller to would be Unknown since it is by the same director. Unfortunately, Unknown was considerably less popular than Taken although it was only slightly less well-reviewed. I liked it alright, and this looks even more promising and unique and stylishly filmed. (Notice they're using the Sherlock text-message-floating-in-the-air trick?) The addition of Michelle Dockery in the cast is a big plus too. Still, it seems like a awful lot of the plot was revealed in the trailer...



So, is February the month where you catch up on seeing Oscar nominated films, or are you holding out for a new-release?