Lots of movies get released every month. Keeping track of which ones to watch can be a struggle, especially when limited releases or straight-to-video films get involved. We’ve got you covered.
Here are the movies to keep a look out for in March.
Acrimony
Tyler Perry’s filmography is almost universally bad – outside of his role in Gone Girl, there isn’t exactly a ton there to like. And that’s especially true of the Madea franchise, which is just … why is that still a thing? (The answer, of course, is almost always money.)
Acrimony isn’t a movie we know a lot about, outside of its trailer – which is more about setting a mood and making Taraji P. Henson look cool. But it actually does look kind of Gone Girl-esque, which makes one wonder if Perry’s experience working on that film (and under David Fincher) made him want to make that, but targeted to black audiences. We’ll see when it’s released, and while I’m cautious about its quality, I’m certainly interested to see what it does.
Isle of Dogs
Wes Anderson is someone who, in my mind, has never made a bad movie. He’s made a couple of middling ones, sure, but the majority of his filmography is really solid and Isle of Dogs looks to be another one of them. It’s his second animated feature – Fantastic Mr. Fox being the first – and this time tackles one of the most fundamentally simple ideas in storytelling: a boy and his dog. It looks to have some social commentary in it, too, and it has a tremendous vocal cast.
It;s only scheduled for a limited release in March, though, so unless you’re in a special city you’ll probably have to wait until early April to watch it.
Love, Simon
Full disclosure: I’ve already seen Love, Simon. For whatever reason, it will have preview screenings four times prior to its actual release date. That’s a sign of confidence from the studio. It’s … okay. I wish it did more with its premise and had stronger characters, but it’ll be especially effective for the teenagers in the crowd struggling with their identity or sexual orientation, and it’s still a decent movie for the rest of us.
Pacific Rim Uprising
The internet loves Pacific Rim. There must be something about giant robots fighting giant monsters that appeals to us. Or maybe it’s just nice to see a not-terrible Transformers-esque movie about giant robots. The sequel is out in March. Guillermo del Toro isn’t directing this time, which is a major blow, but hopefully it’ll still be decent.
Red Sparrow
Red Sparrow looks like the “classier” version of Atomic Blonde. Which is weird, since we shouldn’t associate action scenes with a lack of class. Anyway, it’s a spy movie starring Jennifer Lawrence. We never know if she’s telling the truth about her motivations, her romance with a CIA officer may just be a cover, and her alliances are always changing – or, at least, we think they are. I’ve heard it’s decent, and with Lawrence set to take a year off from acting, this might be the last time we get to see her in the lead for a while.
(She’s set to appear in the new X-Men movie, too, but it’s hard to be excited for that at this point.)
Strangers: Prey at Night
Almost every time a new movie comes out that is moderately successful, the filmmakers talk about making a sequel. Lots of times, these talks amount in nothing, especially after several years have passed. The Strangers is a moderately successful movie that has had a sequel talked about for ages but never amounted to anything. Until now.
Strangers: Prey at Night is a sequel in the sense that it’s about people in masks doing a home invasion. We’ve got new protagonists and a new director – the original director did co-write the screenplay – but the basic premise seems the same. I really like The Strangers, and I’m excited to see if Strangers: Prey at Night is able to repeat its success.
Thoroughbreds
This is my most anticipated movie of March 2018. I’ve been excited for it ever since I heard about it at Sundance over a year ago. It’s about a couple of teenage girls who hatch a plan to, well, solve all of their problems in life. I don’t want to spoil any more than that – and the trailers have done a decent job of not giving too much away. It looks like a really twisted black comedy-thriller, and I love those.
On a sadder note, it’ll also be the last movie of Anton Yelchin’s that needs to get released. He died in a car accident in 2016.
Tomb Raider
This is primarily a video game website, so I feel the need to mention Tomb Raider, which … yeah, this is coming. There are some reasons to be cautiously optimistic, though. It stars Alicia Vikander, who is usually really good. It’s based on the 2013 game reboot, which is a lot of fun. And it can’t be worse than the two Angelina Jolie movies, right? Right?!
Unsane
When Steven Soderbergh decided to retire from directing, it was (1) a sad day and (2) something we all kind of knew wasn’t going to last. He made a strong return last year with Logan Lucky, and now he’s decided that, starting with Unsane, all of the movies he directs from now on will be shot on iPhones. Why? No clue. Maybe he likes a challenge. Unsane is about a woman who thinks she sees her stalker everywhere, but “knows” it’s all in her head. Eventually, she finds herself checked into a mental hospital … where her stalker works. Or maybe it’s just in her head. It looks like it’ll play around with whether or not she’s crazy for its entire running time, but also looks like a thriller worth watching.
A Wrinkle in Time
Ava DuVernay is on a hot streak at the moment, and her adaptation of the 1962 novel A Wrinkle in Time looks to be a good one. It has a tremendous cast, an interesting plot, and looks gorgeous, at least based on the trailers. It’s about a girl who goes on a quest to find her father. The journey takes place on several different planets.
