THE WEEKEND WARRIOR March 28, 2028

A WORKING MAN, DEATH OF A UNICORN, THE WOMAN IN THE YARD, THE PENGUIN LESSONS, THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND, THE CHOSEN: THE LAST SUPPER, SIKANDAR

This weekend is gonna be an effin’ mess, and there’s just no way around that fact. There are no less than seven wide or moderately wide releases, three of them from pretty big studios, but none of the movies really coming into the weekend with much in terms of buzz. Sure, a couple of them played at festivals and were well-received there, but even with a few big name stars, there just doesn’t seem to be much excitement around any of them.

On top of that, I will only have seen a few of this weekend’s releases, only two of the wide releases, because let’s face it, WHO HAS THE EFFIN’ TIME!?? (Two of the movies I hope to catch on Thursday and another I might try to catch over the weekend, so we’ll see if I can add some reviews here or just write some thoughts on Letterboxd.) Sadly, I just don’t have as much time to watch and review stuff as I used to, since I have a lot going on, including a new writing gig over at Collider.

A WORKING MAN (Amazon MGM)

Jason Statham reunites with his The Beekeeper director, David Ayer, for an adaptation of Chuck Dixon’s novel, “Levon’s Trade,” which was adapted by Sylvester Stallone. In this revenge action-thriller, Statham plays Levon Cade, a man with a military background working in construction when his boss’ daughter Jenny is kidnapped by human traffickers, and Levon is forced to go after them to retrieve the young woman. The movie also stars Michael Peña and David Harbour, and it’s getting a fairly wide release into 3,000+ theaters.

Statham and Ayer are coming off The Beekeeper, which opened in January 2024 with $16.6 million in 3,303 theaters, over the MLK Jr. holiday weekend, and it ended up making $152.4 million globally with $66.2 million domestically. That’s good enough to warrant a sequel, but Statham and Ayer had already planned on adapting Dixon’s book first. (For those who don’t know, Chuck Dixon came from the world of comics, famously writing Batman and introducing the character of Bane.)

I don’t expect A Working Man to open that well, just because it doesn’t have quite the sense of fun and easy-to-sell premise as The Beekeeper, nor does it have the benefit of a holiday bump. On top of that, the box office has generally been down as people just don’t seem that much into going out to movies right now.

Reviews for the movie won’t run until Wednesday afternoon, and there’s a good reason for that, as you’ll see if I get around to reviewing this myself, though I was a little surprised to learn how many of my colleagues liked the movie.

Either way, the box office is not doing well as people are avoiding theaters, and this weekend, there are just too many choices, which might hurt all of them. A Working Man does have a great trailer working for it, and I could see A Working Man opening with $12 million or higher, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if it bombs, much like other far better movies this year.

Mini-Review: I really enjoyed last year’s The Beekeeper, and I was so pumped to see that David Ayer and Jason Statham were continuing to work together, since they seemed to have found the perfect collaborator. Even though I haven’t read Chuck Dixon’s book, I have read a lot of his comics, and I thought his gritty approach to storytelling fit perfectly with the Statham/Ayer “ethos.” That may be why I was so disappointed with A Working Man, a terrible title, but I guess it’s a better sell than Dixon’s original title, maybe?

Statham plays Levon Cade, an ex-military special ops man now working as a construction worker when his boss’ daughter is kidnapped at a nightclub, and his boss (played by Michael Peña, a great and underused actor) asks Levon to find her, but first, Levon is going to bust some heads and take some names, but mostly bust heads.

The premise and plot for this couldn’t be any simpler, and it doesn’t feel particularly original, as if Dixon was inspired by so many bad ‘90s action movies when he wrote the story, and really, that’s only a small part of its problems. Another fellow Ritchie/Vaughn vet, Jason Flemyng, gets second billing in the credits, and he essentially shows up with a Russian accent as a minor Russian mobster who is in the movie for maybe ten minutes at that. Maybe it’s for the better, because his accent is pretty bad. Levon also has a buddy named Gunny, played by David Harbour, a blind former soldier, who also shows up for no particularly reason, to arm Levon up for his quest, then he, too, disappears.

The story is bland, as is the writing and action, and Statham having to quell the humorous aspect of what he does so well doesn’t help matters either. Probably the worst part of the movie are the generic goons that he fights, who have little personality and fewer acting chops, but they are also so written so poorly, I’m not sure I can blame the actors who clearly were found in central casting. (The film takes place in Chicago, though I’m not sure if that’s where it was cast and filmed.)

I saw this a month ago, and the fact that I barely remember much of anything about it – the scribbles in my review notebook don’t help much – makes me realize how vacuous this was as an action film, just a real nothing burger of a movie that doesn’t offer much to the genre beyond what we’ve seen in far better movies, many of them starring Statham in fact.

A Working Man is a dreary and kind of icky follow-up to The Beekeeper that doesn’t showcase any of the talent who we’ve seen can do far better. It’s such a boring sub-standard revenge thriller, like something that belongs back in the ‘90s. To say this was a disappointment would be a massive understatement.

Rating: 4.5/10

DEATH OF A UNICORN (A24)

A24 continues to roll out their 2025 offerings with a strange horror-comedy premise from first-time feature filmmaker Alex Scharfman, starring Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega as a father and daughter who hit a unicorn with their car and bring the body to the wilderness retreat of a wealthy pharmaceutical CEO. The movie premiered at the SXSW Film Festival earlier this month, and received generally decent reviews, although they’ve been getting worse as regional critics who didn’t see the movie at a festival have begun to watch and review. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get to the single press screening A24 offered for this, so I’ll just be seeing it on Thursday like everyone else, and I’m more than likely going to write my thoughts about it on Letterboxd.

A24 has created quite a strong brand, especially when it comes to horror and genre, and they have two strong leads in Rudd and Ortega, the latter whose fanbase has grown thanks to her title role on Netflix’s hit “Wednesday” series. She’s done particularly well in the horror genre with her appearance in two popular Scream movies as well as her role in Ti West’s X, where she was slightly overshadowed by Mia Goth. Oh, and of course, we have to mention how she was brought into Tim Burton’s hit sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, last year. Some of Ortega’s movies haven’t done as well, like the icky Miller’s Girl (also last year) and a couple festival movies that never even received a theatrical release.

Rudd, on the other hand, is coming off arguably one of the worst movies in Marvel’s history (depending on who you ask), although both 2023’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and 2024’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire would be seen as box office hits, despite neither movie being received particularly well. Still, it feels like Rudd is secondary to the far more popular and slightly younger* Ortega. (*I mean, let’s say it… Rudd still looks like he’s in his 30s!) Unicorn also stars Oscar nominee Richard E. Grant, Téa Leoni (where has SHE been?), and Will Poulter, who appears in another A24 movie next month.

A24 just had a recent bust in Opus, which premiered at Sundance, but they generally seem to be releasing new movies every couple weeks now, with this one being followed by Alex Garland’s Warfare and The Legend of Ochi in April. They’re giving this one a rather wide release into over 3,000 theaters, and while it could lose some guys to the new Jason Statham action movie (which is a much easier sell), it could still generate enough curiosity to bring in $7 to $8 million. I say that well aware that other recent genre films like Companion, Heart Eyes, and Novocaine have disappointed by opening under $10 million. For A24 that wouldn’t be so bad or even disappointing.

THE WOMAN IN THE YARD (Universal)

Blumhouse has not been doing that well in recent years with a number of weaker offerings, and that certainly seems to be the case with this high-concept horror movie from Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan, The Shallows). The movie stars Danielle Deadwyler as a woman in a house, who has to contend with a woman… in her yard, played by Okwui Okpokwasili. Yes, that seems to be the entire premise of the movie, which is somehow getting released into 2,800 theaters, because it’s sure to appeal to people…. Who have yards… and are worried about women sitting in their yards. No idea why Clint Eastwood didn’t direct and star in this one.

It’s a little crazy that Collet-Serra, who has quite a solid reputation as a filmmaker with a number of movies that made more than $100 million domestically, many of them either starring Liam Neeson or Dwayne Johnson, would be directing such a movie that feels so low-brow, especially after his Netflix action movie, Carry On, was received so well. (Then again, his Black Adam wasn’t that well received and his last Liam Neeson, Retribution, which he just produced, bombed.

Yes, it’s pretty hard to take this movie seriously, and Universal did something quite uncharacteristic by only screening this for critics on Thursday night, hours after the movie has already opened for previews. Fact is that this looks like a real dud, and Universal hiding reviews for it just confirms that fact, even though they’re still using their pull to get it into 2,800 theaters. It might be able to bring in $4 to $5 million, but it’s one of the weaker offerings this weekend for sure, especially opening against the stronger Death of a Unicorn. If I review this, it will be on my aforementioned Letterboxd.

THE PENGUIN LESSONS (Sony Pictures Classics)

Steve Coogan stars in this true-story dramedy, directed by Peter Cattaneo, best known for directing The Full Monty but who last directed Military Wives, which was one of the last press screenings I saw before theaters in New York were shut down due to COVID. In the film, Coogan plays Tom Michell, a British teacher who travels to Buenos Aires to teach at a boys’ school, but while on a brief trip to Uruguay, he encounters a penguin trapped in an oil slick on the beach. At the behest of a pretty woman he met, he brings the penguin back to his hotel room and eventually back to the school.

Sony Classics is giving this a wide release into 1,000 theaters or more with some hearty marketing to help this hopefully do better than last year’s My Penguin Friend, starring Jean Reno, which wasn’t nearly as good a movie. That movie opened in 1,083 theaters to just $1 million and making $2.7 million domestic, but that was also released by Roadside Attractions.

With moderately decent reviews since it’s debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, I could see The Penguin Lessons opening slightly over $2 million to get into the top 10, but this is a very busy weekend, and I’m worried it might get lost in the shuffle of better-promoted (and mostly bad) movies.

Mini-Review: Anyone who saw last year’s My Penguin Friend might already be skeptical of another penguin-related movie so soon after, but The Penguin Lessons is a very different beast, being based on Tom Michell’s own experiences and autobiographical novel about what happened after taking a teaching role at a prestigious private boys’ school during the ‘70s at the height of Argentina’s dictatorial military regime. Coogan plays Michell, and at first, it’s about him adjusting to the new environment and the school’s strict headmaster (played by Jonathan Pryce), but on a quick trip to Uruguay, Michell encounters the penguin in an oil slick and offers to save it, more to impress a woman he’s trying to get back to his hotel room. That plan backfires and soon, Tom finds himself having to take the penguin back with him to the school in Buenos Aires, where he is able to keep it secret at first.

Believe me, no one was more surprised by how much I enjoyed this film, maybe because it’s not necessarily a movie just for kids or families as might have been how the movie played out if the same story was told by a Disney or another studio. For instance, there is a running throughline involving the kidnapping of a young woman named Sofia, the daughter of the school’s maid, and that tends to make things more serious, rather than being an outright comedy pairing Coogan with a penguin, who is eventually named “Juan Salvador” by Michell’s students.

Most of all, I was hugely impressed by what a fantastic role this was for Coogan, because it isn’t necessarily just shaving off the edges of his cynical sense of humor, but it’s also showing off a very different dare I say softer side. It suits him quite well, and it proves him to be an actor who ably can pull off drama and even be a relatable “everyman” when necessary

This is also a very different movie from last year’s My Penguin Friend, because it’s not just about the relationship between Coogan’s teacher with this flippered friend, but it’s also about a moment in South American history when governments were being run with a military iron fist, people were being kidnapped, tortured, and even killed. In that way, it reminds me more of last year’s Oscar-winning I’m Still Here or the little-seen animated doc, They Shot the Piano Player, though the political aspects are handled in a much more viewer-friendly way, mainly due to that scene-stealing penguin, who is quite adorable. I was also impressed with the cast around Coogan, particularly the actors playing his young students, as everyone around the veteran actor steps up their game, so that there are no weak links.

Note that there are a few sadder moments that might upset a few more sensitive viewers, but if nothing else, The Penguin Lessons proves that Cattaneo is still able to deliver with this perfectly pleasant, crowd-pleasing offering that ably mixes humor and politics in a surprisingly sweet manner.

Rating: 8/10

I should have an interview with Steve Coogan soon over at Cinema Daily US.

THE CHOSEN: LAST SUPPER PART 1 (Fathom Events)

One of the most enduring faith-based series to play in theaters is the fifth and presumably final season of this biblical webseries (available via Prime Video!) that’s premiering in theaters over three separate weekends, similar to the fourth season, which debuted in theaters in February 2024 with a similar methodology with all eight episodes previewed in theaters over the course of three weeks.

Before that, Season 3 previewed its first two episodes in November 2022 with an impressive opening weekend of $8.7 million in 2,027 theaters, and that ended up with $14.6 million. When Season 4 premiered over the course of a month, the first two episodes opened with $5.9 million, followed by $3.6 million and $3.3 million for the following five episodes. Since the new installments are being released by Fathom Events rather than Angel Studios, that adds a whole new level of complexity to these releases, but presumably the Fathom marketing (essentially playing its trailers in front of every movie) should allow for fans of the series to know there’s

To make things even more confusing, there was another The Last Supper movie with a wide release just a few weeks back, and that movie has done quiet well, opening with $2.8 million and grossing $5.5 million so far, even getting into the top 10 its first two weeks. One wonders whether devout Catholics and fans of “The Chosen” may have gone to see that out of confusion, knowing where the webseries was going.

Chances are there will be diminishing returns with each episode, but Part 1 should be good for $5 to $7 million this weekend for an opening in the top five. We’ll have to see how that affects Part 2 next week and Part 3 the week after.

SIKANDAR (Pen Marudhar Cine Entertainment)

This week’s Bollywood offering, starring Salman Khan and directed by A.R. Murugadoss, is a bit of an anomaly for this country’s exports, although it has some early buzz due to its star and its underdog story about a young man fighting against corruption. Khan is one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, partially thanks to his role as Tiger in 2012’s Ek tha Tiger, which has led to a major spy action franchise with 2023’s Tiger 3 making $5.4 million domestically after an opening weekend of $1.9 million. Khan also cameoed as the character in the far bigger Pathaan, which opened with $6.9 million and grossed $17.5 million in North America and $105.9 million globally.

There’s clearly a market in America for Khan’s films, though he’s not quite as big as Shah Rukh Khan, who was the lead in Pathaan, and whose next film, Jawan, did almost as well domestically. Oddly, Sikandar is only opening on Sunday with previews on Saturday, and in theory, it could do well that single day, but not having any box office from Thursday or Friday will probably limit this to the bottom of the top 10 with between $2 and $3 million tops.

AUDREY’S CHILDREN (Blue Harbor Entertainment)

Also opening wide this weekend (supposedly) is this biopic from director Ami Canaan Mann, starring Natalie Dormer from “Game of Thrones” as Dr. Audrey Evans, who in 1969 joined a children’s hospital in Philadelphia, where she started breaking ground in treating children with cancer, developing revolutionary treatments and eventually staring the Ronald McDonald House. Seeing how poorly Angel Studios’ terrific Rule Breakers did a few weeks back, I can’t imagine this biopic doing that much better, especially since it deals with children with cancer, not necessarily something that might get people into theaters – especially families which might be a possibility with its PG rating. Blue Harbor is a relatively unknown distributor without a lot of clout, and Dormer really hasn’t proven herself as a box office draw, so I’ll be shocked if this even makes a million this weekend, despite a wide release into 1,000 or more theaters. Due to time constraints this week, I’ve chosen not to review this one, but that’s fine.

THE BOX OFFICE CHART

With nothing other than Snow White making more than $5 million last weekend, there’s a very good chance that a majority of the current movies in theaters will be out of the top 10 completely, bumped by this weekend’s offerings, none of which are particularly strong, and not nearly strong enough to warrant six or seven new movies in the same weekend. It is positively cray-cray, as the kids might say.

1. Snow White (Disney) - $20.6 million -52%
2. A Working Man (Amazon MGM) - $12.2 million N/A
3. Death of a Unicorn (A24) - $7.4 million N/A
4. The Chosen: Last Supper Part 1 (Fathom Events) - $6.5 million N/A
5. The Woman in the Yard (Universal) - $4.3 million N/A
6. Black Bag (Focus Features) - $2.7 million -36%
7. Captain America: Brave New World (Marvel/Disney) - $2.5 million -38%
8. The Penguin Lessons (Sony Pictures Classics) - $2.3 million N/A
9. Sikandar (Pen Marudhar Cine Entertainment) - $2.2 millon N/A
10. Novocaine (Paramount) - $2 million -47%
– Audrey’s Children (Blue Harbor Entertainment) - $550k N/A

Getting into a few of this week’s limited releases, including the movie that is essentially this week’s “Chosen One”...

THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND (Focus Features)

Opening in four theaters this weekend is this new comedy from Tim Key and Tom Basden of the British sketch comedy group Cowards, who co-wrote and star in this film about a wealthy loner lottery winner named Charles (played by Key), who pays big money to reunite his favorite folk duo, the couple Herb McGwyer and Nell Mortimer, for a private concert. Basden plays McGwyer, who isn’t told that his estranged girlfriend Nell (played beautifully by Carey Mulligan) would be part of the deal, and things get more awkward when she shows up on the island with her new husband Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen).

Directed by James Griffiths (Cuban Fury), I had been hearing great things about this out of Sundance, and I was glad to learn that those raves were correct, since I loved everything about this film, especially discovering the humor of Key and Basden who were complete unknowns to me (and probably to most Americans). The film’s plot reminds me a bit of one of my favorite Nick Hornby books, Juliet, Naked, which had a terrific adaptation starring Ethan Hawke and Rose Byrne a few years back. It’s really driven by the humorous charm of Key’s character and how annoyed he makes Basden’s character, who has switched gears in his career, and to most of his fans, he’s making bad pop music now.

It’s a fine set-up for a terrific movie that makes the most out of its location and its smaller cast, and things just get better once Mulligan enters the mix, and we see how Nell and Herby still have this wonderful chemistry. Nell’s husband offers some witty humor as well Sian Clifford as Amanda, who runs the local market, where they not only don’t have anything, but they’ve barely heard of anything either. This is a VERY remote island.

There are aspects to the film that reminded me of what I enjoy so much about the films of John Carney, but also the trio of films by Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost, because it’s funny but also warm. There’s a sweetness and a charm to the story and script, but also a sense of humor that comes from Charles’ punny quips at every possible inopportune moment.

As of now, this is one of my favorite non-doc movies of the year, having gone into it really knowing nothing about Key and Basden and leaving the film as a fan of both of them. If you enjoy the films of John Carney aka Once and the recent Flora and Son, you’re probably going to enjoy The Ballad of Wallis Island just as much, and hopefully, Focus will expand this wider in April so that more people across the country will have a chance to see this wonderful film.

Rating: 9/10

THE FRIEND (Bleecker Street)

Naomi Watts and Bill Murray star in the new movie from David Siegel and Scott McGehee (The Deep End), adapted from Sigrid Nunez’s New York Times bestselling novel, in which Watts plays Iris, an editor whose friend and mentor, an author played by Murray, commits suicide and leaves his Great Dane, Apollo, to be taken care of by Iris. Iris isn’t quite ready for that responsibility, mainly because she has a (relatively) small New York apartment for such a large dog.

I already reviewed the movie at Cinema Daily US when it premiered at the New York Film Festival, and I’ll have an interview with directors Siegel and McGehee over there soon as well. This movie will open in two New York theaters on Friday and then will expand nationwide on Friday, April 4. It might have been strange if this opened wide this weekend against The Penguin Lessons, only because that film’s star, Steve Coogan, appeared in Siegel and McGehee’s What Maisie Knew a few years back. I’ll probably try to write more about this next week when it goes wide, but I will say that if you’re going to see it for Bill Murray, you’re gonna be disappointed.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH (Drafthouse Films)

This doc directed by Alex Braverman looks at the life and career of the enigmatic stand-up comic, Andy Kaufman, who I’ve long admired even though his career was filled with controversy towards the end of his young life and career. Even though I felt like I knew a lot about Kaufman’s life and career from a book I read even before Man on the Moon was released, I generally enjoyed how Braverman told his story with interviews from his friends, particularly Bob Zmuda, Danny De Vito, and even Steve Martin makes an appearance. I don’t have a ton to say about the movie but it will open at the Quad Cinema in New York on Friday as well as other select theaters, but not at the Alamo oddly.

SECRET MALL APARTMENT (MTuckman Media)

I’ve heard good things about this documentary directed by Jeremy Workman and exec. Produced by Jesse Eisenberg, which opened in Rhode Island last week and is now playing at New York’s IFC Center with Workman and Eisenberg doing QnAs over the weekend. It follows eight Rhode Islanders, who in 2003, created a secret apartment inside the Providence Place Mall and lived there for four years. I’ve heard great things about this doc and look forward to watching it myself.

HOLLAND (Prime Video)

Nicole Kidman stars in the new film from Mimi Cave (Fresh) about a woman in Holland, Michigan whose life is falling apart. Also starring Gael García Bernal and Matthew Macfadyen, this will hit Prime Video on Thursday, but Amazon wouldn’t provide a screener, so clearly, the bad reviews out of SXSW were on point.

Other movies out this weekend…

GRAND TOUR (Mubi)
ART FOR EVERYBODY(Tremolo Productions)
HOLY COW (Zeitgeist/Kino Lorber)
THE PERFORMANCE (Daniel Finkelman Films, Sparks Go)

I really want to get back into writing up the repertory stuff next month, so I’ll wrap up this month by covering what’s playing at the METROGRAPH this weekend:

Starting this week is “Filmcraft: Monika Willi,” looking at the work of the contemporary film editor who has worked with Michael Haneke, Todd Field, and others, kicking off on Friday night with “ACE Presents” of Haneke’s Oscar-winning Amour (2012) with Ms. Willi doing a QnA. She will also be on hand on Saturday afternoon for a screening and QnA of Field’s recent film, Tár (2022), starring Cate Blanchett. Also screening this weekend as part of the series is Ulrich Seidl’s Wicked Games - Rimini Sparta (2023), combining the two docs about the Romanian brothers, and Willi’s own 2017 film, Untitled, with Willi doing intros for the latter two on Saturday.

Another series beginning this weekend is “In Good Faith” looking at a wide variety of religious films with this weekend screening Powell and Pressburger’s Black Narcissus (1947), Carlos Reygada’s 2012 film Post Tenebras Lux, and Pasolini’s The Gospel According to Matthew (1964).

Screening as part of “Welcome to Suburbia” is Greg Araki’s 2004 adaptation of Mysterious Skin, starring Joseph Gordon Levitt, Brady Corbet, and the late Michelle Trachtenberg. Tsai Ming-Liang’s 1997 film, The River, screens as part of “Drifting Through Time: Focus on Lee Kang-Sheng.” The “Take A Walk on the Wild Side” continues this weekend with screenings of Paul Schrader’s Cat People (1982), Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster (2015), and Clouzot’s Diabolique from 1955.

On Thursday evening, you can see Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire or Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria as “Filmcraft: Inbal Weinberg” comes to a close. Theo Angelopoulos’s The Beekeeper (1986) will screen as part of “Tonnino Guerra: A Poet’s Cinema.”

I hope to bring back the repertory round-up soon, maybe in April, once I get accustomed to my new writing gig and other things going on in my life.

Next week, it’s April! Things might pick up again with the release of Warner Bros’ A Minecraft Movie, but otherwise, things look pretty down for most of the month unless there are some surprises (like Ryan Coogler’s Sinners).