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Cyborgs and Slashers in This Weekend's Openings

Alita: Battle Angel brings CGI action to area screens while Happy Death Day 2U makes for a funny, cute and charming slasher flick.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — I’ve been waiting for this film, and it didn’t disappoint.

Credit: Courtesy Twentieth Century Fox
Rosa Salazar stars as Alita in Twentieth Century Fox’s ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL.

See, some 500 years into the future, Alita is a cyborg…part human, part machine…who can’t remember her past, but she knows it was a violent one. 

Alita: Battle Angel is simply excellent in every regard.  The CGI is seamless, the characters have depth and nuance and the film’s vision of a dystopian future is satisfyingly textured and grim.  It’s rated PG 13, and I think it’s a four and a half out of 5 popcorn box winner.

The motor ball scenes…motorball is a bloody amalgam of roller derby and assault with intent to kill…are great.  And show us that in the future, sports play-by-play won’t evolve one bit.

Credit: Universal Pictures
Jessica Rothe and Israel Broussard in Happy Death Day 2U (2019)

The sequel to Happy Death Day, Happy Death Day 2U is playing on area screens. 

The original was a mash-up of Groundhogs day and a slasher flick.  It turned out to be pretty good.  The sequel picks up where the first one ended, sorta.

the plot is based on some accidental interdimensional travel and the whole reliving the same day over and over is played to pretty good effect.

Happy Death Day 2U is Rated PG-13 for violence, language, sexual material, and thematic elements.  Look, at heart, it’s a slasher flick, but it’s a cute, charming and funny slasher flick.  I liked it to the tune of 4 out of 5 boxes of popcorn.  Oh, and they set it up at the end for another sequel.  I’m kinda looking forward to it.  

Now, if you must have a romantic comedy…well, we all know how I feel about romantic comedies.

Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros.
REBEL WILSON as Natalie in New Line Cinema's comedy "ISN'T IT ROMANTIC," a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

Isn’t It Romantic deconstructs romantic comedies.  It looks pretty good.  It’s getting some critical love.  It has Rebel Wilson as the lead and is Rated PG-13 for language, some sexual material, and a brief drug reference.  

So, if you must have a rom-com, this might be the way to go.

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