It’s been too cold to go outside and play lately, but it’s the perfect weather to grab a blanket, some popcorn and watch a few movies from Redbox. Instead of holding up the line at your nearest Redbox station, this comprehensive list of five movies that you’d be mistaken not to pick up are here to get you in and out faster than Ben Affleck’s crew robbing a bank in “The Town.” Mild spoiler alerts follow.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Caesar is home. Well, he’s home if you take him and his band of talking apes with you. This sequel to the critically acclaimed “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” picks up 10 years after a disease has ravaged the Earth leaving a small percentage of humans left to bring the human race back from the brink of extinction. Caesar has become king of the apes (as if that wasn’t already apparent from the end of the first movie) and they live in the jungle away from the humans that are left. Of course there wouldn’t be a movie if everything was all peachy. Things go wrong, people die, apes die and Caesar must protect his family and his entire race.
The Equalizer
Director Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington (Training Day) team up again to bring you the story of Robert McCall, a man with a past that he thought he’d left behind. That is, until a too-young-to-be-on-her-own prostitute gets beaten up by her “pimp” and McCall decides to take justice in his own way. Denzel plays a quiet, meticulous deadly hero who’s brand of justice puts him up against the Russian mob.
Boyhood
There are so many reasons to watch this film that was (literally) 12 years in the making. Director Richard Linklater pull off the rare feat of creating a coming of age tale that’s one for the ages. The film follows a boy through the most impressionable 12 years of his life. Epic in its small moments, visceral in its emotions and powerful in its ode to childhood and parenting, this is one film that will be remembered for years to come. Also, it’s a surefire lock for this year’s Best Picture award at the Oscars, so don’t miss it.
No Good Deed
Idris Elba a.k.a Stringer Bell and Taraji P. Henson a.k.a Yvette come together for this film that hasn’t received rave reviews but got some support from audiences. Elba plays Colin, an escaped convict who happens to come to Terry’s (Henson) house asking to use her phone. Henson unknowingly lets a criminal into her home and all hell breaks loose.
Bridesmaids
It came out more than three years ago but it’s new on Redbox and you should definitely watch this one. One of the better comedies of 2011, with an all-female cast of stars featuring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Rebel Wilson, it’ll bring you lots of laughs. As Lillian said in the movie, “This is such a stone-cold pack of weirdos, and I am so proud!” Pretty much sums up the movie.
