Let friends in your social network know what you are reading aboutTwitterGoogle+LinkedInPinterestPosted!A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. CelebritiesFashionMoviesMusicTVValentine's weekend movies: '50 Shades,' 'Lego Batman,' 'John Wick 2'Valentine's Day weekend has never been more crowded with choice viewing options, which can spell trouble for entertainment commitment phobes who have trouble making the right selections in general. To help the cause, we've summed up the offerings to let you find the movie you love.If you're looking for love that hurts ... in the good way: 'Fifty Shades Darker'CLOSExEmbedSeductive billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) and his increasingly-less-innocent gal pal Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) continue to explore their growing emotional (but still kinky) relationship. The love, lust and bondage story first sizzled onscreen in 2015's Valentine's weekend monster Fifty Shades of Grey. The new version vows to be even hotter.If your Valentine's knight is the Dark Knight: 'The Lego Batman Movie'CLOSExEmbedThe Lego Batman Movie doesn't just explore the world of the Lego-brick Batman (voiced by Will Arnett): It celebrates the awesomeness of being billionaire Bruce Wayne and a cool crime-fighter by night with all of those Batmobiles and a rocking Batcave.
The first spinoff of the hilarious The Lego Movie even explores Lego Batman's need to work in harmony with others, like the beautiful Batgirl/Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) Read our ***½-star review here.If you want a truly bloody Valentine: 'John Wick: Chapter 2'CLOSExEmbedKeanu Reeves is making a killer resurgence as a lethal hitman who wants to be all about love but is forced back into the assassination game (again) in John Wick: Chapter 2. Reeves puts away more baddies trying to do him harm (141 of them), which crushes his 2014 shoot-fest John Wick (a mere 84 killings). And, really, who doesn't want to spend Valentine's weekend with Keanu?If you want a romantic all-time classic: 'An Affair to Remember'Sixty years after its original release, Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr and their glorious, global 1957 romance An Affair to Remember returns to 700 theaters across the country on Feb. 12 and 15 (get tickets here). Affair is 100% sepia-tinged Hollywood, named one of the most romantic movies ever by the American Film Institute and Time magazine.
If you want a soon-to-be-classic love story: 'La La Land'CLOSExEmbedRyan Gosling and Emma Stone are already sweeping through awards season with their singing and dancing roles as a couple of starstruck artists trying to make it in Hollywood while keeping their perfectly adorable love alive. La La Land is the most romantic story to hit Hollywood since Cary Grant rode off into the sunset. It's also a sure talking point for Feb. 26's Oscar night, having earned a record-tying 14 nominations. Read our **** review here.If you're looking for scarier things than relationship problems: 'Split'CLOSExEmbedNo matter how bad your Valentine's date, that person can't be as bad as Kevin Crumb (James McAvoy), a guy with 23 personalities including the kidnapping kind known as "Dennis." Director M. Night Shyamalan's psychological horror film has dominated the box office for three weeks, marking a creepy return for The Sixth Sense director who can now blame past critical duds like The Last Airbender on off-kilter personalities.
Read our *** review here.If you want to give love to some overlooked heroes: 'Hidden Figures'CLOSExEmbedThe unheralded story of brilliant female African-American mathematicians helping NASA put a man in orbit at the height of the Space Race is a rare kind of film — an awards contender with three Oscar nominations (including best picture and supporting actress for Octavia Spencer) that's also a crowd-pleasing hit (more than $121 million in box office). Read our ***½ review here.If you love fluffy doggies: 'A Dog's Purpose'CLOSExEmbedJosh Gad doesn't just voice a golden retriever named Bailey in A Dog's Purpose, based on the best-selling novel by W. Bruce Cameron. Gad also voices each dog as Bailey is reincarnated into four different, equally appealing breeds. A Dog's Purpose was the target of national outcry when an edited video leaked from the set that showed a dog in distress, but filmmakers say it was all dog love during the movie's making.It has only been a few years since DC Comics superhero GREEN LANTERN flew into theaters, only to be greeted with underwhelming audience and box office response.
Since that time, the Christian Bale version of Batman hung up his cowl, and Warner Bros. has raced to unite the lineup of DC's most recognizable costumed characters on the big screen in an effort to emulate the success of their superhero competitors at Marvel. Accomplishing this feat has required ignoring all previous movie renditions of DC's roster, which most recently means jettisoning the 2011 Ryan Reynolds version of GREEN LANTERN for an upcoming new project that will team Hal Jordan with fellow Lantern John Stewart in GREEN LANTERN CORPS (described as "LETHAL WEAPON in space"). Hal Jordan first appeared in 1959 as an update of previous Green Lantern iteration Alan Scott. A brash but highly skilled test pilot, Jordan was selected by dying alien Abin Sur to become a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an interstellar law enforcement organization overseen by the Guardians of the Universe. Like all members of the Green Lantern Corps, Jordan wields a power ring that grants him incredible abilities.
In addition to flight and a degree of invulnerability, the ring allows the wearer to project energy blasts, force fields, and gigantic solid constructs limited only by the user's imagination and willpower. However, due to an impurity in the rings' power source, Green Lanterns have a weakness against the color yellow. Besides his service to the Green Lantern Corps, Jordan became a regular member of the Justice League, battling evil alongside other prominent DC heroes like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and the Flash. Over the course of his comic career, Jordan was also possessed by a malicious space entity and became the villain Parallax, and later sacrificed himself only to return as an incarnation of a celestial spirit known as the Spectre. Several other humans (including Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner) have worn the ring and served the Corps over the years, but the new movie will be pairing Jordan with John Stewart. The first black superhero to appear in DC Comics, Stewart made his debut in 1971 as an architect and military veteran chosen by the Guardians to act as backup for Jordan.
The character has since played a role in numerous major comic storylines. We know that Ryan Reynolds will be replaced as Hal Jordan (he has moved on to a vastly more lucrative superhero role with DEADPOOL). There's a whole list of things we'd like to see in GREEN LANTERN CORPS, but who should now slip on the ring to play the most popular Lantern? Aside from voicing Rocket in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, Bradley Cooper has somehow avoided playing a high-profile superhero, and would be a good match for the character. Armie Hammer also seems like a favorite and fitting choice to wear the emerald jewelry (DC experience: aside from his near-miss playing Batman, he tussled with new Superman Henry Cavill in 2015's THE MAN FROM UNCLE). Or... how cool would it be to see Matt Damon's Green Lantern join Ben Affleck's Batman in some future DC Cinematic Universe movie? As for John Stewart, award-winning "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" actor Sterling K. Brown has publicly expressed interest, and could certainly pull it off (despite also having a supporting role in Marvel's BLACK PANTHER).