Meat at the Movies: Is It Time for a Jackie Chan Comeback?

So there's a few movies opening up this weekend, and first is The Foreigner, a new revenge thriller starting Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan. Now I'm a big fan of Jackie Chan, who hasn't been in an American movie in a very long time, so I'm hoping this is the start of a comeback for him. But Chan has always worked better as a comedic action presence than a dramatic one, and The Foreigner looks like an incredibly grim, dark version of Taken. Reviews have been pretty mixed, and while the performances from Chan and Brosnan playing against type could be interesting, it doesn't seem like it rises above your standard thriller.

Then there's Happy Death Day, a horror movie I'm hearing surprisingly solid things about (it's Friday the 13th in October, there has to be at least one horror movie opening up). This is essentially if Groundhog Day were a horror movie - A girl gets killed and then relives the day of her murder over and over again until she can discover the identity of her murderer. Trailers made it look pretty goofy, and it might be, but reviews have been decent, and I've seen at least one critic compare it to Unfriended, another surprisingly solid horror movie from a couple years ago.

Finally, this weekend also sees the release of Marshall, a new drama starring Chadwick Boseman as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall early in his career. Reviews have been pretty good-not-great for this one, saying it's an interesting story that doesn't really go as deep as it could. It's also supposedly more of an ensemble piece than an actual Thurgood Marshall biopic, so it could seem for a bit like he might get lost in his own movie. Still, for any history buffs in the audience, this will likely be worth going to see.

So there's no clear-cut choice to see this weekend, but if I had to pick one, Happy Death Day might be the one I'd choose. I'm Meat Sandwich and until next time we'll Meat at the Movies.