A long-running video game franchise goes head to head with a dog and Matthew McConaughey in a bald cap at the box office this weekend.

First up, there's Gold, a new drama starring Matthew McConaughey. On the surface, it seems like something that might have been positioned to win some awards, but reviews have not been kind to this one and it's getting dumped by the studio with a quiet January release. For what it's worth, McConaughey looks to be giving it his all. The role sees him looking pretty disheveled and wearing a bald cap, a far cry from his usual appearance on screen.

Then there's A Dog's Purpose, a movie about a dog that keeps being reincarnated as a different dog every time he dies, and maybe he learns a little something about life along the way. This looked pretty bad just from the trailers, but there's been controversy surrounding this movie over the last couple of weeks after a video leaked of what appeared to be animal abuse on the set of the film. Animal lovers - the only real demographic this movie was going for - are probably going to be put off by that. For the record, I thought it looked terrible before the video leaked.

Finally, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is out, the sixth and supposedly last movie in the Resident Evil series. Milla Jovovich is back, so is director Paul WS Anderson, and you pretty much know what you're getting with these movies at this point. But will this actually be the last movie? I'm guessing it won't be; anytime anything is called "The Final Chapter," it's almost never the final chapter. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare was the sixth movie in that series, and then there were three more moviesResident Evil is saying good-bye for now, but I think we'll see it again one day.

So it's not a great weekend for new releases, but some of the Oscar-nominated movies like Fences and Arrival are coming back into theaters, so moviegoers still have some great options. Until next time, we'll Meat at the Movies.

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