THIS WEEK:
Blade Runner 2049 The phrase "please don't suck" might have been invented to describe the world's attitude toward this late-arriving, incredibly risky sequel: Is it a replican't or a repli-can? But hey, it's not like executive producer Ridley Scott has a history of bungling the follow-up to beloved properties (cough, Hannibal, cough). And it isn't as if there's a precedent for cinematic sewage in which Harrison Ford cedes screen time to a younger successor (retch, Crystal Skull, barf).
In the "pro" column, director Dennis Villeneuve's reputation for thinking man's sci-fi is firmly in the ascendant post-Arrival, and cinematographer Roger Deakins shot just about every movie in the last 25 years that you've loved looking at.
So who knows – we could all end up completely and totally satisfied. And then, as Charlie Brown once observed, we might all flap our arms and fly to the moon. (R)
The Mountain Between Us It's being classified as a "romance-disaster" film, and boy isn't that redundant. Idris Elba and Kate Winslet survive the crash of a charter plane, only to have to struggle to stay alive in a snowy wilderness. See, in my day, they would have just eaten each other. #takeaknee #savemeadrumstick (review at orlandoweekly.com.) (PG-13)
My Little Pony: The Movie Top voice talent like Emily Blunt, Kristin Chenoweth and Taye Diggs joins the regular cast of horse whisperers in this full-length spinoff from the TV series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Yeah, yeah, friendship is magic – but friends with benefits are awesome, as Twilight Sparkle discovers when she begins a torrid affair with BoJack Horseman.
OK, that's not really the synopsis, but if you're willing to throw on a dirty raincoat and purchase one adult ticket to an animated movie at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday, I'm sure not about to restrict your fantasy life. (In the shocking climax, an angry mob surrounds Sparkle's newborn baby and eats it.) (PG)
Pearl Jam: Let's Play Two Documentary cameras captured Pearl Jam's two-night stand at Wrigley Field in Chicago, a city with which the band is said to have an "unparalleled" relationship.
Wait a minute: I seem to recall them being intimately associated with another city at a certain point in time. Do groups get to have more than one hometown these days? Are Matchbox 20 now introducing themselves as "just a little band from Atlanta Gee-Ay"? I'd hate to have to tell Pitbull he's now a guy from Pittsburgh who had a dream. (NR)
Also playing:
Don't Sleep When a young couple rents a cottage, a series of horrific incidents ensues that remind the male half of his long-buried traumas. Oh sure – they always wait to tell you until after you've booked the Airbnb, amirite, ladies? (NR)
A Question of Faith Texting while driving is the bugaboo in this faith-based drama, with C. Thomas Howell and Kim Fields among the troubled souls looking to Jesus to ease their pain (or at least help them pick better scripts). (PG)
