SPRING MOVIE PREVIEW—MUST-SEE MOVIES FOR MARCH

The movie season is starting to heat up and there are many films you have to see. From classic tales that have been turned on their heads to action adventures to fighting Titans—the month of March kicks things into high gear.

PROJECT X                                                                                                              DATE: March 2                                                                                                       GENRE: Comedy                                                                                                   STUDIO: Warner Bros.                                                                                            STARS: Kirby Bliss Blanton, Jonathan Daniel Brown, Oliver Cooper, Alexis Knapp, Thomas Mann, Miles Teller                                                                                               SYNOPSIS: Three seemingly anonymous high school seniors attempt to finally make a name for themselves when they decide to throw a party that no one will forget. But as word spreads quickly, dreams are ruined, records are blemished and legends are born.  WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT: We hope most of you have outlived the motto: “party hardy” but in case you haven’t, you can live vicariously through these kids. No judgment.

JOHN CARTER                                                                                                        DATE: March 9                                                                                                       GENRE: Action/Adventure                                                                                      STUDIO: Walt Disney Pictures                                                                                 STARS: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Daryl Sabara, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston, Thomas Hayden Church, Willem Dafoe                                                                            SYNOPSIS: Former military captain John Carter (Kitsch), is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.           WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT: To put it simply: there’s always room for another hero in your life. Oh, and if you’re a fan of the book, it will give you something to talk about around the watercooler as to whether or not the on-screen version lived up to the book by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

SILENT HOUSE                                                                                                        DATE: March 9                                                                                                         GENRE: Horror                                                                                                      STUDIO: Open Road Films                                                                                      STARS: Elizabeth Olsen, Adam Trese, Eric Sheffer Stevens, Julia Taylor Ross, Haley Murphy, Adam Barnett                                                                                       SYNOPSIS: Sarah, a young woman finds herself sealed inside her family’s secluded lake house. With no contact to the outside world, and no way out, panic turns to terror as events become increasingly ominous in and around the house.                                    WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT: Let’s support Elizabeth Olsen who has proven already that she’s more of an actress than both of her older twin sisters put together, and because you know you like to get the crap scared out of you.

21 JUMP STREET                                                                                                    DATE: MARCH 16                                                                                                 STUDIO: Sony Pictures                                                                                            GENRE: Action/Comedy                                                                                         STARS: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube, Brie Larson, Rob Riggle, Dave Franco, DeRay Davis, Jake Johnson, Johnny Simmons, Johnny Pemberton, Dakota Johnson, Ellie Kemper, Johnny Depp                                                                                        SYNOPSIS: When Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) join the police force and the secret Jump Street unit, go undercover in a local high school and risk their lives to investigate a violent and dangerous drug ring. But they find that high school is nothing like they left it just a few years earlier ­and neither expects that they will have to confront the terror and anxiety of being a teenager again and all the issues they thought they had left behind.  WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT: Fans of Johnny Depp’s early days can reminisce and swoon over the memories of how the mega-star got his start. Plus, Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum could become the new dynamic duo.

THE HUNGER GAMES                                                                                            DATE: March 23                                                                                                       STUDIO: Alliance Films                                                                                           GENRE: Action/Drama                                                                                            STARS: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Wes Bentley, Toby Jones, Alexander Ludwig, Isabelle Fuhrman, Amandla Stenberg, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland                            SYNOPSIS: Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games – a televised event in which “Tributes” must fight to the death until one survivor remains. As one of the Tributes, Katniss Everdeen must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.   WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT: You don’t want to miss being part of Jennifer Lawrence’s transformation from idie girl to mega-superstardom. Based on the best-selling books by Suzanne Collins, the series has such a cult following surrounding it, how can millions of people be wrong?

MIRROR MIRROR                                                                                                     DATE: March 30                                                                                                      STUDIO: Alliance Films                                                                                             GENRE: Comedy                                                                                                      STARS: Lily Collins, Julia Roberts, Armie Hammer, Nathan Lane                           SYNOPSIS: When Snow White’s beauty wins the heart of the prince that she desperately pursues, the Queen banishes her to the forest, where a ravening man-eating beast hungrily awaits. Rescued by a band of diminutive highway robbers, Snow White grows into an indomitable young woman determined to take back her realm from the treacherous Queen. With the support of her subjects, she roars into action in an epic battle that blends spectacle, magic and contemporary humor                                                                         WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT: First off, it’s directed by Tarsem Singh, whose spinning this tired, old classic into a comedy, but more importantly promises to be visually stunning.

WRATH OF THE TITANS                                                                                             DATE: March 30                                                                                                       STUDIO: Warner Bros.                                                                                               GENRE: Action/Adventure                                                                                          STARS: Sam Worthington, Rosamund Pike, Bill Nighy, Edgar Ramírez, Toby Kebbell, Danny Huston, Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson                                                        SYNOPSIS: A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus is pulled into another war between gods and Titans when Zeus is captured by his brother Hades (Fiennes) whose aligned his allegiance with his father Kronos ­ leader of the Titans who was banished by his own sons years ago. Enlisting the help of the warrior Queen Andromeda (Pike), Poseidon’s demigod son, Argenor (Kebbell), and fallen god Hephaestus (Nighy), Perseus bravely embarks on a treacherous quest into the underworld to rescue Zeus, overthrow the Titans and save mankind.                                                                      WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT: Who wouldn’t want to see Sam Worthington fighting to prevent hell on earth again? Besides that, the film will offer amazing action sequences and will also be in 3-D.

—By Toni-Marie Ippolito