Meat at the Movies: ‘A Cure for Wellness’ Is Totally Bonkers

A trio of new movies are out this weekend, but are any of them worth seeing? Find out in this week's edition of Meat at the Movies.

So the most interesting movie this weekend is A Cure For Wellness, the new movie from director Gore Verbinsk. He's the guy responsible for The Ring, Rango, The Lone Ranger, and the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films. I'm a big fan of his, I think he has a really distinctive style that shines through even when the movies aren't great. A Cure For Wellness is getting pretty mixed reviews, I'm also hearing that it's totally insane - like you won't believe that a studio put a lot of money into something this weird. I'm a fan of that kind of insanity, so I'll probably check this out, but it won't be for everybody.

Then there's The Great Wall, a new fantasy action movie starring Matt Damon set in medieval China. There was some controversy surrounding this movie when the trailer was released. A lot of people were concerned that casting Damon in the lead was a case of whitewashing and that a movie set in medieval China should probably have a Chinese actor in the lead role. That’s a fair point, but it sounds like Damon’s character is actually more of a sidekick than anything else, and that international actors like Tian Jing and Pedro Pascal have a much bigger presence. Still, the movie is drawing pretty weak reviews, and it sounds like it's not nearly as exciting as the premise suggests. The movie’s about an army protecting China from ancient monsters, and that could be fun, but it sounds like the movie is mostly pretty dull.

And finally, there’s Fist Fight, a new comedy starring Charlie Day and Ice Cube as two high school teachers who get into a fight. The movie’s got a great cast which includes Tracy Morgan, Jillian Bell, Christina Hendricks, and Kumail Nanjiani, but the trailer was pretty weak and reviews indicate that it’s a comedy that mostly falls flat. That's a bummer, because this could be a fun premise. I actually just watched this movie from the 80s with a very similar plot (though the two getting into a fight were students) called Three O’Clock High, and that movie was great. I highly recommend watching that instead of Fist Fight this weekend, you’ll probably have a better time.

So it's not a super strong weekend at the box office, but if you want to support weird cinema, A Cure For Wellness is there for you. If not, stay at home and watch Three O'Clock High, because seriously, it's awesome. I'm Meat Sandwich and until next time, we'll Meat at the Movies.