What to watch: ‘M3GAN’ fuses satire and horror, ‘Special Forces’ puts celebrities through ‘World’s Toughest Test’, and more
M3GAN
Rated PG-13, 1 hour 42 minutes, in theaters Jan. 6
Technology run amok and killer dolls (from “The Twilight Zone’s” Talking Tina to Chucky) are hardly new ideas, but “M3GAN” nevertheless finds a way to smartly add to the genre, with a crisp and funny horror tale made tastier because it’s set about 10 minutes in the future. For parents concerned about kids glued to screens, the prospect of a murderous android companion sounds like there but for the grace of Hasbro go I.
Produced by horror factory Blumhouse and “The Conjuring’s” James Wan (who shares story credit with screenwriter Akela Cooper), the film stars Allison Williams as the equivalent of a well-intentioned mad scientist whose best-laid plans go horrifically wrong.
Adding to her horror credentials from “Get Out,” Williams’ Gemma is forced to take in her suddenly orphaned nine-year-old niece, Cady (Violet McGraw), who lost mom and dad in a car accident. Gemma is single and devoted to her work, which happens to involve developing products as a roboticist for a toy company, including something amusingly called Purrpetual Petz, the perfect high-tech pet for a kid previously traumatized by burying a furry friend.
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Pete Dadds/FOX
The celebrity "recruits" follow Director Staff "Foxy" in "Special Forces: World's Toughest Test."
Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test
Rated TV-14, ~1 hour 30 minutes, Airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Fox
“Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test” began with the disclaimer “Do Not Attempt This at Home,” which seems unnecessary and silly, unless you have the resources to fly to Jordan and an unquenchable appetite for 15 minutes of fame. As is, 16 celebrities (and sort-of celebrities) take the plunge, in an unscripted Fox series whose premiere felt heavy-handed even by the genre’s standards.
Narrated with the kind of brooding solemnity that wouldn’t be out of place on an episode of “Succession,” the format resembles an old Fox show called “Boot Camp,” a competition in which drill instructors put contestants through the paces of military training.
Here, there’s no pot of gold at the rainbow’s end, just a lot of physical and emotional torment, as a quartet of tough-talking trainers spend much of their time shouting at the contestants, with a handful failing to survive (figuratively, not literally) the two-hour premiere.
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Dennis Mong – handout one time use, Sony Pictures
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Tom Hanks, left, and Mariana Treviño in a scene from "A Man Called Otto."
A Man Called Otto
Rated PG-13, 2 hours 6 minutes, in theaters now
Sentimental tales about grumpy old men and American decline have, until recently, typically been the domain of Clint Eastwood.
But in “A Man Called Otto,” Marc Forster’s adaptation of Fredrik Backman’s bestseller and a remake of the 2016 Swedish film “A Man Called Ove,” it’s Tom Hanks prowling the neighborhood and irritably grumbling about how things used to be. In the original, Rolf Lassgård richly inhabited the role of Ove, a curmudgeonly widower — a Forrest Grump —whose suicide attempts are foiled by needy neighbors and, ultimately, his grudging, sincere devotion to them.
Exasperation, whether directed at a crying ballplayer or a slobbering canine, has always been squarely in Hanks’ wheelhouse. But despondency or even plain get-off-my-lawn orneriness are less obvious traits possessed by the actor sometimes called “America’s Dad.”
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Looking for more streaming and movie options this weekend? Look no further:
