Skip to main content

New movies this weekend: Moonfall fails but Jackass delivers

After a barren January that saw only a handful of noteworthy new releases in movie theaters, February promises to deliver a wide variety of films. This weekend offers three diverse movies to suit anyone’s mood: An escapist end-of-the-world blockbuster, the latest installment in the Jackass franchise, and one of 2021’s most critically acclaimed films that’s finally being released in arthouses nationwide.

It can be hard to figure out what you should spend your hard-earned dollars on, so Digital Trends will round up movie reviews from leading print and online publications to give you a comprehensive critical consensus of the films that are opening each weekend.

Recommended Videos

Moonfall

Moonfall (2022 Movie) Official Trailer – Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley

Most positive review: “Last time I checked, a sum total of zero people were actually worried about the moon smashing into the earth someday — not with the coronavirus, inflation and Wordle to distract us — which means a just-silly-enough movie like Moonfall serves up a rare comfort: A monster crisis that could be identified and averted in the span of two hours.” — Peter Debruge, Variety

Average review: “Emmerich has always laced his disaster films with a leavening silliness, inviting the audience to treat the end of the world as a rollicking roller coaster ride. But after watching Moonfall, viewers may feel a little like Earth: Bludgeoned and worse for the wear, reeling from the onslaught that just occurred.” — Tim Grierson, Screen International

Most negative review:  “Devoid of engaging se tpieces, believable characters, or even the slightest hint of self-awareness, Moonfall is only sustained by the mystery of what’s really going on with (and inside) the moon, though the fact that virtually every single one of K.C.’s crackpot theories turns out to be true has a way of sapping the suspense.” — David Ehrlich, IndieWire

Here’s what Digital Trends thought of it: “Anyone looking for a satisfying escapist adventure filled with eye candy and explosions that doesn’t ask you to think too hard will likely leave Moonfall feeling rewarded with just that sort of experience.” — Rick Marshall, Digital Trends

Consensus: Moonfall should appeal to moviegoers who favor spectacle over common sense, but even then, its guilty pleasures seem to be overshadowed by its unoriginal plot and thin characters.

Jackass Forever

jackass forever | Final Trailer (2022 Movie)

Most positive review: “This deep into the franchise, most of you have probably already decided how funny you find scatological and pain-based humor. But even Jackass newbies would probably admit that these people seem to be having the time of their lives.” — Hau Chu, The Washington Post

Average review: “In Jackass Forever, the fourth big-screen entry in the now two-decades-old series of pranks, stunts, and fails, Knoxville and director Jeff Tremaine invite a new generation of jackasses to take the biggest hits. It’s the group’s most joyous installment to date, even if the series itself is starting to show some wear and tear.” — Matt Schimkowitz, The A.V. Club

Most negative review:Jackass Forever has laughs and thrills and will goose your nostalgia, but it’s like a modern-day Rolling Stones gig – the hits are replayed but satisfaction is elusive.” — Jamie Graham, Total Film

Consensus: The fourth time’s the charm for Jackass Forever as fans new and old will enjoy the puerile humor and queasy stunts that made the franchise a pop culture phenomenon 20 years ago.

The Worst Person in the World

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD - In Theaters February 4

Most positive review: “There’s a playfulness to [Joachim] Trier’s filmmaking — the storybook chapters and wry voice-overs, a bravura segment in which love literally puts the entire universe on pause — that lends the movie a kind of dizzying effervescence. But a steady melancholy runs through it as well, chemtrails of old wounds and lost causes, and a pivot toward real heartbreak in the second half resonates in a way that stories like this rarely even attempt to reach for.” — Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly

Average review:The Worst Person in the World strikes many familiar chords about life, love, and loss, but proves that much insight and pleasure can still be gained by simply rearranging them a bit.” — Pat Brown, Slant Magazine

Most negative review: “A sharp and entrancing pivot back to the restless films he once made about beautiful young people suffering from the vertigo of time moving through them (Reprise and Oslo, August 31 being the first two parts of the loose thematic trilogy that led us here), Trier’s latest film embraces the idea that originality might be a touch overrated.” — David Ehrlich, IndieWire

Consensus: The rare film to receive universal accolades, The Worst Person in the World is an original and entertaining romantic comedy for the cerebral set.

Topics
Jason Struss
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Jason Struss joined Digital Trends in 2022 and has never lived to regret it. He is the current Section Editor of the…
20 years ago, one unforgettable epic set a new standard for action movies
Maggie Cheung sits beneath falling yellow leaves in Hero.

There's a lot that goes into the making of any good action movie. Fight scenes, car chases, shootouts, and just about every kind of set piece known to man require extensive planning and rehearsal time. A director must also know how to block, shoot, and cut an action sequence together if they want to ensure that each lands with maximum impact. Action movies have, of course, existed longer than talkies, and directors have spent the past 100 years working tirelessly to find new ways to outdo their predecessors and continue to thrill audiences. But, in all of that time, very few action movies have ever ascended to the same level of technical and aesthetic brilliance as Hero.

The 2004 film, which hit theaters in the U.S. 20 years ago this week, is one of the most astonishing exercises in cinematic style that any filmmaker has ever attempted. Directed by Zhang Yimou, Hero is essentially a collection of vibrant, monochromatic martial arts sequences that are all executed at the highest possible level. Featuring a cast of some of China's most talented and beloved movie stars, it is a symphony of movement and editorial cuts that flow seamlessly from one to the other. Like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon before it, Hero invites viewers into a world where warriors who have the power to become literal forces of nature are still governed by the basest of emotions, whether it be rage or grief. The result is a film that is elegant but blunt, musical and yet discordant — a ballet that hits with the force of a thousand closed fists.
Hero plays the greatest hits in Asian cinema

Read more
Rotten Tomatoes reveals new Verified Hot audience badge for movie rankings
Three logos for Rotten Tomatoes icons.

Rotten Tomatoes on Wednesday unveiled the site's newest audience badge, "Verified Hot." The designation is awarded to theatrical films with an Audience Score of 90% or higher on the Popcornmeter that meet a set of eligibility requirements.

Verified Hot refers to theatrical films that have been verified as the best-reviewed by the fans. Verified Hot designation will complement "Certified Fresh," a badge given to the highest-reviewed films by professional critics.
“On Rotten Tomatoes, fans love to consult our verified audience score, in addition to the Tomatometer critics’ score, when discovering new movies and deciding what they want to watch next,” Amanda Norvell, senior vice president of Direct-to-Consumer Services at Fandango, said in a statement. “With the addition of Verified Hot, we are excited to celebrate and shine a spotlight on the theatrical films that fans have unanimously embraced and have taken the time to share their incredible moviegoing experience with other fans.”
Some of the most notable titles of the summer movie season have received a Verified Hot badge. These titles include Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Deadpool & Wolverine, Fly Me to the Moon, It Ends with Us, and Twisters.

Read more
New Hunger Games movie based on Suzanne Collins’s next novel set for 2026
A man puts his arms on the shoulder of a woman as he stands in front of her.

The Hunger Games will return in two years. Lionsgate announced that a new Hunger Games prequel movie, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, will arrive in 2026. The feature film news comes hours after Suzanne Collins revealed that her next Hunger Games novel, Sunrise on the Reaping, will be released in 2025.

Francis Lawrence, the director of four Hunger Games films, is in talks to direct. Color Force's Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson will produce Sunrise on the Reaping.

Read more