Monthly Movie Madness: February

First Friday of the month kids! Let's look at what is hitting a multiplex near you soon...

5. The Bag Man: Though De Niro and Cusack are no longer the box office draws they once were (Cusack's last movie that he lead and made $50+ mil at the box office was Hot Tub Time Machine) though the thought of a gritty thriller with the pair is enough to give The Bag Man a chance.

Synopsis: THE BAG MAN is a taut crime thriller that follows the story of Jack (John Cusack), a tough guy with chronic bad luck but human touches. Hired by Dragna (Robert De Niro), a legendary crime boss to complete a simple but unusual task, the plot centers around the anticipated arrival of Dragna who has summoned Jack and a host of shady characters to a remote location for unknown reasons. Over the course of a long and violently eventful night awaiting Dragna's arrival, Jack's path crosses that of Rivka (Rebecca Da Costa), a stunningly beautiful woman whose life becomes physically and emotionally entangled with Jack's. When Dragna finally arrives on the scene there are sudden and extreme consequences for all.

4. Non-Stop: Oh hey! Liam Neeson is shooting things again! Derivative? Sure. Absolutely awesome? Damn straight. Neeson is a big time box office draw. His last movie to fail to hit $50 million was all the way back in 2010 when The Next Three Days was released, that was 8 movies ago... 9 if you include this month's Lego Movie which is a guaranteed success at this point.

Synopsis: Global action star Liam Neeson stars in NON-STOP, a suspense thriller played out at 40,000 feet in the air. During a transatlantic flight from New York City to London, U.S. Air Marshal Bill Marks (Neeson) receives a series of cryptic text messages demanding that he instruct the government to transfer $150 million into an off-shore account. Until he secures the money, a passenger on his flight will be killed every 20 minutes. Non-Stop, which reunites Neeson with Unknown director Jaume Collet-Serra and producer Joel Silver, co-stars Golden Globe Award winner Julianne Moore.

3. The Wind Rises: From acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki (Director and/or screenwriter of pretty much every Studio Ghibli movie ever released including Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro) comes his swan song as The Wind Rises will be his last feature. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt lend their voices to the hit from film fests around the world as Miyazaki pays tribute to Japanese engineer Jiro Horikoshi.

Synopsis: Jiro—inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni—dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes. Nearsighted from a young age and thus unable to become a pilot, Jiro joins the aircraft division of a major Japanese engineering company in 1927. His genius is soon recognized, and he grows to become one of the world’s most accomplished airplane designers. He meets and falls in love with Nahoko, and grows and cherishes his friendship with his colleague Honjo. A tremendous innovator, Jiro leads the aviation world into the future.

2. RoboCop: Had I not have liked Dredd this would not have been on this list, but that movie proved bad movies can be remade to be good.

Synopsis: In RoboCop, the year is 2028 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Overseas, their drones have been used by the military for years - and it's meant billions for OmniCorp's bottom line. Now OmniCorp wants to bring their controversial technology to the home front, and they see a golden opportunity to do it. When Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) - a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit - is critically injured in the line of duty, OmniCorp sees their chance to build a part-man, part-robot police officer. OmniCorp envisions a RoboCop in every city and even more billions for their shareholders, but they never counted on one thing: there is still a man inside the machine pursuing justice.

1. The LEGO Movie: The animation looks simple yet beautiful, the voice cast is as funny and charming as one could hope for. The trailer depicts laugh-a-minute gags that promises to be just as entertaining for adults as it is for kids. What's not to love? Oh and BT Dubs... The movie currently boats a fantastic 97% score on Rottentomatoes.com... That's on par with Gravity and better than American Hustle, Frozen and 12 Years A Slave.

Synopsis: "The LEGO (R) Movie" is the first-ever, full-length theatrical LEGO (R) adventure. The original 3D computer animated story follows Emmet (Chris Pratt) an ordinary, rules- following, perfectly average LEGO minifigure who is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinary person and the key to saving the world. He is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on an epic quest to stop an evil tyrant, a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously underprepared.