Patch Weekend Movie Guide: 'The Great Wall', 'A Cure for Wellness' and 'Fist Fight'

Here's what you need to know about this weekend's new movies "The Great Wall," "A Cure for Wellness," "Fist Fight" and more. Find out what to see and what to skip, plus check out the trailers.

Opening This Weekend

"The Great Wall" — Matt Damon, Tian Jing, Willem Dafoe, directed by Yimou Zhang

Reportedly the largest budgeted film in Chinese history, "Wall" rides a trend of bridging the American-Chinese film markets by pairing U.S. superstars with talented Chinese directors. Zhang made a masterpiece with "Hero" back in 2002, so we know he can spin a well-crafted tale. But this mystical story of European traders joining forces with a Chinese army to defend sovereign land from dragons (!) could be too bloated for its own good.

Skip it. I'm curious but won't be hitting the theaters for this. Wait, and Netflix "Hero" instead.

"A Cure for Wellness" — Dane DeHaan, Jason Isaacs, Mia Goth, directed by Gore Verbinski

"Wellness" follows a young executive tasked with finding and retrieving his superior from a spa deep in the Swiss Alps. What unfolds is a grotesque, disturbing tale about a madman's thirst for prolonged life. Oh, and carnivorous eels. This is a rare film to see arrive in theaters, an original horror flick running two and a half hours. Dane DeHaan and Mia Goth are unbelievably talented for their young age, but this is still too many hours.

Skip it. Unless you have a taste for the ultra-violent and bizarre, avoid it.

Quick Cuts

"Fist Fight" (Wide Release) — Ice Cube, Charlie Day, Tracy Morgan, directed by Richie Keen

Skip it: Charlie Day and Ice Cube play teachers squaring off over the latter's firing in this slapstick comedy. Day has lifted a series of passable comedies in recent years ("Horrible Bosses"), and Ice Cube remains an underrated comedic presence, but it remains hard to get excited for "Fist Fight."

"XX" (Limited Release, On Demand) — Natalie Brown, Jonathan Watton, Peter DaCunha, Sheila Vand, directed by Roxanne Benjamin, Jovanka Vuckovic, Karyn Kusama, St. Vincent

See it: I'm a sucker for horror anthologies, and here comes a good one: An all-female directing team crafts four eerie short films, each with a female lead. As with all anthologies, some stories will be stronger than others. Consider me excited to discover which ones those may be.

Netflix Picks

"Boyhood" (2014) — Funny, wistful and moving, "Boyhood" was lensed over 12 years — you literally watch the cast (Ethan Hawk, Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane) age before your eyes in this depiction of a young boy navigating the divorce of his parents, first love, loss and all those youthful feels right up until his first day of college. It's amazing (and long).

"Victoria" (2016) — Another film with a novel structure, "Victoria" consists of a single "long-take" where the entire film plays through without a single cut. Boy meets girl. Girl accompanies boy on a suspenseful, danger-filled night where they're forced into a heist. However, if you don't like your movies with subtitles you'll want to skip this.

Watch the trailer for "The Great Wall"

Watch the trailer for "A Cure for Wellness"

Watch the trailer for "Fist Fight"

Photo credit: Entertainment via YouTube