Critic Grae Drake shared her take this week on three new releases, and her slate overlaps with my watchlist almost perfectly: Resident Evil, The Weight, and Tiny Fugitives. A horror reboot, an Ethan Hawke drama, and a Johnny Knoxville comedy. One critic sorting through all of it.

Resident Evil is the one I've been most curious about, and I'll admit my bias up front: some horror just plays better with a crowd. Watching something skulk around a dark corridor on your laptop is one thing. Hearing a whole audience hold its breath at once is another. Whether this one earns that shared experience, I'll let Drake make the case before I weigh in.

Then there's The Weight. I've had my eye on it for a while and I plan to catch it this weekend, walking in as cold as I can manage. The best way to see a movie, in my experience, is knowing almost nothing and letting it happen to you. So I'm saving my verdict. But I did read what a critic who got her hands on it early had to say, and it helps to know the terrain a little.

And Tiny Fugitives sits there next to the other two as a complete unknown. Whatever this one turns out to be, the title alone has me intrigued, and a mystery movie landing in the same week as two I've been tracking is exactly the kind of thing I like.

What I appreciate about Drake, from what I've seen of her over the years, is that she seems to review like a fan first, which is how I try to do it too. She's telling you whether the thing is worth your Friday night. That's the only question that matters when you're standing in a theater lobby with ten minutes to decide.

Her segment covers all three films, so give it a watch and see where you land. I mean, the blockbusters will get their box office either way. What you watch is still up to you.

As for me, The Weight is the ticket I'm buying. Check back after the weekend and I'll tell you how it went.