Movie Trailer Sunday (218)

Here are this weeks trailers.

Independence Day: Resurgence

Description: Two decades after the first Independence Day invasion, Earth is faced with a new extra-Solar threat. But will mankind's new space defenses be enough?

Director: Ronald Emmerich

Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Liam Hemsworth, Joey King, Maika Monroe, William Fichtner, Vivica A. Fox, Bill Pullman, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Sela WardJudd Hirsch

Trailer: Trailer "Independence Day: Resurgence"

Comment: I;m glad to see Jeff Goldblum, but is Bill Pullman still president?

High-Rise

Description: Life for the residents of a tower block begins to run out of control.

Director:Ben Wheatley

Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans, Elisabeth Moss, James Purefoy

Trailer: Trailer "High-Rise"

Comment: Don't know what to expect, it intrigues me...

 

Star Trek Beyond

Description: The plot is unknown at this time.

Director: Justin Lin

Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Idris Elba, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Sofia Boutella, Deep Roy

Trailer: Trailer "Star Trek: Beyond"

Comment: I think the "Star Wars" fans aren't paying attention to this at all!

Eddie the Eagle

Description: The story of Great Britain's first ski jumper to enter the Winter Olympics.

Director: Dexter Fletcher

Starring: Taran Edgerton, Hugh Jackman, Christopher Walken

Trailer: Trailer "Eddie the Eagle"

Comment: Looks fun.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Description: The adventures of writer Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) in New York's secret community of witches and wizards seventy years before Harry Potter reads his book in school.

Director: David yates

Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Ezra Miller, Colin Farrell, Ron Perlman, Jon Voight, Samantha Morton

Trailer: Trailer "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"

Comment: Yeah!

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 164: Homefront

Director: Gary Fleder

Genre: Action/ Crime/ Thriller

Runtime: 100 minutes

Year: 2013

Starring: Jason Statham, James Franco, Winona Ryder, Kate Bosworth, Frank Grillo, Clancy Brown

Description: A former DEA agent (Jason Statham) moves his family to a quiet town, where he soon tangles with a local meth druglord

Review: In the opening scene of “Homefront” we see how Phil Broker infiltrates a drugs lab. One of the gang members has to watch his son being killed. The bad guys is going to jail and Broker starts a new life with his daughter Maddy. He does this in a town nearby and it’s hard for Broker to stay low. He draws the attention of the wrong people after his daughter gets into a fight with a classmate.

When Broker humiliates the aggressive father on the parking lot of his daughter’s school. Mother Cassie asks her brother Gator for help. When Gator breaks into Broker’s house, he finds evidence of him being an undercover agent.

Although this really sounds dumb, the movie isn’t half bad. Jason Statham is pretty good in this film and so are James Franco and Winona Ryder as the bad guys. “Homefront” isn’t anything special, but it’s better than you’d expect it to be.

It’s simple entertainment, a perfect no-brainer.

Rating: 3/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 163: Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

Director: Shawn Levy

Genre: Comedy/ Adventure/ Fantasy/ Family

Runtime: 98 minutes

Year: 2014

Starring: Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais, Dan Stevens, Rebel Wilson, Rami Malek, Ben Kingsley, Dick van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Boll Cobbs

Description: Larry (Ben Stiller) spans the globe, uniting favorite and new characters while embarking on an epic quest to save the magic before it is gone forever.

Review: In the newest adventure of night guard Larry Daley, the magical tablet has some malfunction. He has to find a solution to stop the corrosion on the tablet, else the magic of the museum will be gone. This leads him to a London museum, the only place the tablet can be fixed. This brings us some of the old characters we know from the previous two movies, but also some new characters. And the group being chased by yet another dinosaur skeleton isn’t very original.

The most painful jokes come from the Neanderthal Laa, who is the spitting image of Larry. It’s a second character played by Ben Stiller. It’s such a ridiculous role and it’s just not funny at all.

It’s clear that “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb” is targeting a younger audience. It’s much of the same, director Shawn Levy didn’t change the formula. Where “Night at the Museum” was original, refreshing and fun, this third installment clearly isn’t.

Rating: 2/ 5

Top 5 Thursday: Non-English speaking movies

For most of you they are called foreign movies, but I’m Dutch, so any Hollywood film is a foreign movie for me. So I decided to rank some of my favorite movies that are not in English. Here are my picks.

5. Intouchables

Such a heartwarming film, a movie I immediately loved.

 

4. Goodbye Lenin

I just love the idea behind this film. Daniel Brühl in his younger years, before he became a Hollywood actor. Such a great movie.

 

 

3. The Motorcycle Diaries

Here we meet Che Guevara before he became the powerful man. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen this film in quite a while. Gale Garcia Bernal is fantastic in “The Motorcycle Diaries”.

 

 

2. Jagten

A movie that totally took me by surprise. I heard a lot about “Jagten”, but didn’t know much about the movie. When I first saw it, it literally took my breath away and got under my skin. I thought about this film for days after and it really had an impact on me. “Jagten” is one of the best movies ever made.

 

 

1. Amélie

When you need a feel good movie, but not the guilty pleasure kind, watch “Amélie”. It’s one of the sweetest films ever. And the leading character Amélie takes random acts of kindness very seriously. I love this movie, it’s in my top 10 of all-time favorites.

 

 

They Almost Made the Top 5: Pan’s Labyrinth, Let the Right One In, Deux Jours Une Nuit, De Rouille et D’os, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 162: A Fantastic Fear of Everything

Director: Crispian Mills, Chris Hopewell

Genre: Comedy/ Horror

Runtime: 100 minutes

Year: 2012

Starring: Simon Pegg, Clare Higgins, Paul Freeman, Amara Karan

Description: A crime novelist (Simon Pegg) whose research on Victorian serial killers has turned him into a paranoid wreck must confront his worst fears when a film executive takes a sudden interest in his movie script.

Review: Jack is a paranoid writer who is afraid of everything. Well, primarily he has a fear of serial killers and laundromats. Jack is currently researching a book on Victorian serial killers, although he is originally a children’s book author.

Most of the time we just see Simon Pegg, who is in his house, scared. Jumping at noises, seeing shadows, thinking someone is lurking. We also hear Pegg providing commentary through a voiceover.

Those moments with Pegg are the funniest. He does his best with the matieral. “A Fantastic Fear of Everything” looked promising, but didn’t give us the funny horror comedy we expected. The story has potential and Pegg is good, but other than that it’s pretty standard.

Rating: 3/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 161: Roman Holiday

Director: William Wyler

Genre: Comedy/ Romance

Runtime: 118 minutes

Year: 1953

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Eddie Albert

Description: A bored and sheltered princess (Audrey Hepburn) escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman (Gregory Peck) in Rome.

Review: Director William Wyler does something simple here, which works perfectly: he uses the charm and personality of the two lead actors and they shine from beginning ‘till end.

The initial plan was to shoot in Hollywood and use décor instead of shooting at location. Wyler didn’t want that and he had to cut budget. They had to get an unknown actress to play Princess Ann. Audrey Hepburn got her first big movie role in “Roman Holiday”. She plays a realistic princess, who is sick of her life. Her love interest is played by Gregory Peck, who also does a very good job. Together they work as a movie couple.

“Roman Holiday” is filled with many beautiful moments and it all looks even better because of the city it was filmed in. And the movie doesn’t end like you would expect, which makes it different from other movies in the genre.

I timeless romantic comedy.

Rating: 4/ 5

Movie Trailer Sunday (217)

Here are this weeks trailers.

The BFG

Description: A girl named Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) encounters the Big Friendly Giant (Mark Rylance) who, despite his intimidating appearance, turns out to be a kindhearted soul who is considered an outcast by the other giants because unlike his peers refuses to eat boys and girls.

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Rebecca Hall, Mark Rylance, Bill Hader, Penelope Wilson, Ruby Barnhill

Trailer: Trailer "The BFG"

Comment: This was one of my favorite stories as a kid!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2

Description: The Turtles return to save the city from a dangerous threat.

Director: Dave Green

Starring: Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Alan Ritchson, Stephen Amell, Wiliam Fichtner, Noel Fisher, Tyler Perry, Johnny Knoxville, Jeremy Howard

Trailer: Trailer "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2"

Comment: Yes, we really needed a second one (*sarcasm*). I'll stick to the '90s movies.

The Legend of Tarzan

Description: Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgård) , having acclimated to life in London, is called back to his former home in the jungle to investigate the activities at a mining encampment.

Director: David Yates

Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Margot Robbie, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Djimon Hounsou, John Hurt

Trailer: Trailer "The Legend of Tarzan"

Comment: Okay, the synopsis sounds a bit strange but the trailer looks kind of amazing.

X-Men Apocalypse

Description: The plot is unknown at this time.

Director: Bryan Singer

Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Evan Peters, Olivia Munn, Rose Byrne, Oscar Isaac, Tye Sheridan, Kodi Smith-McPhee

Trailer: Trailer "X-Men Apocalypse"

Comment: Epic trailer!

Bad Roomies

Description: Two guys living together who lose their roommate and put out an ad to find a new one. After a series of disastrous interviews with potential roommates they settle on an apparently harmless but beautiful girl. All seems to be going well despite the simmering rivalry until one drunken night causes all three roommates to make a horrible mistake that start them on a downward spiral. A hilarious yet disastrous game of roommate versus roommate takes a turn that will change all their lives forever.

Director: Justin Mooney

Starring: Patrick Renna, Tommy Savas, Annie Monroe, Jackie Tohn, Kyle Howard

Trailer: Trailer "Bad Roomies"

Comment: Meh...