Netflix Friday - Volume 42

Some Netflix film tips for the weekend! And there is something for everyone, since I picked a movie for all the different genres.
 

Action: 12 Strong (2018)
“12 Strong” tells the story of the first Special Forces team deployed to Afghanistan after 9/11; under the leadership of a new captain (Chris Hemsworth), the team must work with an Afghan warlord to take down the Taliban.
 

Drama: Friends with Money (2006)
After she quits her lucrative job, Olivia (Jennifer Aniston) finds herself unsure about her future and her relationship with her successful and wealthy friends.
 

Comedy: Easy A (2010)
A clean-cut high school student (Emma Stone) relies on the school’s rumor mill to advance her social and financial standing.
 

Animation: Sausage Party (2016)
A sausage (Seth Rogen)strives to discover the truth about his existence.
 

Romance: El faro de las Orcas (2016)
A mother with an autistic child travel from Spain to Argentina looking to help her son connect with his emotions.
 

Horror: Don’t Breathe (2016)
Hoping to walk away with a massive fortune, a trio of thieves break into the house of a blind man who isn’t as helpless as he seems.
 

Science Fiction: Lucy (2014)
A woman (Scarlett Johansson), accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.
 

Crime: The Texas Killing Fields (2011)
In the Texas bayous, a local homicide detective (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) teams up with a cop from New York City (Sam Worthington) to investigate a series of unsolved murders.
 

Thriller: The Da Vinci Code (2006)
A murder inside the Louvre, and clues in Da Vinci paintings, lead to the discovery of a religious mystery protected by a secret society for two thousand years, which could shake the foundations of Christianity.
 

Documentary: Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (2021)
College student and tourist Elisa Lam vanishes, leaving behind all of her possessions in her hotel room. The Cecil Hotel grows in infamy.
 

Family: We Will Be Heroes (2020)
When alien invaders capture the Earth’s superheroes, their kids must learn to work together to save their parents and the planet.

Movie Reviews - 12 Strong

Director: Nicolai Fuglsig
Genre: Drama/ Action
Runtime: 129 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Michael Peña, Rob Riggle, William Fichtner, Elsa Pataky

Description: We follow the first Special Forces team deployed to Afghanistan after 9/11; under the leadership of a new captain (Chris Hemsworth), the team must work with an Afghan warlord to take down the Taliban.

Review: Twelve soldiers, riding horses and carrying machine guns. They take on tanks and rocket launchers. It looks like fiction, but it’s based on a true story. Based on the book “Horse Soldiers”, it tells the story of a special mission: a small American team of soldiers infiltrates Afghanistan to start an attack on the Taliban, right after 9/11.
Chris Hemsworth convinces as the ambitious and optimistic soldier Mitch Nelson. While America is mourning the tragic attack on the WTC, Nelson is stuck behind a desk and feels he needs to do something. What follows is an unbelievable story of a team of twelve soldiers fighting against the Taliban. Nelson has to work with general Dostum in Afghanistan. He is realistic, cynical and a completely different soldier. The bond between Nelson and Dostum is very interesting to watch. But the focus is on the spectacle. Which is a bit of a shame.
Most of the film is action. Good looking action and sometimes very spectacular. But nothing looks very artistic and it all looks like a compilations of dusty sand clouds and explosions.
Besides Hemsworth, there is the always strong and solid Michael Shannon. Who wasn’t given a lot to do, but he stands his ground. It’s an amazing true story, but director Nicolai Fuglsig played it safe and sometimes it feels predictable.

Rating: 3/ 5

Movies to Look Forward to - January 2018

New year, new movies. Let's see what movies will be released in January (Dutch release dates).

January 4th – The Greatest Showman
Director: Michael Gracey
Starring: Hugh Jackmann, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson
Description: Inspired by the imagination of P.T. Barnum, The Greatest Showman is an original musical that celebrates the birth of show business and tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.

January 11th – All the Money in the World 
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer, Timothy Hutton
Description: The story of the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III and the desperate attempt by his devoted mother to convince his billionaire grandfather Jean Paul Getty to pay the ransom.

January 11th – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Director: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, Caleb Landry Jones
Description: A mother personally challenges the local authorities to solve her daughter's murder when they fail to catch the culprit.

January 18th – Proud Mary
Director: Babak Najafi
Starring: Taraji P. Henson, Danny Glover, Neal McDonough
Description: Mary is a hitwoman working for an organized crime family in Boston. Mary's life is completely turned around when she meets a young boy whose path she crosses when a professional hit goes awry.

January 25th – 12 Strong
Director: Nicolai Fuglsig
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, William Fichtner, Elsa Pataky, Taylor Sheridan, Michael Peña, Rob Riggle
Description: 12 Strong tells the story of the first Special Forces team deployed to Afghanistan after 9/11; under the leadership of a new captain, the team must work with an Afghan warlord to take down the Taliban.

January 25th – Downsizing
Director: Alexander Payne
Starring: Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, Hong Chau, Christoph Waltz
Description: A social satire in which a man realizes he would have a better life if he were to shrink himself to five inches tall, allowing him to live in wealth and splendor.