Netflix Friday - Volume 27

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

Action: Bad Boys II (2003)
Tow loose-cannon narcotics cops (Will Smith, Martin Lawrence) investigate the flow Ecstasy into Florida from a Cuban drug cartel.
 

Drama: Apocalypse Now (1979)
A U.S. Army officer (Martin Sheen) serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forves Colonel (Marlon Brando) who sees himself as a god.
 

Comedy: Bridesmaids (2011)
Competition between the maid of honor (Kristen Wiig) and a bridesmaid (Rose Byrne), over who is the bride’s (Maya Rudolph) best friend, threatens to upend the life of an out-of-work pastry chef.
 

Animation: The Willoughby’s (2020)
Convinced they’d be better off raising themselves, the Willoughby children hatch a sneaky plan to send their selfish parents on vacation. The siblings then embark on their own high-flying adventure to find the true meaning of family.
 

Romance: Notting Hill (1999)
The life of a simple bookshop owner (Hugh Grant) changes when he meets the most famous film star (Julia Roberts) in the world.
 

Horror: Sinister (2012)
Washed-up true crime writer Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) finds a box of super 8 home movies in his new home that suggest the murder he is currently researching is the work of a serial killer whose work dates back to the 1960s.
 

Science Fiction: Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
A solider (Tom Cruise) fighting aliens gets to relive the same day over and over again, the day restarting every time he dies.
 

Crime: Inglorious Bastards (2009)
In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theater owner’s (Mélanie Laurent) vengeful plans for the same.
 

Thriller: A Simple Favor (2018)
Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) is a single mother with a parenting vlog who befriends Emily (Blake Lively), a secretive upper-class woman who has a child at the same elementary school. When Emily goes missing, Stephanie takes it upon herself to investigate.
 

Documentary: Icarus (2017)
When Bryan sets up to uncover the truth about doping in sports, a chance meeting with a Russian scientist transforms his story from a personal experiment into a geopolitical thriller.
 

Family: Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007)
Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) wins a trip to Cannes where he unwittingly separates a young boy from his father and must help the two reunite. On the way he discovers France, bicycling, and true love.

10s Movie Review - A Simple Favor

Director: Paul Feig
Genre: Crime/ Comedy/ Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 117 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Rupert Friend, Henry Golding, Linda Cardellini

Description: Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) is a single mother with a parenting vlog who befriends Emily (Blake Lively), a secretive upper-class woman who has a child at the same elementary school. When Emily goes missing, Stephanie takes it upon herself to investigate.

Review: Director Paul Feig is known for his comedies, like “Bridesmaids” and “Spy”, but also gave us the reboot of “Ghostbusters”. He decided to exchange the comedy for thriller. But he never manages to completely lose the comedy/ slap stick element, which changes the dynamic of this crime thriller.
Stephanie is a widow, taking care of het son Miles all by herself. To earn money, she makes ‘mommy vlogs’. When Miles wants to have a playdate with his school friend Nicky, Stephanie meets Emily. Emily is an upper-class woman with a sharp edge and a mysterious vibe. The two become friends. When one day, Emily asks Stephanie to pick her son from school, Emily disappears. Together with Emily’s husband Sean, Stephanie starts her own search for het new friend.
The best things about the film are actresses Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively. They shine in their roles and are perfectly cast. And they work very well together and apart.
The sloppy script and strange directorial choices make you forget about all that, sadly. The film is set up as a crime film, about a missing friend. But in between it has some comical touches here and there. Towards the end, it feels strange, especially because there was a very serious plot twist before. I don’t think Feig really knew where he wanted to got with the tone of the film, he couldn’t find a balance. He tried to much at once. And because of that it sometimes feels like a parody on the thriller genre. But without convincing comedy. I actually feels more like a very long episode of “Desperate Housewives”, only less enjoyable.
The film had a great set-up and a good start. And two fantastic actresses filling in the main roles. But sadly that wasn’t enough to save the film.

Rating: 2,5 / 5

Movies to Look Forward to - September 2018

Another month, more new movies. Here is a look at the movies, that I think are worth my time, that are released this September.

September 6th – Peppermint
Director: Pierre Morel
Starring: Jennifer Garner, John Gallagher Jr., John Ortiz, Method Man, Juan Pablo Raba
Description: Peppermint is a revenge story centering on a young mother who finds herself with nothing to lose, and is now going to take from her enemies the very life they stole from her.

September 6th – Searching
Director: Aneesh Chaganty
Starring: John Cho, Debra Messing
Description: After his 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a desperate father (John Cho) breaks into her laptop to look for clues to find her.

September 13th – Papillon
Director: Michael Noer
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Rami Malek, Tommy Flanagan
Description: Wrongfully convicted for murder, Henri Charriere (Charlie Hunnam) forms an unlikely relationship with fellow inmate and quirky convicted counterfeiter Louis Dega (Rami Malek), in an attempt to escape from the notorious penal colony on Devil's Island.

September 13th – The Predator
Director: Shane Black
Starring: Boyd Holbrook, Thomas Jane, Jacob Tremblay, Olivia Munn, Keegan-Michael Key, Trevante Rhodes, Sterling K. Brown, Alfie Allen, Jake Busey, Yvonne Strahovski
Description: When a young boy accidentally triggers the universe's most lethal hunters' return to Earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled science teacher can prevent the end of the human race.

September 20th – Johnny English Strikes Again
Director: David Kerr
Starring: Rowan Atkinson, Emma Thompson, Olga Kurylenko, Ben Miller
Description: After a cyber-attack reveals the identity of all of the active undercover agents in Britain, Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) is forced to come out of retirement to find the mastermind hacker.

September 27th – A Simple Favor
Director: Paul Feig
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively
Description: Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) is a mommy blogger who seeks to uncover the truth behind her best friend Emily's (Blake Lively) sudden disappearance from their small town.

September 27th – The House with a Clock in Its Walls
Director: Eli Roth
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Jack Black, Kyle MacLachlan
Description: A young orphan named Lewis Barnavelt aids his magical uncle in locating a clock with the power to bring about the end of the world.