Netflix Friday - Volume 26

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

Action: Aquaman (2018)
Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), the human-born heir to the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, goes on a quest to prevent a war between the worlds of ocean and land.
 

Drama: I, Tonya (2017)
Competitive ice skater Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) rises amongst the ranks at the Y.S. Figure Skating Championships, but her future in the activity is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes.
 

Comedy: Along Came Polly (2004)
A buttoned-up newlywed (Ben Stiller) finds his strictly organized life descend into chaos when he falls in love with old classmate Polly (Jennifer Aniston).
 

Animation: Cloudy and a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
A local scientist (Bill Hader) is often regarded as a failure until he invents a machine that can make food fall from the sky. But little does he know, that things are about to take a turn for the worst.
 

Romance: About Time (2013)
At the age of 21, Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) discover he can travel in time and chance what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend (Rachel McAdams) turns out not to be as easy as you might think.
 

Horror: Split (2016)
Three girls are kidnapped by a man (James McAvoy) with a diagnosed 23 distinct personalities. They must try to escape before the apparent emergence of a frightful new 24^th.
 

Science Fiction: Brightburn (2019)
What if a child from another world crash-landed on Earth, but instead of becoming a hero to mankind, he proved to be something far more sinister.
 

Crime: The Godfather Part II (1974)
The early life and career of Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) in 1920s New York city is portrayed, while his son, Michael (Al Pacino), expands and tightens his grip on the family crime syndicate.
 

Thriller: The Gift (2015)
A young married couple’s (Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall) lives are thrown into a harrowing tailspin when an acquaintance from the husband’s past brings mysterious gifts and a horrifying secret to light after more than 20 years.
 

Documentary: The Social Dilemma (2020)
Explores the dangerous human impact of social networking, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations.
 

Family: Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)
The gang is back but the game has changed. As they return to rescue one of their own, the players will have to brave parts unknown from arid deserts to snowy mountains, to escape the world’s most dangerous game.

 

Movie Battle: The Time Traveler's Wife Vs. About Time

Again I have chosen two movies with a similar theme. Both movies are about time travel. I love both movies, so it would be hard to pick a winner. Just let them go head to head and I will decided who’s the match winner in “The Time Traveler’s Wife” Vs. “About Time”.

 

CAST

The Time Traveler’s Wife: Eric Bana is Henry, the guy who can travel through time but doesn’t have any control over it. The titular wife Clare is portrayed by Rachel McAdams. They both do a great job, but I think McAdams is the big star in the film. She really shines.

About Time: Tim is played by Domhnall Gleeson. He can time travel and he can control it. He has to get into a small, dark place, clutch his fists and think of a moment he wants to travel back to. He can relive his own past, but he cannot make any major changes, because it will have effect on the present. His wife is played by, again, Rachel McAdams. And again she shines. Bill Nighy is the guy stealing all the scenes, as Tim’s dad.

STORY

The Time Traveler’s Wife: I just love the book, so the story is one of my favourites of all time. I was very excited when they turned it into a movie and I think they did a fantastic job. It was criticized, but I really liked the film.

About Time: I thought it was going to be another standard story about a guy who time travelled. I was really surprised with this film and it is actually on my favourites list now. It just feels so honest and real.

EFFECTS

The Time Traveler’s Wife: The moments that Henry disappears were made very well, it’s like pieces of a puzzle falling apart.

About Time: I just love the way this movie was filmed and I liked the colors and tones of the film.

WINNER

Like I said, “About Time” has become one of my favourites. It’s amazing, I love it. It’s is actually Rachel McAdams best film so far.

Best & Worst: Rachel McAdams

Rachel McAdams is one of my favourite actresses. She entertains me every single time and Rachel has a lot of good movies and not so many bad ones. Here are my picks for best & worst of Rachel McAdams.

 

I would actually go for “Midnight in Paris”, but I didn’t pick it because I already went with it when I discussed Owen Wilson. And because I loved her role more in “About Time”. I was totally surprised when I watched this film, because I thought it was going to be just another time travel film. Would I got was an honest and lovely movie that I fell in love with. I like it equally as much as “Midnight in Paris” actually!

Honorable Mentions: “Midnight in Paris”, “Red Eye”, “Sherlock Holmes”, “The Notebook”, “The Time Traveller’s Wife”

 

It’s not a total stinker, she doesn’t really have any of those, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as her other films. It’s maybe a bit to stereotypical and cliché for my liking.

Dishonorable Mentions: “The Hot Chick”

Movies I Watched for My Challenge (April 2014)

This month had one movie that really stood out, one surprisingly good film and the others where average or above average. But I had to make a top 5 and I managed. Here are my favorites for this month.

5. Dolphin Tale
Okay, it's not a good movie, but I liked that this movie has heart. It targets a certain audience and it manages to do that well. I highly enojyed it and I can't wait to see its sequel.

4. Thor: The Dark World
Not as good as the first, but still a joy to watch. It was very well done, I especially liked the connection between Thor and his brother Loki.

3. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
This movie was made with a lot of love and showed us the very interesting story of the life of Nelson Mandela, one of my personal heroes.

2. Warm Bodies
As Graham Norton once said on his show, this is a zomromcom. Translation: it's a zombie romantic comedy! This was a very entertaining movie, I didn't expect that at all. It was really funny and it's hard to find a movie to compare this too.

1. About Time
I loved every minute of this film. It's not another time travel movie, it's so much more then that. This movie is very Original, fresh and filled with actors who make their characters super likeable.

They Almost Made the Top 5: Springbreakers

DVD Collection Update (14)

A very big DVD update this time! Eight new ones in my collection. So lets get started!

I also own the first film, which I prefer a bit over this one, but "Thor: The Dark World" is also a great movie experience. And off course Chris Hemsworth.... just perfect.

I waited a long time to get this, but I finally bought it. Season 3 of "The Walking Dead". It's one of my favorite shows of the moment and it's just awesome. In this season they find the prison.

I got this on the day it was released. "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" is just a must have. Like the first DVD, it's a special edition with a lot of extras and five cool postcards. I think this movie is better then the first, and I already loved that one!

Okay, I can already see you roling your eyes. "Jaws" is awesome, directed by Steven Spielberg and the best shark movie ever made. Any other shark movie is just crap. Just watch this video from Cinemassacre.com: Top 40 Shitty Shark Movies. That's true, but I just felt like watching "Jaws 2" so I thought I would look nice on my shelve next to "Jaws". I know it's not that great, but it's still entertaining.

Back to more serious stuff. Nelson Mandela is a man I have idolized for as long as I know him. I just had to see this. It wasn't perfect, but it shows how great of a man he was, so "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" is worth your time.

There are many films about time travelling, but this is just such a heart-warming tale. "About Time" was just great, I immediately wanted to rewatch it. I just love this movie, to me it was perfect. The subtle humor and the great acting by Rachel McAdams, Domhnall Gleeson and especially Bill Nighy.

I just realized I bought a lot of sequels. "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" is another sequel. Again this was better then the first. I especially loved the moment where Bilbo first meets Smaug, who was perfectly voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch. I like Hobbits, there are adorable! Martin Freeman is adorable!

Finding "Pulp Fiction" for only 3 euro's was just damn luck. I always wanted this in my collection and I just bumped into it. I didn't even plan to buy a DVD that day. I don't have many lucky moments, but I treasure it when I do! For a movie nerd like me, this is a happy moment!

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 53: About Time

Director: Richard Curtis
Genre: Comedy/ Drama/ Romance
Runtime: 123 minutes
Year: 2013
Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy

Description: At the age of 21, Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend turns out not to be as easy as you might think.

Review: Time travelling isn’t that hard. Lock yourself in a closet, clench your fists and think of a moment in your past. Et voilá, when you leave the closet you enter your own past and you can make right what you did wrong. That’s how it works in “About Time”. In this romantic comedy we follow a few years of the life of young lawyer Tim and his American sweetheart Mary. The couple is surrounded by some eccentric friends and family members.
With “About Time” director and writer Richard Curtis added another great film to his consistent oeuvre. Like other movies in the genre, this movie doesn’t lean on a storyline that brings two lovebirds together in the end. This film is a chain of everyday situations. That this keeps your focus is because of the pace and the likeable characters.
The time travelling itself gives us some hilarious scenes, like where Tim is trying to help an actor who keeps forgetting his lines, or his first night with Mary. Every joke hits the mark, the characters manage to touch you and the actors are doing a fantastic job. Domhnall Gleeson is endearing as Tim, Rachel McAdams is charming as ever and Bill Nighy shines in every scene he is in. This man has a certain charisma you just can’t get around.
With the sweet and optimistic tone is “About Time” an absolute favorite for me. This is definitely a movie I will watch again… and again. And I don’t have to clench my fists and get into a dark closet for it.

Rating: 5/ 5

Movie Trailer Sunday (88)

Here are this weeks trailers.

As I Lay Dying
Description: We follow the story of the death of Addie Bundren and her family's quest to honor her wish to be buried in the nearby town of Jefferson
Director: James Franco
Starring: james Franco, Danny McBride, Tim Blake Nelson, Beth Grant, Ahna O'Reilly, Logan Marshall-Green
Trailer: Trailer "As I Lay Dying"
Comment: Two words: James Franco!

About Time
Description: At the age of 21, Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) discovers he can travel in time... The night after another unsatisfactory New Year party, Tim's father (Bill Nighy) tells his son that the men in his family have always had the ability to travel through time. Tim can't change history, but he can change what happens and has happened in his own life�so he decides to make his world a better place...by getting a girlfriend. Sadly, that turns out not to be as easy as you might think. Moving from the Cornwall coast to London to train as a lawyer, Tim finally meets the beautiful but insecure Mary (Rachel McAdams). They fall in love, then an unfortunate time-travel incident means he's never met her at all. So they meet for the first time again�and again�but finally, after a lot of cunning time-traveling, he wins her heart. Tim then uses his power to create the perfect romantic proposal, to save his wedding from the worst best-man speeches, to save his best friend from professional disaster and to get his pregnant wife to the hospital in time for the birth of their daughter, despite a nasty traffic jam outside Abbey Road. But as his unusual life progresses, Tim finds out that his unique gift can't save him from the sorrows and ups and downs that affect all families, everywhere. There are great limits to what time travel can achieve, and it can be dangerous too.
Director: Richard Curtis
Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, Tom Hollander, Margot Robbie
Trailer: Trailer "About Time"
Comment: Rachel McAdams' first time traveller movie is a favorite, so I think I will like this too.

Last Vegas
Description: Four old friends decide to throw a Las Vegas bachelor party for the only one of them who has remained single.
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Starring: Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro, Kevin Kline
Trailer: Trailer "Las Vegas"
Comment: I love Morgan Freemand and I also enjoy watching Robert De Niro and Kevin Kline. I just hope that the big names aren't the only good thing about this movie.

Berberian Sound Studio
Description: 1976. A mild-mannered British sound engineer named Gilderoy (Toby Jones) arrives in Rome to work on the post-synchronized soundtrack to The Equestrian Vortex, a tale of witchcraft and murder set inside an all-girl riding academy. But as Gilderoy begins to work on this unexpectedly terrifying project, it's his own mind that holds the real horrors. As the line between film and reality blurs, is Gilderoy working on a film - or in one?
Director: Peter Strickland
Starring: Toby Jones, Tonia Sotiropoulou, Susanna Cappellaro, Cosimo Fusco, Eugenia Caruso
Trailer: Trailer "Berberian Sound Studio"
Comment: This is one of those movies that will be very good, but is going to be ignored by many.

The Congress
Description: An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider
Director: Ari Folman
Starring: Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Danny Huston, Sami Gayle, Michael Stahl-David, Paul Giamatti
Trailer: Trailer "The Congress"