Netflix Friday - Volume 37

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

Action: Triple Frontier (2019)
Loyalties are tested when five friends and former special forces operatives reunite to take down a South American drug lord, unleashing a chain of unintended consequences.
 

Drama: The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017)
Keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, Antonina (Jessica Chastain) and Jan Zabinski (Johan Heldenbergh), must save hundreds of people and animals during the Nazi invasion in WWII Poland.
 

Comedy: The Hangover (2009)
Three buddies wake up from a bachelor party in Las Vegas, with no memory of the previous night and the bachelor missing. They make their way around the city in order to find their friend before his wedding.
 

Animation: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)
Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) now works at the Live Corp Company for his idol Chester V (Will Forte). But he’s forced to leave his post when he learns that his most infamous machine is sill operational, and is churning out menacing food-animal hybrids.  
 

Romance: Friends with Benefits (2011)
Dylan (Justin Timberlake) and Jamie (Mila Kunis) decide to take their friendship to the next level without becoming a couple, but soon discover that adding sex only leads to complications.
 

Horror: Carrie (2013)
A shy girl (Chloë Grace Moretz), outcasted by her peers and sheltered by her religious mother, unleashes telekinetic terror on her small town after being pushed too far at her senior prom.
 

Science Fiction: The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Bruce Banner (Edward Norton), a scientist on the run from the U.S. Government, must find a cure for the monster he turns into whenever he loses his temper.
 

Crime: Schone Handen (2015)
A drug lord’s (Jeroen van Koningsbrugge) wife (Thekla Reuten) faces a crisis of loyalty when her husband’s cutthroat dealings compel her to flee with their young children.
 

Thriller: Enough (2002)
After running away fails, a terrified woman (Jennifer Lopez) empowers herself in order to battle her abusive husband.
 

Documentary: Pandemic
In this docuseries, meet the heroes on the front lines of the battle against influenza and learn about their efforts to stop the next global outbreak.
 

Family: E.T: The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
A troubled child (Henry Thomas) summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape Earth and return to his home world.
 

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 107: Carrie

Director: Kimberly Peirce
Genre: Drama/ Horror
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2013
Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore, Ansel Elgort, Judy Greer, Gabriella Wilde

Description: A shy girl (Chloë Grace Moretz), outcasted by her peers and sheltered by her religious mother (Julianne Moore), unleashes telekinetic terror on her small town after being pushed too far at her senior prom.

Review: Hollywood has taken many of Stephen King’s novels as their inspiration. One of the bigger ones is “Carrie”, directed by Brian De Palma. It’s actually one of the few horror movies that got recognition from the Academy. It’s a pretty big job to top De Palma’s film. In 2013, Kimberly Peirce gave it a try, with this remake.
Peirce is known for “Boys Don’t Cry”. Her version of “Carrie” had to be a different take on King’s story. But Peirce doesn’t really succeed, because it’s nothing new and we’ve seen most of it before.
It follows the original pretty well, but also the horror genre in general. Like many horror remakes, “Carrie” doesn’t really focus on building the tension. There is more room for Carrie to experiment with her powers.
Chloë Grace Moretz, who plays Carrie, does manage to convince us. But Julianne Moore overshadows her, as Carrie’s extremely religious mother.
Sadly enough Kimberly Peirce wasn’t capable of finding new angles to present the film from. Bullying and social media are so topical, she could have turned “Carrie” into a contemporary horror film. Much further than a YouTube video, with no consequences, it doesn’t really go. We didn’t really need this remake.

Rating: 2,5/ 5

Movie Trailer Sunday (80)

Here are this weeks trailers.

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
Description: To save their world, Percy and his friends must find the fabled and magical Golden Fleece. Embarking on a treacherous odyssey into the uncharted waters of the Sea of Monsters (known to humans as the Bermuda Triangle), they battle terrifying creatures, an army of zombies, and the ultimate Evil.
Director: Thor Freudenthal
Starring: Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Douglas Smith, Mary Birdsong, Yvette Nicole Brown, Missi Pyle, Nathan Fillion, Anthony Head, Paloma Kwiatkowski, Leven Rambin, Stanley Tucci, Robert Maillet, Zoe Aggeliki
Trailer: Trailer "Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters"

The English Teacher
Description: Linda Sinclair (Julianne Moore) is a 40-year-old unmarried high school English teacher in the small town of Kingston, PA. Her simple life turns an unexpected page when former student Jason Sherwood (Michael Angarano) returns home after trying to make it as a playwright in New York. On the verge of abandoning art and pressured by his father (Greg Kinnear), to face reality and go to law school, Linda decides to mount his play a dark, angst-ridden, ambitious work�as a Kingston High production, with flamboyant drama teacher Carl Kapinas (Nathan Lane) directing. Now well out of her comfort zone, Linda takes further risks in life and love, the stage is set for a highly comic downfall. With the play, her reputation, and teaching career on the line, Linda finds an unlikely ally in herself. Amidst the ruins of her formerly perfect life, can she find a way to her own unique storybook ending?
Director: Craig Zisk
Starring: Julianne Moore, Greg Kinnear, Nathan Lane, Michael Angarano, Lily Collins, Nikki Blonsky
Trailer: Trailer "The English Teacher"
Comment: I like seeing Julianne Moore in a role like this.

Bears
Description: In an epic story of breathtaking scale, Disneynature's new True Life Adventure "Bears" showcases a year in the life of two mother bears as they impart life lessons to their impressionable young cubs. Set against a majestic Alaskan backdrop teeming with life, their journey begins as winter comes to an end and the bears emerge from hibernation to face the bitter cold. The world outside is exciting, but risky, as the cubs' playful descent down the mountain carries with it a looming threat of avalanches. As the season changes from spring to summer, the brown bear families must work together to find food, ultimately feasting at a plentiful salmon run, while staying safe from predators, including an ever-present wolf pack. "Bears" captures the fast-moving action and suspense of life in one of the planet's last great wildernesses�where mothers definitely know best and their cubs' survival hinges on family togetherness.
Director: Alastair Fothergill, Keith Scholey, Adam Chapman
Starring: -
Trailer: Trailer "Bears"
Comment: My brother actually interviewed Alastair Fothergill, about his film "Chimpanzee". All Disneynature documentaries are fantastic, so I'm sure this will be too.

Only God Forgives
Description: Julian (Ryan Gosling) is a former kickboxer and gangster living in Bangkok. When his brother is murdered by a ruthless Thai police lieutenant, Julian is forced to seek vengeance or risk his own death.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vithaya Pansringarm
Trailer: Trailer "Only God Forgives"
Comment: I can see this is from the same director as "Drive".

Carrie
Description: Carrie White (Chloë Grace Moretz)is a shy girl outcast by her peers and sheltered by her deeply religious mother (Julianne Moore), who unleashes telekinetic terror on her small town after being pushed too far at her senior prom
Director: Kimberly Peirce
Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz, Judy Greer, Portia Doubleday, Alex Russell, Gabriella Wilde, Ansel Elgort, Julianne Moore
Trailer: Trailer "Carrie"
Comment: I don't know if this movie needs a remake, because the original is already pretty good. But still, this trailer looks interesting.

50 Books Challenge 2012 - # 45: Carrie by Stephen King

Title: Carrie
Author: Stephen King
Story: Carrie White may have been unfashionable and unpopular, but she had a gift. Carrie could make things move by concentrating on them. A candle would fall. A door would lock. This was her power and her sin. Then, an act of kindness, as spontaneous as the vicious taunts of her classmates, offered Carrie a chance to be a normal and go to her senior prom. But another act, of ferocious cruelty, turned her gift into a weapon of horror and destruction that her classmates would never forget.
Start: october 16th 2012
End: october 22nd 2012
Comment: "Carrie" was Stephen King's fourth book, but the first one he'd published. Quoting King himself: "Because of Carrie, I could finally afford a real home". And what a fantastic debut novel this is. The book starts with a horrible act of teenage terrorisation. Carrie White got her first period and doesn't know what's happening to her. The girls in the lockerroom, lead by Chris Hargensen, start laughing at her and throwing tampons at her. We soon learn that Carrie is a loner, an outsider and an easy target for mean schoolgirls like Chris. The reason that Carrie didn't know about menstruation is her mother. Margaret White is a Bible thumping nut, who sees a sin in everything. Boys in general, having breasts or hanging your underwear to dry in the yard. The mothers character is very well written and even a bigger nitjob than Mrs. Carmody from "The Mist". Carrie can't help it that she is the way she is. You feel sorry for her. Chris Hargensen is this typical populair high school girl everyone wants to be, but also secretly hate. One of her friends, Sue Snell, is the only one that also feels sorry for Carrie, although she did participate in the incident that happened in the lockerroom. Tommy Ross, Sue's boyfriend, looks at Carrie differently when he gets to know her. When he takes her to the school dance and their are crownd prom king and prom queen, Chris and her boyfriend Billy have something in store for her. From there on the terror really starts, but this time it's coming from Carrie. "Carrie" is, like many other Stephen King books, really hard to put down. Once your in the story, it's hard to let go.
Rating: 5/ 5