Netflix Friday - Volume 23

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

Action: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team take on their most impossible mission yet when they have to eradicate an international rogue organization as highly skilled as they are and committed to destroying the IMF.
 

Drama: Manchester By the Sea (2016)
A depressed uncle (Casey Affleck) is asked to take care of his teenage nephew (Lucas Hedges) after the boy’s father (Kyle Chandler) dies.
 

Comedy: Rush Hour (1998)
A loyal and dedicated Hong Kong Inspector (Jackie Chan) teams up with a reckless and loudmouthed L.A.P.D. detective (Chris Tucker) to rescue the Chinese Consul’s kidnapped daughter, while trying to arrest a dangerous crime lord along the way.
 

Animation: Despicable Me 2
When Gru (Steve Carell), the world’s most super-bad turned super-dad has been recruited by a team of officials to stop lethal muscle and a host of Gru’s own. He has to fight back with new gadgetry, cars, and more minion madness.
 

Romance: Wedding Crashers (2005)
John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn), a pair of committed womanizers who sneak into weddings to take advantage of the romantic tinge in the air, find themselves at odds with one another when John meets and falls for Claire Cleary (Rachel McAdams)
 

Horror: Dawn of the Dead (2004)
A group of survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall.
 

Science Fiction: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a woman (Charlize Theron) rebels against a tyrannical ruler in search for her homeland with the aid of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshiper, and a drifter named Max (Tom Hardy)
 

Crime: True Grit (2010)
A stubborn teenager (Hailee Steinfeld) enlists the help od a tough U.S. Marshal (Jeff Bridges) to track down her father’s murderer.
 

Thriller: The Red Sea Diving Resort (2019)
Israel’s Mossad agents attempt to rescue Ethiopian Jewish refugees in Sudan in 1979.
 

Documentary: National Parks Adventure (2016)
Coinciding with the National Parks Centennial, “National Parks Adventure” celebrates America’s natural wonders. Narrated by Robert Redford, it follows a trio of adventurers and revisits Roosevelt and Muir’s camping trip when the Park System was born.
 

Family: Ghostbusters 2 (1989)
The discovery of a massive river of ectoplasm and a resurgence of spectral activity allows the staff of Ghostbusters to revive the business.

Top 5 Thursday: Movies That Revived a Franchise

The movies on this list, blew new life into movie franchises that were dead until these movies were released. Movies that came out long after their previous installments or short after a flop in the movie series. Movies that revived a dying or otherwise dead franchise. Here are my picks.

5. Casino Royale
“Die Another Day” was a terrible James Bond movie, maybe even the worst. But it was followed by, what I call, the best in the franchise. “Casino Royale” And Daniel Craig gave us a more realistic version of the spy.

4. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Although “Mission: Impossible 3” was already a pretty good film, it was “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” that blew our minds. Especially because it’s the fourth film in the franchise and it’s better than all its previous films. It continued with “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” which is also amazing.

3. Jurassic World
Dinosaurs make money Hollywood. And although this movie wasn’t loved by everyone, I enjoyed it and really think it was an actual good film. “Jurassic Park” is still one of the best movies ever made. It was followed by “The Lost World” and “Jurassic Park III”. I liked both movies, but most people didn’t. 14 Years later, the long awaited “Jurassic World” got everyone excited again. It was one of the movies that got me (and my brother) as excited as a child.

2. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
The “Star Wars” prequel series was a serious let down. Fans were expecting nothing but perfection from the next “Star Wars” installment. And boy did it deliver. We were treated to a space epic, combining both the new and old “Star Wars” generation.

1. Mad Max: Fury Road
The original “Mad Max” series ended in 1985. But in the spring of 2015 it made a comeback. It’s an adrenaline fueled action film, that tells the story of Max and Furiosa’s attempt to fight the tyrannical leader Immortan Joe. It has non-stop action sequences and it looks like it has no intention to stop at all.

They Almost Made the Top 5: Star Trek, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, X-Men: First Class, Batman Begins

Top 5 Thursday: Movies I Watched for My Challenge (August 2015)

It was a great month for my movie challenge. Saw some awesome films this month, so here we go with the monthly top 5.

5. Eyes Wide Shut

I never watched this movie completely, I knew about that orgy scene and I kind of refused to watch it. But I’m glad I did now, because it’s an amazing film. The suspense and mystery is its strong point.

 

 

4. Still Alice

Wonderful performance by Julianne Moore in this touching story about a woman with Alzheimer’s disease. It really grabbed me.

 

 

3. Gosford Park

I reminded me of “Downton Abbey”, but then as a movie. I loved all the intrigue and secrets between the different characters.

 

 

2. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

A movie that has been on my watch list for quite some time, and I finally got to see it. It was fun, mostly because of Peter Sellers. Man, that guy is funny!

 

 

1. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

I was so looking forward to seeing this movie and it met every expectation I had. It was freaking awesome. I just love Tom Cruise….

 

 

They Almost Made the Top 5: Shaun the Sheep, Trainwreck, Far From the Madding Crowd

Top 5 Thursday: "Mission Impossible" Movies

As a teenager I was in love with Tom Cruise (and maybe I still am a little). The “Mission: Impossible” movies are part of his very successful career and he is the face of the franchise. Tom Cruise is such a great movie star and I love this franchise. And it’s different from many others, because they keep getting better. And I don’t mind if they make a sixth one (which is the plan). Here I ranked the five movies we already have.

5. Mission: Impossible 2

This is my least favorite of the series. It’s not terrible, but it was a bit disappointing. Although that rock climbing scene was pretty awesome.

 

 

4. Mission: Impossible

The movie that started it all. It wasn’t as spectacular as the once they make now, but it’s still an amazingly, awesome spy movie.

 

 

3. Mission: Impossible 3

This instalment was especially good because of the villain. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was a great bad guy, very convincing.

 

 

2. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

High expectations, because I only heard good things about “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation”. And I got exactly what I wanted. The franchise is still going strong and I can’t wait for another sequel.

 

1. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

At the time this movie came out, I thought the franchise was dead. I didn’t think that “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” would be this great. It's my favorite, just because. 

 

 

They Almost Made the Top 5: -

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 103: Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

 impo

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Thriller

Runtime: 131 minutes

Year: 2015

Starring: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames, Alec Baldwin, Sean Harris, Simon McBurney, Tom Hollander

Description: Ethan (Tom Cruise) and team take on their most impossible mission yet, eradicating the Syndicate - an International rogue organization as highly skilled as they are, committed to destroying the IMF.

Review: How many actors over 50 do their own stunts? And how many of them will climb tall buildings and hang on an airplane during takeoff? Well, nobody but Tom Cruise. That alone is reason enough for us to see “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation”, already the fifth installment in the franchise.

In this film Ethan Hunt is trying to track down the Syndicate, an international terrorist organization lead by former spies. The movie starts with spectacle, where Ethan Hunt is hanging from an airplane that’s taking off. We all know that he actually did that, which makes this scene even more awesome! This is only a warm up, because the film is filled with many more spectacular stunts, scenes and actions. The fact that the stunts have been actually performed, instead of created by computers, gives this movie extra tension and excitement. All the action is fast, intense yet not chaotic.

Tom Cruise is, like in the other films, the star. He is amazing as Ethan Hunt. Simon Pegg again has a bigger role and I love him as Benji Dunn. He takes care of the humor in the movie. And in combination with Cruise he is also good. Ving Rhames is also back and Jeremy Renner is solid as well. Newcomer to the franchise, Rebecca Ferguson, was very good. She was like a female Ethan Hunt, she totally kicked ass.

It seems like the “Mission: Impossble” films keep on getting better and better. I was expecting a lot and “Mission: Impossible – Rogie Nation’ met my expectations.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

Movie Trailer Sunday (183)

Here are this weeks trailers.

Spectre

Description: A cryptic message from Bond's past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organization. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind SPECTRE.

Director: Sam Mendes

Starring: Monica Bellucci, Ralph Fiennes, Daniel Craig, Ben Whishaw, Naomi Harris, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Rory Kinnear, Andrew Scott, Dave Bautista, Stephanie Sigman

Trailer: Trailer "Spectre"

Comment: Not a Bond fan, but I did like "Skyfall".

Southpaw

Description: Boxer Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) fights his way to the top, only to find his life falling apart around him.

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Forest Whitaker, Naomie Harris, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Rita Ora, Victor Ortiz

Trailer: Trailer "Southpaw"

Comment: This looks amazing, Jake Gyllenhaal is on a role lately, so this will be a good movie too. I can tell!

Maggie

Description: Teenage girl Maggie (Abigail Breslin) in the Midwest becomes infected by an outbreak of a disease that slowly turns the infected into cannibalistic zombies. During her transformation, her loving father Wade (Arnold Schwarzenegger) stays by her side.

Director: Henry Hobson

Starring: Abigail Breslin, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Joely Richardson

Trailer: Trailer "Maggie"

Comment: This Arnie reminds me of the "End of Days" Arnie. I really want to see this movie.

Slow West

Description: A 16-year-old boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is on a journey across 19th Century frontier America in search of the woman he loves, while accompanied by mysterious traveler Silas (Michael Fassbender).

Director: John Maclean

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Ben Mendelsohn

Trailer: Trailer "Slow West"

Comment: I love me some Fassbender....

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Description: Ethan (Tom Cruise) and team take on their most impossible mission yet, eradicating the Syndicate - an International rogue organization as highly skilled as they are, committed to destroying the IMF.

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Alec Baldwin, Simon Pegg, Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon McBurney, Rebecca Ferguson

Trailer: Trailer "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation"

Comment: I hope this is just as good as "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol".