Netflix Friday - Volume 107

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

Action: The Lost City of Z (2016)
British explorer Percival Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) disappeared whilst searching for a mysterious city in the Amazon in the 1920s.
 

Drama: Schindler’s List (1993)
In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
 

Comedy: Senior Year (2022)
A cheerleading stunt gone wrong landed Stephanie (Rebel Wilson) in a 20-year coma. Now she’s 37, newly awake and ready to live out her high school dream: becoming prom queen.
 

Animation: Apollo 10 ½
A coming-of-age story set in the suburbs of Houston, Texas in the summer of 1969, centered around the historic Apollo 11 moon landing.
 

Romance: How Do You Know (2010)
After being cut from thd U.S.A. softball team and feeling a bit past her prime, Lisa (Reese Witherspoon) finds herself evaluating her life and in the middle of a love triangle, as a corporate guy (Paul Rudd) in crisis competes with her current, baseball playing beau (Owen Wilson).
 

Horror: Dark Shadows (2012)
An imprisoned vampire, Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp), is set free and returns to his ancestral home, where his dysfunctional descendants are in need of his protection.
 

Science Fiction: Mute (2018)
A mute bartender (Alexander Skarsgård) goes up against his city’s gangsters (Justin Theroux, Paul Rudd) to find out what happened to his missing partner
 

Crime : Papillon (2017)
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.
 

Thriller: Taken (2008)
A retired CIA agent (Liam Neeson) travel across Europe and relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter (Maggie Grace), who has been kidnapped while on a trip to Paris.
 

Documentary: Our Father (2022)
After a woman’s at-home DNA test reveals multiple half-siblings, she discovers a shocking scheme involving donor sperm and a popular fertility doctor.
 

Family: The Karate Kid (2010)
Work causes a single mother (Taraji P. Henson) to move to China with her young son (Jaden Smith); in his new home the boy embraces kung fu, taught to him by a master (Jackie Chan).

Netflix Friday - Volume 7

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

Action: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
In 1936, archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before Adolf Hitler’s Nazis can obtain its awesome powers.

Drama: Legends of the Fall (1994)
In the early 1900s, three brothers and their father living in the remote wilderness of Montana are affected by betrayal, history, love, nature and war.

Comedy: Yes Man (2008)
Carl (Jim Carrey) challenges himself to say “yes” to everything.

Animation: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
Wallace and his loyal dog, Gromit, set out to discover the mystery behind the garden sabotage that plagues their village and threatens the annual giant vegetable growing contest.

Romance: Roxanne (1987)
The large-nosed C.D. Bales (Steve Martin) is in love with the beautiful Roxanne (Daryl Hannah)l she falls for his personality but another man’s looks.

Horror: Prooi (Prey) (2016)
A zoo veterinarian gets caught up in a grisly adventure as she finds herself leading the city-wide hunt for a monstrous lion terrorizing Amsterdam.

Science Fiction: The Matrix (1999)
A computer hacker (Keanu Reeves) learns from mysterious rebels about the true nature of his reality and his role in the war against its controllers.

Crime: Papillon (2017)
Wrongfully convicted for murder, Henri Charriere (Charlie Hunnam) forms an unlikely relationship with fellow inmate and quirky counterfeiter Louis Dega (Rami Malek), in an attempt to escape from the notorious penal colony on Devil’s island.

Thriller: The Next Three Days (2010)
A married couple’s life (Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks) is turned upside down when the wife is accused of a murder.

Documentary: Holland: Natuur in de Delta (2015)
Multiple animals are followed during their life in the by humans created delta.

Family: The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother (Mary-Louise Parker), twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace (Freddie Highmore), along with their sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger), find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures.

Movie Reviews - Papillon

Director: Michael Noer
Genre: Drama/ Crime
Runtime: 133 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Rami Malek, Tommy Flanagan, Eve Hewson, Roland Møller, Nina Senicar, Michael Socha, Christopher Fairbank, Joel Basman, Fernanda Diniz, Ian Beattie, Brian Vernel, Nikola Kent, Yorick van Wageningen

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.

Review: Without hope he would have never survived the fourteen years in prison. He had a purpose, a goal: he had to escape. Everyone must have heard about Frenchman Henri Charrière, nicknamed Papillon, because of a tattooed butterfly on his chest. Three years after his autobiography was released, director Franklin J. Schaffner translated it to film, with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman as his leading men. Now, the Danish director Michael Noer, tries it again. The story is still interesting enough and it’s a very strong film.
Paris, 1931. The French night life blossoms with Moulin Rouge and so does the criminal activity behind the scenes. The life of jewel thief Henri Charrière changes into hell, when he is accused of murder and sentenced for life. In large groups, men are transferred to a prison island. And according to the warden, only a fool will try to escape. Because there is hardly any chance of surviving it. But Papillon is still determined to escape.
To escape, he needs money. He meets millionaire Louis Dega. He is obvious bait for the other prisoners, so they can help each other. The contrast between the two is very big, but they share the same fate.
Charlie Hunnam plays his role very convincing, but it’s Rami Malek who is sublime. He impresses the most. The images are beautiful and the soundtrack as well.
It’s hard to translate fourteen years of someone’s life to movie, even with a long runtime. Noer had to make choices in what to show and what not. He managed to select the right moments and show the important aspects of Papillon’s life in prison. His years in solitary, his time on Devil’s island, his friendship with Dega.
I didn’t expect much, like most of the times with a remake. But I was pleasantly surprised and ended up loving this film. Very strong performances and a story that, to date, is still interesting enough to keep my attention for over two hours.

Rating: 4 / 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.