Netflix Friday - Volume 53

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

Action: Suicide Squad (2016)
A secret government agency recruits some of the most dangerous incarcerated super-villains to form a defensive task force. Their first mission: save the world from the apocalypse.
 

Drama: The Green Mile (1999)
The lives of guards on Death Row are affected by one of their charges: a black man (Michael Clarke Duncan) accused od child murder and rape, yet who has a mysterious gift.
 

Comedy: Shazam! (2019)
A newly fostered young boy in search of his mother instead finds unexpected super powers and soon gains a powerful enemy.
 

Animation: The Mitchell’s Vs. the Machines (2021)
A quirky, dysfunctional family’s road trip is upended when they find themselves in the middle of the robot apocalypse and suddenly become humanity’s unlikeliest last hope.
 

Romance: Anna Karenina (2012)
In the late-19^th-century Russian high society, St. Petersburg aristocrat Anna Karenina (Keira Knightley) enters into a life-changing affair with the dashing Count Alexei Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson)
 

Horror: Bone Tomahawk (2015)
In the dying days of the old west, an elderly sheriff (Kurt Russell) and his posse set out to rescue their town’s doctor from cannibalistic cave dwellers.
 

Science Fiction: Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Fearing that the actions of Superman (Henry Cavill) are left unchecked, Batman (Ben Affleck) takes on the Man of Steel, while the world wrestles with what king of a hero it really needs.
 

Crime: Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
A police sergeant (Ethan Hawke) must rally the cops and prisoners together to protect themselves on New Year’s Eve, just as corrupt policemen surround the station with the intent of killing all to keep their deception in the ranks.
 

Thriller: Wind River (2017)
A veteran hunter (Jeremy Renner) helps an FBI agent (Elisabeth Olsen) investigate the murder of a young woman on a Wyoming Native American reservation.
 

Documentary: Seaspiracy (2021)
Passionate about ocean life, a filmmaker sets out to document the harm that humans do to marine species – and uncovers alarming global corruption.
 

Family: Detective Pikachu (2019)
In a world where people collect Pokémon to do battle, a boy comes across an intelligent talking Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds_ who seeks to be a detective.

 

Movie Reviews - Shazam!

Director: David F. Sandberg
Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Comedy
Runtime: 123 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Adam Brody, Djimon Hounsou, Marta Milans, Cooper Andrews

Description: We all have a superhero inside us, it takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Asher Angel_ case by shouting out one word – SHAZAM – this streetwise fourteen-year-old foster kid can turn into the grown-up superhero Shazam (Zachary Levi).

Review: “Shazam!” is not (yet) a part of a bigger film universe. Like Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) and Arthur Curry (Aquaman), teenager Billy Batson gets his own origin story. Off course there are lots of easter eggs and a lot of DC name dropping. But “Shazam!” mostly goes his own way. And it’s so different from the dark Snyder films.
They didn’t worry about making the magic lightning suite look realistic or create an ideal image of a superhero. “Shazam!” is a comedy, sometimes an even heartwarming family film. It had to be: a magic staff, magical words, a clumsy hero and a silly name. it wouldn’t have worked as a dark and gritty story. But with comedy and a splash of satire, it does work. Very well actually. The starting point is great: what to do when, as a teenager, all of a sudden you have the same powers as Superman? Exactly, you are going to try it all out. Jumping over buildings, by alcohol, smash things and trying to get rich. It becomes a delightful and recognizable child fantasy, where sidekick Freddy Freeman provides sassy comments. And Zachary Levi is the perfect choice to play the superhero.
Mark Strong plays Thaddeus Sivana, the villain. His name isn’t special, his look doesn’t look impressive and he has no epic backstory. But it does work surprisingly well, because he actually is a serious threat to Billy Batson.
“Shazam!” is very aware of itself and there are many references to other movies in the genre and even to “Big”, where a teenager also all of a sudden wakes up in an adult man’s body. And some things look really silly. But because of the friendly tone of the film, lead actor Zachary Levi and his dynamic with Jack Dylan Grazer, it’s a great superhero film.
“Shazam!” is lighter than “Wonder Woman”, more focused than “Aquaman” and very true to the comics. With that, it’s actually one of the better DC films.

Rating: 4/ 5

Movies to Look Forward To - April 2019

I'm so ready for April to arrive. It has some of my most anticipated films and I can't wait to see them!

April 4th – Fighting with My Family
Director: Stephen Merchant
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Lena Heady, Nick Frost
Description: A former wrestler and his family make a living performing at small venues around the country while his kids dream of joining World Wrestling Entertainment.

April 4th – Hotel Mumbai
Director: Anthony Maras
Starring: Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Jason Isaacs
Description: The true story of the Taj Hotel terrorist attack in Mumbai. Hotel staff risk their lives to keep everyone safe as people make unthinkable sacrifices to protect themselves and their families.

April 4th – Pet Semetary
Director: Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer
Starring: Jason Clarke, John Lithgow, Amy Seimetz
Description: Louis Creed, his wife Rachel and their two children Gage and Ellie move to a rural home where they are welcomed and enlightened about the eerie 'Pet Sematary' located nearby. After the tragedy of their cat being killed by a truck, Louis resorts to burying it in the mysterious pet cemetery, which is definitely not as it seems, as it proves to the Creeds that sometimes, dead is better.

April 4th – Shazam!
Director: David F. Sandberg
Starring: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong Description: We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson's case, by shouting out one word - SHAZAM! - this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult superhero Shazam (Zachary Levi).

April 11th – Captive State
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Starring: Vera Farmiga, John Goodman
Description: Set in a Chicago neighborhood nearly a decade after an occupation by an extra-terrestrial force, Captive State explores the lives on both sides of the conflict - the collaborators and dissidents.

April 11th – Hellboy
Director: Neil Marshall
Starring: David Harbour, Mila Jovovich, Thomas Hade Church, Ian McShane, Daniel Dae Kim
Description: Based on the graphic novels by Mike Mignola, Hellboy (David Harbour), caught between the worlds of the supernatural and human, battles an ancient sorceress bent on revenge.

April 24th – Avengers: Endgame
Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Brie Larsson, Josh Brolin, Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Olsen, Karen Gillan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tom Holland, Sebastian Stan, Pm Klementieff, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Jeremy Renner, Tilda Swinton, Jon Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mark Ruffalo, Chadwick Boseman, Don Cheadle, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Benedict Cumberbatch
Description: After the devastating events, the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to undo Thanos' (Josh Brolin) actions and restore order to the universe.