Movie Trailer Sunday (235)

Here are this week's trailers.

The Magnificent Seven
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Description: Seven gun men in the old west gradually come together to help a poor village against savage thieves.
Starring: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Vincent D'Onofrio, Haley Bennett, Matt Bomer, Ethan Hawke, Cam Gigandet, Peter Sarsgaard, Vinnie Jones
Trailer: Trailer "The Magnificent Seven"
Comment: A remake I'm actually excited for.

The Girl On the Train
Director: Tate taylor
Description: The Girl on the Train is the story of Rachel Watson's (Emily Blulnt) life post-divorce. Every day, she takes the train in to work in New York, and every day the train passes by her old house. The house she lived in with her husband (Justin Theroux), who still lives there, with his new wife (Rebecca Ferguson) and child. As she attempts to not focus on her pain, she starts watching a couple a few houses down -- Megan and Scott Hipwell (Haley Bennett, Luke Evans). She creates a wonderful dream life for them in her head, about how they are a perfect happy family. And then one day, as the train passes, she sees something shocking, filling her with rage. The next day, she wakes up with a horrible hangover, various wounds and bruises, and no memory of the night before. She has only a feeling: something bad happened. Then come the TV reports: Megan Hipwell is missing. Rachel becomes invested in the case and trying to find out what happened to Megan, where she is, and what exactly she herself was up to that same night Megan went missing.
Starring: Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, Allison Janney, Rebecca Ferguson, Laura Prepon, Edgar Ramirez, Lisa Kudrow
Trailer: Trailer "The Girl On the Train"
Comment: I'm reading the book right now, super excited for the film.

The Infiltrator
Director: Brad Furman
Description: A U.S. Customs official (Bryan Cranston) uncovers a money laundering scheme involving Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
Starring: Bryan Cranston, John Leguizamo, Benjamin Bratt, Diane Kruger, Amy Ryan
Trailer: Trailer "The Infiltrator"
Comment: COuld be interesting.

Jason Bourne
Director: Paul Greengrass
Description: Jason Bourne, now remembering who he truly is, tries to uncover hidden truths about his past.
Starring: Matt Damon, Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones, Albert Finney, Julia Stiles, Vincent Cassel
Trailer: Trailer "Jason Bourne"
Comment: Hell yeah. What I love most about this trailer is that I dn't know much about the plot yet. That makes it even more exciting.

The Do-Over
Director: Steven Brill
Description: Two down-on-their-luck guys decide to fake their own deaths and start over with new identities, only to find the people they're pretending to be are in even deeper trouble.
Starring: Adam Sandler, David Spade, Paula Patton, Kathryn Hahn, Luiz Guzmán, Sean Astin, Nick Swardson, Renée Taylor
Trailer: Trailer "The Do-Over"
Comment: Ugh...

Top 5 Thursday: Overused Horror Movie Clichés

I love horror movies, although some are hard to watch alone. But when I watch a horror movie, there are always some clichés that appear in almost every movie in the genre. I’m going to share with you some of the most overused horror movie clichés.

5. Inept authority figures
Somehow adult authority figures never seem to believe the one being chased. They are useless in horror movies, because when they do try to help, they often get killed.

4. Stereotypes
Especially when it involves teens, there is always the good virgin, the nice guy, the jerky jock, the stoner or nerd, the slutty chick. And it’s always predictable who dies first and who will survive.

3. Running away and falling
It’s often seen that someone (mostly women) is running away from the killer, but they can never do it without falling at least once. And not even over a branch or a rock, they just trip. Gravity seems to grab them.

2. Bad reception
The phone doesn’t work when you most need it. And this is very convenient for the killer.

1. The car doesn’t start
With cell phones not working, there is also a big problem with cars in horror movies. At the moment of truth, when someone tries to flee the killer, the car they get into doesn’t start. And most of the time it does start right before the killer can strike.

They Almost Made the Top 5: Dumb people, The black guy dies, The killer is never dead the first time, Sex gets you killed

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 51: The Huntsman: Winter's War

Director: Cedic Nicolas-Troyan
Genre: Adventure/ Action/ Fantasy/ Drama
Runtime: 114 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt, Charlize Theron, Nick Frost, Sam Claflin

Description: As a war between rival queen sisters Ravenna (Charlize Theron) and Freya (Emily Blunt) escalates, Eric (Chris Hemsworth) and fellow warrior Sara (Jessica Chastain), members of the Huntsmen army raised to protect Freya, try to conceal their forbidden love as they combat Ravenna's wicked intentions.

Review: “Snow White and the Huntsman” was four years ago successful enough that Universal was already planning a sequel. Rupert Sanders was going to direct and Kristen Stewart was going to star again. Because of an affaire between the two, that sequel was postponed. They still wanted to continue the franchise and they decided to make a spin-off focusing on huntsman Eric. Chris Hemsworth is an actor people love to see and who needs Snow White?
Because the huntsman wasn’t a very meaningful character in the original fairytale, we also get an evil ice queen and queen Ravenna returns. Snow White’s absence is solved by setting the story in a different fantasy world. The story is set before and after Snow White’s kingdom and they told it in a way we don’t need to see the actual character.
First we see the history of ice queen Freya and her sister Ravenna. And then we are introduced to the Huntsman Eric and warrior Sara. Freya trains an army of children to become huntsmen. Eric and Sara are her best warriors. The two fall in love, which is a sin in Freya’s kingdom. Sara is killed and Eric is supposed to die too. He survives and escape to the south. Then we skip to seven years later after all the happenings in “Snow White and the Huntsman”. Eric has to find Ravenna’s mirror, before Freay gets her hands on it.
Chris Hemsworth doesn’t have to do a lot to entertain me and I liked him in “The Huntsman: Winter’s War”. He had good chemistry with Jessica Chastain and her character is strong and fun. Emily Blunt is a believable evil queen and although Charlize Theron already proved that, she does a solid job again.
Is “The Huntsman: Winter’s War” a great film? No, but it’s very entertaining, has the right length, it looks stunning and has a good cast. I have to honest that I expected a bit more, but it’s still an enjoyable film.

Rating: 3/ 5

Movie Trailer Sunday (234)

Here are this week's trailers.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Director: David Yates
Description: The adventures of writer Newt Scamander *Eddie Redmayne) in New York's secret community of witches and wizards seventy years before Harry Potter reads his book in school.
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Colin Farrel, Ezra Miller, Ron Perlman, Jon Voight, Samantha Morton
Trailer: Trailer "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"
Comment: The newest trailer, jeej!!!

Doctor Strange
Director: Scott Derrickson
Description: After his career is destroyed, a brilliant but arrogant and conceited surgeon gets a new lease on life when a sorcerer takes him under his wing and trains him to defend the world against evil.
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Rachel McAdams, Tilda Swinton, Mads Mikkelson, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Trailer: Trailer "Doctor Strange"
Comment: A teaser, can't wait to see more!

The Neon Demon
Director: Nicholas Winding Refn
Description: When aspiring model Jesse (Elle Fanning) moves to Los Angeles, her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has.
Starring: Elle Fanning, Keanu Reeves, Christina Hendricks, Jena Malone
Trailer: Trailer "The Neon Demon"
Comment: This looks very interesting!

The Birth of a Nation
Director: Nate Parker
Description: Nat Turner, a former slave in America, leads a liberation movement in 1831 to free African-Americans in Virginia that results in a violent retaliation from whites.
Starring: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Jackie Earl Haly, Mark Boone Jr., Penelope Anne Miller, Gabrielle Union
Trailer: Trailer "The Birth of a Nation"
Comment: Looks like "12 Years a Slave".

The Family Fang
Director: Jason Bateman
Description: A brother and sister return to their family home in search of their world famous parents who have disappeared.
Starring: Jason Bateman, Nicole Kidman, Christopher Walken, Kathryn Hahn
Trailer: Trailer "The Family Fang"
Comment: Can't wait to see Bateman as a director.

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 50: Mr. Holland's Opus

Director: Stephen Herek
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 143 minutes
Year: 1995
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, William H. Macy, Olympia Dukakis, Alicia Witt, Terence Howard, Glenne Headly

Description: A frustrated composer (Richard Dreyfuss) finds fulfillment as a high school music teacher.

Review: As a (former) teacher I always love to see movies about teachers who make a difference, touch the lives of the students. “Mr. Holland’s Opus” is a movie that does this too, it’s a beautiful film.
Richard Dreyfuss plays Glen Holland, a frustrated composer. Because he needs money, he takes a job as a music teacher as a high school. He is not very excited to start, but that’s until he sees what his classes do for the students.
“Mr. Holland’s Opus” is an ode to music. From classical to pop to rock music. It’s an impressive film with a lot of highlights. Music is emotion and this movie shows that. And you feel it. Richard Dreyfuss’ performance is wonderful, I loved him in “Mr. Holland’s Opus”. The ending might feel a bit too much, but I think it’s great.
“Mr. Holland’s Opus” is a beautiful film and a great dedication to music.

Rating: 5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 49: Little Nicky

Director: Steven Brill
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 90 minutes
Year: 2000
Starring: Adam Sandler, Harvey Keitel, Patricia Arquette, Rhys Ifans, Rodney Dangerfield, Reese Witherspoon, Michael McKean, Rob Schneider, Henry Winkler, Peter Dante, Alan Covert, Kevin Nealon, Dana Carvey, Jon Lovitz

Description: After two of the devil's three sons escape Hell to wreak havoc on Earth, the devil (Harvey Keitel) must send his third son, the mild-mannered Nicky (Adam Sandler), to bring them back before it's too late.

Review: Adam Sandler doesn’t have the best reputation, but he has made some great memorable comedies like “Billy Madison”, “The Wedding Singer” and “Happy Gilmore”. “Little Nicky” unfortunately isn’t one of them.
Sandler plays one of Satan’s three sons, who has to stop his two other borhters from creating a battlefield on Earth. This character, Nicky, has a major speech impediment and is actually a more kind hearted guy.
The movie is filled with bad jokes and there is way too much going on. Sandler’s jokes are often bad, but bearable and still funny. Here in “Little Nicky” I didn’t really laugh a lot and I was a bit annoyed with the film.
“Little Nicky” is probably one of Sandler’s worst films.

Rating: 1/ 5

Top 5 Thursday: 2016 Summer Movies to Look Forward to

As a big movie nerd I’m also looking out for new movies. Today I’m going to share with you the five films I can’t wait to see, that will be released this summer (june/ july/ august, US release dates).

5. Ghosbusters
Okay, I’m a little skeptical. But somehow I’m still interested in seeing it, because of the great comedic actresses (and Chris Hemsworth). I hope it’s going to be funny.

4. Suicide Squad
We’ve seen a few trailers now and I get more excited after seeing a new trailer. I think this is going to a good film and I’m curious about Jaret Leto’s version of The Joker and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn.

3. Jason Bourne
We don’t know that much about the new Jason Bourne film, but knowing the franchise is returning is reason enough for me to go to the theaters. I love these films and Matt Damon is fantastic in them.

2. Finding Dory
Oh how I love “Finding Nemo”. And Dory is my favorite character, so off course I’m super stoked to see a spin-off film. Can’t wait!

1. The BFG
I’m a huge fan of Roald Dahl’s children’s books. Some of them have been made into movies quite successfully. I’m very confident that Steven Spielberg created a gem with “The BFG” (The Big Friendly Giant).

They Almost Made the Top 5: Independence Day: Resurgence