Tag: stuff I plan to see

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My current level of inability to cope with my life is represented by the 113 unread emails in my personal inbox. Not helped by the fact that I’m working this weekend because it’s finals.

Don’t let anyone kid you, college students — everyone hates finals. It’s not just you. Staff, profs, teaching assistants….anyone who has to deal with them.

In spite of extra work, I am going to try to get to see The Shape Of Water this weekend, and possibly also Darkest Hour.

Here’s some recommendations for folks who actually have time this weekend!

Netflix

First, I would like to note that Netflix has several big-time franchise movies right now, including Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (super fun) and Rogue One (super not-fun but quite good).

It also has one of my favorite cheesy action flicks, XXX.

The first time I saw this movie, when I got to the end of an early scene where our hero is jumping a motorcycle off a building that was in the process of exploding, I was like, “This is the best fucking movie I’ve ever seen.”

It isn’t, actually, but the action scenes are a lot of fun. I kind of love the whole franchise, tbh. The films are not an intellectual challenge or anything, but they’re playing into being exactly what they are – badass stunts and explosions aplenty.

In fact, let’s take a moment to consider the stunt persons. They are epic. I appreciate what they do.

I am also totally psyched for the new season of One Day At A Time that will be coming out in January. If you haven’t watched it, try season 1. It’s fun, thoughtful, kid-safe and charming.

Hulu

Hulu has Gifted, which I’ve watched some of and is quite good and Runaways, which is one of my favorite freaking Marvel comics runs of all time. The trailer made it look amazing, but I haven’t gotten around to watching it yet.

They also have the adorable and under-rated Girls Just Want To Have Fun.

It’s a dancing movie about friendships among girls and the usual teenaged stuff. It has a great soundtrack and is quite a feel-good watch.

It also has a surprisingly great cast – Shannon Doherty, Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt are all in it. Also, watch for a random appearance from one of my faves, Robert Downey, Jr.

Prime Streaming

I got a delightful surprise this week when I came home one night to find out that Amazon’s streaming video is now accessible from my AppleTV (which is my household’s main source of stuff to go on the ticky-talky box). That’s probably neither here nor there to most of you, but I wanted to mention it, in case it was.

Prime has The Big Sick, a film I’ve mentioned favorably, before. It’s a warm and moving movie probably even if you’re not already on the Kumail Nanjiani bandwagon, which I certainly was as a huge fan of his stand-up.

An aside, I finally started listening to Nanjiani’s X Files podcast and it is a freaking delight.

They also have Mr. Robot, a tense techno-thriller show with some really interesting character stuff.

If you’re looking for something lighter, consider the action comedy Rush Hour 2. For some reason the first one isn’t on streaming, but the sequel is and I don’t think it’ll hurt from the lack of the first, if you haven’t seen it.

Kids

In term of movies for little observers, Amazon is weak on movie options, but they seem to have all the Christmas specials ever made right now. Hulu still has all the freaking Disney. A good one to try might be the kid-aimed sports movie The Mighty Ducks.

On Netflix, check out Zootopia, if you haven’t. It’s an animal-as-people movie that’s better and more thoughtful than I imagined it could be. They also have a metric tonne of Christmas stuff if that is your jam.

GOOD LUCK and see y’all next week.

 

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Happy Friday, nerds.

This weekend I am planning on seeing one or more of the following: Lady Bird, The Man Who Invented Christmas, Roman J. Israel, esq., and Coco.

Movies I’m looking forward to in the coming weeks with great glee include The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro’s Abe Sapien whump and romance au fanfic, Downsizing, which looks like a bizarre mid-life crisis fantasy film, and, of course, the new Star Wars. I already have it penciled in to cry miserably as soon as I see Gen. Organa come on the screen. I will, for the record, be saving The Last Jedi to watch with my mom when I head Southwards to see her for Christmas, so I will be maybe the last person to see it.

The sacrifices I make for family. *dramatic sigh*

Here are some streaming recs if you’re planning on staying in, this weekend!

Netflix

I finally started watching The Punisher this week. I thought it would be a tough watch because the character of Frank Castle pretty much equals wicked levels of violence. The show is, indeed, violent, but it also has deeply thoughtful engagement with its violence and with PTSD, the various costs of soldier-hood and with the emotional state of people who lose someone or lose part of themselves. All in all, I’m finding it a much easier watch than Jessica Jones (which was excellent, but suuuper difficult, for me) in spite of the violence.

If you’re in for something shorter, Netflix is streaming the biopic The Imitation Game. — I have been furious about the story of Alan Turing ever since I had first heard it. In spite of this movie’s flaws, it tells his story with compassion (though not in the depth I had hoped).

If biopics or Benedict Cumberbatch aren’t your thing, consider the film 9. It’s animated, but not for young kids. The story is pretty scary and deeply emotional. It’s a beautiful, but dark tale set after the apocalypse.

Hulu

Hulu has Contact – a big cerebral piece of science fiction starring Jodie Foster from the novel by Carl Sagan. It’s full of Ideas and well worth a watch.

Prime

Amazon has the only Thanksgiving film of which I am aware, Home for the Holidays. It’s a comedy about family bullshit, so cw for all that entails.

Kids

Amazon has the adorable and hopeful Happy Feet. Hulu has the 90s live-action George of the Jungle, which is extremely silly but has some good gags.

Netflix has the inspiring Queen of Katwe, true story of Phiona Mutesi, a chess champion that came up from slums in Uganda to become a competitive chess player. The film is not an easy watch, as it is unflinchingly honest about poverty and its consequences, but it is a great story and done with all the polish you’d expect from a Disney film.

As a bonus, you’ll come out with this stuck in your head:

which is fun.

I hope y’all have a great weekend!

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Hey all. I’m seeing Justice League this weekend, and I may also try to get to Lady Bird.

Here are some streaming recs for this week.

I shy away from recommending things that I feel like everyone has seen, but in truth there is nothing everyone has seen. So today I’m going to rec some stuff I believe was widely viewed, and which is good enough to justify that popularity.

Netflix

Netflix has the incomparable Men In Black. I wind up loving a lot of movies based on comic books. This one’s antecedents are in a relatively obscure indie that started coming out in the early nineties. The movie was enough of a powerhouse at the box office to create a franchise. No doubt this was in part due to Will Smith’s starring role. Coming just after his role in Independence Day, Men In Black solidified Smith’s ability to carry off an action comedy role.

Smith wound up starring in a ton of scifi action movies over the following decades. And references to this movie still float around my cohort to this day.

The film also capitalized on the popularity of tv’s the X-Files, which was a strong performer throughout the mid nineties.

It’s really quite funny and full of some great action scenes and one-liners.

Rated PG-13, Men in Black is safe for a lot of kids, I should think.

Hulu

Based on the classic TV show from the 60’s and 70’s that many folks of my generation saw in reruns, the 90s Mission Impossible movie adaptation took a lot of well -known tropes from the show and gave them a high Hollywood shine.

Scenes and tropes from this movie (and from this franchise) wound up referenced in a lot of other places. So you might see something you recognize, even if you haven’t seen it before.

Mission Impossible is also rated PG-13, but the violence in it is more realistic, as is the peril. I wouldn’t recommend it for kids.

Amazon

Amazon has the 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility starring Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, and Kate Winslet. I had already been an Austen-head (Aust-fan? Austling?) for years when it came out and it’s since become one of my comfort movies.

I saw it on a very awkward date with a fellow in college, but I love it anyway. Thompson, in addition to starring, was the person who adapted the novel for the screen. I think it’s a fantastic job, in spite of the many differences from the book.

It’s rated PG and is fine for kids, I believe, though I don’t know how interested that they’d be.

Kid Friendly

Check out E.T. on Netflix (the first movie I remember seeing in the theater), or on Hulu, check out a bunch of classic Disney films, including one of my favorites as a kid, The Rescuers.

= = =

Have a good weekend, folks!

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Even though it is Friday, it is Thorsday.

I’m seeing Ragnarok at 8 tonight. I hope very much that it lives up to its hype.

That’s my only real movie plan for the weekend. Thor, incidentally, will be my fiftieth movie this year. Goal for 2017 met. Everything else I see will be extra credit.

Here are some streaming recs for this week:

Netflix

Netflix has Begin Again, which is a favorite of mine. A movie about music and musicians and about fucking up and finding oneself.

If you want something meatier, Netflix is also streaming Carol right now, a thoughtful, heavy drama about a lesbian couple in the 1950s. Directed by Todd Haynes, of whose work I am generally fond (he directed Velvet Goldmine, which is one of my all-time faves), Carol is a beautiful film as well as a deeply affecting. It won high honors at the Cannes film festival and has picked up quite a slate of accolades since then.

It’s not exactly a happy film, but it doesn’t have the traditional queer tragedy ending, either. Between the performances and the lovely cinematography, it’s well worth seeing.

Hulu

Hulu is also streaming Carol, right now, and if you can handle subtitles, It’s also streaming the offbeat, funny sports film, Shaolin Soccer.

For some reason, this trailer is dubbed, but the movie on Hulu isn’t.

Shaolin Soccer is PG-13 and may be kid-friendly for older kids.

Amazon Prime Streaming

Amazon has Chef which is one of my favorite feel-good movies. It also has Florence Foster Jenkins, a funny, feel-good biopic starring Meryl Streep.

Kid Friendly

Amazon has Aardman Animation’s Shaun the Sheep feature film. It’s pretty hilarious and lives up quite well to the legacy of Wallace and Gromit.

Hulu has Lilo & Stitch, which is one of my favorite kids movies that I’ve seen as an adult, and also has Honey I Shrunk the Kids, a goofy eighties movie that I don’t think I’ve seen since the actual eighties, but of which I have fond memories.

Netflix has Coraline, a pretty spooky kids movie done in breathtaking stop-motion animation. It may not be good for younger kids because it does have some genuinely unsettling stuff.

It also has Finding Dory, which I have some trouble believing anyone with kids won’t already have seen, but if you haven’t, it’s well worth it. A surprisingly beautiful story about what family means.

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HEY ALL. IT’S ALMOST HALLOWEEN, WHICH IS THE FREAKING BEST. Moreover, it’s actually getting chilly here, now, finally. I’m not used to having to wait for chilly in New England.

Also it is almost time for Thor: Ragnarok, about which I am almost unreasonably psyched. I love Taika Waititi. I love Tessa Thompson. I love the Hulk and Bruce Banner. I am hyped.

But Halloween is days away and Thor 3 is nearly a week away, and this weekend, we must content ourselves with other things.

I am planning to see Lucky (cause I didn’t get around to seeing it last weekend, oops). And Suburbicon. With options on a ton of other things, but the second season of Stranger Things came out and I have holiday crafting to do, which may combine to keep me at home for a big chunk of the weekend. We shall see.

Here are some quick hit streaming recommendations. I am typing this up way later than usual, so I’m going to try not to say too much about the films.

Amazon Prime Streaming –

I didn’t think to look at the free-with-your-prime-membership options till this week. There is so much good stuff on there.

If you are interested in horror and particularly in deconstructing/interrogating horror tropes please check out the phenomenal Girl With All The Gifts. I swear to god, I am not recommending it just because Gemma Arterton is in it. It’s a coincidence that I keep recommending her films. She knows how to pick ’em, I guess. (Major CWs for child endangerment, abusive language towards children and various sorts of gore).

Netflix

Consider Don’t Think Twice a love letter to improv theater written by Mike Birbiglia and starring Keegen-Michael Key (amongst others). It’s got some funny bits, but the overall feel is thoughtful as the film explores the prices of success and what it takes to be happy.

Hulu

On Hulu, may I recommend 10 Cloverfield Lane. It’s a moving horror film with good turns of relief vs tension and a lot of plot elements that keep you guessing. It’s not terribly gory, but it’s definitely scary.

Kid-Friendly

For kid friendly films on Netflix, check out some of the pg and pg-13 rated stuff in the Halloween Favorites section. Some of my personal faves you’ll find here are Corpse Bride, Nightmare Before Christmas, and The Addams Family and its sequel.

Hulu also has the Addams Family flicks, and also the classic The Neverending Story, just in case you want to give your kids lifelong feels about a horse.

Amazon Prime streaming has another, quite different classic, Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure. It also has the underrated Spiderwick Chronicles.

 

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FRIDAY FRIDAY GONNA GET DOWN ON FRIDAY.

Years later, and it still gets stuck in my head on an almost weekly basis. I’m so sorry.

I’m definitely seeing Lucky.

The other movies I’m interested in this weekend are Geostorm and Breathe. I’m also interested in Tragedy Girls, but it doesn’t look as though it’s playing anywhere I can actually get to, in my car-less-ness.

For those of you looking to stay in, this weekend, here are some streaming recommendations.

Byzantium, based on a stage play, is a vampire story that isn’t really a horror story, I’d say. Which is not to say that there’s no bloody vampire death or awful situations – there are. But the movie doesn’t spin around them. It is instead a drama touching on themes of motherhood, family, death and sexism through the ages. It stars the lovely and talented Gemma Arterton, who I have adored ever since I saw her head-butt a guy in the first ten minutes of Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters and Saiorse Ronan whose credits include Atonement and The Lovely Bones.

Gemma Arterton on a chat show saying 'I went to the royal academy of dramatic fucking arts.'.

It’s a heavy film, but beautiful and beautifully acted. Byzantium is streaming on both Netflix and Hulu.

For a more subtle spooky film, consider Berberian Sound Studio. It stars Toby Jones (AKA Doctor Zola, from the Captain America movies) as a foley artist for a trashy horror film in Italy, far away from his home in England. His character is also a war veteran and the work affects him more profoundly than he had anticipated. The film takes many a surreal turn as it explores the disturbing nature of the work he’s doing and what he’s putting himself through to do it. As I recall, you never see one minute of gore. Instead all awful, bloody moments in the film he’s working on are played on Jones’ face or on the equipment he’s using to add realism to the gore-fest he’s working on.

Berberian Sound Studio is streaming on Hulu.

If you’re looking for something more kid-friendly, consider Kubo and the Two Strings. An epic, beautifully animated fairy tale of a film. It’s streaming on Netflix.

Once Halloween is done, I will probably stop recommending so many spooky films. But I promise nothing.

ALSO for local film mavens (or anyone who enjoyed Netflix’s Glow) Channel Zero is hosting a showing of a documentary: G.L.O.W. – The story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling in the Somerville Theater. Tickets are $7.50 – cash only and the show starts at 8. I probably won’t make it, myself, but I thought folks might like to know!

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Some quick things, before the weekend hits.

Here are the things I’m planning to see this weekend:

I definitely want to see Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, and I am planning on attending a local theater’s double feature of Friday the 13th and Friday the 13th: Part 2 which is happening (unsurprisingly) tonight, on Friday the 13th.

Other films I’m interested in and may not get to are: American Made, The Foreigner, Marshall (damn, I feel like I have seen a much greater than average number of biopics this year), The Florida Project, and Lucky.

Lists like that are why even seeing as many movies as I do, there are always some at the end of the year that I really wanted to see but didn’t get the chance.

Streaming Recommendations: 

And if you are looking for something to watch, yourself, this weekend, but you don’t want to leave the house, here are some films to consider:

Colossal is a film with an enchanting and fun premise that earns its R rating by adressing some scary and serious topics. It plays with the tropes of the monster-film genre to address some awful real-life stuff, including unemployment, domestic violence and natural disasters.

Definitely not for kids (and I’m sure not for some adults, as the domestic violence is portrayed realistically and brutally) the film is moving and heavy. Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis really sell the emotional reality of the outlandish premise.

Colossal is streaming on Hulu.

The trailer does not give a good sense of the film’s overall mood, but here it is:

On Netflix, if you’re on the ‘cute white guys named Chris’ train at all, you may enjoy Finest Hours [PG-13]- a period piece about a real life story of an audacious Coast Guard rescue off the coast of Massachusetts.

For something more kid-friendly on Netflix, you can’t go wrong with Moana. If you prefer something more obscure, consider Penelope. Starring Christina Ricci it’s a modern-day fairy tale about a girl with a curse who can only break it by finding someone who loves her as she is. The film is waay more fun and waaay less disempowering than that makes it sound.

Enjoy your weekend, kids and kittens!