Happy new year, happy new films on your personal screen!
Spielberg blockbuster Ready Player One will be ready to watch on NEON while Netflix releases a collapse-into-chaos documentary about the infamous 2017 Fyre music festival. Wildlife and First Man also make their way to Blu-ray and DVD along with a host of other great films from last year.
New to NEON
Ready Player One
In a future where everyone lives inside a virtual reality world, one player attempts to find the game creator’s elusive Easter Egg in this pop culture-saturated Spielberg blockbuster based on the hit novel of the same name.
“In terms of bold, brash, unashamed blockbusting popcorn munchers, Ready Player One entertains.” -Adam Fresco, FLICKS
Early Man
Stop-frame animated film set at the dawn of time by four-time Oscar-winning Aardman director Nick Park (Curse of the Were-Rabbit).
“It’s a shame so many jokes don’t land or feel like lazy puns, but there are plenty of great visual gags.” -Adam Fresco, FLICKS
Tomb Raider
Oscar winner Alicia Vikander is Lara Croft in this action adventure based on the recent reboot of the videogame franchise.
“It’s an attempt at a more ‘grounded’ Tomb Raider, and to be fair, we’re a long way from Angelina Jolie punching a shark.”
Sherlock Gnomes
Johnny Depp, Emily Blunt and James McAvoy lend their voices to the follow-up to 2011’s family animated film, Gnomeo & Juliet.
“If you’re scratching around for something you can bear to sit through with your kids, this is – to quote another British classic – mostly harmless.” -THE AGE
Death Wish
Eli Roth’s reimagining of the 1974 revenge thriller, with Bruce Willis as a man whose wife’s murder turns him into a ruthless vigilante.
“It’s so utterly stupid that it’s endearing, like pretty much every action film made in the ‘80s; but this has a bunch of modern flourishes thrown in.” -Daniel Rutledge, FLICKS
Escape Plan 2: Hades
Sylvester Stallone and 50 Cent return for the sequel to 2013’s prison escape thriller, with Dave Bautista joining the cast.
“A waste of Stallone’s talent and star power, not to mention 94 minutes of your time.” -EMPIRE
New to Netflix
FYRE
The director of Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond lays out how the infamous 2017 music festival for rich people descended into absolute chaos.
IO
A young scientist trying to save a dying Earth connects with a man who’s racing to catch the last shuttle off the planet in this dystopian sci-fi.
Life of Pi
Winner of four Academy Awards, Ang Lee (who picked up a directing Oscar for his efforts) adapts Yann Martel’s best-selling novel, the fantastical journey of a young boy adrift in the Pacific Ocean after a shipwreck.
“Magically surreal and at times breathtaking” -Steve Newall, FLICKS
The LEGO Batman Movie
Will Arnett voices the blocky Dark Knight once again for this follow-up to 2014’s The LEGO Movie, now putting Batman in the spotlight.
“This movie is the non-stop chuckle machine Warner Bros. needed, though not necessarily the one it deserves.” -Liam Maguren, FLICKS
The Boss Baby
DreamWorks animated comedy about a seven-year-old who is suspicious of his new, suit-wearing, business call-making baby brother voiced by Alec Baldwin.
“If you can’t find the hilarity in seeing a brutish man dressed as Supernanny having his eyebrows ripped off by an abnormally large one-year-old during a Mad Max-on-training-wheels vehicle chase, this film might not do it for you.” -Liam Maguren, FLICKS
Close
Noomi Rapace is a counter-terrorism expert working to protect a young heiress from highly trained kidnappers in this female-driven action thriller.
Polar
Mads Mikkelsen (Doctor Strange) is a master assassin who comes out of retirement in this Jonas Akerlund-directed actioner based on the Dark Horse graphic novel by Victor Santos.
Lincoln
Daniel Day-Lewis gave an Oscar-winning performance as Honest Abe in Steven Spielberg’s political biopic focusing on the final four months of his life.
“Abraham Lincoln’s achievements were historic, and he is undoubtedly worthy of such respect, but this isn’t his retirement party, it’s a movie. And movies have an obligation to engage the viewer in something more than hushed reverence.” -Dominic Corry, FLICKS
CHiPs
Dax Shepard writes, directs and stars as Jon Baker in this buddy cop action comedy based on the ’70s T.V. show, co-starring Michael Peña as Ponch.
Fans of the TV show will likely find this portion of CHiPs about as far from the source as the Starsky & Hutch movie.
Kong Skull Island
Oscar winner Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, John Goodman, John C. Reilly and Samuel L. Jackson star in Legendary Entertainment’s second installment of their Godzilla-Kong series.
“Movies about giant monsters don’t live or die on “larger points” and Kong: Skull Island remains a consistently entertaining hoot throughout.” -Dominic Corry, FLICKS
The Angry Bird Movie
Sony Pictures Animation brings the mobile game phenomenon to the big screen with this family film.
“Forget plot, because if it’s toilet humour and gooey slapstick the kids want to see, that’s what they get – by the bucket-load.” -Adam Fresco, FLICKS
New to Everything Else
Wildlife
Actor Paul Dano’s directing debut stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan in a melancholy ’60s-set domestic drama nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the Golden Camera at Cannes.
“This is a superb film.” -Vulture
Dark Crimes
Jim Carrey is a homicide detective that notices similarities between a cold case murder and a best-selling novel in this noir crime drama inspired by a 2008 New Yorker article by David Grann.
“Strays from its fascinating source – a real-life murder case – into a less successful attempt at noir.” -NEW YORK TIMES
Juliet, Naked
Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke and Chris O’Dowd star in this rom-com based on Nick Hornby’s novel about an indie rock obsession that leads to romance.
“The best word for the movie might be agreeable. It’s easy to glide along on its good-natured path.” -VANITY FAIR
Venom
Tom Hardy is the enigmatic, complex Marvel character Venom in this Spider-Man spin-off co-starring Michelle Williams and Riz Ahmed.
“The horde of poor filmmaking choices could be forgiven if it at least delivered on the action, but it sure as shit does not.” -Daniel Rutledge, FLICKS
Night School
Kevin Hart is forced to attend night school with Tiffany Haddish as his teacher in this comedy from Girls Trip director Malcolm D. Lee.
“With such a talented cast, it is almost remarkable how much Night School consistently misses the mark.” -Katie Parker, FLICKS
Halloween
Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her role in the sequel to the classic horror, set 40 years after the events of the first movie.
“Tight, fat-cutting, balled-up fist of horror goodness” -Liam Maguren, FLICKS
First Man
Ryan Gosling is Neil Armstrong in this biopic written by Josh Singer (Spotlight) and directed by Damien Chazelle (La La Land), both Oscar-winners.
“It happened sooner than expected: at the tender age of 33 years old, Oscar golden boy Damien Chazelle decided it was time to make his stodgy, pedestrian Clint Eastwood-in-twilight biopic.” -Aaron Yap, FLICKS
McKellen: Playing the Part
Documentary on the life and work of Sir Ian McKellen, featuring rare footage of his early work, never-before-seen photos from McKellen’s private collection and cinematically reconstructed scenes.
“A warm and witty sojourn through the life and career of the renowned thespian.” -Adam Fresco, FLICKS
Ghost Stories
A sceptical professor finds himself creeping toward terror as he investigates a long-lost file containing details of three cases of inexplicable hauntings.
“With strong performances, creepy settings and a wicked sense of humour, this is a campfire horror to cherish” -Matt Glasby, FLICKS
RBG
Documentary on the life and work of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg whose legal legacy changed the world for women.
“Told simply and without fanfare, RBG is a fascinating and touching account of a woman who really did make history.” -Katie Parker, FLICKS
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween
Director Rob Letterman, writer Darren Lemke, and R.L. Stine impersonator Jack Black return for the sequel to 2015’s Goosebumps.
“While not the equal of its predecessor, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween is a worthy follow-up.” -FILMINK
Hunter Killer
Gerard Butler jumps in a submarine and tries to save the Russian president.
“A boneheaded political thriller, with a whiff of Roland Emmerich’s blockbuster hijinks.” -Tony Stamp, FLICKS
