Imagine this: Friday rolls around and you decide you want to go to the movies. There’s only one problem. You look up the week’s new releases, and none of them strike your fancy. Feeling disappointed, you open Netflix and scroll endlessly trying to find something that grabs your attention.
Each week, reporter Shane Weinstein takes a look at what major motion pictures are hitting theaters and offers suggestions of alternate films to take in on Netflix. Here are his alternatives for the week of Feb. 6, 2015.
New This Week: “Seventh Son” (Starring Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore and Ben Barnes)
Netflix Alternative: “Stardust” (2007, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Claire Danes)
New this week is the much delayed “Seventh Son,” which stars Jeff Bridges as a sorcerer who enlists a new apprentice to defeat a witch. Based upon a book by Joseph Delaney, the film is bound to feature more than a fair share of fantastical creatures and action sequences. If Bridge’s raggedy and exaggerated look from the trailers have completely turned you off, Matthew Vaughn’s delightful “Stardust” is on Netflix for your viewing pleasure.
The film follows a young man who sets out on a journey to find a fallen star that has taken the form of a human. Featuring outstanding performances from its cast, “Stardust” serves as an exceptional adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel and a perfect alternative to this week’s fantasy fare.
New This Week: “Jupiter Ascending” (Starring Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum and Eddie Redmayne)
Netflix Alternative: “The Fifth Element” (1997, starring Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman)
Larry and Lana Wachowski, creators of the “Matrix” trilogy, bring their space opera to theaters this week. Tatum stars as an interplanetary warrior sent to Earth to inform a lowly janitor (Kunis) that her true destiny waits for her on another planet. If the concept of this film is too out there for you, but are still looking for some good science fiction, look no further than the Bruce Willis classic, “The Fifth Element.”
One of the best science-fiction flicks of the late '90s, “The Fifth Element” features many of the same elements found in the Wachowski’s newest film, but packaged into a movie that critics and audiences have loved since its release.
New This Week: “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water” (Starring Antonio Banderas and the voice of Tom Kenny)
Netflix Alternative: “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2” (2013, starring the voices of Bill Hader and Anna Ferris)
Beloved cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants returns to the big screen after nearly a decade, coming to life with his friends as superheroes in order to fight a pirate who has stolen the Krabby Patty recipe. If you find yourself uninterested in the film though, Netflix fortunately features another recent animated sequel with the follow-up to the surprise hit, “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs.”
The film features many of the characters from the first film in an even grander adventure that may not be quite as good as the original, but still makes for a solid sequel. If SpongeBob isn’t cutting it for you this week, maybe Cloudy will.
That’s it for this week. Be sure to check back next week when I have alternatives for “50 Shades of Grey” and “Kingsmen: The Secret Service.”
Contact this reporter at seweinst@asu.edu or follow @S_Weinstein95 on Twitter
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