Monday 20 January 2014

New to Netflix UK - 20/01/14

A decent amount of new content this week


The League (TV) - The adventures of a group of friends and they ways their fantasy football league disrupts their every lives. The gang return to their normal scheming ways, starting off the draft during Andre's wedding weekend.

Justified (TV) - A US Marshal is relocated to his hometown following the shooting of a fugitive where he utilises his own methods of justice against the many criminals who reside there. The critically acclaimed series returns with Raylan caught up in a decade long mystery involving the death of a parachutist who's body was found surrounded by bags of drugs.

Robot and Frank - An ageing man, and retired jewel thief, has a robot helper dumped on him much to his annoyance however they finally find a connection when he discovers the robot's aptitude for picking locks. The film is a poignant study on both the dependence on technology and the effects of living with Altzheimer's and Langella gives us a moving performance that makes for a heavily affecting drama.

The Iceman - Biopic of mob-enforcer Richard Kuklinski who was believed to have been responsible for over 100 murders. Given the dark nature of the story, the film doesn't always strike the correct tone, but Shannon is convincing and menacing at the notorious killer and his performance is worth the watch alone.

The ABC's of Death - 26 Letters of the alphabet, 26 directors, 26 horror shorts. As always with anthology movies, the segments vary in terms of quality (and with 26 of them, the majority are forgettable) but it's an interesting idea and there are some stand out shorts that mess with your head.

Step Brothers - After their parents get married, two 30-something-man-children have to find a way to live with each other. It's not a sophisticated movie but Ferrell and Reilly pull it off thanks to the great chemistry between them and the movie itself offers a good deal of laugh-out-loud moments.

Donnie Darko/Donnie Darko: Director's Cut - A troubled teen gets caught up in a mystery involving time travel and his own destiny after a plane engine destroys his house. Kelly's debut movie is a psychological-thriller masterpiece, weaving together cryptic science-fiction elements with urban family drama and teen angst, and both versions offer completely unique viewing experience of the same movie. The standard cut (watch this one first) leaves the mysteries for you to solve yourself while the director's cut reveals the true vision of the director (NOTE: Many people dislike the director's cut for this reason).

Flyboys - Two Americans become America's first fighter pilots when they join the French army at the start of World War 1. The story is heavily Americanised and the performances, while passable, are nothing special but the arial sequences themselves, though CGI heavy, are still thrilling enough to make this dud just about watchable.




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