Hello again! I’m back with more Fortnight Flicks, where I review the movies I’ve seen in the last two weeks (ish). With all of our favorite TV shows being on seasonal breaks right now, we’ve been watching so many movies. We decided to get an account with Netflix’s DVD subscription service on top of the streaming that we watch. It seemed a little more cost effective that using RedBox because we rent a lot of RedBox movies, pay per movie and also per night that we’ve either forgotten or haven’t had time to watch our movie. So, here’s what we watched this time…
Annie ★★★ 1/2
My girls absolutely loved this movie! Now, try not to judge me…but I am not a big fan of the original Annie. I know it’s a classic and a lot of classics are boring, it’s just how it is. I love the premise to this one so much more. Jamie Foxx’s character is a business owner running for office and is convinced by his team to foster this “orphan” for the publicity. I think that the singing is not as good as the classic Annie, though. It sounds very digitized. The little girl and Jamie Foxx have an adorable chemistry and it’s adorably and funny. I recommend this one for the family!
Dracula Untold ★
I tried to watch this twice but I just couldn’t get into it. That said, my husband loved it and is looking forward to the sequel that was alluded to at the end of the movie. Dracula Untold is about a prince who makes a deal with Dracula to try and save his people and family. It’s got a lot of action but it just seemed very slow and not gripping for me.
Area 51 ☆
This is Paranormal Activity with aliens. I think it was pretty terrible and tedious but if you’re into Paranormal Activity, you might be into it.
Demetri Martin Live [at the time] ★★★
Demetri Martin used to be a favorite of mine but I had no idea he was still doing comedy, truth be told. My husband always thought that his jokes were dorky but I loved his observational humor. I’ve read that he’s compared to Mitch Hedberg’s style and I would say that’s pretty accurate. This new Netflix comedy special was probably the Netflix original comedy special I’ve watched and the first one that I actually found funny. I recommend giving it a shot!
It Follows ★★ 1/2
Scary movies are starting to really lack. Maybe it’s because the ideas get repetitive or maybe it’s because many people are just hungry for gore now, but I’m not one of them so it doesn’t appeal to me. I liked the unique storyline to It Follows and while it didn’t have many terrifying figures (except there was one that really freaked me out, you’ll see him!), the concept of the “It” following them slowly was pretty creepy. I haven’t seen the slow villains since Michael Myers and Jason and they’re still as creepy. It Follows is about an “It” that follows you and kills you unless you have intercourse with someone (Was this to terrify teens out of having sex? Haha!) and then it follows them instead. If the person you slept with dies, it comes back for you, so you’re supposed to be systematic in choosing your partner. That seems so funny now that I’m typing it out… maybe they will play this in sex ed from now on!
The Pyramid 1/2
Well, I have to admit that I haven’t seen a scary movie set inside of Egyptian pyramids yet, so there’s that. We watched the whole thing but it had that Paranormal Activity feel and it was a little bit “corny”. The previews made it look more interesting than it was. I don’t know how to give a synopsis of this one without potentially spoiling it so I’ll just say that there are bad things inside of a pyramid that the people aren’t able to get out of.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ★★★
I didn’t watch the other Spider-Man movies with Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire after the first one. They seemed lame and boring. Because of this, I was reluctant to attempt this unrelated version of Spider-Man. I thought I’d heard that they weren’t even going to do more sequels to it but I’ve seen that this one is supposed to spawn a Sinister Six movie so I guess we’ll see. Anyway, I really liked this movie and the one prior. I think that the actor who plays Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) actually does a nice job and obviously as I’ve said, I love Emma Stone in everything she does. Jamie Foxx is another actor who seems to rock every role he takes on and I love the special effects on his villain, Electro. I hope that this series does produce more movies because I really enjoy them. The action is nice, the dialogue is well-written, the plots are good, I think they’re worth it.
White House Down ★★★★
White House Down is highly underrated, I think. Channing Tatum is funny and I like him in action movies, plus Jamie Foxx is always awesome. Someone on the inside takes over the White House and it’s got a lot of action and twists. I don’t know why it wasn’t very popular, maybe because there are many similar movies out there? Or maybe people just don’t want to consider the idea of someone on the inside demolishing our country? If you haven’t seen it, I think it’s totally worth watching.
The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe ★★★ 1/2
My husband read all of these books, absolutely loves them, and enjoys the movies. My kids really liked it although it might be a little harder for them to follow at their ages. It’s a great epic tale about an entire world inside of a family wardrobe. There are talking animals and evil witches, heroes and villains!
Sort of back in the day…
Terminator 2 ★★★
Truthfully, I prefer Terminator 2 over the first one. I don’t like Arnold Schwarzenegger as a bad guy and the battles between him and the new villain are so much more interesting than the human battles from the first one. This is a series I highly recommend watching because it doesn’t seem to decline much in quality, it’s always something new and always interesting.
Cube ★★
As a kid, these movies were my favorite. After watching it again, I’m questioning what I loved so much. There aren’t many of its kind, so there’s that. People wake up inside of this room and determine that they are in somewhat of a Rubix Cube but many of the rooms are booby-trapped and they are trying to find a way out. There is a prequel and a sequel to this. I don’t know whether to recommend it or not, so you decide!
The Waterboy ★★ 1/2
Adam Sandler was always one of my favorites and even though most of his movies now are terrible (sorry!), The Waterboy is one of the originals you just have to see. Kathy Bates is amazing in everything she does, forever and ever, and she’s so entertaining as the mother of a momma’s boy. Some great one-liners!
Revenge of the Nerds ★★★
You won’t believe me but this is the first time that I’d seen this movie. We’ve been watching that King of the Nerds TV show and I knew who the hosts were but I felt like such a dolt never seeing this comedy classic. Nerds versus fraternity jocks, with a whole bunch of antics in between. Hilarious, totally glad I watched!
Way back in the day…
The Great Escape ★★★★
Being a movie from 1963, you’d probably expect this to be terrible. On the contrary, this is one of the best classics of all time and one of my husband’s favorite movies. I love movies where people are carefully planning an escape and this is one of the oldest out there! It’s got some of the best actors from that time period and everybody does a phenomenal job. The whole thing is based on a true story where a bunch of Allied soldiers are prisoners in a POW camp during World War II.
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