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 Jan. 30, 2015.
(Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures)New This Week: “Project Almanac” (Starring Jonny Weston, Sofia Black D’Elia and Sam Lerner)
Netflix Alternative: “Timeline” (2003, Starring Paul Walker, Frances O’Connor and Gerard Butler)
New in theaters this week is the Michael Bay-produced time travel thriller “Project Almanac,” which follows a group of teenagers who create a time machine and then discover the extreme repercussions that changing the past has on the present. If your disdain for the “found footage” genre is as strong as mine is, though, Richard Donner’s time travel epic “Timeline” is on Netflix for your viewing pleasure. Based on the Michael Crichton novel, the film stars Paul Walker as a history professor who finds himself stuck in France in the year 1357, thus prompting his son and his students to head a rescue mission. Despite receiving mixed to poor reviews upon its release, the film has quite a few strong performances and features plenty of solid action set pieces. If you don’t feel like chancing it and watching a young, fairly unknown cast, “Timeline” is the perfect alternative.
(Photo courtesy of StudioCanal)New This Week: "Song of the Sea" (Featuring the voices of David Rawle, Brendan Gleeson and Fionnula Flanagan)
Netflix Alternative: The Secret of Kells (2009, featuring the voices of Brendan Gleeson, Evan McGuire and Christen Mooney)
Film fans were shocked when Oscar nominations were announced and “The LEGO Movie” failed to receive a nomination while the fairly obscure “Song of the Sea” managed to pick one up. While it was certainly a disappointment, it should not have come as much of a surprise as the film was produced by Irish production company Cartoon Saloon and directed by Tomm Moore, the production team-director duo who released previous Oscar nominee “The Secret of Kells.” Both film’s plots draw heavily on Irish folklore and both have a very distinct style that certainly is not for everyone. Rather than going out and spending your money on Song, which opens on Friday at the Harkins Valley Art on Mill Avenue, stay home and watch Secret. If you find the style to your liking, be sure to check out Saloon’s latest release. If not, you managed to save some money that could be put towards another film more fit for your tastes.
That’s it for this week. Be sure to check back next week when I have alternates for “Seventh Son,” “Jupiter Ascending” and “Spongebob Squarepants: Sponge Out Of Water.”
Reach the reporter at seweinst@asu.edu or on Twitter: @S_Weinstein95
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