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. 13, 2015.
(Photo courtesy of Focus Features)New This Week: “Fifty Shades of Grey” (Starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan)
Netflix Alternative: “Nymphomaniac” (2013, Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgârd and Shia LaBeouf)
Opening just in time for Valentine's Day is the big-screen adaptation of E.L. James’s notoriously naughty novel. If the film’s story doesn’t grab your attention and you don’t care about how raunchy the movie will be to justify your purchasing of a ticket, look no further than Lars von Trier’s “Nymphomaniac.” While the film is considered by some to be no more than “art house pornography,” von Trier’s eccentric films (there is both a Volume 1 and a Volume 2) do contain more than a fair share of sex scenes. However, the film’s story, which follows Gainsbourg’s character as she recounts her life’s tale after being found beaten and bloody in an alleyway, makes the film as does von Trier’s unique style. While this pair of films is sure to be as divisive as previous works of his such as “Melancholia” and “Antichrist,” “Nymphomanic” makes for an intriguing viewing experience nonetheless.
New This Week: “Kingsman: The Secret Service” (Starring Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Caine)
Netflix Alternative: “Super” (2010, starring Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page)
“Kick-Ass” director Matthew Vaughn’s adaptation of Mark Millar’s graphic novel “Kingsman: The Secret Service” hits theaters this week, marking the second time Vaughn has adapted one of Millar’s works. This time, the story has been changed to better fit the screen, following a young man who gets recruited to join an elite secret service program, rather than Millar’s strange comic version, in which a young man is recruited to save Mark Hamill (yes, as in THE Mark Hamill who plays Luke Skywalker.) While the film is sure to be over the top and violent like Vaughn’s “Kick Ass,” Netflix offers a similar film in James Gunn’s “Super” for those who find themselves unable to jump onboard with Vaughn’s work. “Super,” which was directed by James Gunn pre-“Guardians of the Galaxy,” follows Rainn Wilson as a man who decides to take the law into his own hands and become a vigilante in order to save his wife from a kidnapper. While the film certainly may not be for everyone due to its exaggerated violence and some incredibly foul language, it’s certainly an enjoyable action/comedy that serves as an excellent example of how an independent film can appeal to the masses.
That’s it for this week. Be sure to check back next week when I have alternates for “Hot Tub Time Machine 2” and “McFarland, USA.”
Contact this reporter at seweinst@asu.edu or on Twitter: @S_Weinstein
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
