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 March 6, 2015.
(Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures)New This Week: “Chappie” (Starring Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver, Dev Patel and Sharlto Copley as the voice of Chappie)
Netflix Alternative: “Automata” (2014, Starring Antonio Banderas and Dylan McDermott)
“District 9” director Neil Blomkamp’s third feature, “Chappie,” hits theaters this week. Audiences will once again be treated to another Blomkamp science fiction extravaganza.
The film follows Patel as a young scientist who kidnaps a police robot and changes his programming to give him the ability to think and feel freely for himself.
If the concept is just too out there for you, Netflix offers an incredible yet criminally under-watched alternative in “Automata.”
Helmed by Spanish director Gabe Ibanez, the movie stars Antonio Banderas as an insurance agent working at a robotic company. He bites off more than he can chew when he makes a discovery that could have an adverse effect on the human race.
Don’t let the film’s bizarre title throw you off. It’s an incredibly well-executed science fiction thriller that serves as the perfect alternative to Blomkamp’s latest.
New This Week: “Unfinished Business” (Starring Vince Vaughn, Dave Franco and Tom Wilkinson)
(Photo courtesy of Caramel Film)Netflix Alternative: “Starbuck” (2011, starring Patrick Huard and David Michael )
Also new this week is Vince Vaughn’s latest comedy, featuring the comic as a small business owner who takes his associates to Europe for a business trip that could seal the biggest deal of their professional lives, if done right.
However, if you’re as sick as seeing Vaughn play the same character over and over again as I am, stay home and watch “Unfinished Business” director Ken Scott’s “Starbuck” instead.
The 2001 feature stars Patrick Huard as Starbuck, a man who discovers that 142 people, all of whom are the result of artificial insemination, are suing him because he turned out to be their biological father.
While it may sound absurd, the film is actually a really funny but poignant affair and it’s certainly worth a watch this weekend.
New This Week: “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel ” (Starring Richard Gere, Judy Dench and Maggie Smith)
Netflix Alternative: “Quartet” (2012, starring Michael Gambon, Billy Connolly and Maggie Smith )
The sequel to the surprise 2011 hit sees the cast of the first film reprise their roles and return to the exotic Indian locale as hotel manager Sonny (played by Dev Patel) hopes to open up a second hotel.
If you didn’t get a chance to see the first film, but are still in the mood for a feel-good film with a cast of older and respected actors, check out director Dustin Hoffman’s “Quartet.”
The film follows a trio of retired opera singers who must reconcile with their estranged fourth member at a birthday celebration.
While certainly not as action packed or hilarious as the other two alternatives this week, “Quartet” is a more mellow, but still equally enjoyable film for the entire family.
That’s it for this week. Be sure to check back after Spring Break when I’ll have alternates for “The Gunman,” “Danny Collins,” and of course “The Divergent Series: Insurgent.”
Contact this reporter at seweinst@asu.edu or on Twitter @S_Weinstein95.
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