Some of the best films from last year are coming straight to your smart TV, tablet, disc player and whatever else plays a movie in your home. This includes The LEGO Batman Movie on NEON, Blade Runner 2049, mother!, Brigsby Bear, Waru and – of course – Geostorm.
New on NEON
The LEGO Batman Movie
Will Arnett voices the blocky Dark Knight once again for this follow-up to 2014’s The LEGO Movie, now putting Batman in the spotlight. “This movie is the non-stop chuckle machine Warner Bros. needed, though not necessarily the one it deserves.” -Liam Maguren, FLICKS
A Cure for Wellness
Dane DeHaan must retrieve his company’s CEO from a creepy wellness centre in the Swiss Alps in this psychological thriller from Gore Verbinski (2002’s The Ring). “Worth celebrating solely for being an impressively scaled studio horror film that isn’t a sequel or a reboot” -Dominic Corry, FLICKS
Frankenweenie
Tim Burton’s monochrome stop-motion animated film about young Victor who conducts a science experiment to bring his beloved dog Sparky back to life. “[Burton’s] spryest, most consistently enjoyable – and refreshingly Johnny Depp-less – film in years” -Aaron Yap, FLICKS
The Emperor’s New Groove
David Spade stars in the 40th Walt Disney Classics release, an animated buddy comedy about an arrogant young Emperor who must reclaim the throne after being ousted. “A zany tonic, more upbeat and funnier than the lugubrious Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
Contagion
Steven Soderberg’s 2011 viral thriller centered on the threat posed by a deadly disease and the international team of doctors fighting the outbreak. “A reminder that we’re hardly in as much control of the globe as we think.” -Steve Newall, FLICKS
Horrible Bosses
Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis agree to kill their awful bosses in this black comedy. “Adult without being crass, goofy without being stupid, Bosses is one of the funniest films of the year.” -Matt Glasby, FLICKS
Love, Actually
That one movie you can’t avoid during Christmas and Valentine’s Day.
The Great Wall
Fantasy-action blockbuster, an alternate history twist on why China built The Great Wall. “I was pleasantly surprised with how much fun I had with it” -Daniel Rutledge, FLICKS
Tangled
Disney’s 50th full length animated feature film is Tangled – a telling of fairy tale Rapunzel.
New to Netflix
A Futile and Stupid Gesture
Will Forte is Doug Kenney, co-creator of the National Lampoon, Caddyshack and Animal House, in this comedy biopic from Emmy-winning director David Wain (Role Models).
The Polka King
Jack Black is an immigrant polka performer who defrauds local residents via a Ponzi scheme. “An ingratiating comedy based on an improbable true story.” -VARIETY
10 Cloverfield Lane
Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman and John Gallagher Jr. lead this follow-up to Cloverfield, set almost entirely in a bunker. “A terrific, compact thriller with yet another great performance from Goodman (equal parts terrifying and amusing), and an equally good one from Winstead” -Tony Stamp, FLICKS
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Giant pancakes, pasta and hamburgers start to fall from the sky as an ambitious scientist tries to solve world hunger in this animated chuckler. “One of the most entertaining kids’ movies of 2009.” -James Croot, FLICKS
50 First Dates
Adam Sandler stars in this rom-com as a man who falls for a girl with short-term memory loss (Drew Barrymore).
The Conjuring 2
Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson return to the hit horror franchise alongside director James Wan.”Jump scares may abound, but the most successfully tense moments are unsurprisingly the simplest, and most banal.” -Steve Newall, FLICKS
New on Everything Else
Blade Runner 2049
Ryan Gosling stars in the sequel to the Denis Villeneuve-directed sequel to Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic, finding itself at the #3 slot in Flicks’ Best Films of 2017 list. “It’s a bold, bleak dose of sci-fi miserabilism that occasionally reveals its beating human heart.” -Tony Stamp, FLICKS
mother!
Jennifer Lawrence stars in the biggest WTF film of 2017 from Oscar-nominated writer-director Darren Aronofsky. “More like a David Lynch film: something challenging to decode that’ll be hugely rewarding to some and simply frustrating to others.” -Daniel Rutledge, FLICKS
Maudie
Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke star in this true story of gifted, arthritic Canadian folk painter Maud Lewis and her unlikely romance with the reclusive Everett Lewis. “A charming story of unanticipated celebrity and success.” -Sarah Watt, STUFF.CO.NZ
Happy Death Day
The surprise hit slasher of 2017 follows a sorority sister who relives the day she’s murdered over and over again until she figures out who’s killing her and why. “Far more entertaining and original than the title and the marketing are really hinting at. Nice job all round.” -Graeme Tuckett, STUFF.CO.NZ
Battle of the Sexes
Emma Stone is Billie Jean King, the 1973 World Number 1 tennis player who fought for gender-equal tournament winnings. From the directors of Little Miss Sunshine and co-starring Steve Carrell. “A breezy, funny film about serious subject matter” -Dominic Corry, FLICKS
That’s Not Me
An aspiring actor takes advantage of her identical twin’s success and fame in this Australian indie. “An outstanding performance from emerging actor Alice Foulcher takes this lean and plucky film about stymied ambition to another level.” -GUARDIAN
The Belko Experiment
Office Space meets Battle Royale in this horror-thriller written by James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) and directed by Greg McLean (Wolf Creek). “The high body count and penchant for graphic head trauma were delightful” -Daniel Rutledge, FLICKS (via NZIFF Mini-reviews)
Lady Macbeth
Period drama adapted from Nikolai Leskov’s novel, directed by Sundance Grand Jury Prize-nominee William Oldroyd. “Utterly gripping.” -Matt Glasby, FLICKS
My Little Pony: The Movie
Animated feature based on the TV series that’s a big hit with kids and some grown men.
The Foreigner
Jackie Chan is out to avenge his daughter’s murder in this action thriller co-starring Pierce Brosnan and directed by Kiwi Martin Campbell (Casino Royale). “It’s good to see Chan swapping his happy-go-lucky persona for two hours for some gravitas as a tragic rogue with a marked past.” -HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
Geostorm
Someone hacks the weather and only Gerard Butler can stop the global catastrophe in this near-future disaster film. “If you’re the kind of person who hunts for a “good bad movie” then beer yourself up because this is the most entertaining two-star film of 2017.” -Liam Maguren, FLICKS
Frantz
French art-house helmer François Ozon (In The House) directs Paula Beer and Pierre Niney in this (mostly) black-n-white WWI drama about remorse, regret and redemption. “Sturdy, stirring drama.” -Liam Maguren, FLICKS
What If It Works
A tech nerd with OCD and an artist with dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality disorder) try to hold down a relationship. “Touching and big-hearted” -FILMINK
Brigsby Bear
Dramedy about a young man trying to integrate into society after decades spent raised in isolation and on hundreds of episodes of a TV show – Brigsby Bear Adventures – that no-one else seems to have ever seen.”One of the under-sung highlights of this year’s festival circuit” -Steve Newall, FLICKS
Waru
Eight Māori female directors contribute a sequence to this feature which unfolds around the tangi of a boy who died at the hands of his caregiver. “Carries the spread and whaea power of a shotgun.” -Liam Maguren, FLICKS
