You may wonder, then, why we’re recommending a movie that wasn’t great? Because The Lovely Bones is a fascinating watch for those interested in the limits of adaptation and, in particular, how a great filmmaker with expansive resources (including a very talented cast) can fail if they’re not the right person for the job.įrom the sympathy brownie competition, the junket where Grant’s William Thacker has to pretend to be a journalist from Horse & Hound, and Rhys Ifans in his pants, there are plenty of funny, moving moments. The movie, directed by Peter Jackson and starring Saoirse Ronan, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, and Stanley Tucci, among others… was not as well received, fairly criticized for its prioritization of CGI heavenly visuals over a nuanced, character-driven story. The debut novel was not only very popular, but generally well-received for its treatment of trauma, sexual assault, and grief. The Lovely Bones (2009)īased on Alice Sebold’s 2002 bestselling book of the same name, The Lovely Bones has a tough premise: a teen girl is raped and murdered, and goes to heaven where she watches her loved ones attempt to process and move on after her disappearance. It’s a very earnest fairytale captured in the lost art of hand-drawn animation. There is no fourth-wall breaking humor and sideways smirks here. But together they may just find salvation in a land called the Great Valley.Įssentially a dinosaur road movie for children, to the modern eye it’s told with a surprisingly delicate sensitivity. It follows an assortment of baby dinosaurs, including a recently orphaned “longneck” named Littlefoot, after a horrible earthquake has rained devastation on all the isolated herbivores. Overseen by Don Bluth at the height of his talent, and in partnership with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, The Land Before Time is a marvel in animation from the period before Disney Animation’s renaissance. The Land Before Time (1988)īefore it birthed a string of straight-to-video movies meant to babysit pint-sized millennials, the original Land Before Time was a generational touchstone for childhoods in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. But you’re not going to get through it dry-eyed. Yet for another 10 years, the dog would escape its various new owners and spend the afternoon waiting at the station.ĭirected by The Cider House Rules’ Lasse Hallström, Hachi captures this anecdote about a dog’s loyalty with grace and genuine sweetness. One day, after a fatal stroke, his master never returned. Every day Hachikō would run to the train station, awaiting his master’s return from work. A remake of the 1980s Japanese film, Hachikō Monogatari, this American movie is based on the real events surrounding Hachikō, an Akita dog who lived in 1920s Japan. Hachi: A Dog’s Tale is a very bitter, bittersweet dog’s journey based on a harder truth. By the way, the rest of the Back to the Future trilogy is coming to Netflix, too.įorget about all the “sad” dog movies of the last decade where canines have funny voiceover narrations and then die on repeat. Yet it still plays as a timeless story about family, time travel, and manure. More time has passed since the movie’s release than the once massive generational gap between the film’s primarily ‘50s setting and 1985. Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale’s script is like a Swiss watch in precision, paying off every single setup in the film’s first act when Marty commandeers a time machine made by Doc Brown (a lovable Christopher Lloyd) and accidentally travels from 1985 to 1955… to meet his parents as teenagers! Fox as Marty McFly to the grand musical score by Alan Silvestri, everything about this movie justworks.
As one of the most beloved films of the 1980s-if not ever-it’s doubtful we need to explain in great detail why this is exciting news. Great Scott! Back to the Future is coming to Netflix. And May has a surprisingly robust group of Hollywood films from the last 40 years coming to the streaming service on May 1.
While the Netflix movie selection can be narrow, each month offers some worthwhile gems to revisit or even discover. Thus Netflix remains an old reliable option. Nonetheless, there are many who are understandably not ready to go back to theaters (or have yet to get an HBO Max subscription). And for those with more discerning tastes, films like In the Heights and Those Who Wish Me Dead are definitely going to make their release dates. Kong or Mortal Kombat doing solid business. You can see it with each glowing report about a Godzilla vs. Movies are slowly coming back to life at the cinemas.
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