New streaming movies from Netflix -- May of 2014
Netflix adds new titles at the beginning and throughout the month. Some have been available before and some are new. Enjoy
Maximum Overdrive -
Writer-director Stephen King falls short in his debut at the helm with Maximum Overdrive, an absurd tale about a radiation storm that somehow animates machines across the world, causing them to turn on their makers. The film focuses on a group of survivors held captive at the Dixie Boy Diner by a group of bad-tempered semis. Led by Emilio Estevez, the diner-goers do their impression of Ten Little Indians, waiting their turn until each gets bumped off one by one. There are holes in the plot bigenough for the semis to drive through; for example, why don't the trucks run over the diner at the start of the film rather than wait for 90 minutes? ~ Jeremy Beday, Rovi
Instructions Not Included -
Valentin (Eugenio Derbez) is Acapulco's resident playboy-until a former fling leaves a baby on his doorstep and takes off without a trace. Valentin leaves Mexico for Los Angeles to find the baby's mother, but only ends up finding a new home for himself and his newfound daughter, Maggie (Loreto Peralta). An unlikely father figure, Valentin raises Maggie for six years, while also establishing himself as one of Hollywood's top stuntmen to pay the bills, with Maggie acting as his on-set coach. AsValentin raises Maggie, she forces him to grow up too. But their unique and offbeat family is threatened when Maggie's birth mom shows up out of the blue, and Valentin realizes he's in danger of losing his daughter- and his best friend. (c) Official Facebook
The Living Daylights -
The Living Daylights represents the first appearance by Timothy Dalton as "Bond...James Bond." Based loosely on an obscure Ian Fleming short story, the film finds Bond assigned to aid in the defection of KGB agent Jeroen Krabbe. 007 must prevent an unknown sniper from killing Krabbe before he can reach the West. The mysterious assailant turns out to be the luscious Maryam d'Abo, who, as it turns out, is not all that she seems. The plot wends its way through a scheme to trade several million dollars' worth of diamonds for weapons, which will be shipped off to mercenaries worldwide. The climax takes place high above the clouds in a cargo plane loaded with opium. Dalton would play Bond one more time in License to Kill (1989) before handing the franchise over to Pierce Brosnan, who was slated to star in Daylights but ended up being held back by a TV contract with Remington Steele. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Don Jon -
Jon Martello (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a strong, handsome, good old fashioned guy. His buddies call him Don Jon due to his ability to "pull" a different woman every weekend, but even the finest fling doesn't compare to the bliss he finds alone in front of the computer watching pornography. Barbara Sugarman (Scarlett Johansson) is a bright, beautiful, good old fashioned girl. Raised on romantic Hollywood movies, she's determined to find her Prince Charming and ride off into the sunset. Wrestling with good old fashioned expectations of the opposite sex, Jon and Barbara struggle against a media culture full of false fantasies to try and find true intimacy in this unexpected comedy written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. (c) Relativity Media
The Selfish Giant -
THE SELFISH GIANT is a contemporary fable about 13 year old Arbor (Conner Chapman) and his best friend Swifty (Shaun Thomas). Excluded from school and outsiders in their own neighborhood, the two boys meet Kitten (Sean Gilder), a local scrapdealer - the Selfish Giant. They begin collecting scrap metal for him using a horse and cart. Swifty has a natural gift with horses while Arbor emulates Kitten - keen to impress him and make some money. However, Kitten favors Swifty, leaving Arbor feelinghurt and excluded, driving a wedge between the boys. Arbor becomes increasingly greedy and exploitative, becoming more like Kitten. Tensions build, leading to a tragic event, which transforms them all.
Hook -
Steven Spielberg filters J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan through a distinctly 1990s sensibility in Hook. Peter Pan has become Peter Banning (Robin Williams), a 40-year-old mergers and acquisitions lawyer with a permanent scowl on his face and a cellular phone in his belt. Banning has lost any memory of being Peter Pan, and he is also in danger of losing his wife Moira (Caroline Goodall) and two children, Jack (Charlie Korsmo) and Maggie (Amber Scott). Peter and his family travel to London to visit Granny Wendy (Maggie Smith) who recalls Peter's lost youth and asks him, "Peter, dear, don't you know who you are?" With Peter's children asleep in the same bedroom where the original Peter Pan story began, there is a blinding flash. Peter comes into the room to discover a note from Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman), informing Peter that he has kidnapped his children. Granny Wendy now tells him who he really is and encourages him to re-discover his happy thoughts, transform himself into the Peter Pan of the past, and go rescue his children. With the encouragement of Tinkerbell (Julia Roberts), Peter recalls the birth of his son and once again takes wing. Then it's off to Never Land to rescue his kids. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
Godzilla vs. Mothra -
Godzilla is reunited with one of his arch-enemies in this remake of the Japanese monster classic. When a meteorite crashes to Earth in the Pacific Ocean near Japan, the consequences are remarkable; it manages to awaken the dormant monster Godzilla, it uncovers a huge egg that had been buried on Infant Island, and it revives Battra, a mammoth insect that destroyed a primitive civilization on the island long ago. Takuya (Tetsuya Bessho), an archeologist and adventurer, is sent to the island byrepresentatives of a large Japanese firm in order to get the situation under control; joining him is Masako (Satomi Kobayashi), Takuya's ex-wife, who is also an executive with the corporation. On the island, Takuya and Masako meet the Cosmos (Keiko Imamura and Sayaka Osawa), a pair of tiny identical twins who are the last remnants of the civilization destroyed by Battra. It seems that the egg contains a descendant of Mothra, who was the great protector of their society, and the Cosmos believe that the presence of both Battra and Mothra indicates that the gods are angry. The egg is shipped back to Japan, but en route, the larvae of the giant moth hatches just in time to do battle with Godzilla, who (as usual) is in a bad mood and wants to break things. Godzilla makes his way to Japan and begins laying waste to everything in his path; Mothra and Battra set aside their differences and join forces to stop him. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
New On TV
American Dad! (Season 8, available May 11)
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (Season 1, 2)
Derek (Nine Episodes, available May 30)
The In betweeners (Season 3)
Psych (Season 7)
Royal Pains (Season 5, available May 8)
Scandal (Season 3, available May 17)
More Movies
All I Want
Annie Hall (available May 31)
Backdraft
Beethoven
The Benchwarmers
The Big Chill
The Big Hit
Boys Don't Cry
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
The Buddy Holly Storytellers
Bullet
Candyman
Charlie Countryman
The City of Lost Children
Cursed
Danny Deckchair
Eddie Murphy: Delirious (available May 15)
Encounters at the End of the World
Escape from Tomorrow (available May 27)
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Federal Hill
Fido
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
For Your Eyes Only
Forrest Gump
Free Birds (available May 13)
Freedomland
Friday the 13th, Part 7: The New Blood
From Dusk Till Dawn
From Russia with Love
Ghidorah, The Three Headed Monster
Godzilla Raids Again
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Godzilla's Revenge
Godzilla vs. Monster Zero
Goldfinger
Heavy Metal
Here Comes the Devil
The Human Stain
Ichi the Killer
The Jewel of the Nile
The Juror
Kill Bill: Volume 1
Kill Bill: Volume 2
Knucklehead
La Bamba
The Legend of Bagger Vance
The Legend of Drunken Master
Leviathan (available May 27)
Live and Let Die
The Living Daylights
Machete Kills (available May 22)
Metallica Through the Never
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (available May 15)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Much Ado About Nothing (available May 9)
Muscle Shoals
Never Say Never Again
Odd Thomas
The Odessa File
Pain and Gain (available May 10)
Paper Moon
The Pervert's Guide to Ideology
The Prince of Tides
Revenge
Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip
Rodan
Romancing the Stone
School Daze
Shopping
Single White Female
Sneakers
St. Elmo's Fire
Starman
Star Trek Into Darkness (available May 17)
Terror of Mechagodzilla
That's What I Am
These Birds Walk (available May 29)
Top Secret!
Tortilla Soup
Urban Legends: Bloody Mary
Vanishing of the Bees (available May 27)
A View to a Kill
Wicker Park (available May 30)
Winged Migration
You Only Live Twice
Adventures in Babysitting
I hope you find something good to watch and as always thanks for reading.
