Sure-Fire Streaming: Shazam, RocknRolla, Coming To America, and more!
Shazam! – Available On Netflix
It’s about time we started watching superhero movies that have more pep than your average flick.
After the saga of the Avengers, things got really dark for our titular comic book friends. So to see Shazam!, a child-like, funny little superhero tilt was worthwhile.
A foster boy comes to a new home, but keeps searching for his mother. As he tries to find family bonds, he soon accidentally comes upon superpowers that turn him into a fully grown man.
He runs around town with his foster brother and draws the ire of worthy enemy Dr Sivana.
Chuck actor Zachary Levi is tailor-made for the role of Shazam, and Mark Strong is an awesome villain.
This is a fantastic, nostalgic little film that will make you feel 12 again, and these days, that can’t be a bad thing.
RocknRolla – Available On Netflix
To anyone who isn’t a fan of Gerard Butler, this Guy Ritchie film will absolutely change your mind.
Writer-director Ritchie has come to the table with an incredible gangster movie about a Russian mobster whose land deal has the entire criminal world of London trying to get a piece.
Butler is absolutely awesome, as are co-stars like Thandie Newton, Mark Strong and Idris Elba, who have all gone on to bigger, better things.
The highlight, without a doubt, is Tom Hardy as a character named Handsome Bob, and he’s hilarious.
This is a fantastic genre piece and one everyone really has to see.
Coming To America – Available On Prime Video
With a sequel heading to Amazon Prime, the original 1988 classic film starring Eddie Murphy is right back in the spotlight.
It follows Murphy as an iconic African Prince Akeem, who heads to New York to find a wife who will love him for his personality, and not his money.
From Animal House director John Landis comes this classic comedy that people just can’t miss. Murphy is a tour-de-force in one of the best-ever performances of his.
Co-starring Arsenio Hall and James Earl Jones, it’s a pleasure of a film. If you’re looking to get prepped for the sequel, you simply have to watch this first with some reverence.
Little Fires Everywhere – Available On Prime Video
This mini-series was one of the most talked-about shows last summer, and if you didn’t catch it, you simply need to rectify that.
Based on the 2017 best-selling novel, it follows the happenings of an African-American painter Mia Warren and married matriarch Elena Richardson, her landlord.
The two, and their families, become entangled in a deceitful web as Richardson and Warren begin to clash in their small town.
As racial divides and tensions begin to bubble over, this exploration of racism in the U.S. becomes a jaw-dropping endeavour.
Reese Witherspoon, Kerry Washington, and Joshua Jackson are all absolutely spell-binding in this character-driven show.
It is an absolute can’t-miss, and I’m still astounded by it six months after viewing it.
Vice – Available On Prime Video
Director Adam McKay creates an astounding, funny, biting film about Vice President Dick Cheney in Vice.
He follows Cheney’s life from early college years through to his Vice President reign, and the power he yielded in his job.
This film is a masterclass in acting, and deservedly won a Best Makeup and Hairstyling Oscar in 2019 for transforming recognizable thespians into their real-life characters.
Christian Bale is methodical and spot-on as Cheney, Amy Adams is intense as his wife Lynne, Steve Carell provides much comedic relief as Donald Rumsfeld, and Sam Rockwell is absolutely incredible as George W. Bush.
It’s sharp and witty, and the cast deserves a huge round of applause for their feat here.