July 2020 streaming service movie arrivals

While quarantine has been nice to dust off some of my movie watchlist, I have missed going to the theater and seeing new movies. 

This is my first attempt at something like this, but I thought it’d be cool to create a post featuring some of the movies coming to each streaming service at the start of the month to inform both you and me. I will list a few movies that stand out to me that are arriving on each streaming platform for the month of July.

Netflix

Coming July 1st

Airplane!

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

Patriots Day

Schindler’s List

Spaceballs

Stardust

The Karate Kid trilogy – I saw the first movie, but this will be good prep for season 3 of Cobra Kai.

July 2nd

Warrior Nun – season 1 – I’m always a fan of comic book adaptations, so I’ll probably give this one a shot.

July 17

Cursed – a new fantasy series about Arthurian Legend. It is said that Excalibur will choose the one true king. But what happens when it chooses a queen?

July 21

Ip man 4

July 30

Transformers War for Cybertron: Siege – season 1

July 31

The Umbrella Academy (season 2) – I haven’t watched this show yet but have heard really good things.

These are just the new arrivals that stood out to me. For a full list, click here.

 

Hulu 

July 1st

Footloose (1984)

Hot Rod

Liar, Liar

My Cousin Vinny

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Coming July 10

Palm Springs – a new Groundhog Day-style Hulu original movie starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti about two wedding guests that relive the same day over and over again. This one looks interesting enough and I’ll probably be checking it out.

A full list of Hulu’s new releases here.

 

Amazon Prime 

July 1st

Hitch

Megamind

Panic Room

Pineapple Express

The Forbidden Kingdom

July 3rd

Hannah (season 2) – I really enjoyed season 1 and will definitely be checking out season 2.

Full list here.

 

HBO Max – Arriving are some classics, along with a ton of DC content with Batman animated movies, Justice League animated movies, and Superman movies.

Catch Me If You Can

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

The Departed

Dumb & Dumber

Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2

The Last Samurai 

Saving Private Ryan

Superman: The Movie

Troy

Watchmen

July 3

Midway

Full list here.

Again, these were just some of the movies and TV shows that stood out to me. Go ahead and check out the full lists I have linked to see everything new arriving to streaming platforms in July 2020.

Drive – 4/5 stars

I don’t sit in while you’re running it down. I don’t carry a gun. I drive.

A Hollywood stunt driver by day and a criminal getaway driver by night, Driver (Ryan Gosling) lives a life of solitude. He doesn’t really care about anything until he meets his neighbor Irene and her son, Benicio. But when Irene’s husband is released from prison and has gangsters threatening him and his family, Driver must go to extreme measures to protect them.

After my first viewing, I’m not quite sure what to think. Drive seems like one of those films where the more you watch it, the more it grows on you and you can appreciate it. It was definitely interesting and not at all where I thought the story was going to go.

Drive was directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and was based on the novel with the same name by James Sallis. I thought it had a fantastic cast with Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Oscar Isaac, and Ron Pearlman. I also thought it had a great soundtrack with a kind of retro-styled vibe. I’ve had the main song, A Real Hero by College & Electronic Youth, stuck in my head for a few days now.

Gosling played an interesting character who showed almost no emotion the entire movie. We never actually learn the character’s name, but I’m pretty sure he was a psychopath because of his lack of emotion and the fact he never seemed afraid of anything. We never really learned about his past, although we could probably assume he did something bad and moved to LA to start fresh. But I guess the point of the movie was that the protagonist never really felt anything until he met Irene and her son, Benicio. As stated in the song A Real Hero by College & Electronic Youth, they made him feel like a real human being. And, as they got involved and threatened by the criminals Standard owed, Driver took care of them. He killed all the bad guys, protected Irene and her son from the danger, and even left all the money, becoming the hero he wanted to be. This can be debatable how killing off a bunch of gangsters John Wick-style makes you the hero, but to him, I think it did. He finally found something he cared about and saved them from danger, like a hero would.

The Driver in this film, characterized by his iconic white scorpion jacket, the jacket he wears when committing crime. The scorpion almost seemed like his nighttime, alternative persona in that, when you mess with him, you get stung. In the fable of the scorpion and the frog, Driver may have been the scorpion striking back at the gangsters and doing what was his nature. An alternative theory was that he was the frog, trying to get out of crime, and the scorpion, the life of crime, was always dragging him back in. With this theory of him being the frog, the scorpion is literally on his back, like in the fable. I watched a few film analysis on Drive just because this was so interesting to consider. I think either could be the case, but leave a comment down below on which you think is true!

Overall, I would rate Drive 4/5 stars. It was a much deeper film than I imagined it would be and I enjoyed the subtlety of it. I had originally rated it as 3 ½ / 5 stars, but given some time to think about it and watch some analysis on it, I decided to go with 4/5 stars.I haven’t watched as much movie analysis on a film since Fight Club, just because it was so interesting to consider the different meanings. I’d recommend checking it out since it’s currently available to stream on Netflix.

The Kings of Summer – 4/5 stars

Fed up with living under their parents’ roof and their rules, three teenage boys decide to run away from home and build their own house out in the forest. There they can make their own rules and have the freedom to live however they please.

Something about this movie just illustrates that childhood fantasy that I think a lot of people have: going out into the woods with your friends and building a house to live in. I don’t know, maybe that was just me. But I find myself watching this movie at the start of every summer because of it.

For the most part, The Kings of Summer is probably just an OK coming-of-age movie, but I still really enjoyed it each time I watch it. I don’t know how well it’ll stand up to classics like Stand By Me, or other coming-of-age movies, but something about the story just resonates with me. With this most recent viewing, I noticed the amazing cinematography and how beautiful some of the shots were of the forest along, the great soundtrack, and I enjoyed seeing the boys just being boys together by being free and having a good time (here’s a clip to see what I mean).

All of the actors did a great job portraying their roles. Moises Arias was the star of this film and played Biaggio as a hilarious weirdo who was cracking me up the whole time. Nick Robinson, playing Joe, also did a great job as this was his film debut before getting Jurassic World in 2015. The movie also featured a bunch of other actors I recognized like Nick Offerman (Parks and Rec), Erin Moriarty (The Boys), as well as smaller appearances with Lili Reinhart, Tony Hale, and Kumali Nanjiani.

While this movie shows how awesome it’d be to run away and build a house in the woods with your friends, it also shows that this isn’t the answer to solving your problems in life.

I would rate this movie 4/5 stars. Overall, I think there is something in this movie that everyone can relate to and would highly recommend checking it out. It is currently available on Amazon Prime, and has been for years. There’s a reason I keep coming back to watch it, and to know why, you’ll just have to go and experience it yourself.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword – 4 ½ / 5 stars

As a child, Arthur’s father (Eric Bana) is murdered by his power-hungry uncle, Vortigern (Jude Law) and he is forced to run away and grow up on the streets. He grows up not knowing that he is the true King until he is forced to attempt to pull the sword from the stone. And he does. Arthur (Charlie Hunnam) is then forced to embrace his destiny and become the King he was meant to be.

This movie is awesome, I don’t care what the critics say. I think it’s such a unique angle to the traditional King Arthur story and would highly recommend checking it out. The style of the film reminds me of Kingsmen, with unique action and visual storytelling. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword was directed by Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes (2009), The Gentlemen, Aladdin (2019)), and his style definitely stands out here (a good example is the montage of Arthur growing up on the streets. Check it out). Not only was there a very unique style of action and storytelling, buts also really good music to go along with it. Some parts are a little weird, but, for the most part, I really enjoyed this film for the unique angle to the story, the awesome action, and the cool directorial style. Going to see this movie in the theaters, I had almost zero expectations and was blown away with how much I liked it.

I thought this movie did a good job showing the raw magical power of Excalibur, and I thought it was cool that when Arthur’s dad was dying, he became the stone that held the sword, adding another unique element to the well-known legend. 

Hunnam shined playing Arthur as the cocky, gritty bruiser who grew up on the streets. Actually, this movie had an overall great cast and I thought they all did a good job in their respective roles. One criticism is that in this telling of the story, there was no Guinevere or Merlin character. Instead, there was a mage sent by Merlin that filled both of these roles, in a sense.

I rate this movie 4 ½ / 5 stars and would highly recommend checking it out, especially if you were a fan of Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes. If you’re looking for a fast-paced, unique, underrated movie, look no farther. I got you covered.

The Twilight Saga

During this quarantine, my sister has taken it upon herself to watch all the epic movie series that I’ve been recommending to her for years. Series like all the Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. She has inspired me to watch one of her favorite series that I’ve never seen before: Twilight. I think a lot of people have a preconceived notion that Twilight is just a cringey chick-flick with bad acting and shirtless vampires and werewolves, and yes, I admit, I am one of them. But, I also think it’s important to experience things yourself and come up with your own opinion instead of just accepting others’. So, as we make our way through the series, I thought I’d write down my thoughts on each.

 

Twilight (2008) – 3/5 stars – Ahh, the beginning. I have seen the first Twilight movie before because both my Mom and sister like it, but it’s been a solid 7 or 8 years since. I remember it being better back then, because watching it today, I think we all laughed more than we were supposed to. Between the cheesy special effects, stiff acting and awkward dialogue, this movie seemed more like a comedy than a dark romance.

 

 

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) – 2/5 stars – Coming out only a year later, I thought New Moon was not as good as the first. In fact, this was my least favorite addition to the entire series. Although it was cool to learn more about the werewolves (I’ve always been more of a werewolf fan), I just thought the overall story was kind of weak. Because Edward left her to keep her safe, Bella becomes depressed and puts herself in life threatening situations to get a rush and see visions of him telling her to stop. Talk about an unhealthy relationship. To fill the void of Edward’s absence, she begins hanging out with Jacob, who matures into a werewolf and joins his pack. We learn more about the treaty between the werewolves and the Cullens, as well as about the Volturi, the ancient organization that creates the laws vampires must follow. Bella still wants to become a vampire and the only way Edward will do it is if she agrees to marry him. Let’s see what happens next.

 

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) 4/5 stars – The third movie was much better than the second. It picks up after the first with Victoria building an army of newborn vampires to attack Bella as revenge for Edward killing her mate, James, in the first movie. I thought Eclipse would have been a much better sequel, but then I remembered that they needed the second movie to build Bella and Jacob’s relationship so there would be a love triangle in this one. But yeah, I thought the story was much better than the second film and there was a really cool fight scene with the Cullens and the werewolves working together to stop the newborn army.

 

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011) – 3 ½ / 5 stars – My sister recommended just skipping this movie, but I wanted to experience the entire story and I’m glad we watched it. The first half of the movie was mostly about Bella and Edward’s wedding and honeymoon, which was just OK. The second part, however, focused more on Bella getting pregnant when no one knew it was even possible. When Jacob’s pack learned about this, they saw the baby as a threat and that the treaty was broken. Because of this, Jacob leaves the wolf pack and joins sides with the Cullens to help protect Bella and her young half-vampire, half-human baby.

 

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012) – 4/5 stars – The finale of the saga, I thought Part 2 was a fitting end to the overall story. I liked this one because, at the beginning, we get to see the the vampire’s experience with improved strength, speed and eyesight through Bella’s eyes. After the speedy growth of their newly born daughter, Renesmee, she is mistaken for being a Young Immortal. One of the Volturi’s most important laws is to never turn a child into a vampire because they have no self-restraint and in the past, have slaughtered entire towns. When the Volturi learns of this child, they head to Forks to destroy the child and the Cullens for breaking the law. So the Cullens reach out and gather reinforcements from around the world to bear witness and help defend the family if it comes down to it. This movie definitely has the best fight scene of the entire series with all the Cullens, the Cullens allies and the werewolves outnumbered and against the Volturi. It was cool seeing the special powers some vampires had, such as Bella’s shield, a vampire who could control the elements, and one with electricity. Overall, I thought the special effects were done well showing the vampires’ and werewolves’ abilities. Although, the whole pulling the vampire’s heads off to kill them seemed a little silly to me, but I guess that’s one way to do it.

But, yeah. I’m glad I finally saw the whole series. I think Twilight has a reputation of being cringey because of the first movie, but they did get better as the series progressed, including the acting, special effects and story. Overall, it was an interesting story, with both the vampire and werewolf elements, and it added some new ideas into the genre. Now I have my own opinion on this series instead of just going off what other say, and with that it’s a mission accomplished.

Artemis Fowl – 2/5 stars

After his father is kidnapped, 12-year old Artemis Fowl (Ferdina Shaw) must use his genius to out-wit an underground police force of fairies. He captures Holly Short (Lara McDonnell) and holds her for ransom in an attempt to find the Aculos and save his father.

Directed by Kenneth Branagh (Murder on the Orient Express, Thor, Cinderella (2015)),  Artemis Fowl was released on Disney Plus June 12. Wow, this movie was really bad. Which was really disappointing because I was pretty excited to get a new, free movie included with Disney Plus. After being pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed Onward, I was hoping for a similar experience. That didn’t happen.

Even with big named actors like Josh Gad, Colin Farrell and Judi Dench, this movie just seemed like a dud. The story was weak, the acting was weak, the special effects were just OK, and there wasn’t really any character development. For his breakout role, I didn’t think Shaw really pulled off the cocky mastermind Artemis was supposed to be. I thought McDonnell did decently with her role as Short, but everyone else was just mediocre and forgettable. It was pretty confusing because it didn’t really explain the world or the technology to people who never read the books. I still never found out what the Aculos was or did, even though it was supposed to be one of the most powerful items in the world.

Now, I never read the books but I’m guessing they had to have been better than this movie. This seemed like a C-rated, cringey, Wal-Mart off-brand Harry Potter. I know what you’re thinking: don’t sugarcoat it. How do I really feel?

I give this movie 2/5 stars and would definitely not recommend it. It was just really disappointing and cringey. I think Artemis Fowl is my lowest rated movie yet, because I’m not in the habit of watching bad movies. This was just one I was excited for and wanted to review because it just released today to stream. And even though it seemed to be targeted for kids, it just did not seem like a quality movie. Pass.

The Outsiders – 3 ½ / 5 stars

Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold.

In a rural Oklahoma town, there is a class divide between the Greasers and the wealthy Socs (So-shiz), two rival teen gangs at odds with one another. But after things are taken too far one night and a Soc is killed, it leads to an all-out-brawl between the two sides.

With the release of HBO Max, I was pleasantly surprised to find The Outsiders, directed by Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now, The Godfather), as well as so many other classics available to stream. I, along with probably almost every other 7th grader ever, read The Outsiders book by S.E. Hinton for class and got to see this movie. My Dad mentioned that he even got to go see the movie at the movie theater when he was in middle school. Since I haven’t seen this film since and have been wanting to give it a rewatch, it was awesome seeing it pop up on the new platform.

Something that surprised me about the movie was how many actors I recognized and how young they all were. The ensemble cast was composed of C. Thomas Howell as Ponyboy, Matt Dillon as Dallas, Ralph Maccio as Johnny, Patrick Swayze as Darry, Rob Lowe as Sodapop, Emilo Estavez as Two-Bit, and Tom Cruise as Steve.

I thought they all did a great job, especially Maccio as the shy and reserved Johnny and Dillon as the bad boy Dallas. If you, too, read the book, you have an idea of the story. For the most part, the story seemed the same, although it was a bit more rushed trying to fit the whole story in the hour and a half time constraint. As per usual, the book was better.

The movie did do a good job showing Ponyboy and Johnny’s innocence, despite growing up dealing with the harsh realities of life. Even with all the struggles, the boys still enjoyed watching the sun set, sitting in a church all day talking, sleeping and smoking, and reading Gone with the Wind. Johnny urges Ponyboy to “Stay gold” and to keep that innocence that sets him apart from the other Greasers. 

Overall, the movie was good and I’d rate it 3 ½ / 5 stars. It reminded me a lot of Stand By Me, another classic film I’ve watched recently, with its “coming of age” story about a group of kids and the loss of innocence with growing up. Both of these films, while they weren’t great, I was still glad I saw them and got to experience their stories.