Ironclad, now streaming on Netflix, is a well-acted, beautifully gritty medieval action movie with surprisingly pleasant religious and political overtones, reminiscent of Braveheart. The film stars James Purefoy as a Knight Templar who has returned to England, struggling to reconcile his faith with his experiences in the Crusades. His friend, the Bishop of Gloucester, ministers to a relatively peaceful England—the barons and several bishops recently united to force Prince John to sign Magna Carta. Unfortunately John (Paul Giamatti) comes back with an army of mercenaries given him by the Pope to take back his lands. Purefoy and some of his old warrior friends must hold a key castle against John's army in a truly epic action set piece. Read a full review here.
If you're an Amazon Prime member and interested in politics, you can now watch the underrated (by Americans) satirical British comedy series Yes, Minister. Each episode follows the career of Jim Hacker (Paul Eddington), a bumbling politician trying to get things done, and the lazy bureaucrat Sir Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne) who tries to stop him at every turn.
Tim Burton's Big Fish is now streaming on Netflix. Starring the always lovably eccentric Ewan MacGregor, the film is a fun drama about love and life and reconciling the broken relationship between a father and his son. The film has a 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
If you missed it in theaters, see Super 8 on Netflix. Directed by J. J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg, the film pays homage to classic sci-fi films like E.T. Todd Hertz described it as a "surprisingly fresh and rich character-based adventure full of roller-coaster thrills, genuine scares, hearty laughs and touching moments." Read his full review for us here.
Hugo. See this movie. I refused to until forced, and I'm so thankful I ended up watching it. It's an imaginative movie about the importance of father figures, and is set in beautiful steampunk Paris.
