Nels's Netflix

That's All Folks

2008-10-26T16:16:00.004-04:00

Yeah, this was a good idea for a blog, but I am way too far behind to catch up. So auf wiedersehen. Check out my main blog; I'm going to try to figure out how to get some of this info over there.

Mrs. Brown (1997)

2008-08-10T17:12:00.002-04:00

Last night, we watched Mrs. Brown, which Da Man had really been wanting to see for awhile.

Grieving widow Queen Victoria (played imperiously by Judi Dench) withdraws into sadness for years, until plainspoken manservant John Brown (Billy Connolly) disrupts her mourning. Their friendship grows, resulting in personal and political ramifications for both. Funny, exquisitely shot and featuring sparkling performances, Mrs. Brown brilliantly portrays the woman behind an empire and the man who helped her live again.

I didn't expect to like this movie as much as I did. I thought it would be dry and slow, and it was at a few moments, but it was also pretty compelling. Judi Dench and Billy Connolly are great together. And it is a visually beautiful film, too. A fine couple of hours, for sure. Four out of five stores.

Bad Education (2004)

2008-08-10T16:52:00.002-04:00

Almodovar rocks, but I haven't seen all of his work. Last week, I finally sat down with Bad Education.

Film director Enrique (Fele Martinez) is visited by his childhood Catholic school friend and lover, Ignacio (Gael Garcia Bernal). Ignacio gives Enrique a short story he's written that's a factual account of the molestation he sustained at the hands of their teacher, Father Manolo (Daniel Gimenez Cacho). But as Enrique adapts the story, he uncovers a dangerous web of deceit and revenge in this stark film from Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar.

I felt the push to see this movie after reading Nic Sheff's Tweak, which I wrote about on my main blog. Nic sees the film and wants to write a review of it. Ignacio is a heroin addict, which is why Sheff responds to it. It is an amazing film, full of twists and turns. It weaves fiction and nonfiction together at times. The story is compelling. Gael Garcia Bernal is amazing. I don't have a lot to say about this movie except that I loved it. Five out of five stars.

Back Sheep (2006)

2008-08-10T16:45:00.003-04:00

Okay, yes, we do see pretty much every zombie movie ever made, which is why we saw Black Sheep.

On a quiet New Zealand ranch, a genetic experiment has gone horribly wrong, transforming a docile flock of sheep into killers hungry for human blood. Those they bite become ravenous were-sheep. As the body count rises, a desperate handful of outnumbered survivors take a last stand against the ovine onslaught. Who will live, and who will be the next victim of the vicious killer sheep?

Yeah, okay, it was bad. Some reviews on the Netflix site love this movie, but it was as bad as it sounds. I mean, you see a sheep driving a truck at one point. Well, kinda, sorta. People turn into sheep after they are bitten, which was bizarre to watch. And the guy who owns the sheep farm? Let's just say he really, really likes the one genetically-altered sheep he created. I mean, he really likes her. As in, there's a scene where he's with her and doesn't wear pants likes her.

Yeah, that says it all. One star because you can't give none.

Day of the Dead (2008)

2008-07-13T18:39:00.004-04:00

In a recent entry, I wrote about Diary of the Dead. While writing that entry, I found a link to the remake for Day of the Dead:

Steve Miner (Friday the 13th Part 2) directs this remake of George A. Romero's classic zombie flick Day of the Dead, in which a mysterious disease causes the newly dead to come back to life and threaten the living. Meanwhile, military and scientific experts clash as they try to arrive at a solution. Miner and writer Jeffrey Reddick honor the story and social relevance of the first film but put a fresh spin on this tale of horror and intrigue.

There really is no connection to the original other than having a conflict between military and science and having some scenes in an underground scientific facility. And those connections are stretching it. It's a fine zombie movie, though. These zombies, though, were something. A couple leaped onto the ceiling and crawled for a few feet. They seemed more capable of thinking and reasoning. One of the points was that they maintained some semblance of their original personalities. One zombie ended up protecting one of the women who was still alive, for example. That wasn't developed enough as an idea. I guess that would be my criticism. This movie had some spins to it that made it different from other zombie movies, but they were treated more like occasional tricks than developed plot points. Still, it was a fun movie. Oh, and it was a virus that caused all of this, so I need to add this to my list of virus films, too. Three of the five stars.

Oh, and what's up with these zombie movies that are not getting wide releases? This was better than a lot of the horror movies available on the big screen, and Diary of the Dead was a lot better. I don't get it.

Stranger than Fiction (2006)

2008-07-13T18:19:00.002-04:00

I finally saw Stranger than Fiction (2006):

As a novelist (Emma Thompson) struggles with how to kill off her main character, IRS auditor Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) begins hearing her narration in his head and realizes he must prevent his own death. Crick's world turns upside down, and it's a life-or-death situation as he tries to persuade best-selling author Kay Eiffel to change the ending of her novel. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman and Queen Latifah lead the fine supporting cast.

I really wanted to see this because they filmmed all of Dustin Hoffman's scenes at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where I did my PhD. The architecture is very distinct. And this was a fun movie. Da Man hated it. It was too quirky for him. But it was those quirks that I loved. The actors are amazing. I make it a point not to see Will Ferrell moveis, but like other actors (Robin Williams and Jim Carrey), he is best when he is quiet. Emma Thompson was amazing, and the best great, too. And I love Chicago. It really looked like a Chicago movie, and I was glad to see they used so much of it in their locations. And I have a soft spot for quirky moves that are about the whole carpe diem philosophy but do it in unexpected ways. This was a fun one. I may end up buying it. Five stars.

The Lair (2007)

2008-06-29T20:00:00.006-04:00

See my post from earlier today about how I was accused of controlling the Netflix queue (he who can remember the password does have the power). That's how we ended up seeing The Lair.

At an exclusive sex club called The Lair, vampires lure gay men with a promise of pleasure, only to kill them with blood-sucking pain. When bodies start piling up, a reporter threatens to uncover the secret, dismaying the club's lusty head vampire. Developed as a spinoff of the sexy supernatural series "Dante's Cove," this erotic episodic drama features Peter Stickles as the feisty vampire leader and David Moretti as a handsome journalist.

Wow, was this bad. It was amazingly horrible. I didn't know it was a TV series that aired on here! last year. One example? The "handsome journalist" has a boyfriend attacked by the "feisty vampire leader." The boyfriend is in the hospital. According to the doctor, he has lost a huge amount of blood and is barely clinging to life. Da Man then says, "Then why isn't he hooked up to a single machine or monitor?" Most of the actors are former or current porn stars. All sex acts are, of course, simulated since this is a TV show, even if on cable. Of course, that's no excuse for them to be so boring and fake looking. Except they then match the dialogue.

It was so bad, we had to watch all three episodes to prove it couldn't get better, and we ordered disc two. Each episode is only twenty-something minutes long, and the entire series consists of six total episodes. I gave it one star, but only because zero was not an option. I'll be back to say if the final three episodes are any better.

Edited on July 13: Yeah, disc two was just as bad. Rumors are they are planning a second season. Why?

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

2008-06-29T18:31:00.004-04:00

After reading about this in David Sheff's Beautiful Boy, I thought this might make a good choice for my pain seminar next year, so I moved Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind up the queue.

This offbeat romantic comedy (which won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay) stars Jim Carrey as Joel, who opts for a procedure in which memories of his girlfriend, Clementine (Kate Winslet), are erased after he learns she's already had the surgery done. But as his doctor begins to wipe out traces of Clementine, Joel decides he doesn't want to lose what's left of their relationship, so he squirrels away the memories somewhere else in his brain.

I just might end up including it in the course, though I have to say that it was not as comedic as I expected. I was kinda down at the end of this. It was very interesting in regards to what we can do about pain and its effects on our lives. It really gets you thinking about whether or not you would erase certain people from your life. It is visually fascinating, too. Kate Winslet is amazing, as always. And I am not a Jim Carrey fan, but this proves that he can act, that he can give a role what it deserves without being a cornball all the time (take notes, Will Ferrel). I gave it four out of five stars because it didn't blow me away like I expected, and there were several moments when it felt like something was about to happen when nothing happened. But it's really good and just might appear on my syllabus in the fall.

Diary of the Dead (2007)

2008-06-29T18:12:00.002-04:00

Diary of the Dead is probably the first zombie movie we've seen since I started this blog.

While filming a low-budget horror film, Jason (Joshua Close) and his film school friends hear news reports of zombie sightings. As the living dead close in on the film crew, Jason seizes the opportunity to add real blood and guts to his movie. Meanwhile the American government promises to stop the violent uprising, but the relentless zombies gain an advantage by wiping out all forms of communication with the outside world.

Yes, you can put this in the category of Cloverfield and Blair Witch as having the movie within a movie. I like those kinds of movie a lot. But why did this movie only get a limited release? We'd heard about it and knew when it opened in NYC, but it never got here. It's written and directed by George A. Romero, the father of the zombie movie! And there is going to be a sequel. So why the lack of attention?

This was a really good movie, five out of five stars. It had the typical attacks of zombie movies with a cool plot between them to get people back and forth. There were some leaps in logic that there just are in zombie movies, but this was a good one. I'm sorry it's not getting the attention it deserves.

Torque (2004)

2008-06-29T18:05:00.002-04:00

I have been accused of controlling what Netflix movies we watch on weekends. That's how we ended up with Torque.

Longtime biker Cary Ford (Martin Henderson) is framed for murder by rival Henry (Matt Schulze), the leader of a biker gang called the Hellions. Unfortunately, the stiff happens to be the brother of Trey Wallace (Ice Cube), the leader of the Machine, the most notorious and feared biker gang in the country. Torque does for motorcycles what The Fast and the Furious does for muscle cars. Prepare to burn rubber!

I'm a fan of the Fast and Furious movies; I don't know why. This so clearly wants to ride on that trend. It wasn't bad, as movies like this go. I was a bit confused at the beginning because I couldn't tell what the exact relationships were between the three biker gangs. They all had a history or working together and fighting each other, and it took a bit for me to get it. Not bad action, though. Some cool riding sequences. Two of the five stars.

Year of the Dog (2007)

2008-05-28T20:47:00.003-04:00

On Memorial Day, I watched Year of the Dog (2007), and Netflix says:

Molly Shannon stars in this quirky, canine-themed comedy written and directed by actor Mike White (School of Rock), with supporting performances from Peter Sarsgaard, Regina King, John C. Reilly and Laura Dern. The film centers on an upbeat secretary (Shannon) whose life takes a temporary nosedive when her beloved dog, Pencil, suddenly dies. But in an unexpected trick, her pet's tragedy opens her up to transformation.

This was a comedy? Seriously? Quirky? Are you sure? Da Man questioned why I wanted to see a movie about someone's dog dying, but I thought that would be the only sad bit, and then comedy would ensue. But not so much. And this transformation that happens to her? I get that she was transformed into an animal rights activist. But is that because of Pencil's death? Or because she had a crush on the animal activist? This movie just ended up being way sadder than I expected. I gave it two stars that day, but I think I would give it one (or less) now.

27 Dresses (2008)

2008-05-11T16:59:00.005-04:00

This afternoon, I decided to see 27 Dresses. Netflix says:

Tired of being a perpetual bridesmaid after helping 27 friends tie the knot, altruistic Jane (Katherine Heigl) finds herself facing her worst nightmare as her younger sister (Malin Akerman) announces her engagement to the man Jane secretly adores. But when Jane meets the charming Kevin (James Marsden), will she beat her sibling to the altar? Edward Burns and Judy Greer also star in this breezy romantic comedy from director Anne Fletcher.

I really liked this one. I used to be a sucker for romantic comedies, but then I lost interest in them. I'm a Katherine Heigl fan, and the commercials for this looked a little different. I mean, it was a Hollywood studio production, but it had some twists. As I sat down to watch it, I realized that I didn't know anything about the plot. It is very tricky to create a trailer for a film that reveals nothing of the plot but still gives a sense of the movie. Sure, it had an expected ending, but I had no idea what path we were going to take to get there even as I was watching the movie. And Heigl and Marsden are great actors, though Judy Greer stole the show as Heigl's best friend. I gave it five out of five because it still fit the genre even as it took some different paths to get there.

The Dying Gaul (2005)

2008-05-11T13:53:00.004-04:00

I didn't write about it, but a month or so ago (March 29, I think), we saw The Dying Gaul, about which Netflix says:

When Jeffrey (Campbell Scott), a slick Hollywood studio exec, offers gay screenwriter Robert (Peter Sarsgaard) $1 million to transform a screenplay's homosexual protagonists into heterosexuals, Robert takes the bait -- and ends up sleeping in Jeffrey's bed. But complications ensue when Jeffrey's wife, Elaine (Patricia Clarkson), begins unraveling her husband's secrets, with nail-biting consequences. Craig Lucas directs in his feature-film debut.

I love Peter Sarsgaard. He's one of the people I'll just watch in anything. This movie was good, but it felt like the pace was off at times. I mean, Jeffrey and Robert start this affair, but it seems like they are in the middle of the affair before we really know that it's begun. For a moment there, I was even wondering if there was some dream sequence or something going on. So I felt off-kilter at times. And the ending felt like a lot to happen all at once with so many people dying and the audience not being sure about what exactly happened. It was fine but not amazing. Two out of five starts.

Since then, we haven't seen a thing on Netflix. The end of the semester just got to both of us. But we'll be making up for that this summer!

Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (1988)

2008-03-23T22:39:00.003-04:00

After gorging on Easter brunch, I stretched out on the couch to watch Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (1988):

To avoid an avocado shortage, the government hires feminist anthropology professor Margo Hunt (Shannon Tweed) to find the man-eating Piranha Women tribe who inhabit the avocado jungle of Southern California. Assisted by a chauvinist named Jim (Bill Maher) and a dim-witted student named Bunny, Hunt must convince the tribe to move to Malibu condos. Meanwhile, Bunny's contemplating joining the Piranha gals -- but she must consume Jim first!

Someone once told me that any serious academic feminist had to see this movie. You know, I can't really tell if it's just making fun of feminism or doing a parody that uses feminism to make its point, whatever that might be. It's goofy and stupid and silly with a few laughs at how feminism is portrayed. I wish that I could get a jeep from our gender studies program! Two of the five stars.

ETA: Been checking out the IMDB entry linked to above and found out that J. F. Lawton, who wrote and directed Cannibal Women, followed this film by writing the screenplay for Pretty Woman. That does put Cannibal Women in a whole other light!

The Dead Girl (2006)

2008-03-22T22:17:00.002-04:00

Tonight, it was The Dead Girl (2006):

A small close-knit community near Los Angeles is thrown into turmoil when the brutally desecrated body of a vibrant young girl is discovered in a field. A series of seemingly unrelated dramas in the lives of the town's residents ultimately converge and reveal answers to the murder itself. Toni Collette, James Franco, Giovanni Ribisi and Mary Beth Hurt star in this dark Independent Spirit Award-nominated mystery directed by Karen Moncrieff.

This was really good, different than I expected. When Da Man heard that it was a collection of disparate stories, he said, "You like those kind of movies, don't you?" Yeah, I do. And the stories were not connected like in Babel, which I expected. But, as Moncrieff says in an interview on the DVD, this is about the ripples of violence that affect multiple people. What is amazing to me is that Moncrieff wrote this script after she was a juror on a trial where a prostitute had been murdered. Witnesses included her mother, some johns, and other prostitutes including one that was her lover. The script was a way of dealing with some of the emotions that came up during the trial.

This movie had a lot of named actors in it. I'll see anything with Toni Collette. And Marcia Gay Harden plays a pivotal role. Piper Laurie is typecast as a freaky mother. It was dark, and I liked it. Four out of five stars.

The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

2008-03-16T15:03:00.004-04:00

After Da Man went to bed last night, I decided to see The Darjeeling Limite.

Following the death of their father, three brothers (Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman) embark on a journey on the cross-India train the Darjeeling Limited and attempt to reconnect after years of physical and emotional distance. The trip also opens up some old wounds and proves that their sibling rivalry can never be completely erased. Natalie Portman and Anjelica Huston co-star in Wes Anderson's lyrical comic drama.

Okay, I'll be blunt. I was disappointed. I gave it three stars, but I waffled between two and three. I loved The Royal Tenenbaums. Yes, it's an acquired taste, but it was my kind of movie. I loved Rushmore, too. Darjeeling didn't have any of the elements that I loved in the other two movies. It had its quirks, but they did particularly speak to me. The scene in the village with the dead boy and the flashback to their father's funeral? Now, that was good. It felt like something was happening there. I wasn't thinking that the film was slow, which I was thinking about ten minutes earlier.

It may surprise some people that I chose a film based on a parent's death, especially when the point of the trip is to see the other parent who basically abandoned them. But I was in the mood for that. I think I wanted something more cathartic, and the film didn't deliver in that regard. Maybe it wasn't fair to judge it like that, but it seemed like it was going to be like that. And Tenenbaums did kinda go there.

Escape from L.A. (1996)

2008-03-15T21:59:00.002-04:00

Tonight, it was Escape from L.A., about which Netflix says:

Kurt Russell reprises his role as antihero Snake Plissken. This time, a cataclysmic temblor hits Los Angeles, turning it into an island. The president (Cliff Robertson) views the quake as a sign from above, expels Los Angeles from the country and makes it a penal colony for those found guilty of moral crimes. When his daughter, part of a resistance movement, steals the control unit for a doomsday weapon, Snake again gets tapped to save the day.

My, this was cheesy. So cheesy! I like cheesy, but it did get ridiculous in spots, what with the surfing and hang gliding. The special effects weren't that great, either. Fine plot, though, for an action movie like this. Not enough to get it beyond two of the five stars, though.

The thing I want to remember about this movie is that a virus does play a central role in it. Snake gets infected with Plutoxin, being told that his neurological system will shut down in ten hours. So he must find the "black box" that was stolen by the President's daughter and bring it back to the president to get the antidote. In the end, the shot just gives him a fast case of the flu.

I've got a thing for virus movies, and I want to keep this on the list of 'em, even if the virus isn't that big of deal in it. Or if the movie is pretty damn cheesy.

Rocket Science (2007)

2008-03-09T18:59:00.003-04:00

Here's what Netflix says about Rocket Science (2007):

When 15-year-old Hal Hefner (Reece Thompson) -- a New Jersey boy with a terrible stutter -- falls in love with the star of his high school debate squad (Anna Kendrick), he joins the team at his dream girl's urging. Next thing you know, young Hal finds himself caught up in the intense competition of debating. Jeffrey Blitz, who wrote and directed this charming tale, was awarded the Dramatic Directing Award at Sundance 2007.

I love high school movies becasue it was during high school that I made the first real friends of my life after spending my first fourteen years alone. Though I spent much of my high school years in afraid of and anxious about many things, it was also a time when i realized that there were people in the world who could know me deeply and love me anyway.

I wanted to see this ever since I saw that it was nominated for so many Independent Spirit Awards. It is a good one, not like a stereotypical high school movie (though I love many of those, too). As noted in the featurette on the making of the film, they avoided the cliches of cliques terrorizing each other and went for something a little more complicated.

While watching it, I could not help but think of Wes Anderson because it definitely had that tone to it, from the voice over that even sounded like Alec Baldwin from The Royal Tenenbaums to some quirky characters and family dynamics. I also couldn't help but think of Hal Hartley, maybe because the protagonist is named Hal Hefner of maybe because of the quirky characters.

I liked it. Four out of five stars.

What's Up With This Blog?

2008-03-09T13:49:00.000-04:00

Hi, everyone. I've created a new blog for one reason. I watch a lot of movies on Netflix, usually one a week if not more. I've been doing so for over a year, and I'm starting to forget things about movies. So, this blog exists just for me as a way to keep a record. Just so you know, I'm not going to be offering insightful critiques or lots of depth. See Chuck for that! I'm just going to type out a few things that stand out at the time of the initial viewing. Basically, this is mainly for me, though you're welcome ot stay. If you stick around, expect to see a lot of movies with zombies, a lot set in high schools, some obscure gay movies, some mainstream Hollywood blockbusters, and general weirdness.