Svetlana and I are pretty obsessed with Netflix. I take the slightly more OCD route though by rating all my movies (between 1 and 5 stars) and rearranging my queue on an hourly basis. I will often berate her for giving odd ratings: “5 stars out of 5 for The Descent? Really?” She doesn’t give a shit. I also send a lot of “notes” to friends, a Netflix feature that allows you to suggest movies to your friends via an up to 200 character mini review. Svetlana wishes I would channel all my Netflix energy into BYT. So at her request every once in a while I’ll post some of my mini-reviews from the past 4+ years, a dozen or so at a time. Feel free to give me shit like I give her shit:
The Ten
If you’re a fan of The State it’s a must see as just about every member makes an appearance, but it’s no Wet Hot American Summer.
3 stars
About Schmidt
depressing and beautiful
5 Stars
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
Only having a passing familiarity with the events depicted, I spent the entire 86 minutes in stunned horror as the this sordid tale of megalomania and mass delusion unfolded. Highly recommended.
5 Stars
Kung Fu Panda
Gorgeous to look at, especially the 2D dream sequence opener, but overall a pretty hollow experience. Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman do some funny voice work, but you can only take so many pratfalls.
3 Stars
American Movie
One of my all time favorite documentaries
5 Stars
Shopgirl
Bought it on iTunes thinking it was light fluff for the plane ride, not at all, highly recommended, especially for you. (I only sent this one to one person… you’ll have to guess who)
5 Stars
A Scanner Darkly
Linklater uses his rotoscope animation from Waking Life to amp up the psychedelics in this tripped out dark comedy/thriller. Beautiful, disturbing, thought provoking, and hilarious.
4 Stars
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Straight to DVD quality. Basically a commercial for a new TV series. Watchable, but for fans only. No John Williams or Frank Oz, which was weird.
2 Stars
Hancock
Michael Mann does a superhero movie. While the summer popcorn blockbuster style seeps in at times, don’t be fooled by the premise or first 15 minutes, the movie has moments of real depth.
4 Stars
Darwin’s Nightmare
If u want 2 see one-legged starving children harvesting maggot infested fish head scraps in impoverished Tanzania go for it. At times tedious and lacking context, but also haunting and heartbreaking.
3 stars
Primer
$7000 budget = one of the best sci fi movies ever made. It’s impossible to understand after one viewing, use wikipedia after watching to help unravel the plot.
4 stars
Up for Grabs
A surprisingly entertaining little documentary, I don’t follow baseball and was completely oblivious to this story when it was actually happening. A great character study on greed and fame.
4 Stars
Wanna be my Netflix friend? Click here:
http://www.netflix.com/BeMyFriend/PmzrQcDhoaLYHM0oKBu0
Wanna read Part 1? Click here:
http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/movies/1-second-movie-reviews/
Part 2:
http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/movies/1-second-movie-reviews-part-2/
Part 3:
http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/movies/1-second-movie-reviews-part-3/
and Part 4:
http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/movies/1-second-movie-reviews-part-4/
Wanna read my thing on the Roku? Click here:
http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/movies/netflix-hd/
Everyone should watch Primer at least twice (preferably with a friend). I finally got streaming Netflix working on my Xbox, and it’s friggin’ badass.
Svetlana,
Upon your suggestion (as well as Danielle’s), I watched Dear Zachary and didn’t cry a tear. What’s wrong with me?
March 19, 2009 at 12:09 pmI have watched Primer probably a half dozen times. Speaking as a nerd complete with a math tattoo on his arm, Primer is an amazing film. It is difficult to wrap your head around, and is a fairly novel attempt at explaining time travel. It is very hard to understand, and it’s not even worth attempting to understand the scientific explanations. I love it though, but it will make you think and will probably frustrate you.
@Alan, I’m upset that this whole Dear Zachary topic has been revived here. I had worked very, very hard to repress that I had ever watched it in the first place. It is a horrifically tragic story! You didn’t cry? Have you no soul??
March 19, 2009 at 12:33 pmyou gave Shopgirl 5 stars? seriously? it was trite and boring and the characters are infinitely unlikable, which I know is important for liking indie movies but good lord.
Primer, on the other hand, is fantastic.
March 19, 2009 at 12:37 pm@Becca
Like I said, I watched it on my iPod on a plane and was expecting it to be a time waster, but was pleasantly surprised. I sorta don’t remember much about it at all, but I remember thinking it was pretty realistic at times, funny and sweet. Since it hasn’t had much of a lingering effect on me, I’d probably downgrade it to a 4, but that’s what I felt at the time when I got off the plane, got home, finished watching it on the couch, and hopped on Netflix and suggested it to one person.
Did everyone hate it?
March 19, 2009 at 12:52 pmShopgirl was awful, Cale.
March 19, 2009 at 12:54 pmI like Shopgirl but then again I am a Steve Martin freak. The book, of course, is better. It’s very sweet and sad and darkly funny.
March 19, 2009 at 1:35 pmPrimer, definitely the best sci-fi movie ever made. Bad handwriting and bloody noses are the kind of thoughtful side effects of time travel that give me goosebumps. @Dave, I think the style of time travel in it is worthwhile, the science behind the machine, maybe not so much http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_travel#Types_of_time_travel What is your math tattoo of?
March 19, 2009 at 1:51 pmI have the golden spiral on my arm.
March 19, 2009 at 2:03 pmwe watched The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension on Boxing day. it is maybe not the best sci-fi movie ever made.
shocking number of stars in it though.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086856/
March 19, 2009 at 2:46 pmWanted to see Shopgirl. Probably will. Wanted to see Scanner, keep thinking it would be stupid, will probably see it now. Will watch Primer.
I have seen an additional 47 movies since the last time you ran this but too lazy to even write a blurb.
March 19, 2009 at 6:02 pmrepeating:
saw it in the movie theatre first AND HATED IT WITH A PASSION OF A THOUSAND FIRES.
you hate the slacker dude for being a slacker.
you hate steve martin for being such a sleazy stereotypical older dude.
you hate claire daines for being such a passive afront for all young women out there.
THEN we rented it or something and I (very begrudgingly) sat through it again AND LOVED IT.
if you are a girl-a second watch is a must.
now I own it and have seen it probably a dozen times.
all the initail emotions of hate still exist, but i kind of know the characters a little better, so i can forgive them.
i guess
man, I LOVE about schmidt.
jason, becca and I watched shopgirl this halloween (I own it) and she left she was so annoyed and he LOVED IT.
L.O.V.E.D.IT.
I cannot wait for “Pleasure of my own company” to be a movie.
March 19, 2009 at 11:59 am