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 care. 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, ten or so at a time. Feel free to give me shit like I give her shit:
Daft Punk’s Electroma
The greatest 5 min music video ever. Oh wait, they needlessly stretched it out to 82 min. A high potential project turned into a tedious test of patience. Disappointing to say the least.
2 Stars
Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs
why was this show cancelled again?
4 Stars
Big Man Japan
Made by Japanese people who understand exactly why Americans find their culture unintentionally funny. Perfectly bizarre, subtle when it should be, and best viewed with a clean slate. Highly rec’d.
5 Stars
2010: The Year We Make Contact
How can a sequel to one of the most groundbreaking and astonishing films of all time, made 15 years later with a far more accessible and less artistic approach, not suck? This is how.
4 Stars
Die Hard
Holds up surprisingly well after 20 years – smart, exciting, and funny. Worth revisiting.
4 Stars
Dreamscape: Special Edition
The only reason to watch this is Kate Capshaw’s side boob, which has oddly been edited out of this edition. Not campy enough to be enjoyable + a grating score and ugly fx, avoid.
1 Star
Adventureland
Unexpected realism, wonderful performances, a nostalgic sweetness, just the right amount of absurdest comedy from Bill Hader, and a killer soundtrack. Not just another teen movie.
4 Stars
Glick Doesn’t Do Red Carpet: Jiminy Glick at the Independent Spirit Awards
The quick improv interviews with celebs from Martin Short’s old Primetime Glick routine were hilarious, but at half an hour the gimmick starts to lose steam in this on location Netflix produced short.
2 Stars
Coraline
A gorgeous romp through a creepy psychedelic stop motion fantasy world. Um, I guess the story was ok too… but who cares when it looks this good. Thank god this is not a dead art form.
4 Stars
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
The opportunity to make an exciting dark psychological thriller here is sadly wasted on a dumbed down joyless ugly cliche for 15 yr old fanboys. The bar has been set way too high for this.
2 Stars
Wanna be my Netflix friend? Click here:
http://www.netflix.com/BeMyFriend/PmzrQcDhoaLYHM0oKBu0
Check out One Second Movie Reviews Part 15 here:
http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/movies/one-second-movie-reviews-part-15/
Wanna know what’s going to be avail to steam on Netflix? Check these guys out:
http://www.streamingsoon.com/
I could not sleep for days after Coraline. THE EYES. THE EYES.
January 5, 2010 at 12:22 pmCale, I completely agree with Electroma. Good call on Futurama and Adventureland.
Some recent ratings:
Ballast – Small, arrestingly shot indie about broken family in rural Mississippi. 4 stars.
Sons of Anarchy, Season 1 – Not as good as The Shield, but satisfying nonetheless. 4 stars.
La Dolce Vita – After reviewing Nine, I decided to revisit the Fellini I watched a while back. This is among my favorites, with a fantastic central performance. Over-dubbing can be annoying. 4 stars.
Extract – Mike Judge never knows how to end his comedies. 2 stars.
Touchez Pas Au Grisbi – Elegant French thriller with a corny climax. Does not hold up like Melville. 3 stars.
Wings of Desire – Beautifully shot movie that inspired City of Angels. Highly recommended. 5 stars.
The Big Red One – Episodic WW2 yarn starring Lee Marvin and Mark Hamill. Damn good portrayal of war’s dehumanization. 4 stars.
Cheri – Stephen Frears directed this Collette adaptation starring Michelle Pfeiffer. Pretty but forgettable. Made me curious to read the book. 3 stars.
The Cove – Fucking fantastic documentary about dolphin slaughter in Japan. Feels like a thriller. 5 stars.
Advise and Consent – Strange political thriller starring Henry Fonda. Think of it a time capsule, and you’ll enjoy it more. 4 stars.
Wings of the Dove – A foregone conclusion keeps this James adaptation from having a strong impact. 3 stars.
Ivan’s Childhood – Early Tarkovsky, with beautiful cinematography and a great performance from a child. 4 stars.
January 5, 2010 at 12:26 pmhere are mine from fairly recent:
The Good Son – not bad. That Caulkin kid is a way creepier fuck up than he was a cute kid.
15 Minutes – decent action flick and DeNiro actually dies in a movie.
Slam Bang – started it, lasted 10 second.
The Take – surprisingly good albeit the ending was a bit unbelievable. Rosie Perez just gets uglier and uglier doesn’t she? She’s like the hispanic version of Kathy Bates.
The Usual Suspects – enough said. Only complaint is Soze holding his .45 like a gangsta.
The Dead Zone – even with Christopher Walken this movie is too dated. Was it made for TV? Stopped halfway.
Evil – really good Swedish coming of age flick.
The Constant Gardener – not bad, not great.
Flawless – was surprised by this one. Quite good.
Brother’s Keeper – be glad you weren’t born one of the brothers.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow – shut up. I like it.
Used Cars – fuckin’ 80s goodness.
Every Which Way But Loose – a billion stars of course.
Draining Lizards – started it, lasted 17 seconds. Stopped it.
The Mutant Chronicles – eh, it was ok. Ron Perlman is always fun to watch.
Geronimo, an American Legend – hollywoodized but good flick. It’s got Hackman and Duvall.
No Good Deed – Samuel Jackson plays Cello and Milla is bangin’
Dogfight – cute Vietnam-era love story with River Phoenix and an ugly chick.
Breaker Morant – Alan and I are probably the only two who’d appreciate this.
187 – Samuel Jackson goes apeshit and kills highschoolers. Awesome.
Maybe I’ll write up what I watched pre-Christmas next.
January 5, 2010 at 12:36 pmI just watched Breaker Morant. Really good movie – like A Few Good Men, except with more cynicism and stiff upper lips. Thanks for the recommendation, Michael.
January 11, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Big Man Japan – huge stars. Coraline – creepy as fuck. I mean who can watch this and not cringe thinking about having buttons sewn in place of their eyeballs? Also big ups. It totally killed it.
January 5, 2010 at 12:10 pm