Netflix 2016 - Cinema Crespodiso

Netflix pick for 9/19/16 – ‘Beverly Hills Cop’

As heard in episode 193 of Cinema Crespodiso.

By 1984, Eddie Murphy was already extremely popular, having been credited with saving the then-fledgling Saturday Night Live television program and having appeared in prominent co-starring roles alongside Nick Nolte in “48 Hrs.” and Dan Ackroyd in “Trading Places,” but when one of the most popular R-rated movies of all time came out called “Beverly Hills Cop,” Murphy was elevated instantly to worldwide mega star.

Everyone loved this action-comedy tale of Detroit PD Detective Axel Foley going to Beverly Hills, California to track down the people who murdered his friend, and ruffling many uptight feathers along the way to our collective delight. It became the highest grossing movie of 1984, and remained the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time until “The Matrix Reloaded” came out almost twenty years later. And it is launched two sequels and a plethora of Eddie Murphy movies for years to come.

Netflix pick for 9/12/16 – ‘Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World’

As heard in episode 192 of Cinema Crespodiso.

Comedian Albert Brooks has only directed seven feature length theatrical motion pictures during his decades-long career, and the most recent of these movie is “Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World,” released in 2005 in limited screens and to mixed reviews. Making far less than its budget at the box office, this comedy came and went without much of a blip on the old cultural radar, which means most likely you reading this now have yet to see this particular film. Obviously, I am here to tell you that this is exactly what you should do. The time is perfect to discover this little movie that went largely unnoticed but now just sits around waiting for someone to click on it.

In “Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World,” Brooks pretty much plays himself, albeit a version of himself that would be asked by the United States government to do something, anything, as opposed to real life, in which they probably wouldn’t ask him to do anything other than a couple of USO gigs. In this movie, the State Department deploys him to India with two handlers and a small budget, along with orders to whip up a 500-page document on what makes Muslims laugh. Brooks takes the job, heads to India, and of course cultural misunderstandings and clashes ensue.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 9/5/16 – ‘Big Trouble In Little China’

As heard in episode 191 of Cinema Crespodiso.

“Big Trouble In Little China” is a crazy 1986 fantasy action movie that takes place in the insane underworld of San Francisco’s Chinatown, which includes magic, monsters, battles of energy and light beams and just general nuttiness. The fact that this is directed by John Carpenter and stars Kurt Russell makes it all that much better.

Initially conceived as a Western by the original screenwriters and then updated to a modern setting by a mandate from 20th Century Fox, John Carpenter was eventually brought on as a hired gun director due to his ability to work quickly, coming from the low budget indie movie world. Carpenter, for his part, saw a chance to take $25 million studio dollars and use it to make a martial arts movie, something he wanted to check off his bucket list. All of these decisions resulted in a film that was rushed into production (in order to beat “The Golden Child” to theaters) and left critics divided and audiences underwhelmed, and Fox lost money and Carpenter became disillusioned with the whole studio movie making system.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 8/29/16 – ‘Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry’

As heard in episode 190 of Cinema Crespodiso.

From 1974, “Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry” is in that genre of car chase movies that were all the rage in the 1970’s, a genre that Quentin Tarantino himself played in relatively recently with “Death Proof,” and it features a supremely charismatic Peter Fonda as a getaway driver in a heist gone right, save for the part where they get away clean. Playing Larry, the aspiring (and crazy) NASCAR driver, he orchestrates a robbery of a supermarket with his engineer buddy, but when they try to get away they find they have a new partner in crime, (presumably dirty) Mary, played by Susan George, and you may be asking well who the hell is Mary and I am here to tell you that Mary is Larry’s one-night stand from the night before and he was just gonna dip out on her but she tracked him down and decided she was going to stick around.

So they try to ditch her and she proves very resilient. Meanwhile, the cops are getting closer and closer to them, and their window for a clean getaway gets smaller and smaller.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 8/22/16 – ‘Lethal Weapon’

As heard in episode 189 of Cinema Crespodiso.

“Lethal Weapon” is a 1987 buddy cop action comedy from Richard Donner, who directed the original “Superman: The Movie“, off a screenplay from new hot shot on the block screenwriting whiz kid named Shane Black, and packed with established actors either continuing their rises or using this movie to get back on track, and to top it all off, it is set during Christmas, which makes this a fun yuletide double feature along with “Die Hard.”

Featuring Mel Gibson way back before he had that shall we politely call it public relations disaster that has pretty much stained him forever it would seem (though with several new projects either in the works or already out, he appears to be on the verge of something of a comeback), “Lethal Weapon” soars on the strength of the rapport between Gibson’s overly competent yet depressed and suicidal Martin Riggs and Danny Glover’s on the verge of retirement Roger “I’m too old for this shit” Murtaugh, as they start the film in typical “buddy cop movie” fashion as anything other than buddies, and they slowly yet surely gain respect for each other as the work to solve the case of the deal girl and how she is connected to a government backed drug dealing operation gone native.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 8/15/16 – ‘The Princess Bride’

As heard in episode 188 of Cinema Crespodiso.

“The Princess Bride” is a romantic fantasy comedy action drama from 1987 and if that makes your head spin, it should. In this movie, a supposedly immortal pirate contends with a swordsman, a giant, rodents of unusual size, shrieking eels, torture machines, pits of despair, fire swamps, a six-fingered man, a dastardly prince, all in the name of true love, and damn it all to hell if it just doesn’t all come together as one of the most satisfying movies ever.

First off, this movie has Andre the Giant in it, and that is reason enough to watch this thing. That dude was for real one of a kind, and this movie makes great use of his physique and natural charm and works as a great showcase for who this guy was and why he captured the minds and hearts of so many people for so many years. Plus other folks in this movie like Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon and Christopher Guest do some of their best work ever, and at one moment legends Billy Crystal and Carol Kane pop up to add the extra little bit of oomph to the whole thing. Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 8/8/16 – ‘Major League’

As heard in episode 187 of Cinema Crespodiso.

“Major League” is a sports comedy from 1989 about a fake version of the Cleveland Indians and following them in one season as they go from those lovable losers to a team of winners (that’s how you know this is all fiction). An old washed-up catcher has to help wrangle a team which includes an ex-con, a voodoo practitioner, a prima donna veteran already thinking of life after baseball, an old cheating pitcher, and Wesley Snipes, and they of course have problems with each other at first but then learn to get along and also winning helps, which they start doing, and if you’ve seen any sports dramas or comedies from the last few decades, then you already know where this one is going to end up.

(They can’t all have the same gumption and guts as “Little Big League.”) Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 8/1/16 – ‘The Big Short’

As heard in episode 186 of Cinema Crespodiso.

“The Big Short” was one of the surprise movies of 2015, an ensemble drama with streaks of dark comedy slashed throughout it, focusing on the lead up to the big financial meltdown of 2007 and 2008 triggered by the subprime loan market and investors betting against bad mortgages, brought to life by the director of “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” and “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” and right when no one was looking, BAM, this thing came out with a wallop, making an impression by telling a complicated story in an entertaining and accessible fashion and also doing so with not only humor but a sense of righteous anger at those many people responsible for letting such a good thing turn into such a nightmarish shit show.

Of course, since we are talking about Adam McKay we should remember he also directed “The Other Guys,” a movie in which the ultimate villain was a “Too Big To Fail” bank that didn’t pay for its crimes while some fall guy took the blame, and then the final credits are used to make a presentation on the rising income and wealth inequality in America. So in hindsight the trajectory makes sense.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 7/25/16 – ‘Eyes Wide Shut’

As heard in episode 185 of Cinema Crespodiso.

“Eyes Wide Shut” is the final masterpiece from history’s greatest filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick. High praise indeed, but well deserved. The 1990s saw a bit of a boom in sexual thrillers in mainstream cinema, but instead of going the trashy route like most movies of the time (see: “Basic Instinct,” “Sliver,” “Rising Sun,” “Striptease,” “Showgirls” and so on), Kubrick delivered a movie more interested in the psychological ramifications of a man confronted with cracks in his marriage and seeking out sexual solace in the dark underground of New York City, accidentally stumbling across a secret society that wants very much to remain secret, due to all the creepy shit they get into.

And being a 90s movie, “Eyes Wide Shut” retains those classic Kubrickian touches, the shot compositions and visual storytelling, but gets to feature a movie star couple in the form of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, together at the time in real life, hence bringing that real emotion into their roles, and it all works really well. Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 7/18/16 – ‘Best of Enemies’

As heard in episode 184 of Cinema Crespodiso.

“Best Of Enemies” is a documentary about a two-week series of televised debated staged around the 1968 Republican and Democratic National Conventions, and these debates were between two thought leaders of the era – National Review founder and right wing commentator and author William F. Buckley Jr., and left wing commentator and author of books and essays Gore Vidal. These two men had seemingly diametrically opposed ideologies as well as similar capacities for oration, and these debates quickly became must see television during a time before “must see television” was even a phrase people used, and also ended up having a much more significant impact on television news media than anyone could have ever anticipated.

And best of all, this documentary is super entertaining to watch thanks to great editing of all that 1968 footage and how they really developed and explained the political and cultural climate at the time, one that people will find seems quite similar to what we have going on right now.Continue Reading …