Netflix pick for 9/14/15 – ‘The Homesman’

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“The Homesman” is a 2014 Western, directed by Tommy Lee Jones, starring Hillary Swank (among others), and it deals with the aspects of living in the Old West that a lot of other Westerns choose to ignore: the hardships, the loneliness, the desperate fight to survive against the elements, hostile people, illness, and just general bad luck, it was no picnic in the middle of America in the middle of the 1800s, yet people were out there and they had to survive. This particular movie is about how two people band together to help transport three mentally ill women across an unforgiving landscape so they can get some help. Simple yet effective.

From my original review of “The Homesman” from December 2014:

Tommy Lee Jones and Hillary Swank are both pretty fantastic in this movie, and the rest of the cast is filled with great, reliable actors like John Lithgow, James Spader, Meryl Streep, William Fichtner and Tim Blake Nelson, and some other roles are played by young, very promising actors like Jesse Plemons and Hailee Steinfeld, so there is no shortage of excellent acting. Tommy Lee Jones has a very simple and effective directorial style, no flashy moves or anything, just straightforward storytelling accompanied by excellent cinematography from Rodrigo Prieto. This is a well made movie in pretty much every way, it has some uncomfortable moments, some comedy, some tragedy, unexpected turns, and a poetic ending, and it all works pretty damn well.

Damn well is right. This is a strong movie, very simple but very effective, and I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed it.

See for yourself right here on the Netflix Instant.

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Netflix pick for 9/8/15 – ‘Bound’

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The Wachowskis had to start somewhere. Before “Sense8” and “Cloud Atlas” and “The Matrix,” right after the Wachowskis got their start in the Hollywood machine via screenwriting, they managed to put together their $6 million directorial debut in 1996, and this bad ass little movie is called “Bound” and it is damn good.

With tons of style and made with the sophistication of people who have been directing for decades, “Bound” is a tight crime thriller about the girlfriend of a mob guy falling for the new lady next door and getting her new lover to agree to rip off this guy to the tune of $2 million in straight cash money. With a fine tuned plot and enough tension to make Alfred Hitchcock sit up and take notice, this is a fun, over-the-top violent and rather sexually progressive film (though should anyone expect anything less from the Wachowskis?). Starring Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon and Joe Pantoliano all doing awesome work, you are going to love this movie (if you don’t already).Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 8/31/15 – ‘The Blues Brothers’

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This pick is for the kids, cause someone has to tell them about Jake and Elwood Blues, also known as “The Blues Brothers.” A mixture of comedy, musical, road movie and with a couple of car chases thrown in for good measure, this is a crazy movie with awesome scenes featuring awesome music and legendary musicians, as well as Princess Leia firing automatic weapons on the lover who spurned her. This movie is nothing short of fabulous and the kids need to know! We need to tell them! Watch this classic film!

A simple set up, it is astounding how much mileage they get out of this thing. Jake and Elwood (John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd) reunite when Jake gets out of Joliet Prison and when they find out that the orphanage that raised them is about to shut down because of a lack of money, they decide to get the band back together so they can raise the money to save the place. A plot that has been used countless times in many forms throughout the years, but the only time this plot has ever been infused with James Brown, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin. Amazing music, a great cast, Illinois Nazis, John Candy leading a bunch of cops, this movie has it all, don’t you see?Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 8/24/15 – ‘Joe’

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From 2013, “Joe” is the story of a man learning how to love again. But not in that way. In a more general, “oh yeah, there are feelings other than anger” kind of way. This man is Joe, and his portrayed by Nicolas Cage, and in this instance, this is a good thing.

A tale of broken families and downtrodden people, raging against their small, tumultuous worlds, where only the youthful have even a chance of getting out if only because they have still have some time. But it’ll run out soon enough. It always does.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 8/17/15 – ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’

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“The Wolf of Wall Street” is a wild movie, maybe one of Scorsese’s most over the top and insane in terms of style and story. DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort, a Wall Street douche of the highest order, a financial villain, just one of the lousiest people ever, a man who had no problem with stealing from as many people as possible just so he could pay for his own over the top lifestyle, and he’s just pretty much the worst person. So why would you want to watch a whole movie about this guy? Because it was made by Martin Scorsese! That should be reason enough! But also the fact that it is a great movie should get you to queue this up right away.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 8/3/15 – ‘The Killer’

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From 1989, “The Killer” is a hugely influential Hong Kong action movie, itself influenced by master filmmakers Martin Scorsese and Jean Pierre-Melville and their respective films “Mean Streets” and “Le Samourai,” and not only did this movie establish John Woo as a director of note, but it also went on to inspire people like Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino to push the action movie genre as far as it would go.

Starring Chow Yun Fat, “The Killer” is the story of a professional hitman who accidentally blinded a girl in a public shoot out, and develops a serious sense of remorse for his actions. So he helps this girl as she grows up without ever letting on that he was the one responsible for her blindness. And when she has the opportunity to undergo a procedure that would restore her sight, he takes on “one last job” in order to secure the money needed for this surgery.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 7/27/15 – ‘Mission: Impossible’

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The series of films based on the popular 1960’s television series “Mission: Impossible” might be best known for two things: first off, this was the series that got Tom Cruise doing his own stunts in action movies in earnest, as his performed most of his own stunts in this movie in order to save money and also because everyone recognized that the scenes just looked better with the actual main actor in there instead of shooting around stuntmen. And secondly, being produced by Cruise himself, this franchise of films has the distinction of being the series of movies with the best directors possible. John Woo, J.J. Abrams, Brad Bird, Tom Cruise always goes after the best to help make his movies a reality. And that started with the very first “Mission: Impossible,” which was directed by the one and only Brian De Palma.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 7/21/15 – ‘A Most Wanted Man’

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In 2014, Philip Seymour Hoffman was the lead in what would turn out to be one of the last films of his frustratingly shortened career, and it also turned out to be one of his finer performances.

In “A Most Wanted Man,” we get a wonderfully disheveled and world weary Hoffman as a German intelligence officer tasked with making inroads in the battle against Islamic-based terrorism, and it is a pleasure to watch him navigate the tricky waters of international espionage and global terrorism.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 7/14/15 – ‘The Legend of Drunken Master’

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Some of you may be too young to know this, and some of you may be too old to remember, but the 90’s was kind of a worldwide coming out party for kung fu cinema. Having been born in earnest in the 1970’s in China, these “chop sockey” action flicks saw pale imitators crop up in America in the 80’s before we just finally started the importing the straight dope from Asia to our shores.

By the time the late 90’s rolled around, Chinese kung fu stars like Jet Li and Jackie Chan were getting roles in American movies like “Lethal Weapon 4” and “Rush Hour,” and no longer did we need non-Asian counterparts to pretend to martial arts masters in our movies. We finally got the real thing. One of the movies that helped make this transition happen was 1994’s “The Legend of Drunken Master.”Continue Reading …