Netflix pick for 2/16/15 – ‘Indie Game: The Movie’

indie-game-the-movie-poster

You know what always has potential to be interesting? A documentary about a person spanning a long length of time and covering all the aspects of a specific journey. This always has great potential for drama, for heartbreak, and for triumph, and there is some satisfaction to be derived from seeing the work put into capturing a full journey like that, even if it spans years, and how the final outcome can end up being so affecting and fascinating.

In “Indie Game: The Movie,” some filmmakers followed several different game developers, all of them working on their different projects, all of them hoping to make a successful game that people will want to play, hence validating their months, if not years, worth of effort and work. Each game developer has their own personality, and the ways they go about achieving their goals, and the little differences in their goals, are very fascinating and fun to watch. And even if you don’t like video games, you will like this documentary because it is a real look at real people putting it all on the line, trying to make it happen, trying to achieve success their own way, and it all ends up being pretty awesome.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 2/9/15 – ‘The Station Agent’

Station-Agent“The Station Agent” is almost like an American version of a Dardenne brothers movie, as the plot revolves around characters who come across as real people, and the way their relationships evolve and the way their viewpoints and ideas change throughout the movie feel very life-like and real, and the whole movie rings true, even as the story gets a little weird and different, it is still great and wonderful and truthful.

The directing debut of writer/director Thomas McCarthy, this movie shows the promise and potential that he would go on to fulfill with his follow up films “The Visitor” and “Win/Win,” and all three of these movies make for a great triple feature of humor, drama and just real people. Featuring a stellar performance from the great Peter Dinklage, years before he would become most peoples’ favorite character on HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” the way this movie progresses and how the story unfolds is just great to witness, and there is a confidence in the direction and storytelling that brings it all home and makes it really work. “The Station Agent” is a great movie, one you will definitely enjoy, and one you should get on sooner rather than later because it is worth it.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 2/2/2015 – ‘Ernest Saves Christmas’

ErnestSavesChristmasMoviePoster

What better way to celebrate the month of February than a Christmas movie from 1988? More specifically, one involving a buffoonish character born from the world of regional television commercials who then went on to have a string of movies centered around him, including this one about finding a new Santa Claus. Even more specifically, I am talking about “Ernest Saves Christmas.”

A really smart person once wrote about “Ernest Saves Christmas:”

The movie is competently made, so there is no awkward camera work, bad lighting or overly bad acting. Whether or not the humor works for you is something else all together. There is definitely comedic gold when Ernest pretends to be someone else. Worrell seems to be some sort of idiot savant when it comes to disguises, especially since they work each and every time. The rest of the Ernest humor comes from his “wacky” slapstick, some of it funny and some of it not. There are a decent number of scenes dedicated to Chuck and Bobby, the Airport storage agents, who get sufficiently freaked out by the reindeer but then oddly get adjusted to them very quickly. The final scene of the movie hints that maybe a spin off movie (or TV series) could have been made of Chuck and Bobby dealing with various holiday -related icons come to life, but alas that will forever be a dream. The movie is simple and predictable but also kind of sweet and endearing, and as far as Christmas movies go, you could do a whole helluva lot worse.

Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 1/27/15 – ‘Punch-Drunk Love’

punch-drunk-love

From the star of “Jack and Jill” and the director of “Boogie Nights” comes a romantic comedy about a designer plunger manufacturer, a mattress salesman, a phone sex line, a tiny broken piano, seven domineering sisters, pudding cups and frequent flyer miles. “Punch-Drunk Love” is by design much closer to the rom-coms of Billy Wilder than the ones we get today, and as such, it still holds up as a fantastic movie about love and building a new and exciting relationship.

Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) is a nice guy, just another business owner trying to make it in this country, and he’s perfectly fine with being left alone to his own devices, which bothers his sisters. One of his sisters tries to set him up with a friend of hers (Emily Watson) and the two of them awkwardly manage to hit it off in a way that gives Barry a little bit of hope, that he may too have a loving relationship and someone who can see past his social anxiety to the helpless, loving person underneath. In this movie, P.T. Anderson pretty much takes the man-child character that Sandler plays so well over and over in his broad comedies, and he applies the same persona in his more “serious” romantic comedy, one that relies much more on characterization than it does on poop jokes, and it works brilliantly.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 1/19/15 – ‘Galaxy Quest’

galaxy_quest_poster

Loved by audiences, critics, Trekkies and actual “Star Trek” cast members, “Galaxy Quest” is one of those very rare spoof movies that actually works from start to finish. Satirizing not only the science fiction television shows and movies but also the culture and fandom that cropped up around them, this is a great sci-fi action comedy that actually has a little bit of pathos as well, making it an easy to like, enjoyable movie.

In “Galaxy Quest,” a tv show of the same name was very popular in the 1970s, and almost twenty years after it went off the air, the show and its cast were both still incredibly popular. The cast, played by folks like Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver, act nice to the fans but they resent the success of the show and how they can’t eclipse their own roles. But when an alien race who doesn’t understand the concept of fiction recruits the Galaxy Quest team to help them against an invading force a la “The Three Amigos” and “Seven Samurai,” these folks find themselves thrust into the middle of an adventure worthy of one of their show’s episodes. This movie is funny and smart, all the actors kill it, and there are even some great practical alien effects from the late, great Stan Winston. And then when they get to the end of the movie, you realize that actually snuck in a genuine, emotional little story in there as well that works great, giving this goofy satire an admirably sentimental little button. Basically, if you can’t get with this movie, there’s really nothing we can do for you. You are officially dead inside.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 1/12/15 – ‘ESPN Films 30 for 30: July 17, 1994’

july171994

From the director behind the great Robert Evans’ documentary “The Kid Stays in the Picture” comes one of these awesome little sports documentaries that ESPN has commissioned in recent years, and this one in particular stands out among the rest because of its interesting and unique style, and this little 30 minute documentary is called “July 17, 1994.”

What makes this short film different from the rest is the approach to telling the events of that fateful day, which is to say that the whole thing is just news clips and previously unreleased media footage of all of these different events that happened all in the same day. Not only did golfing legend Arnold Palmer play his last round of pro golf that day, not only was it the start of the 1994 World Cup in Chicago, not only did that day feature an NBA Finals game between the New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets as well as a ticker tape parade in NYC celebrating the New York Rangers’ Stanley Cup win, but more weirdly and memorably and infamously, that was the day O.J. Simpson sat in the back of a white Ford Bronco and engaged in an hours long low-speed police pursuit through the highways of Los Angeles, fresh off the accusations of his alleged murdering of his wife and her friend.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 1/5/15 – ‘Nebraska’

nebraskaPoster

Nominated for a slew of awards when it came out last year, “Nebraska” is another fine entry in the great body of work of Alexander Payne. Featuring a great Bruce Dern performance, wonderful black and white photography, and a great little story about family and love and dreams and regrets, this is a film definitely worth watching.

From my original review of “Nebraska:”

In classic Alexander Payne fashion (even though he did not write this screenplay), this movie bounces back and forth between humorous and melancholy, often times within the space of one scene. And the black and white photography is almost like cheating when it comes to heightening the drama of the movie. When everything is in black and white multiple shades of gray like this, everything becomes more dramatic naturally, and it actually makes this little movie seem a little bigger and more profound. Beautiful, natural photography coupled with a strong little character-based story and brought to life by great acting makes “Nebraska” a very good movie.

Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 12/29/14 – ‘The Double’

TheDouble_Poster

“The Double” is a crazy little psychological thriller sorta comedy drama about an introvert who meets his exact double in appearance and physical features but who is also his complete opposite in personality and temperament. Featuring Jesse Eisenberg in the two roles, this is a wonderfully weird and interesting film about identity and the different ways we interact with each other.

From my original review from the 2014 Florida Film Festival:

What really sets this movie apart, besides from two great Jesse Eisenberg performances in one movie, polar opposite characters that he is able to portray so well, is the incredible sense of tone and style that Richard Ayoade uses to convey Simon James’ off balanced world, a world which consumes him in rumbling sounds and dirty grey walls, flickering lights and incredibly shitty service, a dark, desolate, depressing city, mostly populated seemingly with octogenarians, and also, I may be mistaken about this, but now that I think about, I don’t even remember one scene set in the daylight. It’s all indoors or outside at night. Gloomy, bleak and depressing as it gets. I mean, really, who has a funeral at midnight? Besides weirdos. And death romantics. (again, weirdos).

Huge chunks of the movie get played out without dialogue as well, which gives it kind of a silent film kind of quality (though there are plenty of sounds and music, etc, not REALLY silent film) – really this is cinema at its most basic, as a lot of character development is derived from just watching a person do something, the way he lives his life, without having to include a bunch of dialogue and exposition, and it is great to watch when someone does it well like here in “The Double.”

Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 12/22/14 – ‘House of Flying Daggers’

house_of_flying_daggers_poster

Zhang Yimou is one of China’s most famous and maybe one of their best film directors, as he has made his fair share of lush, gorgeous, impeccably directed films with only the biggest Chinese movie stars available. Following up his hugely successful and internationally loved 2002 kung fu epic “Hero” is another intricately designed and gorgeous kung film, the 2004 “House of Flying Daggers.”

Starring Zhang Ziyi and Andy Lau, “House of Flying Daggers” is about a rebel group living in a bamboo forest up against the imperial government of the time. But really it is a love story about the group’s sexy, blind leader (Ziyi) and a police captain who fakes being a rebel himself in order to infiltrate their group, only to fall head over heels for this strong and sexy vixen. So now this guy has to figure out to whom he is loyal, his fellow agents of the government, or with the leader of the rebels who his has been tasked with killing? So while this is still a big martial arts epic, it is also an intimate love story, which makes it good for the dudes AND for the ladies. Can’t go wrong there.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 12/15/14 – ‘Infernal Affairs’

infernal_affairs

The movie that served as the basis for the Academy Award winning film by Martin Scorsese “The Departed,” “Infernal Affairs” is a 2002 Chinese crime drama that was a mega hit in China, initially propelled by star power and then gaining sustained success thanks to being a well made movie. Obviously “Infernal Affairs” is good because it inspired not only several sequels in China, but the aforementioned extremely popular American remake. Whether or not you have seen “The Departed,” it is definitely worth your time to see where this all started.

Inspector Lau (Andy Lau) is one of the best police officers in his department and is well regarded by his higher ups, which allows him to sneak around and be the mole that he is for a local triad (Chinese organized crime). While working for the police, he leaks information to his real boss, who uses this info to evade arrest. But Lau has a problem and so does the triad in the form of undercover police officer Chen (Tony Leung), a cop who managed to infiltrate the mob and who is leaking information back to the police. Both men are tasked with finding out who the other mole is, and the entire movie is a twisty cat and mouse game as both Lau and Chen try to find the mole while trying not to get found out themselves. It is a great set up and the story is told well, with a bunch of twists and turns that keep things moving and exciting.

The movie jumps right into the story and does not spend much time farting around, instead getting deeper and deeper into this quagmire of a situation, with both characters steadily coming closer and closer to complete ruin. This film gets tense, it is fun to watch and after seeing it you can see why someone like Martin Scorsese would do a remake of it because it just comes across as a fun story.Continue Reading …