Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 6/25/12

 Thief


Thief is a 1981 crime drama starring James Caan and loosely based on a real-life jewel thief, and it is Michael Mann's first feature-length film. Who is Michael Mann? He's the guy who made Manhunter, The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, The Insider, Ali, Collateral, Public Enemies, and Miami Vice, both for television and film, so if you like any of those (and chances are you like most of them), you'll love Thief. It has all the typical Michael Mann-isms, like a brooding, contemporary score (here composed by Tangerine Dream, almost like a warm up to their collaboration on Blade Runner), stylish cinematography, and a story about manly men struggling with their manly ideals and professions - it's all there. Plus this movie features the first film performances for Dennis Farina, William Peterson and Jim Belushi, so that's something worth checking out as well. So get with it and check out this great, intense movie.

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Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 6/18/12

Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer

So what does a political sex scandal in New York state and the 2008 worldwide financial meltdown have in common? A helluva lot more than you think, at least as posited by Alex Gibney in his extremely well made, intelligent, entertaining and infuriating 2010 documentary, Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer. Depending on your own political views, you might find this documentary to be somewhat one-sided, but if you can put your allegiances aside for a little bit and take in the facts and actually think about them, you may find out something very interesting about the people whom we somehow put in charge of our country. Or maybe when this movie is all said and done, it was just preaching to the choir the whole time, as you nod your head in agreement with the film. But in any case, this is an excellent documentary, and very much worth watching.

Click here for my original review.

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Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 6/11/12

 The Long Goodbye

From 1973, The Long Goodbye is film making legend Robert Altman's update of the classic 1930's/1940's hard boiled noir detective story. He took classic and iconic 1940's detective fiction character Philip Marlowe and had him operate in the more cynical and twisted world of the 1970's, and what resulted is a very unique and interesting detective story, one in which the main character is seemingly out of step with the world around him and must navigate through a world of characters both familiar and different - along with the tough mob bosses and corrupt cops and hard-talkin' characters are hippies and nudists and New Age beliefs and that general 1970's malaise that was just setting in after the intense civil rights movements and Vietnam War. Featuring a great lead performance from Elliot Gould, The Long Goodbye is a fantastic film and definitely holds up as one of the best and most unique noir films ever.

Click here to read more about The Long Goodbye, and Philip Marlowe throughout cinema.

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Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 6/4/12

 The Cook The Thief His Wife & Her Lover

From 1989, The Cook The Thief His Wife & Her Lover is an insane, masterful film, both brutal and elegant at the same time, and with a loaded ending that will be near impossible for anyone to forget. The story is about oafish, inconsiderate and impulse-driven people trying to live a posh and fancy-shmancy lifestyle, and it is the very definition of putting a silk hat on a pig. The Thief (Michael Gambon) is an English mobster who runs a very posh restaurant and throws his weight around, terrorizing everyone in his sight, including his Wife (Helen Mirren), who strikes out against her abusive husband by carrying on an affair. And of course, this is all goes horribly wrong for everyone involved, leading up to the aforementioned insane ending. This movie was originally released unrated, as opposed to be slapped with an X-rating, and is now considered an NC-17 film due to copious amount of sex and nudity and brutal nature of much of the film. So get the kids and pop some popcorn cause this is one you will all remember.

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