Netflix Instant Pick of the Week - 12/17/12

Cleanflix

From my original review posted on Examiner.com (found here):

"Cleanflix is a crazy documentary about the insane practice of editing movies and reselling them to the “family values” market. Starting up in Utah and quickly spreading throughout the Midwest, savvy businessmen realized that there was a large market of people who wanted to watch rated-R films but without all the dang cussing and sex and violence in them. Basically, they wanted to take out all the stuff that makes the movie rated-R in the first place. After all, a respectable family is the one that sits all the kids down for a sanitized viewing of The Big Lebowski (click here for an idea of why a censored version of The Big Lebowski is so funny)."

This is a fascinating documentary, one that I saw through the Florida Film Festival a couple of years ago, and I am glad to see it here available for easy, mass consumption. Because this story is crazy and people need to know about it.

Watch it Instantly right here on Netflix!

Netflix Instant Pick of the Week - 12/10/12

 Glengarry Glen Ross

Okay, this one isn't some sort of hidden gem or unknown masterpiece or hipster choice of the week, this is the one and only Glengarry Glen Ross, which is a heralded and well known movie.

But it IS twenty years old, almost drinking age, and since this movie was released, many things have happened, the world has changed in GREAT ways, and a whole new generation has been born into this post-Glengarry Glen Ross world. So sometimes certain things bear repeating, and this is one of those things.

Watch Glengarry Glen Ross.

There, I said it. This is initially aimed at the youngings, those in the early 20s and youngers, the people too young to have seen the movie upon release and who haven't had a chance to see it yet. Hey, it happens, I understand. No one is judging here. This is your chance to see an excellent reason as to why people actually give a shit about that old dude Al Pacino, or Kevin Spacey for that matter. And you may be surprised to see a svelte Alec Baldwin, doing back then what he does best now - being a charismatic blowhard (albeit for one scene only, but oh what a scene). And there's this old guy in it named Jack Lemmon, and while it's no big deal to a whipper snapper like you since you don't even know who he was, just be advised that this performance from Mr. Lemmon was kind of a big deal, and his portrayal of sad sack Shelly "The Machine" Levine was something of a revelation to legions of admirers, fans and followers.

And for those of you, who have seen this movie, why not revisit it? When was the last time you even saw it? Back when it came out? Twenty years ago? Do you really remember the great lyricism and sing-songy quality of David Mamet's dialogue, being expertly and precisely spit out by actors of the highest order? Do you remember Ed Harris's tough exterior but insecure on the inside performance? Alan Arkin stumbling and bumbling around, oblivious to his surroundings? Pacino just killing it as the office hot shot? That aforementioned Baldwin walk on? Come on, this this is worth watching again.

So watch Glengarry Glen Ross right here on the Netflix Instant.

Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 12/3/12

Sexy Beast

From 2001, Sexy Beast is an insane crime drama, made insane by a blistering, electric, white hot performance from Sir Ben Kingsley, who got himself an Oscar nomination for acting with a role that is the exact opposite of the one he won an Oscar for twenty years prior, that of Mohandas Gandhi. Here in Sexy Beast, Kingsley plays Don Logan, an extremely violent and vitriolic sociopath of a mobster who is deadset on recruiting this one particular guy for this one particular job. The problem for Don is that this guy is retired and living the life of Riley in Spain, so Don has to crash this dude's house, impose himself on this guy, and then try to force him to come back to London to do a job. This is a well-made movie, featuring great English actors like Ian McShane and Ray Winstone, but no one is fooling nobody, in the end this movie is all about Sir Ben and how awesome he is in this role. So get with it and watch this now on the ole Netflix Watch Instant service.

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Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 11/26/12

Bottle Rocket

From 1996, Bottle Rocket is Wes Anderson's first feature length film, co-written and made with fellow first timers Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson, and what a way to start this gaggle of varying careers, most notably that of reluctant actor turned movie star Owen Wilson, and most interestingly that of writer/director Wes Anderson, who has carved out an incredible niche for himself in the modern movie landscape in the fact that he has developed a distinctive and what many say "quirky" style which is easily distinguishable from the rest of the crap out there (though really this is because most people don't notice that he is actually aping the cinema greats of the 1960's French New Wave movement, what with their over stylization, painstaking detail to set design, and attention to strange character details), and much of his style and quirk can be found in Bottle Rocket, which includes the use of a fantastic score penned by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh, and this great debut can be seen on the Netflix Instant so get to watching and enjoy and oh yeah James Caan is in this too so that's cool.

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Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 11/19/12

The Conversation

From 1974, The Conversation is the fantastic, award-winning thriller that Francis Ford Coppola directed between The Godfather Part II and Apocalypse Now, so to say he was in the midst of a nice run is an understatement. Featuring a world class lead performance from Gene Hackman, who was pretty much operating at the height of his powers at the time, small roles for Harrison Ford, Robert Duvall and John Cazale, and a tight story told really well, The Conversation is where its at, a great movie that is worth being talked about on the same level as Coppola's other towering works of art.

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

Headhunters

From my original Florida Film Festival 2012 movie review of Headhunters on Examiner.com:

"What makes Headhunters so good is how every scene and each piece of dialogue and every action resonates through the whole movie, as everything has a point and purpose – there isn’t a single wasted moment in this movie, it’s all information that will ultimately serve the overall picture, which keeps the movie hurtling forward pretty relentlessly and in an very entertaining way. A great central character plus a very well told story makes for a great movie, easy to recommend to anyone looking for a fun crime movie to take in."

That sells it right there, me thinks. Great story, great plotting, tight movie, it's totally worth seeing, trust me on this one (of course you trust me, why else are you even here? This is all built on TRUST).

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Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 11/05/12

Code 46

From my article "The best films you haven't seen: 4 - Code 46" on Examiner.com:

"For thought provoking and idea driven science fiction, genre-hopper Michael Winterbottom brings us Code 46, a film that explores the consequences of human modification and genetic sampling and cloning. No intergalactic space battles here. Hell, they don't even leave Earth. And there's no time travel either. It's just a story set in the future, albeit a future where people speak a language that is a mixture of English, Spanish and French, one can take Empathy Drugs so they can read people's minds, and a special law is created to prevent accidental genetic inbreeding. Guess what numerical code that law is. Go ahead, take a wild stab at it, genius." 

This is a great sci-fi tale, an interesting love story, and overall, a fantastic movie. So get with it.

Watch it Instantly right here on Netflix!

Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 10/29/12

Audition

Finishing out the horror movie centric month of October is Audition, one of the most twisted and deranged movies out there. It starts as something of a weird romantic comedy, as a widower is convinced by a friend to put on an audition for a fake movie in an effort to see a lot of single women in one shot and choose the right one to court. Of course they pick what they think is a lovely young girl, but she turns out to be something much, much more. You pretty much will never forget the last twenty minutes of this insane movie, from legendary director Takeshi Miike, master of the sublime and the horrific.

Watch it Instantly right here on Netflix!

Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 10/22/12

The Keep

From my original review on Examiner:

"That is until 1983's The Keep was made readily available on that wonderful bottomless treasure chest known as Netflix. Mann's second feature film between the bad ass Thief and the amazing Manhunter, The Keep was a critical and commercial failure upon release, and apparently Paramount was so embarrassed by it that they never even bothered releasing it on DVD. But now, 27 years later, this oddity of a film is out there for all to watch at the click of a button. And if you are a fan of Michael Mann films, you have to see what his version of a horror film looks like."

This is a strange one, not exactly great, but definitely interesting enough to check out. Plus the score by Tangerine Dream is suh-weet.

Watch it Instantly right here on Netflix!

Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 10/15/12

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

Made in 1986 but not released until 1989 because the producers didn't believe in what they had and initially felt it was not marketable, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is the kind of horror movie that many people try to make but few manage to pull off, and that's the kind of horror that is scary and intense because it feels so real and plausible - a movie that reflects the real horrors of our world can be one of the most unpleasant and unsettling things to watch, and based on a real life serial killer, the low budget, down and dirty and ultra realistic Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer will leave you feeling like you need to take a shower afterwards, because surely just watching this movie is enough to make you feel dirty, like you watched something you shouldn't have. For these reasons this is one of the most horrifying movies ever made.

Enjoy!

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Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 10/08/12

The Night of the Hunter

From Examiner Essentials installment number twenty-six:

"Like so many of the greatest films ever made, The Night of the Hunter pretty much bombed upon release. Critics did not like it, audiences stayed home in droves, and the awful reception prompted Laughton to make a vow to never direct a movie again. And this is one of the biggest travesties in cinema history - if this crazy movie was Laughton's first as a director, imagine what kind of intense films he could have made with some practice. It's not like German expressionism was huge in the 1950's. Hell, pretty much nothing German was in vogue in 1955. but Laughton took a thirty year old cinematic style and applied it to the films of his day, and the result is a weird and fairly unsettling movie.

Watch it Instantly right here on Netflix!

Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 10/1/12

Bubba Ho-Tep

From 2003, Bubba Ho-Tep is a crazy movie about old age Elvis (Bruce Campbell) and an elderly black man who thinks he's JFK (Ossie Davis) battling an ancient mummy that is feasting on the souls of the residents of an old folks home in Texas, and if that sounds ridiculous to you, it's because it is ridiculous and it is also awesome. Campbell is an amazing old Elvis, and the whole movie is taken pretty seriously, which sells the silliness and ridiculousness all the more. October means Halloween means scary movies, so this is scary movie number one for this month, I think you'll enjoy it quite a bit.

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Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 9/24/12

Battle Royale

Released in Japan in 2000, and unable to get distribution in North America for years due to it's intense, graphic, violent content, Battle Royale is the story of a class of 15-year old school kids who are forced on to an island where they must battle each other to the death until there is only one person left. This is done by the government, in an effort to curb youth crime in their country. An over correction, perhaps? This is a fantastically made movie, and it's more than just a violent spectacle, as it actually has something to say and does so simply and splendidly. Of course this movie was finally made readily available here in North America 12 years after it's release, thanks to the huge popularity of The Hunger Games, which itself bares more than one similarity to the plot of this most excellent and very popular Japanese film.

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Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 9/17/12

The Panic in Needle Park

From my original write up on Examiner.com:

"Obviously this was a big role for Pacino, and an important one, as it led directly to him getting the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather, so for that reason alone The Panic in Needle Park is a classic film worth watching, but it is also a very well made movie. The whole documentary-style approach to telling a fictional narrative has become much more popular in our current culture than it was in 1971, so this movie actually holds up very well and fits right in with the style of today, which is fascinating. And the movie has a dark yet hopeful ending, one that suggests that perhaps all is not lost between these two lovers, though it’s going to be a tough row to hoe, that’s for sure."

 Young Al Pacino in a super gritty and realistic 70s drama. How can you go wrong?

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Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 9/10/12

Days of Heaven

From 1978, Days of Heaven is Terrence Malick's second film, and what a film it is. This is the type of movie that didn't get much love when it first came out, but over the years it has become known as a classic and is one of the most critically acclaimed films of all time. Featuring lush cinematography (much of it thanks to Malick's insistence of shooting during the "magic hour"), great acting and Malick's now signature lyrical approach to storytelling, many other directors would have made a pretty rote and basic movie with this same plot, but in Malick's hands, this becomes a memorable, thoughtful and very well made movie. And of course, since this is from the 1970's, it has to have a dour ending for it's antihero, but aside from that trope, there is nothing cliche or unoriginal about this movie.

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Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 9/4/12

 Bellflower

From my original review published last year on Examiner.com:

Bellflower is one of those super intense and very personal indie films that seems to actually be a living, breathing thing, a thorough representation of a particular person’s mindset and vision, starting with a personal pain that is common and universal and pushing it into another world in the way only cinema can. The story is fairly simple in that it revolves around the lives of a group of adrift and confused twenty-somethings, and specifically one relationship that starts beautifully and of course goes completely tragic.

And now it's on the Netflix Instant, ready to show you what's up, and how a filmmaker can do so much with so little.

You can read the rest of my original review here.

Watch it Instantly right here on Netflix!

Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 8/27/12

Deep Water

Deep Water is a 2006 documentary about a yacht race around the world and the nine men who took up the challenge. In 1968, a British newspaper put up a reward for the first person to circumnavigate the globe solo in a yacht, and they had a separate prize for the person to do it the fastest. They gave a five-month window for the contestants to get started, and eight experienced sailors made their way out to sea, each alone in their own vessels, and at the very last second, a ninth inexperienced man made it out into the water with a boat he built himself, and of course this documentary focuses mostly on this final man, as his story predictably is the most interesting and crazy. But the entire race is incredibly interesting, and let's just say there is a reason why this is not a regular event. What really makes this documentary is how the newspaper gave every sailor their own camera and audio recorder, so they were able to get some incredible open sea footage and record their stir crazy thoughts that really puts us the viewer in the same mind set as the sailors, and helps us really understand how hard this task was and what they all went through. This is a fascinating film and definitely worth watching, so dig it on the Netflix.

Read my original review here.

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Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 8/20/12

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky is absolutely insane. I can not, in one mere paragraph, explain to you the violent insanity contained within these 90 minutes of Chinese jail movie magic. Shot in 1991 and based on a Japanese manga, the movie is set in the distant future of 2001, in which all prisons have become privately owned companies, allowing for rampant corruption in the penal system. Riki-Oh is sentenced to a prison run by a crooked warden and his assistant warden and four prisoners known as the Gang of Four, who exert control over the prison through violence, but they soon find out that Riki-Oh is no average prisoner. Loaded with some of the craziest fights and over-the-top grossly violent imagery that quickly and frequently extends into the world of the cartoonish, Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky is a genre classic, a cult favorite, and surprisingly well loved by the critical community. So make sure you aren't eating anything and check out this supremely screwed up movie.

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Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 8/13/12

 In the Mood for Love

From 2000, In the Mood for Love is a very lyrical and quite beautiful film about an unfulfilled love and romance, born in the face of spousal infidelity, and killed through the characters' desires to not repeat their spouses' mistakes. Made without a screenplay, this movie was formed first through the actors on the set and their different choices, and then in the editing bay when these choices were parsed out and strung together to make a very good movie. Not all movies about romance have to be dumb, empty-headed and morally depraved romantic comedies; sometimes they can be grown up and introspective movies, made for grown up people who know a good thing when they see it. So check out In the Mood for Love on the Netflix Instant, yo.

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Netflix Watch Instantly Pick of the Week - 8/6/12

Capote

In 2005, Philip Seymour Hoffman starred in the biographical film Capote, and his award winning performance in this very well made movie launched him into the next level of actorhood, a formidable professional, a force to be reckoned with, a sure fire performance regardless of surrounding circumstances, immensely reliable and likeable, even when playing bastards and straight up evil doers. It really helps that his fantastic central performance as writer Truman Capote is actually enveloped by a wonderfully made film, richly detailed and confident in its pacing and technique, with the movie itself getting some award consideration, which makes Capote really the total package. And it's the right kind of biographical film, the one that eschews simply going through the "greatest hits," so to speak, and instead focuses in a single period in a person's life, showing how that one part of their existence greatly effected the rest of their lives. And here, the portion of Truman Capote's life that involved becoming very personal and close with a convicted murderer and using their friendship as a way to make a well regarded and highly successful nonfiction book is probably the most telling about the man, the most informative about who he was and what he was after. Capote is a fantastic film, very moody and introspective and loaded with great actors doing what they do best, and it's definitely worth checking out.

Watch it Instantly Right Here on Netflix!