Netflix Challenge: We're under 20

SNL: The Best of Dan Aykroyd
An excellent reminder of the genius of Dan Aykroyd, whose sketches hold up better than many of his SNL contemporaries of 35 years ago: Irwin Mainway and his dangerous Halloween costumes (Invisible Pedestrian); Fred Garvin, the nerdy male prostitute serving the entire Quad Cities area; pitch man for the Bass-O-Matic 76; and the list goes on.






Goodbye Solo
Director Ramin Bahrani's critically acclaimed film about Solo, a Senegalese cab driver in Winston-Salem, N.C., who takes it upon himself to prevent an old man from committing suicide. A great, great movie that lets you take a peek into modern immigrant culture in America, far away from the big cities. Plus, Red West, a key figure in Elvis' "Memphis Mafia," plays the old man.




The Messenger
A tough-to-watch drama about two soldiers assigned to the casualty notification unit. Amazing movie with great performances by Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster, but I'm glad it's no longer on the queue.





Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
I'm ashamed to say I didn't know very much about Hunter Thompson, this documentary rectifies that. Features interviews with Jimmy Carter and Jimmy Buffett, not to mention readings by Johnny Depp.




Shanghai Kiss
Based on the poster that features a big picture of Hayden Panettiere, I thought this was going to be horrible. It wasn't. In fact, she's barely in it, and the movie is pretty interesting.

Despite what the poster implies, the film is actually about a Chinese-American actor in Los Angeles, suffering in his career due to Asian stereotypes in the industry. He does have a weird, unhealthy relationship with a teen girl (Panettiere) who obsesses over him. When his grandmother dies and leaves him her home in Shanghai, he visits China for a view days just to sell off the place and make some cash. Instead, he meets a nice Chinese girl and finds himself longing to reconnect with his ancestry.

According to Wikipedia, this went straight to DVD. It's better than that.



16 titles still remain...

Netflix Challenge: European, I'm-a-peeing

In an attempt to cleanse myself of this Oscar mess, I crawled back into the loving arms of heady European cinema.

First, it was the 1929 Luis Buñuel/ Salvador Dalí collaboration, Un Chien Andalou. Sixteen minutes of surrealist goodness -- razors to eyeballs, ants crawling on hands. Fun!

Then, it was on to one of my all-time favorites, Jean Luc Godard's masterpiece, À bout de souffle (Breathless). It's an important film in the history of cinema for many reasons, but if it were nothing more than just 90 minutes of staring at Jean Seberg, I'd still love it. She's a 1960s intercontinental American Dream.

Take a look:







21 to go!

Crud

It's taken a week for me to get to a place where I can write about it, but Carolina won Oscar Smackdown XII.

She had a great night, correctly picking 21 out of 24 categories. That's impressive and I graciously congratulate her.

On the flip side, I had what can only be described as an average night for a genius like me. I hit 16 out of 24 categories -- not great, but good enough to beat Roger Ebert and win a free, three-month subscription to this arthouse movie site, MUBI.com. I'll take it.

For her efforts, Carolina won The King's Speech-themed first place prize package featuring a King George Harrison iTunes card, a bottle of London Pride beer, a tube of UK-made McVittie's Hob Nob biscuits and tea.

I took home the Social Network loser prize featuring a box of Sour Patch Kids, a bottle of He'Brew Messiah Bold beer and a Napster card.

I'll get over it.