In the meantime, I wish I had HBO so I could watch this:
It's scary, but I become more like Larry every day.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
OK, this is bullshit
After a long, fun summer away from here, it's time to finish off the Netflix Challenge tonight. No more bullshitting around. You're going down, Che, you two part, 4.5 hour biopic.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Netflix Challenge: The Final Countdown
It's been nearly 10 months since I first accepted the Netflix Challenge (Aug. 10, 2010) and I'm proud to say we're down to the final film.
At least I want it to be the final film. I'm not sure what the rule book says about this, but a few films that were initially on the 73-deep queue when the challenge was first issued (Goya's Ghosts, Manhattan Murder Mystery)but then disappeared, have now magically reappeared, while a couple of films that were in the DVD queue (Cold Souls, Tetro) have now popped up in the Instant Queue. Crap.
So, while we wait to convene a bipartisan panel to rule on whether or not the queue is down to one (Steven Soderbergh's four-hour Che) three, or five, here's the breakdown of what we've recently eliminated:
The White Ribbon
Just like director Michael Haneke's previous entry on the Netflix Challenge, Funny Games, The White Ribbon is physically draining to watch. It's also painfully German.
Chop Shop/Man Push Cart
Two great American immigrant stories from Ramin Bahrani.
Broken Embraces
It's hard to go wrong when you get to spend two hours with Penelope Cruz, including a few seconds of bare-chested Penelope Cruz, but this one definitely falls into the Pedro Almodovar-Is-Overrated category. Just not that entertaining.
The Beaches of Agnes
An autobiographical documentary by the really interesting Agnes Varda. I didn't fall asleep once!
A Nos Amours
French awesomeness from the early '80s about a young girl from a dysfunctional family blossoming into womanhood with promiscuous sex. Not sure how the French get away with filming a 16-year-old girl all naked, but they do. It's art.
Here's the trailer in French. It's more fun without the subtitles:
Hounddog
Dakota Fanning in a dark Southern tale featuring Elvis and rape. Why do we put ourselves through this shit?
Just one, three or five to go!
At least I want it to be the final film. I'm not sure what the rule book says about this, but a few films that were initially on the 73-deep queue when the challenge was first issued (Goya's Ghosts, Manhattan Murder Mystery)but then disappeared, have now magically reappeared, while a couple of films that were in the DVD queue (Cold Souls, Tetro) have now popped up in the Instant Queue. Crap.
So, while we wait to convene a bipartisan panel to rule on whether or not the queue is down to one (Steven Soderbergh's four-hour Che) three, or five, here's the breakdown of what we've recently eliminated:
The White Ribbon
Just like director Michael Haneke's previous entry on the Netflix Challenge, Funny Games, The White Ribbon is physically draining to watch. It's also painfully German.
Chop Shop/Man Push Cart
Two great American immigrant stories from Ramin Bahrani.
Broken Embraces
It's hard to go wrong when you get to spend two hours with Penelope Cruz, including a few seconds of bare-chested Penelope Cruz, but this one definitely falls into the Pedro Almodovar-Is-Overrated category. Just not that entertaining.
The Beaches of Agnes
An autobiographical documentary by the really interesting Agnes Varda. I didn't fall asleep once!
A Nos Amours
French awesomeness from the early '80s about a young girl from a dysfunctional family blossoming into womanhood with promiscuous sex. Not sure how the French get away with filming a 16-year-old girl all naked, but they do. It's art.
Here's the trailer in French. It's more fun without the subtitles:
Hounddog
Dakota Fanning in a dark Southern tale featuring Elvis and rape. Why do we put ourselves through this shit?
Just one, three or five to go!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Woody + Owen
Two of my favorites in a movie set in Paris.
If there's one actor that I could stand performing the Woody role in a Woody Allen movie, it would be Owen Wilson.
Doesn't look like it's scheduled to hit Greenville anytime soon.
If there's one actor that I could stand performing the Woody role in a Woody Allen movie, it would be Owen Wilson.
Doesn't look like it's scheduled to hit Greenville anytime soon.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Raphael Saadiq's Stone Rollin'
While I was a little worried he was just going to retread the Motown sounds of his last awesome album, the new one is so good and a lot more rock 'n' roll than a lot of rock 'n' roll. It's like Saadiq does The Rolling Stones. But again, just like on The Way I See It, Saadiq doesn't just imitate the influences. He uses them as inspiration. And that's why it's awesome. Everybody agrees.
I listened to the album for free all the way to Nashville and back on NPR Music's great album preview feature. Catch it while you can.
Daytrotter has a good live session for free.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Netflix Challenge: Under 10
We need to catch up on the Netflix Challenge. In the last two weeks, it's been all about the French frogging up our queue. But now, les films sont retirés de la file d'attente.
Thank you, Google Translate!
The Horse Boy
A documentary about a family of an autistic boy as they travel to Outer Mongolia in an attempt to heal their son. Still not quite sure how I feel about this one. Is the effect real or wishful thinking?
Swimming Pool
Whoah! A good Hitchcockian thriller about a cranky, middle-aged British mystery writer who travels to France for peace, quiet and new literary inspiration. She finds it, along with a heaping helping of bare French breasts, sex and big tubs of yogurt.
Delicatessen
Before there was Amélie, there was Delicatessen. This is a visually striking and funny French movie about a retired circus clown who finds work at a strange apartment building full of hungry tenants.
Dark Matter
Didn't really know what to expect from this one and it ended up shocking me right out of my pantaloons. This first film by opera director Chen Shi-Zheng provides a look into the world of academia and the hidden lives of all those genius foreign students who come to the U.S. to study. It won a Sundance award for best feature film about science or technology.
The Stranger
I got on a real Orson Welles kick and knocked out two of his noir films I'd never seen before. This one has the great Edward G. Robinson, the realy nugly Loretta Young and Welles with a great mustache and haircut. Robinson is a UN war crimes commission investigator and Welles is a Nazi war criminal hiding out as a professor in a small Connecticut town. I highly recommend this one. Apparently, you can watch the whole thing for free right here on the YouTube.
The Third Man
Another classic noir with Welles playing the bad guy. This time he's Harry Lime, a suspected black market profiteer in post-war Vienna, who also happens to make one of the best, most dramatic screen entrances ever.
To Be and To Have
This is a sweet little documentary about a tiny, one-teacher school in the French countryside with a bunch of sweet, tiny French kids. There's just something about little kids speaking that poo-poo, oui-oui French that gets me every time. Although, the whole thing is spoiled a little when you learn that the nice teacher sued the filmmakers after the fact.
Just eight titles to go. We can do this.
Thank you, Google Translate!
The Horse Boy
A documentary about a family of an autistic boy as they travel to Outer Mongolia in an attempt to heal their son. Still not quite sure how I feel about this one. Is the effect real or wishful thinking?
Swimming Pool
Whoah! A good Hitchcockian thriller about a cranky, middle-aged British mystery writer who travels to France for peace, quiet and new literary inspiration. She finds it, along with a heaping helping of bare French breasts, sex and big tubs of yogurt.
Delicatessen
Before there was Amélie, there was Delicatessen. This is a visually striking and funny French movie about a retired circus clown who finds work at a strange apartment building full of hungry tenants.
Dark Matter
Didn't really know what to expect from this one and it ended up shocking me right out of my pantaloons. This first film by opera director Chen Shi-Zheng provides a look into the world of academia and the hidden lives of all those genius foreign students who come to the U.S. to study. It won a Sundance award for best feature film about science or technology.
The Stranger
I got on a real Orson Welles kick and knocked out two of his noir films I'd never seen before. This one has the great Edward G. Robinson, the realy nugly Loretta Young and Welles with a great mustache and haircut. Robinson is a UN war crimes commission investigator and Welles is a Nazi war criminal hiding out as a professor in a small Connecticut town. I highly recommend this one. Apparently, you can watch the whole thing for free right here on the YouTube.
The Third Man
Another classic noir with Welles playing the bad guy. This time he's Harry Lime, a suspected black market profiteer in post-war Vienna, who also happens to make one of the best, most dramatic screen entrances ever.
To Be and To Have
This is a sweet little documentary about a tiny, one-teacher school in the French countryside with a bunch of sweet, tiny French kids. There's just something about little kids speaking that poo-poo, oui-oui French that gets me every time. Although, the whole thing is spoiled a little when you learn that the nice teacher sued the filmmakers after the fact.
Just eight titles to go. We can do this.
Great things accomplished today
What a Saturday!
1) After about eight months of dumbly looking at the all dried up tube of Crazy Glue, I finally bought a replacement. I went with Super Glue. I'd had enough of the crazy.
2) Super-Glued the knob on the kid's underwear drawer. Wood on wood action! And it stuck. Now, for the first time in four years we can open the drawer the way it was meant to be opened.
3) Super-Glued the Elvis '68 Comeback Special Christmas ornament. It's like Elvis' patella is brand new again.
4) Struck Record Store Day gold when I picked up a near-mint copy of Terence Trent D'arby's "Introducing the Hardline" on vinyl for $4. God bless the poor soul who parted with that one. Their soul is that much poorer now.
What could Sunday possibly have in store?
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