Friday, January 3, 2014

Netflix This Movie! Vol. 58

Happy New Year, everyone! Start 2014 off right by watching these terrific Netflix recommendations.

Adam Riske: The Guilt Trip (2012, dir. Anne Fletcher) The Guilt Trip was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2012. Sometimes it's a nice breather to see a movie of modest aspirations during awards season. What I enjoy about The Guilt Trip is that it's unusually smart and sweet for a generic comedy. Seth Rogen proves that he can be just as funny when robbed of his bros and Barbara Streisand has never been as charming. These two have a really nice, easygoing chemistry that bolsters the entire movie. There's a scene in the middle of The Guilt Trip that really impressed me: Rogen is being a dick to his movie mom and rather than letting that fester for the entire second half, Streisand calls him on his shit (like a normal person would) and the rest of the movie loosens up from formula. It's like a filmmaker knew, FOR ONCE, that a road trip comedy is much more enjoyable for the audience when the characters like one another.
Erich: Broadcast News (1987; dir. James L. Brooks) I don't know what's more amazing about Broadcast News, the fact that Hollywood doesn't make this kind of sharply written, character-over-narrative movie anymore, or the way writer/director James Brooks foretells the current state of TV news. Set against the backdrop of a network newsroom, it focuses on the intertwining professional and personal lives of a dogged reporter (Albert Brooks), his fiery producer (Holly Hunter) and a handsome anchor (William Hurt) who catches her eye despite representing the flash-over-substance style of TV news she hates. This is the rare movie that lets characters be more than one thing, giving them real feelings and honest things to say to each other. It's funny. It's sad. It makes putting together a special news report feel as exciting as launching a rocket. Broadcast News is about adults with jobs and relationships, not flashy graphics and car chases. It's a movie that makes me think FOX News and modern Hollywood aren't that different after all.
Heath Holland: What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993, dir. Lasse Hallstrom) What's Eating Gilbert Grape is one of my favorite Johnny Depp movies, and maybe one of my favorite films period. Roles such as Captain Jack Sparrow and The Mad Hatter seem easy for Depp to portray because he's able to disappear beneath his accents and eccentricities, but the performance he gives in this movie requires far more of him and appears to push him far outside of his comfort zone, dig into the deepest parts of himself, and convey feelings of discomfort and pain without any props or crutches. It also features an early Leonardo DiCaprio performance that is usually referenced as "brave." When certain actors play someone who is mentally challenged (as Leo does here), they can take it too far and venture into parody. DiCaprio, in my opinion, never does that. It can be hard to watch, but it's also uplifting and ultimately beautiful. Juliette Lewis and Mary Steenburgen also star and give some spectacular and believable performances as women who find themselves drawn into the dysfunctional world of the Grape family. Darlene Cates, not a professional actress, portrays Gilbert's morbidly obese mother with raw honesty, giving a "brave" performance of her own. In fact, I think most of the actors in the film do some of their career's best work here.
JB: Not Fade Away (2012, dir. David Chase) I wrote about Not Fade Away last April, and it just gets better and better the more I think about it. With all the snow and this coming weekend's brutal temperatures, now is the time to hunker down and discover this movie. There is a lot to like here: unconventional characters, dynamite music selected by Little Steven Van Zandt, and one of James Gandolfini's final performances. This is not some "Forrest Gump Easy Nostalgia Fest," this is what the sixties were really like. I was there.
Patrick: Ninja II: Shadow of a Tear (2013, dir. Isaac Florentine) Ok, #HeavyAction fans. Here it is. The sequel to Ninja reunites director Isaac Florentine and star Scott Adkins for a movie that's darker, fightier, more violent and way more kickass than the first. It may lack the scope and polish of some bigger studio blockbusters, but this one has the best action of any movie in 2013. I want Hollywood to figure out some way to put Scott Adkins into every movie I see.

12 comments:

  1. Ninja II sounds awesome, and I may be watching that one this weekend. In my book, Scott Adkins can do no wrong. Plus, because he's English, I bet he pronounces it "ninjer." I hope he does.

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    2. No its not!
      " 'ello cobber, Im a ninja. would ya mind a fist in ya gob, as you're bein' quite lippy and the govnor aint liking it muchly". *whack-a-pow* then they all go to get fixed up down at the NHS in a double decker bus, waving to Bobbies as they pass by, who smile back showing their terrible teeth.

      Now THATS racist.

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  2. Good pick Erich! I liked Broadcast News a lot, especially the last 45 minutes or so. I had trouble believing William Hurt as someone who is not very intelligent, but that's more of a vibe from the actor than a knock on his performance.

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    1. Glad you liked it. I can see that disconnect with Hurt, although the movie is smart enough not to make him truly dumb. He takes the easy way out, and has learned some bad lessons from his success, but he's not a bad guy.

      I'm still chuckling over the line, "Well, I certainly hope you'll die soon."

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    2. I love how Brooks told his kid to call Hurt "the big joke"

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  3. Ninja 2 was pretty sweet. She just wanted some Black Thunder Chocolate.

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    1. That's my nickname!

      I would get rid of her if it meant I could marry Scott Adkins. Shhhh....

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    2. I can just see a future Ninja movie where Namiko's child is born and the kid gets a DNA test to reveal that it is the surrogate of a Bromley-Adkins production. #StoriesWeTell

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  4. This was a nice way to start 2014.
    I watched The Guilt Trip, which I agree was a pleasant surprise. But I found it a bit difficult to grasp its comedic tone at first, as it was clearly a Rogen vehicle and it was using Rogen's comedy but Rogen wasnt really being Rogen, he was instead being far less likeable than usual. So at the start I found myself automatically sliding into position to be on Rogen's side against the annoying mum...but that wasnt what the movie was going for resulting in me needing to reevaluate my position fairly early on.
    I can imagine many people would have been put off by not getting Captain Cuddly O'Chuckles right out the gate.
    How did the movie end up performing? I can imagine it would have been a situation of not enough Rogen's style for his audience and not enough of Streisand's for hers.

    Ninja 2!!! Is it June yet?

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    1. The Guilt Trip got lost in the shuffle when it was released last Christmas. I know it didn't reach Rogen's usual crowd. I saw it in the theater and I was the youngest person in there by about 40 years.

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