Netflix Triple Feature-7/17/2005

This week wasn't the best Netflix week I've had. But I will still give you my Netflix reviews, and this week I will be reviewing 4 movies, though I only made it through 3 of them.

A Woman Under the Influence directed by John Cassavetes

This was a very difficult movie to watch. It has superb performances by Peter Falk and Gena Rowlands and every other actor in the movie. It has an extremely interesitng visual style to it-more fly on the wall than movie. Everything about this movie is fantastic-but it is still hard to watch. The scenes can go on for upwards of 20-30 minutes as we are forced to sit on these situations that don't feel like we're watching a movie, it actually feels like we are watching real people with real problems. The last scene is especially hard to watch with Peter Falk going full blown crazy.

This is really a movie about a family dealing with their crazy wife/mother. And she isn't movie crazy where she starts screaming and becoming an obvious danger to those around her. She is a much more subtle crazy that becomes increasingly difficult to deal with. But not to be outdone, Peter Falk's character is just as crazy as the mother-he just doesn't know it. He switches moods on a dime-going from happy go lucky dad, to a screaming menace. He even gets his kids drunk on Hamm's in the bed of a truck. It's kind of funny, but when you actually start to think about-it is obvious that he is a worse parent than Mabel, who has been sent to an institution.

I highly recommend this movie but be prepared for an emotionally draining movie that doesn't leave you feeling happy at the end.

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse directed by Fritz Lang.

I have not finished watching this movie yet. I might try and finish it up tonight, but it really was a difficult watch. It's not that it was bad-it's actually quite good, but I've watched it in two half hour intervals, and they were the longest half hours to get through. Everything moves at such a slow pace, that you think a lot of time has passed, but then you actually see how much time has passed and come to find that it's only been a few minutes. If I finish watching this tonight, I will check back in with you all and let you know my final verdict.

Shaun of the Dead directed by Simon Pegg(I think)

This movie is great. I had seen it once before and enjoyed it more for its British sense of humor than its zombie movie qualities. This movie is not simply a parady of other zombie movies-though it does pay its respects to Romero's Dead trilogy. This movie is its own zombie movie, and a quite effective one at that. It's premise is very simple-what if zombies invaded a town and the only guy who could save the day was a loser who doesn't even realize there are zombies until about half way through the movie? It has good commentary on society in that we are all pretty well stuck in our day to day routines that if you weren't paying attention-it might be easy to not notice that the people around you had turned into mindless zombies. The British humor in this movie is also top notch-the record throwing scene being one of my favorites, as well as the drunken DJ party they have at the beginning.

But not just a hilarious movie, this movie also has a lot of heart to it, that I feel was lacking. When characters die in this movie, it is really heart breaking. I was even sad when the grown up Harry Potter had his intestines removed from hins gut region. To jump topic-the various homages to the various Dead movies are plentiful. Everything from music, to dialogue, to deaths all pay homage to those great movies. It took me watching those movies recently to catch the references this time around, but that made it a much more rewarding experience.

Overall, this is recommended for fans of zombie movies and good British humour. Watch it-you will not be disappointed.

Naked Lunch directed by David Cronenberg.

This was a weird movie. Not being familiar at all with the book, and only having a basic plot synopsis of the movie, I really had no idea what to expect going into this. I'm not sure if I liked it-but I know it didn't hate it. It's definetely a movie that I would need to watch a couple more times to fully appreciate all that it has going on. And it has a lot going on in it. While not as disturbing as I thought it was going to be-I thought this was far tamer and Videodrome-it still had some gross moments. The talking bugs generally were the weirdest things in the movie-but then again-so was the weird, bug sex creature.

Overall, this was a strange movie with good performances all around. Peter Weller, of Robocop fame turns in a great performance as the lead-he plays the whole movie in a very low key manner. Ian Holm does a good job in it, as he always does. And everyone does a good job. But to fully appreciate this movie, I have to put in a few more viewings.

Overall, I recommend this movie if you like weird, interesing movies. But be prepared to have to see it a few times. And be prepared for a few gross things as well.

So that's it for this week. Join me next week when I will review Before Sunset and Before Sunrise both directed by Richard Linklater. I also have In Good Company coming, starring one of my favorites, Topher Grace. Until then, have a great week!