The Netflix Instant Watch recommendation thread

[WorkingMike]

films I've watched recently:
Punching the Clown - A really interesting character driven film about a musician trying to make it in LA.
Rid of Me - This one is about a woman who follows her husband out to Oregon (where he's from) and ends up divorced and alone. I'm torn on this one. A couple of the performance were worth it, but the overall direction was odd.
God Bless America - directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, it's the story of a man with a fatal disease who is disgusted with the state of the country. Oh, and he has a pistol.
Perrier's Bounty - Irish crime film with Cillian Murphy, Jim Broadbent and Brendan Gleeson
The Go-Getter - I enjoyed this one. A simple story of a kid who steals a car and hits the road looking for his brother. Nick Offerman shows up in 3 tiny roles.
You Kill Me - Ben Kingsley is an alcoholic hitman who leaves Buffalo for San Francisco in order to dry out.
Coldblooded - Jason Priestley as a reluctant hitman. It has a sort of tv movie feel about it, but I actually really liked it.
The Trip - Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play fictional versions of themselves on a foodie tour of northern GB.
Get the Gringo - Payback, but in Mexico.

[CeeKay]

Aprtment 143: Now if you want a lot of scares occuring often this is the film. Problem is while it starts out well enough it really loses its way as it goes along. This is typical haunted house, apartment in this case, stuff with a lot of stuff moving, loud noises, and things popping out at you. It's a shakey cam movie that basically wants to be another Parnormal Activity. And while PA was somewhat smart this one gets pretty dumb. You have a crew of "ghost hunters" who are investigating an apartment haunting where a father and his two kids live. Things go crazy pretty quickly, and there's some good moments and scares, but it gets tiresome after too long. The big complaint I had with it was how the ghost hunters behaved when they had proof of paranormal stuff on recording. They're initally shocked but then don't seem to care so much they they have all this recorded proof. First I would get the hell out of there and then I would go to the papers or somethign with the proof that life exists after death. They behave like its everyday stuff that's already been on camera before.

So this one is a mild reccomendation if you're just looking for a few quick scares and something easily digestable.

watched this one about a week ago.  found it pretty 'meh' and predictable with the scares.  as for when they had proof of stuff going on and their following behavior:

Spoiler for Hiden:

the dialogue made it sound like they've seen this stuff before.

[kronovan]

On Netflix Canuckistan in the past week we got:

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Fifth Element
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
Startship Troopers
The Gift
Ghostbusters
Land of the Dead
Lawrence of Arabia
In the Line of Fire


No doubt those were already on Netflix USA, but that has to be 1 of our best Netflix weeks up here in the Great White North for some time. Fortunately, despite having seen all of those I only own 2 of them, so I'm ripe for another viewing.

[Gratch]

Been watching Wilfred and am highly amused by it.

[ATB]

So I've rewatched Face/Off.  Uh. Sorry, 1997 me, but it's pretty terrible.

[EngineNo9]

I see that Indie Game: The Movie is now available.

[Isgrimnur]

Watched The Good The Bad The Weird last night.  Pretty fun little Western-style Korean film involving the fight over a treasure map. 

[PeteRock]

Finally watched Super 8 last night.  It was more like Stand By Me than I expected, mainly in terms of a fat kid whining and yelling throughout the film.  Unfortunately I enjoyed "The Case" short film during the credits more than the movie itself. 

Also watched Ronin after.  I had heard so many talk about the car chase in Ronin as one of the best in film.  I still have to give Bullitt my top choice, but the sound and speed in Ronin were definitely pretty cool.  The film as a whole, though, was just as slow as Bullitt with just the car chase being the primary draw.  And I just wasn't as impressed with the car chase as I had hoped I'd be. 

[theohall]

On Netflix Canuckistan in the past week we got:

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Fifth Element
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
Startship Troopers
The Gift
Ghostbusters
Land of the Dead
Lawrence of Arabia
In the Line of Fire


No doubt those were already on Netflix USA, but that has to be 1 of our best Netflix weeks up here in the Great White North for some time. Fortunately, despite having seen all of those I only own 2 of them, so I'm ripe for another viewing.

Ghost Protocol still has not shown up on USA Netflix, yet.  So, you got at least one we don't have.

[hepcat]

I was home sick Tuesday so I watched some stuff that was new to streaming.  

First up was The Tall Man.  It has Jessica Biel so that was the impetus to fire it up.  

It's not a horror movie I'd recommend...mostly because it's not really a horror film...but it is a movie that I actually sat through and found somewhat surprising at times (even though the premise had plot holes the size of New Mexico at times).  I must admit that I didn't see where it was going until about two thirds of the way through...and then they tossed a new angle on to the story in the last few minutes.  

Is it a good matinee film?  Yeah, I'd say it's worth a bowl of popcorn on a rainy weekend.  I just wouldn't invite people over with the promise of seeing something great.  

Next was The Fp.  This movie is hard to recommend as well, but for different reasons.  I actually enjoyed it and laughed a few times, but you have to understand going into it that its charm and humor rests almost entirely on the film's ability to recreate an 80's style, sci fi, teen action film so that today's audiences can reflect on how silly those times were.  If you're willing to watch a film that's SUPPOSED to be badly acted and poorly written and then laugh along with the creators for that reason, I think you'll have fun with.

[ATB]

Watched Margin Call with Kevin Spacey. Pretty good. Strays away from the everyone is senior corporate america is willing to do whatever it takes to cover up the company's dirty laundry. 

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Freaks and Geeks is now apparently on Watch Instantly. You should watch it. Instantly.

[Gratch]

Season 3 of The League is up.  Finally.

[Isgrimnur]

I got four minutes into the first episode last night before deciding that this was not a show I wanted to watch. 

[ATB]

I got four minutes into the first episode last night before deciding that this was not a show I wanted to watch. 

Could you be more specific?

[kronovan]

Ghost Protocol still has not shown up on USA Netflix, yet.  So, you got at least one we don't have.

Cool, nice to feel a wee bit less deprived for a change.   I can't believe I let people talk me out of seeing Ghost Protocol at the theater - damn,  twice I was in line pointing at it's advert only to be voted down for something else. 

[hepcat]

I got four minutes into the first episode last night before deciding that this was not a show I wanted to watch.  

Could you be more specific?

I believe the scene he's referring to is the wife trying to "drop a digit" on her husband in bed.  I didn't find that particularly funny at first either, but I stuck with the show and eventually realized (by the end of the first episode even) that I was laughing out loud quite often.  

Yes, the show is juvenile...but that's the point.  Eventually you just let go and can enjoy it for what it is:  a group of really good improv comics hitting you with south park level humor at an amazing pace.  

Plus, you eventually get to the comic greatness that is Rafi and there's no turning back at that point.

[Isgrimnur]

You nailed it, so to speak.  I've run across the show before, and nothing grabbed me about it then.  The four minutes of the pilot did nothing to change my mind.

[hepcat]

To each their own.  I wanted to hate it at first, but I found myself enjoying it after getting to know the characters.  Taco is really the easiest one to enjoy at first.  Soon after they introduced Rafi, I was grabbing episodes off hulu and any place I could find them.

I have a friend who hates South Park because he feels it's too low brow and juvenile as well.  However, that same friend will watch back to back episodes of Get Smart and laugh hysterically.   Comic sensibility is a strange thing.

[Gratch]

To each their own.  I wanted to hate it at first, but I found myself enjoying it after getting to know the characters.  Taco is really the easiest one to enjoy at first.  Soon after they introduced Rafi, I was grabbing episodes off hulu and any place I could find them.

Took me a couple episodes to warm up to it as well.  It's one of the only TV shows where I have literally laughed until I cried (the "vinegar strokes" episode damn near made me fall off the couch).  Both Rafi and Taco are hilarious, and the banter between the group reminds me a lot of my group of friends.  Maybe that's why I connect with it so well...

[Isgrimnur]

I went back to power through.  I got to the singing of the birthday song before ejecting this time.  It also doesn't help that I can't stand Paul Scheer.

That, and nothing of the relationship between these people parallels anything in my life, and for that, I am truly grateful.

[hepcat]

If I only watched shows that had characters and situations that were analogous to my own friends and personal life experiences, I would watch perhaps 27 minutes of television programming a year.  

...which might not be a bad thing, I guess.

[ATB]

I meant which show...

[Isgrimnur]

The League.

[Blackjack]

Over the weekend I caught the slasher (sort-of) horror film ATM:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1603257/

This low-budget ($3M) film was largely panned back around its April 2012 release. Josh Peck is in the upcoming Red Dawn remake.

I kind of liked it initially as I tend to be a sucker for "characters trapped in claustrophobic conditions" plots, in this case an isolated, glass-enclosed ATM booth/room that some calculating killer in a big winter coat has carefully staked out as a death chamber.

I would never have recommended it in a theater, but on Netflix, esp. compared to a lot of the crap in the horror category it has some merits. And at least early on I found some of the characters appealing enough that when all hell breaks loose, I could root for them a bit.

Reservations? I babble about the ending below.  

Spoiler for Hiden:

Ultimately I think it's a mistake to give the killer no identity, motivation (not even a cardboard one) or reason for being.

It doesn't have to be complicated (think even Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers etc. and there's a shred of motivation there), but other than the maniac living in a storage rental facility and being talented at scribbling architectural drawings, we the audience get no insight into his reasons for seemingly killing everybody he meets.

I kept waiting for a twist, or maybe the killer's related to one of em, someone spurned, etc. Nothing! Bleah.

The ending reminds me a bit of the late-middle part of the original The Hitcher, where C. Thomas Howell gets framed for all these killings The Hitcher committed.

So I thought maybe the survivor would escape the police and return to the ATM and try to find the killer etc. Coulda been a nice coda...

Anyway, I'm not saying it's "good," only that I've seen far worse on netflix. 

[hepcat]

ATM?  Man you must have been bored.

[Blackjack]

ATM?  Man you must have been bored.

Thanks for respecting my opinion. 

[slackerjoe]

The Big Kahuna
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Big_Kahuna/60000907?locale=en-US

2nd best sales movie ever!
Kevin Spacey is absolutely amazing (as usual).

[EngineNo9]

I watched Detachment last night and thought it was pretty good, if you don't mind getting all depressed. 

[Gratch]

Finished Wilfred (damn that gets depressing at the end) and Ugly Americans (funnier than I was expecting).

Need a new series to start now.

[hepcat]

ATM?  Man you must have been bored.

Thanks for respecting my opinion.  

Now that I know you can be entertained by a 90 minute movie about folks trapped in an ATM by a guy in a lawn chair (yes, I watched the trailer), I'm pretty sure I can never look at you the same way again.

(psst...I'm teasing you, by the way.   )

[Vmman]

The Boys from Brazil is pretty good

made back in 1978

[Bullwinkle]

The Boys from Brazil is pretty good

made back in 1978

Started to watch it with the wife, noticed it was pan and scan, removed from queue.

[Gratch]

Watched Exit Through the Gift Shop last night.  A fascinating documentary, but I was confused about something:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Everyone was fine with this odd French dude filming their street art thing, but they all seemed to hate (or at least severely dislike) Theirry by the end.  I'm not exactly sure why.  Were they jealous because he was getting the media attention?  Was it because they felt he hadn't "paid his dues" as an artist?  Did they think his art sucked?  I'm no artist, but his stuff didn't seem any better or worse than the others.  (Andre the Giant posters and tiled Space Invaders?  C'mon...)  Did they feel he ripped off their styles?  Was he viewed as a "sell out"? (Banksy was selling his pieces for big bucks too.)

I'm just not sure why everyone suddenly disliked him once he became Mister Brainwash and did the gallery show.

[Bullwinkle]

Watched Exit Through the Gift Shop last night.  A fascinating documentary, but I was confused about something:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Everyone was fine with this odd French dude filming their street art thing, but they all seemed to hate (or at least severely dislike) Theirry by the end.  I'm not exactly sure why.  Were they jealous because he was getting the media attention?  Was it because they felt he hadn't "paid his dues" as an artist?  Did they think his art sucked?  I'm no artist, but his stuff didn't seem any better or worse than the others.  (Andre the Giant posters and tiled Space Invaders?  C'mon...)  Did they feel he ripped off their styles?  Was he viewed as a "sell out"? (Banksy was selling his pieces for big bucks too.)

I'm just not sure why everyone suddenly disliked him once he became Mister Brainwash and did the gallery show.

It's been a while since I saw the doc (great one, BTW), but I think your last two questions hit the mark.  

Spoiler for Hiden:

Banksy was able to make money at the end of a long career, so it's like he earned it.  Plus he does the whole 'unknown' thing, which keeps him from directly taking the glory.  None the less, one of the thing that's great about the movie is that it's not clear cut at the end.  You're meant to debate the nature of art and commerce and originality and plagiarism.

[Crawley]

Watched Lockout the other night. This is the Escape From NY movie - IN SPACE - where a lone guy is sent in to a prison - IN SPACE - to recuse the presidents daughter. Surprisngly enjoyed the movie quite a bit. The Guy Pierce character is a lot of fun and there's pretty good chemistry between him and the presidents daughter. The movie has a whole slew of problems though. The CGI looks acceptable to down right awful (think CGI from video games 5 years ago). The editor of this film needs to be fired too as in a lot of cases there seems to be quick cuts where the characters get from one location to another in a split second and you're scratching your head wondering how they just got there.

But its a fun action flick that despite a lot of things wrong with it somehow worked.

[PeteRock]

Not sure if anyone caught it, but The Artist has been added to Netlix instant watch since the last time I logged on (granted that was a LONG time ago).  Now I'm left wondering what else I've missed.  But this has definitely been on my radar since the Academy Awards. 

[hepcat]

I checked Streaming Soon recently and was surprised at the number of good stuff coming/that have come to streaming.  Lockout, The Artist, Casa de mi Padre, Hugo, The King's Speech, American Horror Story season 1, and The Adventures of Tin Tin to name a few.

[PeteRock]

I checked Streaming Soon recently and was surprised at the number of good stuff coming/that have come to streaming.  Lockout, The Artist, Casa de mi Padre, Hugo, The King's Speech, American Horror Story season 1, and The Adventures of Tin Tin to name a few.

 

[Gratch]

Watched Jiro Dreams of Sushi last night...what a wonderful film.  I hate sushi, but was absolutely fascinated by the story and the beautiful cinematography.

I've been on a documentary kick lately...any others that I should see?