Number 20

This is posting number 20 for the year. I may do an update to my lists of movies rated, but that probably won’t happen until after the year end. Since I am not a theater goer, a list of the best new movies of the year won’t be forthcoming; but maybe a composite listing of the best movies I saw during the year would be worth posting.

Since I am not that interested in TV Christmas specials and Bowl games between mediocre football teams, I am trying to make a dent in my Netflix instant play queue, which is a rather confused mishmash from which nothing in particular has been calling to me. Trying the ones first that have the highest Netflix prediction is my current approach, though lately the predictions have most often turned out to be a little high.

Here is what I have watched since I posted my last list. [The ratings I give are on my own number system which is explained at the link on the sidebar].

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – 2009 (3.2). The first of three movies from the Stieg Larsson trilogy, this stylish Swedish production was a bit long but held interest throughout as the pursuit of the mysterious disappearance of a wealthy teenage girl led investigative reporter Mikael and young female Goth computer hacker Lisbeth down an old trail of sadistic violence toward women. [This Swedish movie is not the English language remake being advertised for 2011 release.]

Even the Rain – 2010 (3.1). A low budget Spanish film crew goes to Bolivia as a cost effective way to produce a movie about the Spanish exploitation of the New World under Columbus, and the moral voice of an early Dominican priest condemning the sin of exploitation. But the film bumps into the reality that the exploitation continues 500 years later, as the Bolivian government privatizes the water supply at the behest of the IMF and multi-national corporations. Indians hired as extras become embroiled in the protests against the travesty and the film makers are forced to flee or stay and support the cause. The courage of the Indians is inspiring and the effect on the film makers is emotionally powerful.

Treme  (Season One)– 2010 (3.1). Produced by some of the same people behind The Wire, this HBO drama series gives a view of post-Katrina New Orleans through the eyes of various musicians and other residents of Treme, the oldest African-American neighborhood in the city, who embrace its traditions and strive to see them endure. While heavy on musical performances right from the start, the characters take a few episodes to come together. This is much more about New Orleans itself than The Wire was about Baltimore, so knowledge of the city will enhance the appreciation of the series.

Toy Story 3 – 2010 (3.0). Andy is grown and heading for college so the time has come to decide what to do with his box of toys. Same marvelous animation and a good script with a fitting ending, but some of the scary portions of the adventure could be a little heavy for the very young.

The Girl Who Played with Fire – 2009 (3.0). In this second part of the Swedish Stieg Larsson trilogy, the story continues into new territory, with journalist Mikael and colleagues investigating the sex trade, while also giving some of the back story as Lisbeth relives the horrible story of her childhood and tracks it into the present. Though it has the same qualities of the first part, the novelty has lost its edge in this installment. 

Handsome Harry – 2009 (3.0). This indie drama about a former sailor confronting something he and his navy buddies did 30 years earlier managed to hold interest with decent acting and direction and a script that was unpredictable and subtle in its revelation of the back story. It is one of those movies where thinking back on it, you realize that while what you had understood about a scene was true at the time you watched it, once you put it all together in your mind you find there were other truths at play also.

Buck – 2011 (2.9).  An audience favorite at Sundance, this documentary about a childhood rodeo performer, physically abused by his father, who grew up to become a highly respected horse whisperer. An interesting man who does exceptional work with horses and their owners, this movie effectively presents him, but I would like to have seen more about his past and present family life.

Bliss – 2007 (2.9). In this Turkish drama a young rape victim is culturally ostracized in her village and is considered a disgrace to her family, requiring her suicide or murder. Reusing to do it herself, she is taken by a second cousin to Istanbul to be disposed of, but he cannot easily bring himself to do it. They are befriended by an older professor who is seeking a freeing sailboat adventure, while  her father and his henchmen search for her and the cousin to see the honor cleansing job gets done. The strength of this movie is in some poetic visuals, a very appealing heroine (played by Ozgu Namal), a believable cousin and the irrepressible professor.

The Girl Who kicked the Hornet’s Nest – 2009 (2.8). The conclusion of the Swedish Stieg Larsson trilogy finds Lisbeth on trial for a crime she did not commit while the investigative team works for her acquittal and seeks to punish the true villains. Still stylish, but while long is length this conclusion is shorter on drama as we know where it all is headed.

Ally McBeal  (Season 1, First 5 episodes) – 1997 (2.7). I gave this a try because I liked Callista Flockhart in Brothers & Sisters and this old series had been quite successful back in the day, plus I have not really seen any work by David E, Kelley. Overall, I found this a bit disappointing, with Callista’s acting being limited and repetitious and the stories being funny to a point but then just sort of silly. The dramatic aspects are tepid. The surreal inserts are funny at first, but then wear out their welcome. There may be better things to come in the series, but for now I’ll quit at 5 episodes. I can’t imagine ever watching all 100.

A Somewhat Gentle Man – 2010 (2.6). Slow moving and droll, this movie from Norway purposely manages to make that scenic country look very bleak, while telling the story of a newly released murderer whose crime boss wants him to kill the witness who sent him to jail. A little humor, even less drama and nothing particularly worth saying make for a barely passable film experience

Shadow Island Mysteries: The Last Christmas  - 2010 (2.2). A misguided impulse led to a viewing of this Canadian made for TV supposed mystery that was not mysterious or at all interesting and was poorly acted to boot. The wintery settings and one sexy young actress were the only redeeming features.

Losing Interest?

I thought about calling our friends at Netflix to ask a couple questions and to give some heartfelt advice. The questions would be about changes made by Netflix when I dropped the mail DVD option. “Why have you taken away the complete filmographies I used to be able to access?” and “Why are you only showing a few movie recommendations for me and telling me that I need to rate more movies to get more recommendations, even though I have rated over 2,600 movies?”.

The advice would be to put back the full filmographies and recommendations because, without those functions, I am finding that the Netflix site has significantly less attraction and I am less inclined to watch instant view movies than I was when I was still receiving DVDs. I don’t need Netflix for my archival ratings, since I have those on a spreadsheet in the better decimal accuracy, and I don’t need the Netflix recommendation algorithm because I can use the IMDb ratings, adjusted by my own formula, to better effect. Bottom line, I am beginning to wonder if Netflix instant view is worth the price.

But maybe a reality check is in order. Maybe I have been getting burned out on movie watching for a while and Netflix just made it easier to cut back. For a change of pace, since Netflix instant view has many of the older movies, I decided to go back and watch a few I had rated 4 stars at Netflix based on memory [like Peggy Sue and Unmarried Woman]. While I still thought they were good, I downgraded them to 3 stars.

Here is what I have watched since I posted my last list. [The ratings I give are on my own number system which is explained at the link on the sidebar].

Peggy Sue Got Married – 1986 (3.2). Time travel 25 years back to high school may give the heroine a chance to choose a different course for her life, rather than marrying her high school sweetheart who ended up breaking her heart. Nice nostalgia from Francis Coppola. Nicolas Cage is a hoot as Kathleen Turner’s Dion wannabe boyfriend.

Welcome – 2009 (3.0). The write-ups for this French movie are a bit misleading. Yes, it is about a young Kurd who comes to France on his way to his sweetheart whose family has moved to London, and who runs into legal and practicability obstacles in trying to get across the Channel, so he decides to swim, with training from a French coach. But no, the film does not take place largely at sea, with the swimmer valiantly stroking on while the coach in the boat shouts encouragement. The title is ironic, because the movie shows how unwelcome the Kurds are in France. The story is actually more about the coach, who is going through a divorce from a woman who is an activist for immigrants, and how he is trying to deal with that breakup and reevaluate his own life, just at a time when the young Kurd shows up and impresses with his resolve. Well written, directed and acted with quality production values, this movie featured likeable characters in situations that felt authentic.

An Unmarried Woman – 1978 (3.0). I remember seeing this in the theater in 1978 and being impressed with script’s modern treatment of a woman going through a divorce and moving on with her life, and with the excellent acting of Jill Clayburgh. Seeing it again after more than 30 years, it still has its merits, but is also dated. The modernity of the viewpoint now seems a bit quaint and the overpowering musical score is annoying. But Jill’s performance is still quite impressive, going from a very capable working wife and mother to a distraught betrayed wife and then a nervous inexperienced woman trying to move on with her life, becoming a little too self-assured followed by an ingénue reversion with a new lover and finally capably standing on her own ready to face life confidently. Filmed on real locations and street in NYC, the passersby lens an air of documentary vitality.

Black Robe – 1991 (2.9). Jesuit missionaries in 1634 Quebec interfacing with Algonquin, Iroquois and Huron people is the background for this movie, filmed almost entirely outdoors in late autumn and early winter. A new priest sets out on 1500 mile canoe trip through Iroquois country to the Huron, accompanied by an extended Algonquin family and a young Frenchman. The Algonquin people try to figure what the Black Robe is really about and whether he is a demon, while he examines his own vocation and the difficulty of instilling Christian beliefs into people who already have their own sense of what life is about. The strength of this film is in showing the beauty of nature and the harsh reality of that place, time and mission.

Page Eight – 2011 (2.8). This PBS Masterpiece Contemporary movie stars Bill Nighy as an old British MI-5 agent confronting with the prospect of becoming a whistleblower and then having to face the expected retaliatory consequences. The star studded cast seems wasted on what turns out to be a rather tepid drama, but the overall style of the production and quality of the acting still make it worth watching.

The War of 1812 – 2011 (2.8).  This PBS documentary used reenactments, maps, a few portraits and interviews with scholars to explain how the War of 1812 came about, was fought and concluded and the effect it had. Though informative and including a few personal stories, the overall effect was not as memorable as the similar films made by Ken Burns. Granted there are no archival films and photos available to tell these older stories, the use of reenactments is tricky, sometimes adding dramatic impact but too often appearing just hokey. Here the reenactments were marginal.

North Face – 2008 (2.8). This German movie is based on a true story of two competing duos of climbers, one German and one Austrian, trying to conquer the last unclimbed mountain fce in the Alps in 1936. A childhood girl friend of the Germans now works for a newspaper and gets her first job in the field travelling with a veteran reporter to cover the climbing attempt. The climbing scenes are tremendous, with all the drama coming from the climb itself, supplemented minimally by the subplot of possible romantic interest of the woman for one of the climbers and her disdain for the veteran reporter’s treatment of the climbing dangers as good story material without regard for the safety of the climbers.

The Other Side of Sunday – 1996 (2.8). This Norwegian Oscar nominated drama [Netflix labels as a comedy also] tells about the 1960ish coming of age of a teenage daughter of a small town married priest with a sickly wife. The girl struggles with her emerging sexuality as she also resists getting confirmed for fear of living her life as what she calls a “church hag”. Unable to fully relate to the other teenagers, she warms up to a repressed woman who is the church organist and who is attracted to the priest. Though it has its moments, the overall effect is a bit off putting and it is hard to fully warm up to the girl even though one can sympathize with her situation and admire her determination.

Eight Men Out – 1988 (2.8). This dramatization of the 1919 Chicago Black sox scandal seems to be fairly straight forward at first but then starts to feel increasingly like a stylized presentation from some sort of pulp magazine. Maybe that was the intention, but I found it disappointing. Despite apparently fairly high production values, scenes of playoff and World Series ball games were woefully deficient in creating any feeling of actually being present at these events. There was no cast of thousands of extras and the sounds and many of the close ups indicated sound stage and sand lot rather than real major league stands and ball fields. The actual baseball playing showed a minimal amount of time spent teaching the actors to look like professional ball players. But this true story and the period feel are enough to make the movie still watchable.

SherryBaby – 2006 (2.7). Maggie Gyllenhaal exposes herself literally and figuratively and appears in every scene in this movie written and directed by a female mentee of her mother. The story is aboout a sexually promiscuous parolee trying to stay drug free, get a  job and establish a relationship with her young daughter who has been in the care of the parolee’s brother and wife. The script spends too much time showing the promiscuity and does not offer any explanation for the behavior until near the end. If the explanation had been given earlier and the rest of the movie devoted to confronting it, the film would have been much better.

Warrior of Light – 2001 (2.7). This German made documentary about an artistic upper crust Brazilian woman who developed her own program for helping street kids in Rio, is a little too disjointed and spends too much time listening to the woman expound rather than showing more of the lives of the children on the street, but it may be worth watching to see the woman practice a dedicated hands on type of love for these unfortunate but exotically appealing children.

Qwikster Doesn’t Quicken

Netflix just announced they are aborting Qwikster, the intended new web site for the DVD mail side of the business. They also claim to have added a few hundred more movies for streaming as well as numerous TV show episodes. In fact, they claim old TV episodes are quite popular with customers. Having recently powered through four seasons of Friday Night Lights, I must admit it is nice to be able to watch the next episode of a series instantly whenever the urge strikes. But if the series is not available for instant view, then getting individual DVDs from Netflix can be a slow process, as I found out with The Wire. Public libraries often have each season of a TV series available in one boxed DVD set, as I found for The Wire

I am not sure if it is appropriate to include videos of stage performances like standup comedy routines in my lists here. I do rate them on my database and at Netflix, for a record of what I have seen and to help with the Netflix recommendation algorithm. I have listed some here in the past but may not include them in the future. A film of a stage play or opera might be more appropriate for inclusion, but I rarely watch such material; in fact I have never been able to stay with an opera viewing for more than a few minutes.

Here is what I have watched since I posted my last list. [The ratings I give are on my own number system which is explained at the link on the sidebar].

Wild China – 2008 (3.4). Fascinating sights and wonderful cinematography are captivating in this six part BBC documentary about the flora and fauna of China and what is being done by the Chinese government to protect them. Intelligently narrated and without any other commentary or interviews, the movie is an encouraging pleasure to watch, but though informative, it could have reached a higher level if it was just a little more informative about the details.

Prohibition – 2011 (3.2). Ken Burns and Lynn Novick document the history of the Temperance movement, the passage of the Prohibition amendment to the Constitution, its implementation by the Volstead Act, the challenges of enforcement and the eventual repeal. There are lessons here about culture, morals, politics and government, presented via archival photos and footage with actor voiceovers and some anecdotal remembrance interviews. The film manages to not be ideological beyond professing great respect for the personal freedom protections embodied in the Constitution, and pointing out that Prohibition was a freedom restricting aberration.

Friday Night Lights (Season Four) – 2009 (3.2). The story transition to season four is smooth and the progression of the characters during the season feels real as some characters learn from their experiences while others struggle to make sense of what happens in their lives. We look forward to following the characters into season five, the final one, expecting that leaving them after that will feel like the right thing to do.

The Bicycle Thief – 1948 (3.2). I thought I had at least since parts of this Italian classic through the years, but was surprised on viewing that I did not recognize anything until the final scene. Filmed mostly on the streets of Rome, the movie has a realistic fluidity as we follow the man and his young son tracking down the essential bicycle that was stolen from him on the first day of a job that he had finally been able to obtain in the devastated post war economy. Though very low budget and quite simple in theme, this film has an enduring realism in capturing a moment and place.

Out of Ireland – 1995 (3.1). This documentary tells the story of Irish emigration to America using the personal journeys of a handful of individuals, with archival pictures and movies and interviews with historians and folklorists, and actors doing voiceovers. The political, religious and economic background is well presented, both in Ireland and in America. The film tells the story of each individual separately, which is easier to follow than when the stories are interwoven as many documentaries do.

Amexicano – 2007 (2.9). Picking up a little handyman work from a friend, an overweight Italian-American man is anxious about having to hire a day worker helper, but after a bad      experience with a US citizen Mexican day worker, he finds a hard working illegal immigrant from Mexico, and becomes involved with him personally. A little clumsy at first, this small indie gets better and the actors are appealing. Carmine Famiglietti, who has a gentle sincerity about his portrayal of the overweight man, wrote the script.

Familia – 2005 (2.9). Writer/Director Louise Archambault showed promise in both categories with this French language drama from Canada about three generations of women in a family mixed up by divorce and infidelity. It takes a while to catch on to what is going on and who is who, but that turns out to be mostly intentional. The direction is smooth and the acting good. Unfortunately, whether by nature or nurture, and in spite of the fact the men are worse than the women, the entire family is rather unlikeable.

Nightjohn – 1996 (2.9). This TV movie about clandestine literacy teaching of slaves in the ante bellum South feels a little like a caricature at first but then settles into a decent drama with a very good finish. Keeping slaves illiterate was a vital part of keeping them enslaved. Literacy lifts the lowly and receives a memorable endorsement from this story.

Shades of Ray – 2008 (2.8). A young half Pakistani half white couple are matched up by their Pakistani fathers, but the young man has an offer of marriage pending with his white girlfriend. The young leads have appeal, but everyone else is a bit stereotyped, with the male sidekick role being one that should have been jettisoned. The story has a few laughs and occasionally tries to make a social point, but is pretty tepid.

Under the Bombs – 2007 (2.9). There is some drama and a hint of romance in this Arabic language movie about a Lebanese woman returning to south Lebanon in the aftermath of the 2006 bombings by Israel. Her 6 year old son was staying there with her sister when the bombs struck and the woman is desperate to find them. She hires a cabbie who is brave or foolish enough to take her. But what is most interesting about the film is the almost documentary images of the actual destruction and havoc that occurred.

Yanks -1979 (2.8). This drama of two American soldiers training in England for the WWII D-Day invasion and falling in love with British women who were committed to British servicemen away in combat was too long and yet the script failed to use its time to adequately explore the feelings of the characters in sufficient depth. The acting was marginal, with the women doing better than the men. Despite the always worthwhile premise, this film failed to deliver anything memorable.

Maze – 2000 (2.7). Rob Morrow co-wrote directed and starred in this not particularly funny romance about an artist with fairly severe Tourette’s who falls in love with the girlfriend of his best friend who is away for seven months in Africa with Doctors without Borders. Clumsy at first, with the Tourette’s symptoms particularly uncomfortably portrayed, the movie gets a little better as Laura Linney becomes more involved, though a nude scene of her as a model did not need to be so flagrant to make its point.

Netflix Limits My World

I am continuing to note new ways in which Netflix has changed their web site for me personally since I have dropped the option for movies in the mail, in addition to those I pointed out in my “I Dood It” posting here on August 27, 2011, and it is starting to raise my irritation level.

Today I noticed that the Netflix filmographies for actors and directors only include movies available on Netflix Play Now. I also expect the previously existing save portion of the instant queue is going to disappear, so that when a movie in the queue loses instant rights, it just vanishes from my queue rather than going into a saved portion.

Our “Friends at Netflix” have gone out of their way to remove previously available information and methods for me to learn about movies that are not available for instant viewing. They have unilaterally decided to limit my access to the world of movie information about any movie that I cannot watch on Netflix on line. I am sure they would say that they did not act unilaterally but rather made the changes in response to my dropping mail membership; but why did they not explain up front that if I dropped mail membership all these features would disappear, and then maybe I would not have dropped mail? The answer is that they wanted me to drop mail and they don’t want me to have the previously accessible features available to entice me to reinstate mail or to help me find movies to borrow from the library or rent from Redbox. And they guessed right when they figured they could not actually entice me back to DVDs by mail. In fact just today Netflix issued an apology to customers and an explanation that they are in fact going to split the DVD mail business off under the name Qwickster.

I appreciate what Netflix did historically in making movies available by mail and what they are doing now with on line movie viewing, but the way they have handled this transition has been, as I have mentioned previously, insensitive at best and downright underhanded and sneaky at worst. The good will they had with me has pretty much been extinguished. The writer of this article at PC World magazine feels the same way now about Netflix and adds info about how the changes affect households with multiple viewers.  Here is an article telling about how many customers Netflix has lost and how their stock price has dropped. Reiko sent a link to this article from USA Today. And here is NPR’s take on the latest development.

While all this Netflix flap has been going on here in the US (and Canada?), Netflix has been quietly setting up for launch of its streaming service in Central and South America as well as the Caribbean. Tomorrow the world!

I have been trying to figure out how to work around the lost Netflix functionality. For filmographies, full and even better ones are available at the Internet Movie Data Base and I especially like the listing of all cast members with the name of the character they play and often a picture of the actor. The IMDb also gives more each movie average user review scores and sometimes metacritic scores, both on a 10 scale, but unlike Netflix, there is no link to the Netflix page for the movie and there is no column to quickly see my Netflix prediction for each movie. To access the Netflix movie page for user reviews and predictions, I have to type the movie name into the Netflix search box. The IMDB also may work as a replacement way to browse by genres for movies that are not available on Netflix streaming, and IMDb also has some trailers that Netflix does not. [Even before this latest transition, Netflix took away two other useable features on the movie page – they dropped all links to critic reviews and they dropped the identity of the user reviewers and the measure of their similarity to me.]

So here is how I am proceeding now. I use the IMDb for the full filmography and for their average user score for any movie that interests me. I use Netflix for anonymous member reviews and for the average member rating and the prediction for me based on the Netflix algorithm. But here is the interesting thing (at least to number freaks like me). I have created my own IMDb prediction algorithm by taking the IMDb score (which is on a 10 scale) and cutting it in half to make it match the 5 scale Netflix prediction and then subtracting 9/10 of a point to compensate for the lower rating I give most movies compared to both Netflix members and IMDb users. 

Based on the last 48 movies I rated, the Netflix algorithm was off on predicting by an average of .375 per movie, while my IMDb formula was off only .151. With my IMDb prediction, half of the 48 movies were better than predicted and half worse, but with the Netflix prediction three quarters of the 48 movies were worse than predicted. In the past I have praised the Netflix algorithm for its accuracy, but either I have changed without them detecting it or they have changed without telling me. In view of their diminished good will factor, I was leaning toward the conclusion they are skewing the numbers, but a quick look at my notes on some old Netflix predictions movies I have not seen shows that the numbers have not changed significantly. For now, I will be using both predictors and continuing to keep track of which is more accurate.

Studying Netflix operations and watching a couple more seasons of Friday Night Lights cut into my movie viewing time, but here is what I have watched since I posted my last list. [The ratings I give are on my own number system which is explained at the link on the sidebar].

Still Walking – 2008 (3.0). The talented Hirakazu Koreeda directed this thoughtful Japanese drama about a family gathering for the fifteenth annual remembrance of the accidental death of the oldest son. The interplay of the various characters at first seems designed to be taken at face value, but then we begin to realize that the face they show is often masking what they are actually feeling. Good script, acting and direction help cover the fact that much of the story takes place over one evening in the home of the parents. In 2005, Koreeda directed the excellent Nobody Knows, a poignant movie about a family of young children abandoned by their mother. He seems to draw wonderful performances from young actors, as he does in this movie, particularly from the step-son.

Friday Night Lights (Season Two) – 2007 (3.0). What was good from the first season is still there, but unfortunately the second season includes some unnecessary subplots of violent crime that seem totally out of place and detract from the overall experience of the story lines and characters.

Friday Night Lights (Season Three) – 2008 (3.0). There are some pretty big gaps in the story arc from season two to season three, but they become less annoying as the season progresses and the characters, young and old, grow from their experiences. Some characters move on and some new ones show up, including a believable villain.

Tying the Knot – 2004 (2.9). This low budget documentary does a fairly effective job of advocating for legalization of same sex marriage, without being strident or even appearing completely one sided. Concentrating on the stories of two popular Tampa policewomen and two older Oklahoma men, the movie shows how these long term relationships had all the semblances of marriages, without the legality and how the absence of legalization can create seriously unfair problems. You can feel the change coming while realizing it is not right around the corner.

Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune – 2010 (2.8). He had a way better voice than his contemporary Bob Dylan and he wrote very topical and powerful folk protest songs, but Phil Ochs never became famous or had a hit. The simple reason seems to be that his music was not as catchy as the Dylan songs. This decent documentary about a talented, generous and congenial man troubled by mental health and alcoholism issues is loaded with footage of him performing in numerous venues. There are also interviews with some other musical artists and with his family members. The movie makes me want to listen to CDs of his music to hear more of what I missed back then. 

The Unknown Soldier – 2007 (2.8). This German documentary about the controversy over a public exhibit documenting the involvement of the regular German Army in the holocaust atrocities contains some jaw dropping information, but the presentation is not well organized. Jumping between multiple interviews with the English subtitles sometimes overlapping the German titles identifying the interviewee was distracting, and the lack of maps to help viewers locate the places discussed did not help.

Biloxi Blues – 1988 (2.8). Neil Simon’s story of new Army recruits in basic training in Mississippi near the end of WWII made for a decent enough dramedy, though it probably has more appeal to those of us who have been through military basic training ourselves. My experience from 20 years later resonated with a lot of what was in the movie. There is a nice nostalgic feel and the movie holds its age well.

The Thin Red Line – 1998 (2.7). Another movie by Terrence Malick with rich visuals and lyrical, intelligent, subjective narration by the characters, this story about a WWII US Army unit fighting on Guadalcanal after the Marines had captured the airfield meanders and lingers and like most of Malick’s work the sum of the parts never quite equals a whole.

Lewis Black: Stark Raving Black – 2009 (2.6). This standup comedy routine from a 60 year old Jewish comic had a few humorous moments but was mostly marginal.

The Joke – 1968 (2.4). There is not much reason to watch this movie about a college student in 1950’s Czechoslovakia who is severely punished for a politically incorrect joke and years later seeks revenge. The film is a satire on the repressive communist system and was allowed to be made and shown during a brief period of local political liberalization, but unless you are interested in the political history there is not much in this film worth watching. One interesting flashback editing technique involved the contemporary man appearing to interface with the people in some of the flashback scenes, supposedly to show how his mind was mingling the past and present.

I Dood It

Tired of spending time trying to find “mail worthy” DVDs from Netflix that are not available from the King County Library, I decided to cut my Netflix cost still further (by another one half). I dropped the mail option completely and will concentrate on just streaming for now with occasional supplementation from the Library or maybe a redbox kiosk. As a sign of how bad the pickings were getting, the last three  I received in the mail I rated 2 stars “did not like”.

The list of pros for doing this was considerably longer than the cons list. In addition to the financial saving and time saved from “mail worthy” browsing, the pros include more time for instant viewing, no bothering with mailboxes and concerns for mail security, no suffering through marginal mail movies because I paid extra for them, and no rushing to watch a movie to get it in the mail. In fairness to the Netflix mail program though, I never had any problems with mail security (but I did sometimes get a defective DVD), and there can also be pressure to stream a movie before the streaming rights expire (notice is given usually about a week ahead of the expiration date).

It is interesting to see the changes that take place when Netflix mail rights expire. My regular Netflix queue was promptly removed from the Netflix site. Using the “Watch Instantly” tab I can access genre lists to browse and sub-genre lists that can also be sorted by rating prediction, but all this is limited to movies that are available for instant viewing. A new tab or maybe one I just don’t recall is a “Just for Kids” tab with links to play now shows. The “Instant Queue” tab appears to work basically the same as before. The suggestions for viewing that were available on the “Suggestions for You” tab have now disappeared; though the tab is still there and the page acknowledges I have rated over 2,500 movies, it tells me to rate more so Netflix can help me find movies. The “Browse DVDs” tab is still available, but when I want to browse DVD choices I am presented with a page of ten marginal movies which are available only by mail and a reminder that I can have a broader selection if I sign up for DVDs by mail; there is no further overall guided browsing available now. Every movie page also has a reminder and button to sign up for mail DVDs.

Netflix is a sly business and I think the changes I have noted are designed to make it look like they want me to sign back up for mail, while at the same time actually discouraging me from doing so. That way they can say they did not kill the mail business, but that the customers chose to let it die. The changes may require some functional adjustment on my part to learn how to best use what browsing capabilities are still available, in order to find movies to get from the library or redbox. I expect the loss of this functionality is a clever ploy by Netflix to discourage getting movies elsewhere.

Since it does not make much practical difference here whether I streamed a movie rather than watched from a DVD, I am dropping any reference to streaming in the movie write ups. So again, here is what I have watched since I posted my last list. The ratings I give are on my own number system which is explained at the link on the sidebar.

Friday Night Lights (Season One) – 2006 (3.3). Big time Texas high school football in a small Texas town gets top treatment in this series which is at various times soap opera, sports movie and family drama.  Following the team and characters through the first season for the new coach, plenty of intertwining plot lines are developed as the teenagers deal with growing up under athletic, scholastic and social pressures, often with a lack of admirable adult role models. I didn’t care for the home movie look created by purposely shaky camera work, but thankfully its use diminished as the season progressed.

The Pacific – 2010 (3.1). This HBO mini series is similar to Band of Brothers in following some American fighting men in action in WWII, this time concentrating on Marines invading South Pacific islands defended by Japanese forces. The battle scenes are brutal and horrific, almost like a documentary of the great losses suffered by our forces. But this series also follows some of the men on R&R and back on the home front, concentrating on three Marines in particular. The most effective scenes emotionally are interactions between Marines and their civilian loved ones, where in spite of strong reciprocal love, there is so much the civilians can never understand about what the Marines experienced.

The Betrayal – 2008 (3.0). As part of the withdrawal from Vietnam, after the US pulverized the small neutral Kingdom of Laos with saturation bombing in order to “save it from the communists”, American support was abruptly pulled from the country without regard for the fate of Laotians who co-operated with the US. One of those was a career military man whose son was a co-maker of this interesting documentary, which tells the story of what happened to the man, his wife and ten children. Though the underlying story is horrific and the experience of the family through the years filled with pathos, there is a poetry to the film that makes the experience of watching it feel more reflective and spiritual rather than critical and profane.

No Direction Home: Bob Dylan – 2005 (3.0). Martin Scorsese put this documentary together, with archival concert, touring and personal footage and also interviews with insiders. There is no narration, though an interview with Dylan looking back provides some continuity. It doesn’t quite all come together and we really don’t learn anything new about Dylan, who comes across as not especially likeable, but the impact of the songs he wrote and is shown performing in the turbulent 60s reminds us how much his music was a part of the times that were a changing.

Catfish – 2010 (2.9). A young documentary film maker and his partner decide to make a movie about his photographer brother who has been contacted via Facebook by an 8 year old girl who paints very good pictures of his photographs. The photographer talks to the mother and the seductive older sister as the film warms up, but also briefly slows down before the three men from New York start considering making a surprise visit to Michigan. Some inventive low budget techniques are well employed and the social media subject is topical in this somewhat different and promising piece of work. Apparently the trailer misrepresents this movie as a thriller, which is pretty much of a stretch.

Cedar Rapids – 2011 (2.8). There is nothing new or special in this comedy about a dorky insurance salesman who goes to the “big city” for a convention and has what for him is an unconventional time, but there are enough laughs to make it fun. The John C. Reilly character is especially a hoot, at least until he is relegated to a sidekick role.

Defiance – 2008 (2.8). Based on a true story, this WWII tale of Polish Jews who flee the Nazis and hide out in the Belarus forests makes a longish movie with continuous action and violence and is a little short on character development and personal drama, but as another of the few films that shows armed Jewish resistance, it is worth watching.

Skin – 2008 (2.8). Based on the true story of a dark skinned girl born to white parents in South Africa, this movie follows the girl’s life into adulthood, confronting Apartheid and prejudice and trying to deal with the strains her skin color puts on her relationship with her parents. Such an interesting subject should have become a better film, but though the locations were real and the spirit of the production was genuine, the script was uneven and the direction and acting were not strong enough to compensate for the minimal time allowed for the characters to express themselves on what is the true significance of skin color or race both in societal terms and on a personal level.

The Crucible – 1996 (2.8). Arthur Miller’s play gets liberated from the stage and placed in some nice Salem sets, but the screen time is dominated by dialog deliverance. Hysterical fear of evil doers and irrational punishment of innocents by governmental power unfortunately has a way of repeating itself, from witchery to communist infiltration to terrorist cells. Good acting all around, with Paul Scofield especially effective as the chief judge.

The Third Miracle – 1999 (2.2). I suspect something got lost between the book and the script for this movie, because the story in the film does not make much sense. From talk alone we learn that a young Catholic girl refugee from WWII Eastern Europe came to Chicago and eventually abandoned her 16 year old daughter to live in a Parish convent and work as a sort of domestic. In 1979 a priest who is questioning his own faith is chosen to investigate whether the woman should be a candidate for sainthood. He flirts with her daughter and becomes immersed in the case, but neither the people nor the process make much sense as portrayed in this confused production, which wasted the talent of director Agnieszka Holland and ended without seeming to know what it was trying to say.

The Object of My Affection – 1998 (2.2). Supposedly a different kind of romantic comedy, about a relationship problem that is new to the screen, this movie was not romantic or funny and if the story had not been told before, the reason apparently was that it is not worth telling. Add a poor script, uninspired direction and weak acting and this is one to avoid. SPOILER ALERT (but don’t hesitate to read anyway): Jennifer Anniston falls for a gay guy (maybe she should try this in real life).

The Adjustment Bureau – 2011 (2.0). Maybe the short story was good and maybe the creative mind behind the script and direction is talented, but the result for me was a marginal premise for a boring story about unappealing people with a foregone conclusion. I admit sci-fi is not on my favorites list but this film was an especially weak ambassador for the genre. Bending some of the rules of what we think we know about the way things work is part of the sci-fi license, but bending them back and forth and changing the bends on the fly as this movie does is just sloppy story telling.