Thirteen Streams

 

 

This list includes thirteen that were streamed via Netflix. At the stream only monthly member charge that is a pretty good bargain and home streaming is certainly convenient. I suppose it is time for a price increase, especially since it is being reported that Netflix is now paying Comcast (and other ISPs?) a premium to make sure viewers are getting sufficient bandwidth. A few Oscar nominees and winners are starting to come through from the library also.

 

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. Clicking on a movie title will open a new browser tab with the IMDb page for the movie.

The Way – 2010 (3.2). Emilio Estevez wrote, produced and directed this surprisingly effective drama starring his father, Martin Sheen, as an American ophthalmologist whose only son is killed at the start of a traditional pilgrimage through the Pyrenees. Having been somewhat estranged from his son, when the father goes to collect the body he decides to walk the pilgrimage himself. What follows is a well-acted and authentically scenic 500 mile road trip on foot during which the bitter man encounters his own anger, begrudges and struggles to relate to fellow pilgrims and various residents encountered along the route and gradually realizes what the pilgrimage means to him. The movie is often touching and alternately gently humorous.

The Square – 2013 (2.9). Netflix enabled the production of this Oscar nominated documentary about the Arab Spring launching in Egypt and the ensuing turmoil. Alternately intimate in closely following a diverse group of protestors and large in scale in showing the massiveness of the demonstrations, the movie captures the zeal of the protestors and the frustration that comes from their political inexperience. Ultimately we learn that revolution is not just about overthrowing undemocratic regimes, but also about changing the culture of a people to enable them to better understand democracy and politics, a lesson Americans could benefit by reassessing our own political culture.

Brooklyn Castle – 2012 (2.9). IS 318 middle school in Brooklyn is a national chess powerhouse and the reasons why are well shown in this documentary. First the school created a chess program to show kids what the game can do for sharpening their thinking and concentration skills and what chess competitions can do for their life coping skills and self-esteem. Next, dedicated teachers and mentors were enlisted. And finally, interested students of all skill levels have become involved, supported by their families and the school community. While following the entire team over the course of a few years, the film concentrates especially on three very appealing children of immigrants, an intelligent and beguiling girl with Caribbean roots, a boy who could be the next US President with African Ancestry and a quiet boy whose parents came from South America. Without preaching, this movie generates enormous enthusiasm for immigration, education, teachers, mentors and the ancient game of chess.

First Position – 2011 (2.9). Watching kids work hard to get really good at doing something that excites them and then seeing them in competitions to be recognized as one of the best is the subject of this documentary. The kids are boys and girls age 11 to 17 from diverse backgrounds and their passion is ballet. We hear from the kids, their teachers, families and friends as we follow them on the course to the final competition, and even without knowing much about ballet, we can see that it is a rigorous and artistic endeavor, we can tell which competitors are really good and we can’t help but find favorites for whom to root.

Undefeated – 2011 (2.9). This Oscar winning documentary intimately follows a white businessman who volunteers to coach an inner city Memphis high school football team which has a tradition of being a whipping boy for other schools. We pick up with the coach in his sixth year, with a promising group of players he urges to reveal their character, self-esteem and spirit of teamwork and try tp make the playoffs and do something no team from the school has done in its 110 year existence – win a playoff game. Two players of special interest are followed closely. Both are being raised by their grandmother. One is a good student too small to play college ball while the other is a marginal student with great size and athleticism. A third player has serious behavioral problems.

Dallas Buyers Club – 2013 (2.8). The overwhelming purpose of this movie seems to have been to create Oscar type roles for the male lead and supporting actor, a feat successfully accomplished. There is not much drama beyond how long these HIV positive men will live, and with the story set in the 1980s we pretty much know the answer to that. Character development is minimal for the lead and non-existent for the support. Criticism of the doctors, drug companies and the FDA is ho-hum. The female doctor role is a throw away. The only reason to watch is to judge the Oscar winning performances.

Our Nixon – 2013 (2.8). Home movies taken by three insiders of the Nixon White House are interspersed with interviews of them in later years, archival footage and recorded phone calls between them and Nixon in this unusual documentary. The three men all served time in federal prison for their crimes in the Watergate break-in and cover-up. Admittedly most appealing to political junkies and especially those who remember the Watergate times, the movie still is chilling to watch the stiffly sanctimonious President in public and then hear him on the phone with his sycophants as he gives his flattering self-assessments and expletive laden jibes at his perceived enemies and spotlight stealers.

Twenty Feet from Stardom – 2013 (2.8). Background singers aer the subject of this Oscar winning documentary. Predominantly African-American women, these singers often have voices better than the stars they support, but as their fairly extensive interviews show, they either were content to remain in the background or not that successful when they tried to go solo. We get some history and lots of memories and musical vocalizing. Though the movie could have used with a little more cohesion and structure, it is great to see these women finally given the respect they deserve.

Carol Channing: Larger than Life – 2012 (2.8). Definitely alive and still a dynamic and universally beloved entertainer, the Broadway star shines in this documentary that shows vintage clips of her performances through the years and adds many interviews and interactions with other entertainers and show biz types as well as fans of all ages. But the real strength of the movie is the time it spends close up with Carol as she shares so many of her stories with obvious relish, except for a few curve balls life threw, including one that lasted 42 years. There is a man in her life and they make a delightful couple.

The Invisible War – 2012 (2.8). The number of sexual assaults in the US military has increased as more women have enlisted and as the caliber of the men entering the service has become lower. The intimate interviews with some women who have been victims of sexual assault puts a real face on the problem and is the strength of this documentary. We learn that the trauma is compounded by the fact the perpetrators are men who were trusted comrades of the women and sometimes even their seniors in the chain of command. The final insult is the purposeful lack of justice in the system of addressing these charges, often with the alleged perpetrators becoming the judges or being friends of the judges, and blaming the victim being one policy employed. Time spent showing the pathetic PR attempts of the military and interviews with sympathetic members of Congress could have been left out. Mention was made of the fact some of our allies have set up systems to have such charges adjudicated by a process bypassing the military chain of command, but it would have been helpful to document further how those systems have worked in fact.

Starlet – 2012 (2.8). Dree Hemingway (daughter of Mariel) gets her first lead role, playing a young woman living with a young couple in a nondescript place in the San Fernando Valley, in this engaging indie drama. This trio does recreational drugs and the male is also hooked on shooter video games, but Dree kind of floats on her own. She buys a thermos from an elderly lady’s garage sale and finds $10,000 inside, and after quickly spending some on herself and her rescued Chihuahua mix, goes back to see whether the old lady might need the money enough to make Dree feel guilty. What follows is more comfortable to watch than it would seem to be, as Dree stalks the ornery old gal and they each indulge in only minor inquiry about the other and they both keep a lot to themselves, including what Dree does for a living and is not what parents would recommend. The ending seemed a bit flat, but on reflection should be taken more as an opening to the next chapter and an opportunity to think back and look for nuances in the story. I very much enjoyed the dog which is an exact copy of one I live with, except for gender and one ear position.

Treme (Season Three) – 2012 (2.8).  Producer David Simon says this series is not meant to be entertainment or drama, but rather stories of individuals making up the larger story of the recovery of New Orleans from Katrina. A little entertaining drama could help the series which seems to be dragging out the stories of so many people, interspersed with long scenes of their involvement in music and cuisine. This season seemed a little better than last, maybe because the characters and their stories are becoming a little more familiar, even as the story line of corruption in connection with contracts for rebuilding still is too muddled to follow. Lack of much violence this season seemed anticlimactic.

The American Scream – 2012 (2.7). Three families in a small town in Massachusetts really are into creating a frightening experience for Halloween visitors to their homes, and we watch them as they prepare their creatures, props and scenes in this documentary. The men in the households are quite different except for this hobby they share, but though we learn a little about their personal lives in the course of the movie it would have been nice to go a little deeper. The extensive work involved in their creations is elaborately covered, but the scenes of the visitors on Halloween night are quite short changed.

Beauty IsEmbarrassing – 2012 (2.7). Wayne White is an artist whose work is whimsical and irreverent and productive of enjoyable chuckles. His interviews in this documentary show a man who is comfortable with what he does even as he has a small chip on his shoulder about being dismissed by some critics. The movie does not have anything particularly memorable to say about art or artists, but it is fun to watch Wayne create and talk about his life and work.

Cutie and the Boxer – 2013 (2.6). A 19 year old Japanese girl comes to NYC and meets a 41 year old Japanese artist who paints with boxing gloves and sculpts with cardboard. Forty years later we have this documentary of their 40 year marriage which uses some of their old home movies but mostly just follows them interrelating and working on their art. She draws comic book style scenes about dealing with his ego, abuse and alcoholism. He is supposedly famous yet struggles to pay the rent. She has supposedly become liberated from his dominance but it seems to be mostly just her talk. Neither seems to have taken one ESL class in 40 years, their art must be an acquired taste and their sad son seems like a reticent chip off the old block. The couple is quirky enough to provide a few laughs though.

C. O. G. – 2013 (2.4). Some short stories can be made into full length movies. Some cannot. This one by David Sedaris about his memories of a break from post-graduate work at Yale to pick apples in Oregon probably should have been limited to a short film. The introspective commentary of the writer comes across in some scenes but is left to be intuited in many others and the net effect is disappointment.

The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were (though some of the streaming rights may now have expired):

The Way

The Square

Carol Channing: Larger than Life

Brooklyn Castle

First Position

Undefeated

Our Nixon

The Invisible War

Starlet

The American Scream

Beauty Is Embarrassing

Cutie and the Boxer

C. O. G.



God Save British TV

With the largest ensemble of great actors in the world, a thousand years of readily available historic locations and many writers of intelligent scripts, British television has the inside track on quality. While keeping up with the new output, I hope to go back and try some older ones I missed.

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. Clicking on a movie title will open a new browser tab with the IMDb page for the movie.

Downton Abbey (Season Four) – 2013 (3.5). A major character is confirmed dead from last year’s end, more new cast members and story lines are added, including a serious affront to a loveable character. Shirley MacLaine reappears at year end with her son Paul Giamatti. Season four ends with more upbeat notes than three did.

Island at War – 2004 (3.3). A miniseries about the impact of the start of WWII on the residents of an independent English Channel island that does not actually exist seems like a bad idea. Why make up a story about people in a pretend place when there are so many true stories about real places? But with this expertly nuanced production Britain’s Granada TV was able to create a place with its own sovereignty and independence from Britain while at the same time its residents have an expectation of British protection from the Germans who have just occupied Western Europe. Without the impact of our preexisting knowledge of a real location, the script allows us to focus instead on the way the War affects the island people in their relationships and attitudes toward Britain, Germany, their families, neighbors, friends and new contacts such as other islanders previously unknown and German military personnel. With the expected excellent British actors and production values, it does not take too long to accept the premise about this island and to start to appreciate what the script has to say and how it raises some interesting questions.

West of Memphis– 2012 (3.1). In 1994, three teenage boys in Arkansas were convicted in what was charges were the satanic murders of three eight year old boys. Through the years, the convictions of “The West Memphis Three” have become the subject of widespread activist efforts to obtain new trials. This documentary joins a trilogy of films by Joe Berlinger under variations of the title “Paradise Lost” in telling the story of the defendants and the efforts to gain them a new trial. Though the story of injustice based on inept profiling, sloppy police work, incompetent forensics, overaggressive prosecution, inexperienced defense counsel and feckless trial judge oversight is all too familiar, the unique facts of this case and the well-funded and tireless work on behalf of the defendants is covered in engaging depth through the compromised conclusion for the defendants, while leaving the ultimate question intriguingly hanging.

 

A Bottle in the GazaSea – 2011 (3.1). Many languages are spoken in this independent film, because the young principals are a Jewish female who has recently relocated with her family from France to Tel Aviv and a Palestinian male living in Gaza who is studying French and wants to travel to France to study there. The girl has been traumatized by a nearby suicide bombing and has her brother who is an Israeli soldier patrolling in Gaza throw a bottle in the sea. In the bottle she has written a letter in English asking the finder to explain why Palestinians use suicide attacks and she gives an e-mail address for response. This hokey premise is quickly out of the way as a group of young men find the bottle and joke about the stupid message. But the boy does respond and an e-mail correspondence ensues. We see what is going on in the lives of both of these people as they keep their contact secret from their families. Will they get together or will the horror of war interfere? Nice pacing keeps the interest level up and is rewarded with an effectively moving ending.

Page One: Inside theNew York Times – 2011 (2.9). At a time when print journalism is being challenged by declining advertising revenue and competition from Internet based reporting, this look inside the New York Times to see how that venerable paper is coping makes for a quite interesting and fast moving documentary. Rather than have journalists talk to the camera, we learn from seeing them talk to each other at work, in social settings and in debates and seminars. The movie does not give answers; it instead shows the struggle to keep the paper alive and journalistic standards honored while recognizing that some changes must be made.

The Taking of PelhamOne Two Three – 1974 (2.8). The hijack for ransom of a NYC subway train was believable at the time this taut thriller was made and the tight script, actual locations, crisp direction and fine acting hold up well as a movie about a crime back then. The brash title music is annoying but thankfully not employed elsewhere in the film. A remake in 2009 reportedly failed to match the quality of the original.

Dirty Wars – 2013 (2.7).  In this documentary an investigative journalist follows stories about innocent civilians and supporters of American troops being killed by Americans in covert operations in Afghanistan and Somalia and an American citizen being targeted for assassination by American drones in Yemen. He travels to these places and interviews witnesses and he also interviews American officials and former operatives, and he even presents his findings and questions to an American Congressional Committee. The movie presents a dedicated journalist risking danger to seek the truth, but it never follows up on the legal and ethical questions involved in the type of operations being investigated, and it does not even begin to explore the difference between using such an operation to kill Osama and assassinating an American Imam in Yemen who posts Internet videos espousing jihad against America.

Happy People: A Yearin the Taiga – 2010 (2.7). Primarily following some men who work as trappers in the frozen north of Siberia, this documentary follows them through all four seasons. They come from a village of about 300 people and the movie shows a few touches of village life, but it is primarily about the life of the men out in the wild with their dogs, showing them at their work and letting them talk to the camera about their lives. The title is a little misleading, as the men come across more as self-sufficient and not unhappy, rather than outright happy.

Encounters at the Endof the World – 2007 (2.7). Werner Herzog travels to the scientific station at McMurdo in the Antarctic to make this documentary not just about the wonders of the continent itself, but more about people who travel there to do work and research. There does not seem to be a plan to the film, rather it is approached more as the tile suggests as an encounter.

Submarine – 2010 (2.6). The characters in this UK movie are presented as a little to quirky to take seriously, but are not funny enough to make the film a comedy. A teenage only child boy is concerned for the lifeless marriage of his parents while at the same time wanting to find his own first love. Mom is checking back on an old flame, as the boy spies on her. He finds a girl and they seem to hit it off, but then he runs into a problem when she needs him in a more mature way. The material is not as good as the acting and directing talent. For a low budget film, there are some beguiling cinematic shots.

The Winds of War – 1983 (2.6).  Long enough to be a half season, this ambitious miniseries based on the Herman Wouk novel about the lead up to WWII boasts impressive production values using multiple European locations. The story centers on a career naval gunnery officer, ably played by Robert Mitchum, who has been assigned as an attaché to the diplomatic service in the late 1930s. One reviewer aptly points out that the man is a bit like Forest Gump, always present at important meetings of heads of state. The device enables us to see these meetings from the inside American view. This elevated status was inadvertently achieved because the officer wrote a report that went against the grain of the higher ups and somehow came to the attention of FDR who made the officer his unofficial intelligence agent with a direct line to the White House. The actors portraying the heads of state are very good, especially Ralph Bellamy who delivers a direct hit as FDR. Unfortunately the uneven and poorly paced script by Wouk also covers the personal romantic lives of the officer, his wife and three adult children, all played very ineffectively. As a dramatized history lesson of the real winds of war through the attack on Pearl Harbor the series was informative, but the family romances are a major waste of time.

Happiness – 1998 (2.2). This black sometimes comedy is definitely perverse; in fact it is also in several ways perverted. An early performance by Phillip Seymour Hoffman was the impetus for checking it out and a scene of him in his sloppy apartment drunkenly collapsing after making obscene phone calls is sadly prophetic of his actual depressing death. There are some real aspects of empty and depressing lives portrayed in this film but watching it can also be depressing and leave an empty feeling. Movies should have something better to offer.

 

Carmen Jones -1954 (2.2). On the plus side for this musical are the music of Bizet, the screen presence of Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge, and Pearl Bailey singing in her own voice. On the minus side are the forgettable book and lyrics by Hammerstein and the singing voices of the leads being dubbed by other vocalists, with the voice coming out of Belafonte’s mouth absolutely ludicrous.

The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were (though some of the streaming rights may now have expired):

Island at War

A Bottle in the Gaza Sea
Page One: Inside the New York Times
Dirty Wars
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
Encounters at the End of the World
Submarine
The Winds of War
Carmen Jones