Binge Watching

Netflix has established a precedent by releasing all the episodes of an entire season of its new productions all at once. Older complete seasons of many series are available for streaming. This allows binge watching which is more akin to book reading. Waiting for the next weekly episode of a series is like reading a book a chapter at a time in a weekly magazine. Comcast has released entire seasons of some shows for watching during its Watchathon week. DVD sets of one or more seasons of a series are available from libraries, often with four weeks allowed for viewing.

 

I have started watching and re-rating some movies that I first watched and rated years ago. If the ratings change, the newer rating will be used when my master lists are updated. I suspect the new ratings tend to be lower, probably because I have seen so many movies now that I am a bit harder rater and also because the impact of many films is greater when they are freshly viewed. An example from the current list is Elling, which I originally rated 4 stars at Netflix; it is a good movie but on this watch it did not have as great an impact.

 

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.

 

Boardwalk Empire (Season Four) (2.9). As the series moves into the mid twenties, the gangster entwinements become even more twisted and the FBI comes into being and starts to get involved. The family lives of some of the principal characters become more involved in the stories, some new characters show up and some old ones get snuffed. The season finale has a lot going on and seemingly closes some story arcs, while leaving plenty of room for a few seasons more.

 

Captain Phillips – 2013 (2.9). Without spending much time on back story, this thrilling drama, based on a true story, gets the Captain to his American cargo ship and sailing through the Gulf of Aden. His concern for possible Somali piracy quickly turns into reality as his isolated ship is targeted and boarded, resulting in tense cat and mouse dealings between the Captain and the nominal head of the ragged team of pirates. Once the US Navy gets involved, negotiators and Navy Seals are engaged in stopping the pirates and saving the kidnapped Captain. Intensely well-paced with good acting and production values, the movie holds interest throughout.

 

The Newsroom (Season Two) – 2013 (2.9). Reminiscent of the trouble for CBS when a fake document was used as part of the evidence to show Bush II ducked the draft, the Newsroom team is duped from the inside resulting in major litigation which provides a continuous story line for the second season. The personal stories of the characters are entwined with the internal investigation of how the story made it through the institutional process to get on the air. Culminating with the election night coverage of 2012, there are some happy developments to offset the setbacks.

 

The Hunt – 2012 (2.9). Having lost his teaching job in a school closure, a man has taken a job helping out in a kindergarten back in the small town of his birth. Divorced and in custody negotiations over his teenage son, the man, in spite of reuniting with other local men, leads a lonely life. His best friend has a fragile marriage with a sensitive daughter who attends the kindergarten and befriends the teacher. The little girl becomes piqued one day and tells a lie about the man, which soon escalates out of control. Very well acted, particularly by the little girl, this Danish movie concentrates on the impact of the lie on the teacher, how the love a community feels for its children can easily turn to irrational fear, and how the teacher struggles to deal with the situation without any help. The DVD includes an alternate ending, which once again confirms neither denouement is satisfactory.

 

The Act of Killing – 2012 (2.9).  Watching the DVD special feature interview of the director before viewing the documentary will help understand the historical background behind the Indonesian political genocide of 1965, and why the killers, shown in this movie in their old age, are still respected and feared. Wanting to emulate American gangsters and sadistic Nazis as shown in American films, young thugs were easily recruited by the repressive dictatorship to help with massive purges of a million or more people seen as potential political opponents of the repressive regime. The film maker spent eight years working with these former killers, culminating in the killers themselves putting together a documentary with their personal vision of why and how they tortured and murdered and how they feel about it now. Reminiscent of the film Shoah and its interviews with Nazi death camp workers, this movie is at times surreal and most often disgustingly perplexing.

 

Burma VJ – 2008 (2.9).  Public indignation roiling up against the repressive military regime in Burma is captured by undercover video journalists whose footage made it to the Internet and international TV news. Slow starting, this documentary gains power as Buddhist monks take to the streets inspiring the people to join them and speak up against the regime. The tide was turning as this movie was made though the protests suffered setbacks near the end of filming.

 

Elling – 2001 (2.9). Two men with mental health issues are given a probationary opportunity to leave the institution where they have been living for many years and move into an apartment in Oslo in this enjoyable Norwegian comedy. One man is small and very uptight. The other is large and uncouth. But they have developed a strong friendship which helps them cope with adjusting to their new situation. Good acting and nice pacing contribute to this story about the benefits of being yourself while open to new situations.

 

Blue Jasmine – 2013 (2.8). Another Best Actress Oscar goes to the portrayal by Cate Blanchett of a woman with serious mental health issues, in this Woody Allen drama. This time the character was not as over the top as some prior winners, but rather a woman who had suffered some serious life bumps and was losing ground in spurts in trying to deal with them. All the characters seem authentically mixed, even without us knowing their back stories, though we are shown flashbacks of Cate and her husband from time to time. The story is mostly middle, with a few hints of beginning and not much end.

 

30 for 30: You Don’tKnow Bo – 2012 (2.8). Archival footage and interviews are used in this ESPN documentary to tell the athletic story of Bo Jackson, All Star MLB baseball player and All Pro NFL running back, whose career was cut short by the fluke of a devastating injury. Straightforwardly done, the man who was probably the next best natural athlete after Jim Thorpe is shown in his astounding performances on the field and in his dignified and mellow current life.

 

Elon Musk: Bloomberg Risk Takers – 2011 (2.8). This short documentary does a quick job of capturing the confident genius and dynamic entrepreneurship of Musk, with archival footage and interviews of the man himself, his family members and those who have been in business with him. Starting with Internet ventures like Pay Pal, Musk has moved on to successful space exploration and electric car ventures.

 

Medora – 2013 (2.7). The title is the name of the very small Indiana town whose high school has not been consolidated with other small schools. The school basketball team has to compete against schools with ten times as many boys enrolled, and the results are not pretty. The movie tries to use the struggles of the team as its focus, but it is clear the real issues are the struggle of the boys in their daily lives with splintered families and a dying home town. This is not encouraging and the film does not make any effort to seek or show any hopeful signs or constructive criticism.

 

Indie Game: The Movie – 2012 (2.7). Following a few independent developers of video games who spend years intensely bringing their vision to reality, this documentary shows the pressure they experience even as they eschew the pressure of working for corporate game developers. There could be broader issues of motivation and achievement, but these young men always knew what they wanted to do from the time they were children immersed in video gaming and fantasy art and they concentration of this movie is on the development of their individual games and whether they will meet with critical and popular success and whether they will be understood and appreciated for the full vision behind their creation.

 

Veep (Season Two) – 2013 (2.7). Julia Louis-Dreyfuss is still in the number two spot in season two, with her quirky staff pretty much the same and she is still striving to appear important and manage her political career in the face of continuous political turmoil. The HBO required excessively vulgar language continues but the running joke asking if the President called is dropped. A few new characters come along, but none of major importance. More time is spent near season end with the family dynamics of the Veep, her ex-husband and their daughter and the finale reveals surprising news about her political future.

 

Udaan – 2010 (2.7). After eight years in a boarding school without seeing his widowed father, a teenage boy is expelled, returns home and is received sternly by his abusive parent in this overlong and sometimes slow Indian drama. The boy is a talented inspiring writer but his father insists that he work in his factory and study engineering. The boy is a sneaky rebel with a poetic bent and his character has a certain appeal. The six year old half-brother he discovers on his return home is a cutie to whom he is cold at first. The father is a rigid tyrant incapable of love. An uncle is sympathetic to the boy but remains a minor character. The teenage actor has to carry the movie, which he does.

 

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

Burma VJ

30 for 30: You Don’t Know Bo

Elon Musk: Bloomberg Risk Takers

Indie Game: The Movie

Udaan