The increase in Netflix streaming price prompted a look at
what I have streamed in the last six months and the realization that for now it
is not cost effective. So I have cancelled Netflix streaming effective this
coming week. The same movies of marginal interest have been in my queue for
quite a while. In fact what prompts me to stream most movies in my queue is the
impending expiration of streaming rights. I have likely pretty well tapped out
the old Netflix movies of interest. There are probably some good documentaries
and foreign films left to glean, but they are almost always available through
the library. This current list of movies watched includes a final flurry of
Netflix streams.
DVDs in the mail seems old fashioned since stopping them
from Netflix when they jacked the price up a few years ago. Their star rating
algorithm no longer works for me and the filmographies are not complete unless
you subscribe to DVD service. The IMDB provides free information and Red Box
kiosks are quicker (though I still have not used one). The library and PBS TV
will work fine for now.
So my eleven year relationship with Netflix has come to an
end. Netflix as a business has been going through some ups and downs with its
stock currently rated two stars out of five by Morningstar.
O.J.: Made in America
- 2016 (3.0). An extended production of ESPN 30 for 30, this five part
documentary puts the OJ murder case and later trial in Nevada in historical
context, particularly regarding the oppressive treatment of African-Americans
by the LAPD and how that affected the jurors in the murder trial. Archival
footage is expertly mingled with recent interviews of many of the people
involved in the trials and surrounding events. Though we are familiar with the
case, this movie not only refreshes our memory but sharpens it and keeps us
riveted to the screen.
Tab Hunter Confidential – 2015 (3.0). A young heartthrob with no talent turned into a
box office phenom by Warner Brothers in the 1950s and a candidate for some
third rate "whatever happened to" movie over 50 years later might be
what was expected of this documentary. But we are quickly corrected as an
eighty something Tab looking handsome and healthy proceeds to tell us his life
story, about being almost unnaturally handsome, seeking escape in the Coast
Guard, having a lifetime love of horses, falling into a movie career, being
overhyped, working hard to learn to act, supporting his single mother who was afflicted
with mental health issues, dealing with his homosexuality while keeping it from
destroying his career, and about his family, friendships, business
relationships and loves. This is a very enjoyable visit with a really nice man
and it is not surprising that so many notable people chose to offer their
filmed comments to supplement the archival and contemporary footage.
The Last Man on theMoon – 2014 (3.0). Twelve humans have walked on the surface of the moon. In
1972, the last one was Gene Cernan and he tells his story in this effective documentary.
We get his personal and professional biography as he takes us with him to
revisit the sites and mementoes of his life journey. Of course he cannot take
us back to the moon in person, but with archival footage and computer
simulations we can come close to realizing what he experienced. The production
values are high and Cernan is engaging as he gently explains how he feels today
about this remarkable thrill from his past.
Paradise Lost 3:Purgatory – 2011 (3.0). After almost 18 years of incarceration, the story
of the West Memphis Three gets another documentary update. This time new
evidence and expert testimony are developed and presented to a new judge. All
the new interviews are put in context with footage from the earlier movies and
we see how prison has changed the three convicts, how many other people,
including especially one surprising member of a victim family, have changed in
their lives and attitudes, but how Arkansas criminal law prosecutors fight
tooth and nail to prevent the men from getting new trials. As the prospect for
new trials gains strength, we get a new suspect and a sudden resolution.
If I Were You –
2012 (2.9). A pleasant surprise, this romantic comedy from write and director
Joan Carr-Wiggin has a nicely paced script with some clever lines, modest
laughs and sincerity in presenting the issue of marital infidelity from three
points of view, the husband, but primarily the wife and the other woman. Good
acting by the two women, especially Marcia Gay Harding.
Paradise Lost 2: Revelations
– 2000 (2.9). The makers of the original documentary about the West Memphis
Three, teenagers in Arkansas convicted of supposedly satanic murders of three
eight year old boys revisited the story several years later as a movement has
arisen to free them as wrongfully convicted. New evidence and expert
re-examination of the evidence is argued as a basis for new trials. The
original trial judge handles the new proceedings and this time decides to
exclude cameras, but there are plenty of ongoing interviews with the prisoners,
their families, families of the victims, witnesses, police and attorneys and
others. The likelihood of the boys being exonerated seems to be growing and a
very likely candidate for the true killer comes into view.
Trapped – 2016
(2.8). Southern legislators have passed many laws in recent years purportedly
to make abortion safer, when in fact their purpose is to make it impossible for
medical practitioners to comply with the myriad of regulations so that abortion
will effectively be outlawed. This documentary follows the efforts by the few
remaining clinics and their doctors to stay open to serve women seeking an
abortion. Roe vs Wade recognized the right to abortion, but a later case
allowed states to regulate the practice so long as the laws do not place an
undue burden on women. The Texas law has been challenged in the US Supreme
Court with a decision due in June 2016.
Spotlight – 2015
(2.8). Somewhat in the mode of All The
President's Men, this drama follows a team at the Boston Globe as they work
up the story of the Boston priest sexual abuse scandal and ongoing coverup by
Cardinal Law. This scandal in the Catholic Church worldwide has become quite
well known and been covered in many documentaries and other media, so this movie
does not break new ground other than touching on the failure of the Globe to
investigate the story much earlier. What could have made the film more
informative would be showing more about the other institutions and individuals
who facilitated the coverup.
Taxi Teheran –
2015 (2.8). Iranian director Jafar Panahi came up with this clever movie to
comment on artistic repression in his country. The premise is that he is posing
as a taxi driver in Teheran and using a disguised dashboard camera to film a
succession of passengers who dialogue about various aspects of their lives as
affected by the policies of the regime. After first thinking this is a sort of
candid camera stunt, we realize it is a smart drama blending humore with
probably about as sharp criticism as could be allowed without getting the film
totally banned. The movie is also titled Taxi and Jafar Panahi's Taxi.
Fruitvale Station
– 2013 (2.8). Based on a true story of a shooting of a young black man by an
Oakland transit policeman, this drama gives the background on the man by
showing some of his past history and then going into detail by following him in
his interactions the day of the shooting with family, friends, enemies,
strangers and the police. Michael B. Jordan plays the role quite effectively,
presenting a nuanced performance of a young man trying to figure out where his
life might be headed.
The Keys of theKingdom – 1944 (2.8). Gregory Peck plays a sincere young Catholic priest
from Scotland who is sent to Imperial China as a missionary in this WWII
production from the A. J. Cronin novel. Good production values, fine acting by
Peck and the use of Chinese actors for the subordinate roles help this movie
hold up fairly well after 70 years. The loudly annoying Oscar nominated music
by Alfred Newman is something that movies thankfully left behind.
Daughter of the Dawn
– 1920 (2.8). A movie made in 1920 outdoors in Oklahoma with a cast composed
entirely of Kiowa and Comanche Indians is so unique that it is worth watching
even though it is a quite hokey drama. Thanks to film preservers and Oklahoma
historians for keeping this film in being and thanks to Netflix for making it
available.
Beasts of No Nation
– 2015 (2.7). This Netflix drama based on the novel of the same name tells a
story of a boy in West Africa whose village is caught between government forces
and rebels in a civil war. His faily is killed and he is taken captive by a
warlord running a battalion of boy fighters. He is quickly converted to a
soldier and partakes in violence at first by being forced and then gradually of
his own volition. The movie has good production values and acting but the
accents make the dialogue hard to decipher at times and the fictional story is
totally lacking on any bigger picture of what the war is about and who the
parties are. As a first personal account of the young boy who does not
understand the political issues the film is limited in what it can accomplish.
The Big Short –
2015 (2.7). Trying to explain to the general public the financial instrument
machinations that led to the housing bubble and 2008 financial crash is hard
enough to do in a book but even harder in a movie made from that book. The
resulting screenplay won the Oscar but did not make this esoteric subject
generally interesting, and the jumping around between so many characters who
predicted the bubble or otherwise tried to warn others and then decided to turn
the prediction into personal profits is about as confusing as this sentence.
Blurring the line between documentary and drama is tricky work.
The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were (though
some of the streaming rights may now have expired):
Tab Hunter Confidential
Last Man on the Moon
If I Were You
Spotlight
Taxi Teheran
Fruitvale Station
The Keys of the Kingdom
Daughter of the Dawn
Beasts of No Nation
