October 2012
1 post
Storm Watch TV Marathons
If You Haven’t Gotten Into These Shows, Now’s The Time
Friday Night Lights One of the most depressing moments of this presidential race is watching Mitt Romney appropriate FNL’s “Clear Eyes Full Hearts Can’t Loose” slogan with seemingly no lawsuit or action against him. Romney being a fan of the breathtakingly beautiful and brutally honest Friday Night Lights makes no sense, as the show is a...
September 2012
1 post
4 tags
American Experience: The Triangle Fire
Okay, so this one might be a little heavy, especially coming after the Billy Wilder romantic comedy post. However, it is Labor Day weekend and it’s worth taking a moment for that. Holidays like this one kind of get lost in the shuffle as an excuse for barbeques and 3 day weekends. But it’s sitting down for an hour to reflect on what Labor Day really means, especially in this...
August 2012
3 posts
Billy Wilder Weekend
The late, great, Billy Wilder is one of my favorite Hollywood directors. His more personal work encompasses some of the most scathing satires and bitter-hearted romances ever made in Hollywood: Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity, The Apartment, and my favorite, Ace in The Hole.
Yet Wilder was also a man who played by the rules of the studio system, and was content to turn out work more popular,...
Breaking Bad
I admit that I can be a bit contrary. Sometimes when everyone loves something so much, I get tired of hearing about it and build up an adverse reaction. For instance, I’ve never seen True Blood, but I’m already sick of hearing about it. I initially felt the same way about Breaking Bad, and only gave in after hearing Bryan Cranston (who comes across as the nicest and most interesting...
Super Double Feature
So it’s been a while since I’ve updated here, and I’m sorry about that. Life, etc, I suppose. But I was drawn back in today by noticing that Netflix Instant now has the crown jewel of comic book movies in their collection. Call it the “Citizen Kane” of superhero movies, or maybe just the first time that Hollywood took a comic book seriously. Either way, it’s...
June 2012
2 posts
Charade
Greetings and salutations for it has been too long since we posted here at Bestflix. Too busy living life for writing about movies to stream instantly. But now that it’s unbearably hot and all I want to do is sit in front of the TV and air conditioner, I’m back!
The movie for today is a favorite of mine and a curiously underrated one. If I told you that there was a film starring...
3 tags
The Long Goodbye
When I worked at a repertory theater in New York City, one of the best series we did was dedicated to Robert Altman’s film output of the 1970s. Everyone knows the highlights of MASH and Nashville, but the quality, diversity, and breathtaking ingenuity of his work during this period is almost unsurpassed by any other American filmmaker. No one dreamed bigger or shot higher than Altman, and...
May 2012
4 posts
Bubba Ho-Tep
Sometimes I can’t resist. I try to stay away from more esoteric movies or things I think people won’t really like, but sometimes it’s just like “OMG. Bubba Ho-Tep, y’all!!”
I feel like Bubba Ho-Tep must have started out life as a joke. It’s far too preposterous to be a real movie, let alone one that you could watch instantly in the privacy of your own...
Drive (aka Netflix needs to get it together)
First, let me say this. I hated Drive.
HOWEVER…
It seems crazy to me that this film isn’t popping up at the top of my “Newly Released” or “Newly Added” queue on Netflix Instant. As I’ve said before, I am a fan of Netflix for the David & Goliath struggle they’re engaged in, but they have to get it together.
Drive was one of the best-reviewed...
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
An awful lot has happened to Wilco in the ten years since the release of this documentary. They’ve released numerous albums, done side projects, played huge venues, staged their own music & arts festival, and become one of the world’s most respected touring groups. They even had to cope with the death of co-founder Jay Bennett in 2009.
For me, I still like Wilco a lot, but I...
Groundhog Day
This’ll be a short entry. If you haven’t seen Groundhog Day, start watching it right now.
If you have seen it, then the only question is, is it one of the best Bill Murray movies, or THE BEST Bill Murray movie? My money’s on the latter…there’s no better vehicle for Murray’s sardonic, world-weary bitterness than to be forced to relive the same day over and...
April 2012
7 posts
Exit Through the Gift Shop
For years it seemed like the biggest struggle with art was our conception of it. If someone chose to put a frame around something, it became “art,” even while that was a tough concept for the world to swallow. When Marcel Duchamp wrote “R. Mutt” on a toilet and submitted it to a show, it’s easy to assume that he was making a statement that anything could be art.
...
Punch-Drunk Love
I remember not being particularly excited when Punch-Drunk Love came out in theaters. I didn’t like Adam Sandler that much and I had mixed feelings about Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia has good parts but Boogie Nights still leaves me cold). I went to see it mainly because I worked at a movie theater and could get in for free.
BAM! This movie knocked me out of my chair!
Right from its...
1 tag
Bob's Burgers
I got back from a terrible craft fair experience to find a delightful surprise in my “New Releases” Netflix section: Bob’s Burgers!
Created by Loren Bouchard, one of the creators and producers of the beloved Dr. Katz and Home Movies, Bob’s Burgers features a murderer’s row of comedic voice talent, great writing, and a funny subversive commentary on American life....
Ace in the Hole
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! That was my reaction on seeing that this, my favorite Billy Wilder film, favorite Kirk Douglas film, and one of my top favorite films of all time, was now available on Netflix Instant. This is one of the weird vagaries of the Netflix system, and a reason why it pays to keep checking as their inventory is constantly changing and refreshing. Anyway…
I think Billy...
8 tags
Dead Man
After the day-glo candy colors of RuPaul’s Drag Race, here’s a somber black and white white film to cleanse your palette. After the globe-trotting and (somewhat) crowd-pleasing indie sensibilities of 1991’s Night on Earth, Jim Jarmusch focused his energies on a hypnotic, grainy western starring Johnny Depp that manages to be both hyper-realistic and supremely stylized. From its...
3 tags
RuPaul's Drag Race
“There are only two types of people in this world, fans of Drag Race and people who haven’t seen Drag Race.” - Genevieve Koski, The AV Club.
In retrospect, the concept is so simple it’s brilliant: take a group of men whose passion in life is dressing up extravagantly and being melodramatic and put them on TV in a reality show competition. Sold! But while Drag Race could have...
King of the Hill (not the animated TV show)
After the Sundance hit sex, lies, and videotape went on to conquer the indie film world for Miramax, Steven Soderbergh had his pick of projects. Ambitiously he chose Kafka, which was an interesting failure, but nonetheless a film that didn’t connect with audiences or critics. In run-for-cover mode, his next film was a simple, Depression-era coming of age story, based on a memoir by A.E....
March 2012
11 posts
The Bicycle Thief
It’s not an exaggeration to rank The Bicycle Thief as one of the most influential films ever made. Not only did it define an entire new movement of neo-realism in Italy, its worldwide success introduced new generations to Italian film and helped inspire the gritty realist cinema of the 1960s and 70s in America, as well as all over the world.
Yet watched now, removed the accolades and...
The Thin Blue Line
Great art can inspire people and provoke change, but can it actually save lives? Errol Morris’ 1988 documentary The Thin Blue Line did just that; literally freeing a man from prison upon its release due to its incredible investigative journalism. It’s fair to say that this is one of the most important and influential documentaries ever made.
What’s even more impressive is how...
The Lady Vanishes
Before being wooed to Hollywood by David O. Selznick, Alfred Hitchcock was perhaps the most famous and popular director in England. Working on small budgets in the sometimes faltering British film industry, Hitchcock combined the visual flair of German silent films with the whodunit thrillers of great UK tradition to produce some of the most entertaining and well-crafted films of the 1920s and...
Lovers on the Bridge (Les Amants de Pont Neuf)
Woo! This movie! The film that almost bankrupted the French film industry - it was at the time the most expensive film ever made (due to accidents, expensive sequences, and the cost of building a complete bridge and false city). Full of fantasy sequences, circus elements, firebreathing, and a critique of homelessness. All this in one of the best romances you’ll ever see.
The film follows...
Suggested TV Shows
We had a comment on our facebook that a fan finished watching Party Down and now needs suggestions for more TV shows. No problem, Julia! Is there anything more glorious than discovering a new show with dozens of episodes to watch? Here is a selection of some of our favorite TV shows available in Netflix Instant.
The Larry Sanders Show: Similar to Party Down in that it’s a Hollywood...
Confessions of a Superhero
Documentaries often live or die by the people they follow. “Confessions of a Superhero” has some of the best subjects for a film I’ve seen in a long time: four of the people who dress up like superheroes outside of Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood and pose for pictures for tips.
The subjects include:
Maxwell Allen, aka Batman, who claims to have been a mob enforcer...
The Lady Eve
The term “Screwball comedy” has come to be a kind of catch-all for any sort of wacky comedy, but it originated as something very specific: farcical, witty, and usually very physical comedies from the late 1930s to 1940s. Nearly all of the great screwball comedies (Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday) also include a battle of the sexes element that, while certainly not feminist, usually...
Army of Shadows
Nothing sets the tone for Army of Shadows like the grim opening sequence (pictured above) of a daily Nazi parade through occupied Paris in 1942. The streets are empty other than the procession, which is just a spirit-crushing reminder of what’s at stake.
Director Jean-Pierre Melville served in the French resistance himself, but by 1969 when this was made, he was in no mood for propaganda....
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Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Giant Gila...
At the risk of coming across as too nerdy or hyperbolic, Mystery Science Theater 3000 is my religion. Or at least, it’s probably my favorite TV show of all time. I watched it constantly during high school (I was very popular with the ladies, as you can imagine), and after re-watching episodes on Netflix Instant, it’s become clear to me what a big a part of my life this goofball show...
This is Spinal Tap
I’ve showcased some heavy films lately, so to get you through the weekend, here’s one that’s pure fun: This is Spinal Tap. This is one of those that I assume you’ve heard of and are just delighted to see is on Netflix Instant.
There’s not much I can add to the accolades surrounding this amazing comedy, one of the first and still the best “mockumentary”...
Grizzly Man
Boy, every cloud opens a silver lining. Yesterday Netflix stopped running content from Starz Play, but today it added some new stuff including “Grizzly Man,” my favorite documentary of the last few years, and certainly in my top five ever. I know I just highlighted a Werner Herzog film in Encounters at the End of the World, but trust me, this story is just too amazing. (Note, on...
February 2012
18 posts
To Watch Right Away!
The constant back and forth about movies and TV shows on Netflix Instant is infuriating, we can all agree. But to be fair, Netflix is in a tough position. They started out as a small, independent company that wasn’t associated with any of the big giant companies, and that’s what they still are (aside from the small part). People gripe and complain, but the truth is that they seem...
Double Indemnity
Note: The next two paragraphs are the author blowing off steam about what he perceives as artistic injustice at the awards for the picture show. Feel free to skip to the third paragraph:
In his second Oscar acceptance speech last night (after composer Ludovic Bource failed to acknowledge composer Bernard Hermann’s enormous contribution to his “original” score), director Michel...
Blue Collar
I’m going out of town to Detroit this weekend, and in honor of that (and as an antidote to this year’s particularly weak Oscars), here’s a gritty slice of Motor City life: Blue Collar. It’s a perfect film for this blog, because I would never have found it in Netflix’s labyrinth without specifically looking for films shot in Detroit.
Blue Collar is not only Paul...
Coffee and Cigarettes
A collection of eleven short films by Jim Jarmusch. Does it hang together as a cohesive movie? No. Are there some slow sections and shorts? Yes. Do you get to see Bill Murray have a conversation with both RZA and GZA from the Wu-Tang Clan? Hell yes.
This film began with a black and white short produced around the time of Down by Law, with Roberto Begnini and Steven Wright smoking and drinking...
Assault on Precinct 13
Continuing our trend of unsung 70s classics: I’m a big John Carpenter fan and this is where it all starts (yes, I know about Dark Star, but get serious). Carpenter is an interesting filmmaker, someone who combines a love of and reverence for classic Hollywood with the sexiness and newfound artistic freedom of 70s cinema. Not all of his films are great, but his great ones (which will be...
Encounters at the End of the World
One of the most pleasant surprises of the past 15 years has been the metamorphosis of Werner Herzog from director of amazing yet enigmatic feature films (do yourself a favor and watch Fitzcarraldo) to Herzog focusing almost exclusively on documentary films. His endless quest for remote outposts of human existence sends him to Antartica is this wonderfully entertaining film.
Herzog, who appears...
Arrested Development
If you haven’t watched Arrested Development yet, I strongly urge you to. Yet I also understand a hesitancy to dive in- the fans of the show (myself included) are so rabid and the in-jokes so dense that it can seem daunting. I felt the same way about watching a show like “The Wire” - so much had been said about the show, how could it possibly live up to the hype?
Well it does...
The Naked City (1948)
“Ladies and gentlemen, the motion picture you are about to see is called “The Naked City.” My name is Mark Hellinger. I was in charge of this production and I may as well tell you frankly that it’s a bit different from most films you’ve ever seen…As you see we’re flying over an island, a city. A particular city. And this is a story of a number of people, and a story also of the city itself....
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Here’s a great example of a film that gets lost in the Netflix Instant shuffle: Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Perfect for a Valentine’s Day in!
Breakfast at Tiffany’s isn’t the movie that made Audrey Hepburn a star, but it solidified her iconic image. It’s the picture above, of an effortlessly beautiful woman gazing into a window with those gigantic sunglasses. I...
The Iron Giant
Exhibit A in the Case of Parents-Who-Say-They-Want-Better-Movies-For-Their-Kids-But-Then-Take-Them-To-See-Adam-Sandler-Movies-Anyway: The Iron Giant. Released in 1999, this animated movie was critically acclaimed but flopped anyway. Thank goodness it’s made a comeback in recent years, thanks to director Brad Bird becoming famous for little films like The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and...
1 tag
Small Town Gay Bar
This documentary made a lot of noise at Sundance several years ago, and I can see why. It’s a ramshackle yet loving portrait of the gay community that springs up around two small gay bars in towns in Mississippi. Dealing with persecution (and much worse, as the doc makes clear) on a daily basis, these bars become an oasis for people looking to find acceptance.
Director Malcolm Ingram makes no...
5 tags
Vertigo
Wow! I thought I was done posting for today but then I happened to see that Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958) is on Instant and I was too excited to wait.
One of Hitchcock’s masterpieces, Vertigo is a true oddity. One of the strangest and most personal films to emerge from the studio system, it’s a psychological thriller that has spawned endless imitations and homages.
Jimmy...
4 tags
Sherlock
Jumping from Sherlock Jr in 1924 to Sherlock in 2010, this is the latest re-imagining of the Sherlock Holmes story. Produced as a mini-series for the BBC, these three hour-and-a-half episodes compromise almost five hours of tremendous storytelling (and yes, the BBC just started airing new episodes, so seek the new ones out!).
Martin Freeman from The Office (the original, brilliant British...
3 tags
Sherlock Jr.
Oh man. This film is one of my favorites, and it’s a great entry point to silent film for people who don’t like silent film. Or maybe you saw The Artist and were intrigued! Either way, Sherlock Jr. is a masterpiece, a tight 44 min epic and probably my favorite Buster Keaton film.
I’ll always prefer Keaton to Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin could be too maudlin and precious for my...
1 tag
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
I’m on record as not being a fan of The Artist, but then again I’m also on record as being a grouchy old crabapple. My biggest gripe with The Artist is that I felt like its pitch-perfect copy of silent film styles didn’t work as straight drama. As satire though, it can be phenomenal.
Which brings us to OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, a 2006 film by the same director (Michel...
3 tags
Louis C.K. Hilarious
Hopefully by now you’ve discovered Louis C.K. His FX show, Louie (also available on Netflix Instant) is one of the best shows on TV, a quirky mix of dark comedy and social pathos. He’s also appeared on the beloved Parks & Recreation as Leslie’s one-time cop boyfriend Dave, and has written for numerous amazing shows. He also recently made news with his self-financed &...
January 2012
1 post
4 tags
