Top Netflix Streamer of the Week
20 Feet From Stardom
This was the Academy Award winner for Best Documentary. You think they hand out those awards to just anybody? Hint: They don’t. You’ve got to “fellate o’ fish” a bunch of people to get even half that far in this industry. No, but seriously folks, the film is all about the trials and tribulations of being a backup singer, check out this heartwarming trailer. Maybe you and me and the bottle makes three for this one?
Streamability: Yep. Cute, heartwarming, better than your average “well now how DO we fix health care or education” documentary.
Old but Available on Streaming Netflix Movies for the Recently Born
Punch-Drunk Love
Truthfully, this could have been the “no one likes this but me” title, but it’s a rough week for new releases. I think maybe it has something to do with people getting paid on the 1st and the 15th. Anywhoo, PDL is one of PTA’s better works, it features a song from Popeye and a truly interesting performance from PSH. Trivia: I pace like Adam Sandler on the phone and I desperately want to tell someone to, “calm down, and shut the F*** up.” Then follow it up by asking what the problem is. This scene is GOLDEN, pony boy.
Streamability: Yeah man, if only so you can be all “I don’t get it” and “it only had the one good scene you embedded”. I will RELISH that moment.
Physically New Media for Netflix, Streaming Elsewhere
Gravity
This won an Academy Award … ah, whatever, I can’t go through with it again. I mean, I saw this movie twice, liked it both times, and I truly think Cuaron did a masterful job of blending tech with the organic use of bike shorts. The only legit problem I have with the film is the timeline. It doesn’t make any sense. What is happening in the other forty minutes as the debris are circling the Earth? The strength of Gravity is that sense of visceral “nowness”. Thinking about where those minutes went crushes the reality. Still, I did like it. I hope I haven’t ruined it for you. (Vince’s review)
Streamability: Certainly. All the better if your watching-mates haven’t seen it yet.
Not on Netflix, Just Cuz, IRL
Wolf of Wall Street
This film … was disappointing. There, I said it. It was just this single note of “hookers, drugs, debauchery” over and over (and over). I know that the strength of the Seinfeld generation is “no hugging, no learning”, but that has now been taken to its logical extreme. We can go no further down that road. We gotta get off now (which is Leo’s mantra throughout this film, heeeyoooooo). (Vince’s review)
Streamability: Against my better judgment, I’ll say yes. It’s three hours, and you feel all of them, but we probably need to watch all of Marty Scorsese’s films from here on out. Plus, you know, Margot Robbie, even though the “daddy” and “mommy” stuff is a little too freaky for this guy.
The Bad, The Bad, and the Ugly New to Netflix
Jobs
Take a deep breathe and just laugh and laugh at Jobs with me. Jobs is the kind of film you’d make if you set out to discuss someone’s legacy about 70 seconds after they passed away. Luckily, this trailer gives away the whole movie, so I suppose it’s been streaming for quite some time. (Vince’s review)
Streamability: Nope. Unless you’re running low on your “stories” on DVR.
And Finally …
Delivery Man
Note: this is not a good movie. I’ll just go ahead and quote myself so we can all get out of here with our pride intact.
The central problem at the core of Delivery Man is the great big question mark hanging over the whole affair, the giant teddy bear in the room that everyone is willfully ignoring. It goes something like this: Why in the world would David feel anything other than horrified, hurt, and angry that a negligent sperm bank had used his, erm, materials, to make over 500 babies?! At what point would anyone in the universe say, “You know, I realize that the people who had these children used an anonymous donor on purpose, but they probably really meant for me to be the dad to their son or daughter, decades after the fact.” This only makes sense in a little place I like to call “Bonkersville”. Biology is not parenting, at least not in the case where you’ve never met the offspring, the parents, or really had anything to do with their lives right up until the point the movie started.
Streamability: That’s a negative.