Leaving the Stream: Week of November 14th, 2010

This week, Netflix streaming loses one indisputable classic and a few guilty pleasures.

Broadcast News (11/21)

James L. Brooks shows his stuff with this one. ‘Broadcast News’ stars William Hurt, Holly Hunter and Albert Brooks, among others. It’s an exploration of relationships, the work-addict, and the news business all at once. It’s also on its way off of Netflix, so get it while you can. Oh, if you didn’t guess, this one’s the classic.

Jumanji (11/22)

I can’t help it, I love ‘Jumanji‘. It’s cheesy and dumb, and it came out right when the world was starting to get sick of Robin Williams in kids’ movies, but I don’t care. If ‘Jumanji’ is anything, it’s fun and a little whimsical, and that’s enough for me.

FarCry (11/24)

If you saw ‘FarCry‘ and hated it, then you watched it wrong. Here’s how to do it right:

  1. Get a group of 3-5 friends together, one of which must be a loudmouth smartass to get the ball rolling.
  2. Supply said guests with their favorite alcoholic beverages or caffeinated drinks. Not too much, though. This isn’t a kegger.
  3. Prepare the Netflix stream and pause before the movie starts. Explain to your guests that this isn’t so much a movie night as a test of endurance.
  4. Read aloud, dramatically, from some of the more clever reviews that scathed the film.
  5. Finally, read the description of the movie from the box, count down from three, and begin watching.
  6. Enjoy!
  7. If you failed to enjoy the movie, find new friends then repeat from Step 1.

3 comments

  1. Alex

    Oddly enough, Rotten Tomatoes has only one critic’s review of “Far Cry”. Usually there’s all kinds of good stuff there for a Uwe Boll flick. Do you have any links to some of the more entertaining reviews?

    • Dick Ward
      Author

      Yeah, Rotten Tomatoes tends to stick to the legitimate critics. That’s fine and all, but those folks tend to stay away from movies like these. IMDB is usually a great source, but for ‘Far Cry’ they seem almost apologetic. People say things like “Sure it’s bad, but it’s not as bad as it could have been,” and that’s no fun.

      I’m going to turn my advice on its head and suggest that you read extremely positive user reviews instead, like the one on IMDB from “Ismaninb” who absolutely loves the less-funny-than-Paul-Blart “food guy” character. It might work best after the film though, so everyone will fully understand the references.

      http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400426/usercomments?start=40http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400426/usercomments?start=20

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