The Netflix Stream: Week of February 15th, 2011

Highlighting movies coming to the Netflix stream as well as those leaving makes this list a lot less depressing. In fact, things look pretty promising, even if some of the movies we’re losing this week are incredibly good.

Leaving the Stream
  1. ‘Falling Down’ (2/22):Falling Down‘ was one of the first R-rated movies I was allowed to see. My dad rented it, watched it, and then let me check it out. I fell in love with the film, though it’s difficult to tell if that was because of the movie itself or simply the fact that watching it marked me as a pseudo-adult. Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall star, and a pre-‘Batman’ Schumacher directs. It’s a little bit heavy-handed in its message. Looking back, I’m not sure if I agree with all of the points made by the movie, but it’s still well worth watching. It also inspired the Iron Maiden song “Man on the Edge,” which kicks ass even if it was originally sung by Blaze Bayley instead of Bruce Dickinson. (Read Blu-ray review.)
  2. ‘Donnie Darko’ (2/21): This is one of those movies I really shouldn’t like, but I just can’t help it. It’s full of symbolism, plot holes disguised as “room for the viewer’s own interpretation” and a pretentiousness that’s hard to match. Regardless, it’s an incredibly interesting flick. The other bonus of ‘Donnie Darko‘ is that it’s one of the few Swayze flicks that you can watch and not have to explain yourself when the roommate walks in. Yes, I love Patrick Swayze. Yes, I know that’s incredibly lame. It started out as a joke, but after watching ‘Road House‘ for the umpteenth time, I just can’t help it. (Read Blu-ray review.)
  3. ‘Annie’ (2/21): Long before Jay-Z sung about his hard knock life, Aileen Quinn lit up the screen singing about hers. ‘Annie‘ is a favorite of mine for many reasons. The generally upbeat nature of the music and positivity of the main character are big ones. There are three other reasons to love ‘Annie’, and their names are Carol Burnett, Tim Curry and Albert Finney. Finney could even carry the movie for me – he’s an excellent Daddy Warbucks. “Everything’s urgent to a democrat!”
Entering the Stream
  1. ‘Me and Orson Welles’ (2/17): A few years ago, I finally decided to watch ‘Citizen Kane’ in order to expand my movie horizons and hopefully understand just why it’s hailed as such a great film. Once I did, I became obsessed with it. I probably watched it ten times that year – not to mention the documentaries on both the film and Orson Welles. I haven’t yet had a chance to check out the 2008 film ‘Me and Orson Welles‘ yet, but I’ll be watching it once it’s finally available on the Netflix stream. I have my reservations about Zac Efron, and I know absolutely nothing about Christian McKay, but if the reviews are truly indicative of its quality, ‘Me and Orson Welles’ is a film worth seeing.
  2. ‘Freakonomics’ (2/17): Some of the most interesting documentarians around got together to make ‘Freakonomics‘, a film based on the book of the same name. In the book, Steven D. Levitt and Steven J. Dubner apply economic theory to subjects where it doesn’t normally apply. It’s an interesting subject to say the least. The documentary is comprised of several pieces, each with its own director. Among those are a segment by Morgan Spurlock of ‘Super Size Me’, one by the makers of ‘Jesus Camp’, and one by Seth Gordon, director of ‘King of Kong’.

9 comments

  1. Shayne Blakeley

    You’re not alone, I too am a fan of the Swayze. In fact I have a life-size cardboard cut-out of him in my game room (guarding the bar and the jukebox of course.)

      • When I was little (like 4-5 years old) I had a bit of a crush on the little girl in the movie (Molly I think was her name). It wasn’t until I was about 10 that I figured out that she was like 5 years older than me.

        Saying this, I am starting to think back of shows and movies I watched as a kid, and if there was one I watched that DIDN’T have someone in it that I had a crush on.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *