Movies & Television
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Hello my name is Anthony and I have a Netflix problem. (HELLO ANTHONY!) I should have known having movies delivered to my home would be trouble but I never realized it would dominate every waking hour the way it has. Yes – I have a problem.
My original plan was to write a review on every movie we watched – kind of a public service on what you should see and what you should pass on (everyone is a critic). I got too busy watching movies and forgot to do this so now I am playing catch up. Here are the last eight movies we watched they include two to see, two to consider, two to consider passing on and two to forget. Yes – just call me the Noah of Netflix – I’m pairing these up for your convenience.
Two to See
Zombieland and The Invention of Lying. Zombieland is a little more action oriented but both are smart and fun. Definitely worth having in the queue and giving a high enough number where they will actually show up at your house.
George is a very successful stand up comedian who learns that he has an untreatable blood disorder and is given less than a year to live. Ira is a struggling up-and-coming stand up comedian who works at a deli and has yet to figure out his onstage persona. One night, these two perform at the same club and George takes notice of Ira. George hires Ira to be his semi-personal assistant as well as his friend.
Take two generations of comedians and put them in the same movie and you should have immediate success. I’m 99% certain this is what the studio thought when they paired Seth Rogen and Adam Sandler in a movie. The movie isn’t really a comedy and really isn’t a drama and lasts about thirty minutes longer than it should. Unfortunately they are long awkward minutes of dialogue between Adam Sandler’s character and Seth Rogen’s. File under really funny guys that couldn’t act there way out of a wet paper bag. Scratch that – one of them really isn’t that funny in the first place. Great cameo by James Taylor and even better stuff with him in the outtakes (I watched because I wanted to see something funny).
I know this sounds bad but the story would have been so much better if George Simmons would have died. In fact – I found two good places to have him die that would have made the movie better and given us a chance to have a final roast that would have at least been funny. So much wasted talent in the movie it was pathetic and then some talent voids that are impressive as well. I honestly think Seth Rogen would be a cool guy to hang out with but I don’t know if can watch another movie he is in. It seems like he is always playing the same character(s) and they are all pathetic. In this regard he is the poor man’s Will Ferrell. Will act like a NASCAR driver – Will act like a TV reporter – Will act like an ice skater – ummmmm… I didn’t know those three had so much in common. Amazing. But I digress… the movie was ok as far as movies go. It wasn’t funny and it was way too long but there are some real gems in there. Unless you have the close to two and a half hours to devote to it – I’d skip it.
Dead Like Me: Life After Death is a direct to video movie loosely based on the Showtime Series Dead Like Me. Dead Like Me (the television show) was an awesome dark comedy where the main characters are grim reapers. Trapped between life and death they assist the dying by removing their souls before their bodies suffer intense pain from “accidental” death. The group is responsible for “external influence” deaths so the gravelings occasionally show up to move things along. Everything from the way the main characters died to the little post-it notes made this series great. It didn’t last as long as one may have hoped because honestly there are only so many places you can take the concept. Showtime showed discretion in canceling and if this movie was any direction on where things were headed they made a good choice.
I’d like to think that the motivating force behind this movie was clearing up the loose ends that were left at the end of season two. To this end they made a half-hearted attempt. The movie acts like a bad episode where too much was pushed into too little time. A couple of the actors behind the main characters must have bailed because Daisy wasn’t the original Daisy and Rube had “gone on” into the afterlife without as much as a 30 second cameo. Good moves on both their parts. Instead of “Life After Death” this could have easily been called “The Turd that didn’t Flush.” Yes – the concept was good but they really kinda ruined 29 episodes of good television by making the “rules” into “suggestions” and abandoning the ideas that really made the show work. The show had a rhyme and a reason for everything and the movie took all of that away.
Whether you are a fan of the show or not I definitely think this is a good one to miss. No closure would have been better than this.
Seven Pounds stars Will Smith and is listed as Drama/Romantic Drama by genre. That and the fact that it is a good movie is really all you need to know. The plot line of this movie is best revealed slowly and the director does a good job with that. It is about 2 hours long and could have been shortened by 20-30 minutes and probably had an improved product. Despite the time commitment it is definitely worth adding to your list of movies to see. Make sure you have the time to watch it all in one setting – we didn’t and while it wasn’t the end of the world it would have been nice to stayed with the momentum of the movie.
This movie had a theatrical release in 2008 and I had never heard of it. Not that I am someone that gets contacted when movies are released but I generally feel like I know what is out there. I am really surprised with stars like Will Smith, Rosario Dawson and Woody Harrelson I didn’t hear about it. Then again maybe people don’t want to pay $10 to see a depressing movie any more. I know I tend avoid this kind of depth most of the time.
I would file this as a good “rainy day” movie. It is a little longer than it needs to be and a touch depressing but definitely thought provoking and extremely well done. The less you know about the plot going in the better off you are so I would resist reading any reviews that may contain spoilers. It is available to watch instantly on Netflix so you can warm up the PS3 or Xbox and watch it any time.
**EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a new feature that we’re starting with a Netflix account. Our queue is on the right with the next 8 movies we are expecting. If you have a suggestion of something we should rent/watch post it in the Shoutbox.