Netflix: instaView rec's

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Originally Posted by splat

Blacklist was slick. Never been a big Spader fan until this.

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Damn you Splat!
Watched all 24 episodes in a mega-marathon.
The soundtrack (great songs in every episode) and James Spader are really the only reason to watch this show, imho. Spader SLAYS. The dialogue they gave him is insane. I imagine somebody, somewhere has a blog that keeps track of all the places that his character has been (would be a great tour, btw).
I do notice a distinct similarity between Blacklist and White Collar, though.


{POSSIBLE SPOILER}
The feds in both shows are f@#kin' idiots! It took them 24 episodes realize that Red is playing them and that everybody on the blacklist is interconnected? That was pretty obvious in the first episode (and I even think that somewhere in the first few eps Red explicitly states this to his FBI contacts).

Still, Spader is mesmerizing.

While not on NF streaming, I highly recommend tracking down The Music of Chance, easily one of Spader's best movies (other than sex lies and videotape and Less Than Zero).

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Originally Posted by splat

Blacklist was slick. Never been a big Spader fan until this.

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Spader is a great actor imo.

Season 2 just started up on Hulu.

It isn't as engrossing as some other shows out there, but is an entertaining hour or so. As mentioned above, the feds are idiots.

Totally got hooked on The Blacklist over the last 4 days. Spader's character is awesome.

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Originally Posted by creaky fossil

Chup, The Killing is a little sluggish in season 2 but keep watching through all seasons. I thought the recently added season 4 was as good as first season.

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Finished off season two of The Killing -- haven't started season three yet. No idea what they're going to do with the story after the resolution of the second season, but will stick with it for now.

Season 4 of Walking Dead is now on Netflix.

Peaky Blinders,

Blinding, real good,

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Originally Posted by El Chupacabra

Season 4 of Walking Dead is now on Netflix.

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marathoned it last night...might be best season thus far.

New thought after watching 6 episodes of Blacklist -- its formula gets old after a couple episodes but Spader is good enough to tune in again. He hasn't been this quietly nasty since that Molly Ringwald movie where he played the arrogant prepster.

The absurdity of the spooks in-story almost warrants not watching, but Spader delivers. Also, I like how the Harry Lennix character is there to reinforce the Nobility of Obama theme. Network TV, always pretending to expose govt ineptitude/chicanery while actually telling viewers that without spookery, shit would always be flinging off the fan blades.

Blacklist's little tributes to X-Files ("The Courier") and Silence of the Lambs (first episode) are done without absurdity.

In other news:

Hinterland is good.

Revolution had a slow first season until the end but picked up nicely in season 2.

Haunter

Interesting little psychological horror flick from Canada with slight nods to Nightmare on Elm Street.
Slightly creepy and a tad bit mind-bending.

Worth a watch if you like horror movies with more mystery and atmosphere than gore and ultra-violence.
Directed by Vincenzo Natali, the same guy who did the awesomely twisted Cube.which is easily one of the best sci-fi horror movies ever made (imho).

It stars the young chick from Zombieland as well as several well-known Canadian genre actors (Peter Outerbridge, Stephen McHattie, and David Hewlett).

Again, if you dig atmospheric horror mystery movies, then this one should be up your alley.


*Not linking to the trailer since it kind of gives too much of the movie away.

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Originally Posted by dookey67

Worth a watch if you like horror movies with more mystery and atmosphere than gore and ultra-violence.
Directed by Vincenzo Natali, the same guy who did the awesomely twisted Cube.which is easily one of the best sci-fi horror movies ever made (imho).

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Good call, thanks. I like Natali's movies. Have you seen Nothing? He's good with the mindfuck.

"More mystery and atmosphere than gore and ultra-violence" = solid. Like Soderbergh's version of Solaris, or Session 9 by Brad Anderson.

Detention

Over-the-top high school horror flick that does everything that Jennifer's Body attempted to do, but failed miserably at.

This romp is directed by Joseph Kahn, who directed the highly underrated modern motorcycle western insanity known as Torque.

The dialogue is off-the-nuts and totally ADHD spastic; in many instances I found myself rewinding scenes so that I could catch everything that was said. The overlapping speed dialogue is an obvious homage to the stylings of Robert Altman (think M*A*S*H) where characters talk over one another in rapid fire.

The genre mashing is beyond compare, as well. On the whole it is a bugged-out pop culture pastiche of John Hughes' high school hijinx, slasher flicks from the '80s, and the aforementioned Altman.

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Originally Posted by El Chupacabra

Season 4 of Walking Dead is now on Netflix.

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+1 Best season yet.

Also, good to know that if you ever need to split someone's skull in two all you need is a small kitchen knife and maybe 30lbs of force

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Originally Posted by creaky fossil

Blacklist -- Spader delivers.

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I am glad I gave this a second pass as it didn't take the first time I watched the pilot. Spader is awesome though he lays that schtick down a little thick at times. His limited run in season 6? of the office was some of the funniest shit they ever did - and that is tall order to equal likes of Michael Scott and Dwight shrute.

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Originally Posted by jma233

+1 Best season yet.

Also, good to know that if you ever need to split someone's skull in two all you need is a small kitchen knife and maybe 30lbs of force

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I didn't think it was the best season for walking dead.

New season of supermatural.
Watched 22 episodes of reign, story of mary, queen of scots.
Kinda ya/knight's tale, but I ended up getting caught up in it.

Peaky Blinders. Way better than I expected.

I really like Revolution, even though it is starting to get a little strange. Charlie, oh my! Sooooo hot!

The Sacrament

Over the course of his last two movies--House of the Devil, The Innkeepers--Ti West has become the master of the seemingly innocuous, yet ultimately unnerving and intense horror film. Opting for mood and creepy atmosphere over splatter tactics, West's films are veritable slow-burn spine chillers.

The Sacrament keeps West's flow intact, providing a film that manages to accomplish what Kevin Smith failed to do with Red State (both films center around cults, btw).

Low-budget, but filled with some great character acting and a wonderful sense of build-up, The Sacrament is more of a hyper-real thriller with horrific undertones than a classic horror film, per se.

Totally worth a watch.

Peaky Blinders was worth watching.

Just finishing the rockumentary on the Eagles. Didn't think it'd be as good as it was.
But for us old fucks, they defined the times through the 70s.

You really sat through all 3 hours of that?

Not all in one spell, but yeah. I found it all very interesting. Saw at least one person I used to know in it.

Come on, man. I had a rough night and I hate the fuckin' Eagles, man!

Killing Them Softly

Dark, quietly violent, and ultra-moody post-modern noir/gangster flick with an intensely subued performance from Brad Pitt. Great supporting cast, too (Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins, James Gandolfini, Scoot McNairy, Sam Shepard).

It's based on the novel, Cogan's Trade, by George V. Higgins (he also authored the much lauded The Friends of Eddie Coyle, which was also made into a pretty decent film starring Robert Mitchum back in 1973).)

I was so bored I watched Hunger Games 2. Da fuck is that shit?
The first 1 was at least comically bad. The 2nd one was just bad.
People actually like that garbage, or are most people like me and watch it out of boredom because Jennifer Lawrence is pretty?

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Originally Posted by dookey67

Killing Them Softly

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yep, it was good. Gandolfini is ready to explode when he's on screen, Pitt is as unPitt as he's been since 12 Monkeys, Liotta is funny.

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stuckie, did you notice how people go/went apeshit over Harry Potter, Twilight, pet rocks?

HICK
A low-key, backwoods neo-noir starring Chloe Grace Moretz (the chick from Kick-Ass). Her character is like a cross between a naive Iris (Jodie Foster's character in Taxi Driver) and Charles Driggs (Jeff Daniels' character in Something Wild, the film Hick most reminds me of).

There are some great cameos from name actors/actresses and an incredibly engaging performance by Eddie Redmayne, who masters the slow-burn, creepy-cool with much finesse.

There are several brilliant moments in the film, one of which had me in stitches laughing and another that is perhaps one of the best and most intense few seconds I've seen in a movie in quite some time. Loaded with great, snappy dialogue, too boot.


THE CONSPIRACY
I was skeptical, what with this being another one of those found-footage "horror" films, but I found myself sucked into the rabbit hole of the story really quickly. As the title implies, the film is about conspiracy theories; well, perhaps the great-granddaddy of all conspiracy theories. I'll leave it at that. The ending is a little obtuse, but the film builds its intensity really well and manages to inject some really subtle hints of terror, horror, and paranoia.

PORTLANDIA SEASON 4

Django Unchained just popped up for me, as well as season 9 of Always Sunny.

Blacklist was cool, but it definitely gets old. Spader seems like a cooler, more ruthless version of the little guy on White Collar for sure.

Hi my name is Shredgnar and I binge watched 10 episodes of "House Hunters International". Still waiting on one where they move to Cham.

I don't think this has made the list yet but I really enjoyed The Way Back. It's an adventure epic about a group of escapees breaking free from the gulag. The acting varies a bit but some of the performances are really really good. Same with the scenery.

http://dvd.netflix.com/Search?v1=The%20Way%20Back

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Originally Posted by 2FUNKY

El Infierno. A must see. Subtitles though.

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Originally Posted by Wildman

^^^ what he Said. El infierno.

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Originally Posted by splat

El Infierno. That was great.

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Finally got around the watching Il Infierno.
Solid flick.
Reminded me of a much more low-key Scarface crossed with The Godfather, albeit from the perspective of a former illegal immigrant who returns to Mexico and gets caught up in the narco trade. While the core of the story rings with familiarity, the acting and pacing are top-notch and the film ends up being thoroughly engaging.

Witching & Bitching

This goofy, over-the-top horror film owes no small debt to the early works of Peter Jackson (Bad Taste, Dead Alive) and Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Darkman).

It's like a vintage Pedro Almodovar flick infused with Lair of the White Worm, Sleep With Me, From Dusk Til Dawn, and the Witches of Eastwick with a healthy dose of neo-paganistic feminism, Jesus Christ heist hijinx, and good, old-fashioned splatter gore.

Oh yeah, it is subtitled, for those who care about such things.

Snowpiercer just popped up on NF.

I actually saw it in theaters, but would recommend it for those that didn't and who enjoy well-paced action films with a socio-political-enviro undertone.

The action sequences are nuts.

The film itself resonates with lots elements borrowed from the likes of Escape From New York, Road Warrior, Wizard of Oz, 1984, and other films/books.

Only negatives would be that it could have used a little more exposition in the set-up/intro and the characters are rather stock/stereotypical.

But, again, the pacing is great, the acting is solid, and the action sequences are well-choreographed.

FTR, my 80 y/o dad along and he loved it. He thought the acting and special effects were top-notch,

Definitely one of the better action films that was released this year.

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Originally Posted by Phildo_Baggins

Django Unchained just popped up for me, .

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Watched, not sure what all the hype was about but it was just, ok.

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Originally Posted by dookey67

Snowpiercer just popped up on NF.

I actually saw it in theaters, but would recommend it for those that didn't and who enjoy well-paced action films with a socio-political-enviro undertone.

The action sequences are nuts.

The film itself resonates with lots elements borrowed from the likes of Escape From New York, Road Warrior, Wizard of Oz, 1984, and other films/books.

Only negatives would be that it could have used a little more exposition in the set-up/intro and the characters are rather stock/stereotypical.

But, again, the pacing is great, the acting is solid, and the action sequences are well-choreographed.

FTR, my 80 y/o dad along and he loved it. He thought the acting and special effects were top-notch,

Definitely one of the better action films that was released this year.

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Huh, thought it looked lame but may have to give it a go now.

Just watched the first two episodes of Happy Valley, a BBC series that Netflix bought. Seems good so far. Sort of along the lines of True Detective, Top of the Lake, Fargo (depressing cop/ crime investigation show).

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Originally Posted by ml242

I don't think this has made the list yet but I really enjoyed The Way Back. It's an adventure epic about a group of escapees breaking free from the gulag. The acting varies a bit but some of the performances are really really good. Same with the scenery.

http://dvd.netflix.com/Search?v1=The%20Way%20Back

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I was disappointed they couldn't do far better given the cast and director and the great book it's based on (even if the book itself was rather casual with the truth).

Felt like a TV movie.

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Originally Posted by jma233

+1 Best season yet.

Also, good to know that if you ever need to split someone's skull in two all you need is a small kitchen knife and maybe 30lbs of force

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IIRC, Mythbusters in the early seasons did something with ninja stars and stated that a watermelon is a good approximation of a human skull.

Also, the Mrs. loves the walking dead, but I have such a hard time with it. They're in a compound with 100+ people at the start of the season, and keeping the fence in tip-top shape is a seemingly very low priority? They nearly knock it over every day, but we don't bother to strengthen it? What the fuck? What the hell are the other 80 people doing there besides being dead weight?

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Originally Posted by ml242

I don't think this has made the list yet but I really enjoyed The Way Back. It's an adventure epic about a group of escapees breaking free from the gulag. The acting varies a bit but some of the performances are really really good. Same with the scenery.

http://dvd.netflix.com/Search?v1=The%20Way%20Back

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I thought that was pretty good and really wanted to read the book. Thanks for reminding me of the title!

Stoked about 'Snowpiercer' and 'Django unchained' on netflix! I've already watched Snowpiercer twice to go with my movie screening earlier this summer,

'Django unchained' is one of the better movies to date by QT. probably just behind 'Inglorious bastards' but not by much.



.....But the must watch movie I'm here to tell you to watch NOW is 'Blue Ruin'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJo1qrr_8Hc

I was surprised I hadn't heard of the film, Rotten Tomato gives it a 96%.
It's a simple revenge movie about somebody that's not so good at the revenge thing. 'Taken3' this is not.... The film builds almost unbearable tension and suspense, with a touch of dark humor at the hapless protagonists expense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJo1qrr_8Hc
It's a good trailer but may give away too much plot; I'd recommend skipping it and just watching the movie


treating myself to a little guilty pleasure and watching the Original 'Total Recall' right now.

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Originally Posted by My Pet Powder Goat

.....But the must watch movie I'm here to tell you to watch NOW is 'Blue Ruin'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJo1qrr_8Hc

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I watched Blue Ruin back in early October. Still not sure how I feel about it, which is why I probably hesitated to recommend it here. It's definitely an intriguing film, at least the first 2/3's. The ending was a little wonky, imho (it left me with the same feeling that Oldboy and High Tension did in regards to the conclusion/reveal). In terms of the whole revenge motif, I would put it more in the Hatfield/McCoy realm than Taken, but that's just my skew. It's definitely gritty and filled with sudden bursts of unexpected intensity. So, in hindsight, I'd give it a reco if you're looking for a slow-burn thriller that unfolds in interesting ways.

And what MPPG says: skip the trailer and just watch the film. I'll back him up on his assessment of it building "almost unbearable tension and suspense, with a touch of dark humor at the hapless protagonists expense." That's spot-on.