Most of the movies and TV series I watch come from my Netflix Instant Queue. It has been my go to for over five years now. I like to use it to find hidden gems, but not everyone wants to commit two hours of their free time to a decent looking movie poster. I’ve watched a ton of garbage over the years, but have missed even more, so there’s always something I want to watch, whether it’s revisiting an old favorite, or finally catching something I missed over the years. Instant Cinefessions will list some weekly recommendations based on what’s new on the Netflix service. It will also include my “Pull List”, which are films I’m interested in watching in the coming weeks. Look for reviews of the movies in my pull list in future columns. Also featured are brief reviews of films I’ve watched off the Pull List.
New Films added to Netflix as of 04/16/2015
A Second Chance (2001)
All In: The Poker Movie (2009)
Bound (2015)
Bratz Kidz: Fairy Tales (2007)
Breath of Freedom (2014)
Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman (2012)
Broken (2013)
Brotherhood of Blades (2014)
Burning Bridges (2014)
Colosio: El asesinato (2012)
Confusion Na Wa (2013)
El baile de San Juan (2010)
Finding Mercy (2013)
Finding Mercy 2 (2013)
Flower Girl (2013)
Flu (2013)
Forgetting June (2013)
Good Luck Chuck (2007)
Goodbye to Language (2014)
Helicopter Missions: Vietnam Firefight (2009)
Hindenburg: The Untold Story (2010)
History in HD: Shooting Hiro Jima (2009)
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Keeping My Man (2013)
Kink (2013)
Knife Fight (2012)
Knocking on Heaven’s Door (2014)
La Cama (2012)
Lagos Cougars (2013)
Leaving No Trace (2000)
Lies Men Tell (2013)
Love Hunter (2014)
Love Me (2014)
Mad Couple (2014)
Mad Couple 2 (2014)
Matters Arising (2014)
Mission to Murder Hitler (2010)
My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (2015)
Nicotina (2003)
Night Has Settled (2014)
October 1 (2014)
One Small Hitch (2013)
Onye Ozi (2013)
Paradas Continuas (2009)
Polo Polo Recargado 2 (2011)
Polo Polo VIP 1 (2009)
Polo Polo VIP 2 (2011)
Pump (2014)
Speed Kills: Jungle (2012)
Speed Kills: Ocean (2012)
Speed Kills: Savannah (2012)
Super High Me (2007)
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon (2013)
The Awakening (2013)
The Babadook (2014)
The Canal (2014)
The Great Invisible (2014)
The Hunt for Bin Laden (2012)
The Incredible Bionic Man (2013)
The Key Man (2011)
The Lookalike (2014)
The Man with the Iron Fists 2: Sting of the Scorpion (2015)
The Teacher Who Defied Hitler (2013)
The World Made Straight (2015)
Ties That Bind (2011)
Tracks (2013)
Two Embraces (2007)
Winnebago Man (2009)
Yves Saint Laurent (2014)
Zurdo (2003)
Ashe’s Seal of Approval
These are the films or series that are on Netflix that get my seal of approval. In lieu of something not showing up that I’ve seen with recent additions to Netflix, which is a good problem to have if you’re looking for something new, I’ll recommend something that I’ve seen recently or that I know will be on the service for a while.
Hot Fuzz (2007, dir. Edgar Wright)
A top London cop is assigned to investigate a seemingly sleepy town, which suddenly starts to stir with a series of grisly “accidents.” While this didn’t resonate with me as much as Shaun of the Dead did, mainly because horror and sci-fi films are my first love and action kind of takes a backseat, this is still not only a fantastic comedy, but a great poke at the typical Hollywood action film on top of that. Pegg and Frost are back at it, and they’re definitely not playing even remotely close to the same characters they did previously, but have this dynamic that really works wonders for the film.
3.5 stars
Ashe’s Pull List
The Pull List is a list of films I’m interested in but haven’t seen that have been added to Netflix since the beginning of the year. These listed below are the films that have been added to the Pull List since last issue. Look for reviews of some of these in future issues of Instant Cinefessions. Don’t be surprised if I don’t end up clearing out this entire list either. Even I can be picky sometimes.
Bound (2015)
Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman (2012)
Brotherhood of Blades (2014)
Flu (2013)
Forgetting June (2013)
Good Luck Chuck (2007)
Hindenburg: The Untold Story (2010)
History in HD: Shooting Hiro Jima (2009)
Kink (2013)
Leaving No Trace (2000)
Mission to Murder Hitler (2010)
October 1 (2014)
The Babadook (2014)
The Canal (2014)
The Great Invisible (2014)
The Incredible Bionic Man (2013)
The Key Man (2011)
The Lookalike (2014)
The Man with the Iron Fists 2: Sting of the Scorpion (2015)
The Teacher Who Defied Hitler (2013)
The World Made Straight (2015)
Tracks (2013)
Ashe’s Pull List Picks of the Week
So what did I watch off my Netflix Pull List this week? This past week was marred with illness both personal and in the family, but I did cram in a number off my list. So what made it off the list? Here we go.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998, dir. Guy Ritchie)
Hoping to make a bundle in a high-stakes poker game, four shiftless lads from London’s East End instead find themselves swimming in debt. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting going into this, but given I loved how Guy Ritchie handled Sherlock Holmes, I figured I was in for a treat, and this didn’t disappoint. This is very much in line with Trainspotting in that it’s a dark comedy on top of being a totally different genre, and it has an amazing cast to pull it off. Ritchie has some amazing shots in this and the use of color everywhere to set an instant tone is fantastic. The dialogue is sharp and fun and there’s so much going on. Absolutely loved this.
4 stars
Mr. Pip (2012, dir. Andrew Adamson)
An eccentric teacher in Papua New Guinea forms an unlikely bond with a 12-year-old girl over their love of Charles Dickens’s novel, Great Expectations. I watched this for Hugh Laurie initially, and while his character is a big driving force in the film based off the book of the same name, this is really a re-telling of Great Expectations within the film itself and the story of the girl named Matilda, played by Xzannjah Matsi. This is really her story right alongside the story of Mr. Watts, Hugh Laurie’s character. It’s both sad and captivating and emotionally powerful.
4 stars
The Houses October Built (2014, dir. Bobby Roe)
Five friends hit the road to find the best gimmicky Halloween haunted house, but soon a terrifyingly real evil begins to hound their steps. I did like what they were trying to accomplish with this one, but the found footage nature kind of kills it toward the end as we get less and less coherent footage of what’s going on and what’s happening to the people we’ve been following through the film. The characters are decent and I didn’t end up hating any of them outright from the start. The “evil” people stalking them are different, but ultimately, we’ve seen this play out before.
2 stars
Starry Eyes (2014, dir. Kevin Kolsch, Dennis Widmyer)
Aspiring actress Sarah Walker lands a leading role in a movie. As production gets underway, she finds that the price of stardom may be her very soul. I liked and didn’t like this at the same time. I liked the more supernatural elements, but disliked that it devolves rather quickly almost into a slasher flick at the end, only to give us something else right after. The mash-up of the two horror genres just didn’t work for me. The film is pretty good, and I liked the contrast between the two worlds our lead is torn between, I just thought the build up to the end could have been handled better.
2.5 stars
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him (2013, dir. Ned Benson)
Estranged from his wife after a tragedy tears them apart, Conor tries to keep his struggling restaurant afloat and move forward with his life. I really need to finish the Her part of this, and I’d like to follow it up with Them. This gives us McAvoy’s character’s point of view. Just from what I’ve seen of the her part of the film, while there are overlapping scenes that are shot differently from each character’s point of view, these are very different films telling the stories of the two characters who are trying to find their footing.
3 stars
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her (2013, dir. Ned Benson)
Overcome with grief in the wake of a tragedy, Eleanor leaves her husband and moves back home with her parents, trying to rebuild her life. This sends us through Jessica Chastain’s character’s point of view. Ignore the reviews saying the Him and Her films are identical. They are most definitely not. It’s a great study into both sides of the relationship surrounding some events that they share. Both of them tell the whole story of the failing relationship, and the two trying to deal with it all. I’m planning on watching Them, which combines the two parts into one film and probably puts it all in more order.
3 stars
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them (2014, dir. Ned Benson)
Told from two perspectives, this engrossing drama depicts the dissolving union of Eleanor and Conor, who begin drifting apart after a tragic event in their lives. While I enjoyed both Him and Her, this does work much better with both perspectives intertwined to tell a more complete story on film all at once. Chastain and McAvoy are great in this, but Chastain is given more to work with, and it really makes the scenes that Eleanor’s in and focus on her resonate more than Conor’s scenes. While it is a much better experience for me with both films combined into one, it is a neat experience and I recommend giving the Him and Her versions a shot before trying this one out, but maybe put some time between viewings of the pair, and this one if you decide to watch all three.
3.5 stars
Make sure to check back next week for more reviews and recommendations from the Netflix Instant Queue in Issue 14 of Instant Cinefessions!
Source: Whats on Netflix and Netflix
Born the same year as Star Wars, it seems Ashe was destined to be into films with big impacts, explosions, and laser swords. With a love for sci-fi and horror, Ashe has a thing for games of both the tabletop and video variety. He is living a charmed, married life of sixteen years, along with several cats, a dog, and a bearded dragon. Ashe currently writes for Diehard Gamefan, covering video and tabletop games since 2008. Starting with Cinefessions just a few years ago, he has decided to tackle one of his original passions: film.
