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 06/03/2015
009-1: The End of the Beginning (2013)
A Feast at Midnight (1994)
A Night at the Roxbury (1998)
A Wonderful World (2006)
All Over the Guy (2001)
Amar (2009)
Amor Xtremo (2006)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Apocalypse Now Redux (2001)
Bad Habits (2007)
Bandslam (2009)
Before I Go to Sleep (2014)
Best of Me (2014)
Big Muddy (2014)
Boy Meets Girl (2014)
Brian’s Song (1971)
Brian’s Song (2001)
Celia’s Lives (2006)
Dead Snow (2009)
Deeper (2010)
Delivery (2014)
Dragon Eyes (2012)
Edge of the Earth (2014)
El Gringo (2012)
Employee of the Month (2006)
Expelled from Paradise (2014)
Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog (1995)
Fishtail (2015)
Four Brothers (2005)
Further (2012)
Girl on a Bicycle (2013)
Hammett (1982)
Hector and the Search for Happiness (2014)
Heterosexual Jill (2013)
Higher (2014)
Hits (2014)
Hot Girls Wanted (2015)
Iesodo: Believe (2013)
Innocent Voices (2009)
Kickboxer (1989)
Kickboxer 2 (1991)
Kickboxer 3: The Art of War (1992)
Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor (1994)
Kidnapped (2010)
Kids from Shaolin (1984)
Kiss the Girls (1997)
Le voyage dans la lune (1902)
Le voyage dans la lune (Color) (1902)
LI’L QUINQUIN (2014)
Mexico Pelagico (2014)
Middle of Nowhere (2012)
Mooz-Lum (2010)
Never on a Sunday (2006)
Night Falls on Manhattan (1997)
Nine Months (1995)
On the Way to School (2013)
Once Upon a Time in Brooklyn (2013)
One from the Heart (1982)
Out of the Dark (2014)
Oveja Negra (2009)
People Will Talk (1951)
Pet Sematary (1989)
Pet Sematary 2 (1992)
Philly Kid (2012)
Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Beginnings (2012)
Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Eternal (2012)
Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion (2013)
Purgatorio (2008)
R. L. Stine’s Mostly Ghostly (2008)
R. L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour: Don’t Think About It (2007)
Redemption: Kickboxer 5 (1995)
Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)
Roman Holiday (1953)
Sex Ed (2014)
Shaolin Temple (1976)
Shaquille O’Neal Presents: All Star Comedy Jam: Live from Atlanta (2013)
Shaquille O’Neal Presents: All Star Comedy Jam: Live from Las Vegas (2014)
Shaquille O’Neal Presents: All Star Comedy Jam: Live from Orlando (2012)
Something Wild (1986)
Stash House (2012)
Sucker Punch (2008)
Tear this Heart Out (2008)
Tetro (2009)
The Aviator (2004)
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011)
The Burbs (1989)
The City (1998)
The Escape Artist (1982)
The Good Guy (2010)
The Great Escape (1963)
The High and the Mighty (1954)
The Inbetweeners 2 (2014)
The Island of Dr. Moreau: Director’s Cut (1977)
The Others (2001)
The Paper Chase (1973)
The People vs. George Lucas (2010)
The Perfect Dictatorship (2014)
The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984)
The Queens of Comedy (2001)
The Quiet American (2002)
The Rugrats Movie (1998)
Tracers (2014)
Transit (2012)
Troll (1986)
Troll 2 (1990)
Virgingate (2009)
We Are the Giant (2014)
Would You Rather (2013)
Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)
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.
Kiss the Girls (1997, dir. Gary Fleder)
Forensic psychologist Alex Cross travels to North Carolina and teams with escaped kidnap victim Kate McTiernan to hunt down “Casanova,” a serial killer who abducts strong-willed women and forces them to submit to his demands. I only vaguely remember this one as it’s been almost ten years since I’ve seen it, but I remember enjoying it. I do love serial killer films.
The Others (2001, dir. Alejandro Amenábar)
Grace is a religious woman who lives in an old house kept dark because her two children, Anne and Nicholas, have a rare sensitivity to light. When the family begins to suspect the house is haunted, Grace fights to protect her children at any cost in the face of strange events and disturbing visions. Saw this in theaters and again on video. I really enjoyed it along with my wife. She tends to like ghost stories more and I thought it developed well.
Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008, dir. Darren Lynn Bousman)
A worldwide epidemic encourages a bio-tech company to launch an organ-financing program similar in nature to a standard car loan. The repossession clause is a killer, however, as the company is authorized to send out Repo Men to take back whatever you were given and they can go as far to do it as they want. Part mystery thriller, part musical, part sci-fi, and a lot of body horror thrown into the mix. Not all of the songs are great, and more dialogue is sung than spoken. The music is fun and catchy, the world bizarre and twisted, and the gore, well, aplenty. Probably one of my favorite musical films as it combines so many things I love.
Pet Sematary (1989, dir. Mary Lambert)
Dr. Louis Creed’s family moves into the country house of their dreams and discover a pet cemetery at the back of their property. The cursed burial ground deep in the woods brings the dead back to life — with “minor” problems. At first, only the family’s cat makes the return trip, but an accident forces a heartbroken father to contemplate the unthinkable. While I never read the book, I loved this film as a teenager. I haven’t watched it in over fifteen years however, so this rating is going completely off of memory. Enjoy at your own peril.
Pet Sematary 2 (1992, dir. Mary Lambert)
The “sematary” is up to its old zombie-raising tricks again. This time, the protagonists are Jeff Matthews, whose mother died in a Hollywood stage accident, and Drew Gilbert, a boy coping with an abusive stepfather. Even Clancy Brown couldn’t save this one for me. This one is jus all over the place with what it wants to be. There are so many points where this could have been so much better and it jsut missed the mark. While I still recommend the first, this I’d delve into with a few drinks in you or if you decide to double feature the two only.
Dead Snow (2009, dir. Tommy Wirkola)
Eight medical students on a ski trip to Norway discover that Hitler’s horrors live on when they come face to face with a battalion of zombie Nazi soldiers intent on devouring anyone unfortunate enough to wander into the remote mountains where they were once sent to die. While I liked the sequel, this one couldn’t decide if it was trying to be serious or satire, straight up zombie flick borrowing on some ideas I’ve seen before, or running rampant. It really feels like it could go either way at any point and the deaths are a bit ridiculous and over the top almost every time. I think what killed it for me is that these just don’t feel like zombies at all, but act like intelligent, undead, super soldiers. It could have been better. Worth a look just to set up for the sequel and if you’re into ridiculous zombie gore. Note that Chris loves this film, so there’s that.
Apocalypse Now (1979, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
Both the theatrical and director cuts are on Netflix. My scoring here is for the theatrical cut. I prefer this version to the Redux version except for a few scenes I’d love to see play out a bit longer here. It’s a much tighter cut of the film, even running at almost two and a half hours. The film is set at the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, “does not exist, nor will it ever exist.” His goal is to locate – and eliminate – a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory. The theatrical cut focuses a bit more on the mission and the events leading up to it while not meandering nearly as much as the Redux version. The actors are still fantastic, the cinematography works oh so well, and like the Redux cut, Robert Duvall really steals the show in the one section of the film he’s in and it all goes downhill from there. It’s still a great film, but like Full Metal Jacket, it loses a lot in the second half of its story because it lacks the energy of the first half.
The ‘Burbs (1989, dir. Joe Dante)
When secretive new neighbors move in next door, suburbanite Ray Peterson and his friends let their paranoia get the best of them as they start to suspect the newcomers of evildoings and commence an investigation. But it’s hardly how Ray, who much prefers drinking beer, reading his newspaper, and watching a ball game on the tube, expected to spend his vacation. I remember having this on VHS and seeing it in the theater and it being a regular staple for our family over the years. Actually living in the suburbs now for some time, there is so much here that’s closer to my reality than I’d like to admit.
The Great Escape (1963, dir. John Sturges)
The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocates them to a high-security, “escape-proof” camp to sit out the remainder of the war. Undaunted, the prisoners plan one of the most ambitious escape attempts of World War II. Based on a true story. I only just saw this for the first time a year ago and I loved it so much I ended up on a Steve McQueen kick and watched Bullet and The Magnificent Seven right after. If you like escape flicks or war movies, this is right up your alley.
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.
Out of the Dark (2014)
The Island of Dr. Moreau: Director’s Cut (1977)
Purgatorio (2008)
Hammett (1982)
The Escape Artist (1982)
Brian’s Song (1971)
Brian’s Song (2001)
Night Falls on Manhattan (1997)
The Quiet American (2002)
The Aviator (2004)
Heterosexual Jill (2013)
Nine Months (1995)
A Night at the Roxbury (1998)
Employee of the Month (2006)
Roman Holiday (1953)
Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Beginnings (2012)
Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Eternal (2012)
Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion (2013)
009-1: The End of the Beginning (2013)
Expelled from Paradise (2014)
The High and the Mighty (1954)
Four Brothers (2005)
The People vs. George Lucas (2010)
Tracers (2014)
Before I Go to Sleep (2014)
Boy Meets Girl (2014)
Shaolin Temple (1976)
Kids from Shaolin (1984)
Hot Girls Wanted (2015)
Bandslam (2009)
Would You Rather (2013)
Ashe’s Pull List Picks of the Week
So what did I watch off my Netflix Pull List this week? Well we’re into Cinefessions Summer Screams Challenge which means part of this is before that started and some of it is after. Here we go.
The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom (2014, dir. Zhang Zhiliang, Jacob Cheung Chi-Leung)
Framed for a murder she didn’t commit, a beautiful sorceress finds herself embroiled in treachery and intrigue — and falling in love. This is a gorgeous film. Like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon level of amazing to watch. Yes, it is special effects laden, but the focus is on the people most of the time. The fight scenes are wonderfully choreographed. The biggest letdown of the film is the love story itself which feels forced. The film is less about Lian Nishang, the title character, and more about Zhuo Yihang, who gets involved in a political mess that really dominates most of the film. Bingbing Fan and Xiaoming Huang are great in the lead roles, it just didn’t quite match the description that Netflix offered.
Extraterrestrial (2014, dir. Colin Minihan)
When their boozy party in the woods is crashed, literally, by a downed UFO, five teens fight back against the stranded, bloodthirsty aliens. This suffers from a lack of characters I care about. The ones I did care about got little screen time and didn’t make it through. Even still, I was mostly on board with this until the ending of the film. While it kind of fit with what was talked about earlier, it’s really out of left field and just basically killed this for me, even with the little send off to the X-Files.
Make sure to check back here on the site for more reviews and recommendations from the Netflix Instant Queue in Issue 20 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.
