Heterogenous NetFlix Reviews #15
Couple of things I didn't see when they came out most of a decade ago, filling in a couple of classics I should have seen long ago, and one for Liana...
PARTY DOWN SEASON 2: * * * *
The second season gets away from being another version of THE OFFICE and mixes up the dynamics for an even better run. So, of course, it gets canceled after that. Even better, it *was* streaming on NetFlix from week to week but Starz yanked it from there, too. See it when you can.
THE LEGEND OF ZORRO: * * *
The first Zorro was the best Batman movie of its time, but the sequel is too goofy, too anachronistically self-aware, relies on a ridiculously implausible plot macguffin, and just does a few too many things that seem entirely out of place - giant explosions that nobody but the Don witnesses? Nice bits here and there but mostly felt phoned in.
MONSTERS INC: * * * *
Another Pixar for Liana to see on a day when we were shut in for the day for some reason. (Maybe she was sick? I don't remember now.) She quite liked it, of course, though I'm not sure she really understood most of the underlying mechanics.
WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER: * * *
An unbelievable amount of comic talent was in this 2001 movie, so much so that you'd think you just can't miss it. But it turns out you can. How had we never heard of it before? Oh, because it wasn't all that good. Not shitty, just… eh. One of those wacky summer hijinx movies where there are like a half-dozen relatively disconnected plotlines all going.
SOME LIKE IT HOT: * * * *
I'd never seen it before. Deserves all the praise it has received, of course. I am woefully under-familiar with Marilyn Monroe's work, actually - is she ever in anything where she doesn't play the Dumb Blonde? At least, who doesn't keep telling everyone else how dumb she is? Tony Curtis is both a disturbingly effective drag queen *and* a good Cary Grant impersonator.
COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO: * * * *
The 2002 version. Fired on all cylinders, hampered only by a couple of stupid plot conveniences executed for no other reason than to create a complication later on, to forestall revelations to a more screenplay-dramatic time.
REVENGERS TRAGEDY: * * * *
Alex Cox does a post-apocalyptic adaptation of a violent Thomas Middleton play from 1605. It is very much an Alex Cox movie, in both the good and bad sense - there's all sorts of weird and marvelous detail everywhere but the performances are injected with such manic energy that sometimes it's too much. I'm generally skeptical of keeping archaic dialogue intact when these sorts of stories are transplanted into new settings, but there are enough really good bits in the original text that it was probably worth keeping, and the rest of the time you can just chalk it up to that Alex Cox mania.
BRINGING UP BABY: * * *
They'll tell you this is a classic "screwball comedy", but make no mistake: it's a dark-humor horror film about a perfectly normal (if somewhat naive) man's life being systematically destroyed by a psychopath. Katherine Hepburn is so jangly-nerves and blithely disconnected from any sense of consequence, it's actually hard to find much of the film funny. Like, OMG, why doesn't someone have her committed, FFS? Kill her, before she leads you to your own death as some sort of joke! I guess they sure found things "funny" very differently in the 30s.
INSOMNIA: * * * *
Filling in some blanks in the Christopher Nolan repertoire. A nicely done take on those crime stories where the law-man realizes it's not enough just to know who did it, you gotta be able to prove it without taking yourself down. I would maybe have liked to see someone other than Al Pacino tapped for the maybe-corrupt jaded-veteran big-city cop role, but I won't complain too much.
MY NAME IS BRUCE: * * *
If it was anyone but Bruce Campbell - making fun of his own life, basically - this would have been two stars at best, of course.
------
For consideration: Next round, we have some violent fiascos and a bunch more entertaining family fare for Liana's benefit
PARTY DOWN SEASON 2: * * * *
The second season gets away from being another version of THE OFFICE and mixes up the dynamics for an even better run. So, of course, it gets canceled after that. Even better, it *was* streaming on NetFlix from week to week but Starz yanked it from there, too. See it when you can.
THE LEGEND OF ZORRO: * * *
The first Zorro was the best Batman movie of its time, but the sequel is too goofy, too anachronistically self-aware, relies on a ridiculously implausible plot macguffin, and just does a few too many things that seem entirely out of place - giant explosions that nobody but the Don witnesses? Nice bits here and there but mostly felt phoned in.
MONSTERS INC: * * * *
Another Pixar for Liana to see on a day when we were shut in for the day for some reason. (Maybe she was sick? I don't remember now.) She quite liked it, of course, though I'm not sure she really understood most of the underlying mechanics.
WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER: * * *
An unbelievable amount of comic talent was in this 2001 movie, so much so that you'd think you just can't miss it. But it turns out you can. How had we never heard of it before? Oh, because it wasn't all that good. Not shitty, just… eh. One of those wacky summer hijinx movies where there are like a half-dozen relatively disconnected plotlines all going.
SOME LIKE IT HOT: * * * *
I'd never seen it before. Deserves all the praise it has received, of course. I am woefully under-familiar with Marilyn Monroe's work, actually - is she ever in anything where she doesn't play the Dumb Blonde? At least, who doesn't keep telling everyone else how dumb she is? Tony Curtis is both a disturbingly effective drag queen *and* a good Cary Grant impersonator.
COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO: * * * *
The 2002 version. Fired on all cylinders, hampered only by a couple of stupid plot conveniences executed for no other reason than to create a complication later on, to forestall revelations to a more screenplay-dramatic time.
REVENGERS TRAGEDY: * * * *
Alex Cox does a post-apocalyptic adaptation of a violent Thomas Middleton play from 1605. It is very much an Alex Cox movie, in both the good and bad sense - there's all sorts of weird and marvelous detail everywhere but the performances are injected with such manic energy that sometimes it's too much. I'm generally skeptical of keeping archaic dialogue intact when these sorts of stories are transplanted into new settings, but there are enough really good bits in the original text that it was probably worth keeping, and the rest of the time you can just chalk it up to that Alex Cox mania.
BRINGING UP BABY: * * *
They'll tell you this is a classic "screwball comedy", but make no mistake: it's a dark-humor horror film about a perfectly normal (if somewhat naive) man's life being systematically destroyed by a psychopath. Katherine Hepburn is so jangly-nerves and blithely disconnected from any sense of consequence, it's actually hard to find much of the film funny. Like, OMG, why doesn't someone have her committed, FFS? Kill her, before she leads you to your own death as some sort of joke! I guess they sure found things "funny" very differently in the 30s.
INSOMNIA: * * * *
Filling in some blanks in the Christopher Nolan repertoire. A nicely done take on those crime stories where the law-man realizes it's not enough just to know who did it, you gotta be able to prove it without taking yourself down. I would maybe have liked to see someone other than Al Pacino tapped for the maybe-corrupt jaded-veteran big-city cop role, but I won't complain too much.
MY NAME IS BRUCE: * * *
If it was anyone but Bruce Campbell - making fun of his own life, basically - this would have been two stars at best, of course.
------
For consideration: Next round, we have some violent fiascos and a bunch more entertaining family fare for Liana's benefit