Warner Bros.
April showers got you down? No need to get pouty. Netflix exists, it’s full of movies, we’ve got a list of good ones that have recently been added, and May flowers are just around the corner. Hang in there. We’re going to get through this. As always, click on the films’ titles to be taken to their Netflix pages.
Pick of the Month: The Exorcist (1973)
There’s a reason that The Exorcist shows up at the top or very near the top of every list of the greatest horror movies of all time. Nuts and bolts, it’s basically the perfect example of how to properly structure a horror movie by introducing a small threat, gradually increasing it over the course of a film, and then paying things off only after you’ve milked all of the potential anxiety out of the situation. When things go bad in this film, they go horrifically bad too. There are so many iconic images in this movie that basically everyone in the world knows, and every one of them is so dang freaky and gross that they have no business being part of the mainstream consciousness. With The Exorcist, William Friedkin gave the bible belt its first dose of death metal awesomeness. Give it another watch if you haven’t seen it in a while. Hearing the first few notes of that iconic score will feel like slipping on an old glove. And isn’t that little Linda Blair just so adorable?
Entertainment (2015)
Gregg Turkington does standup comedy under the name Neil Hamburger, and if you’ve never seen his act, it’s a strange kind of performance piece where he attempts to get under his audience’s skin. From his material, to his look, to his delivery, everything Turkington does is designed to be as off-putting as possible, and if you’ve got the stomach to sit through it, it’s one of those things that’s fascinating to watch at first, then it goes too far and gets kind of upsetting, and then it eventually comes back around to being completely hilarious. Entertainment is a film that stars Turkington as his Hamburger character. He co-wrote it with Tim and Eric’s Tim Heidecker and The Comedy’s Rick Alverson, who also directs. These names are listed as a warning that this movie is completely ridiculous. From extended scenes where Turkington tries to out-awkward John C. Reilly, to strange bathroom encounters with Michael Cera, there are a ton of little treasures to be found here as long as you can endure the outrage-baiting inanity. Think you’ve got the patience to make it to the end?
Groundhog Day (1993)
Have we discussed Groundhog Day here before? It feels like it. It feels like this is one of those movies that’s constantly showing up on and then falling off of Netflix. That’s fine though, because there’s nothing wrong with a regular reminder that it’s time to rewatch Groundhog Day for the 1000th time. This is one of the very best comedies ever made, without a doubt. Anybody who argues otherwise deserves to get stuck in an endless time loop of their own. This is Bill Murray at his surliest and most curmudgeonly. It’s Chris Elliott at his most put-upon and door matiest. It’s Stephen Tobolowsky at his most Stephen Tobolowskiest. If Harold Ramis ever made a masterpiece, and he most definitely did, then Groundhog Day is it. Not even casting Andie MacDowell as the scowling female lead could sink this ship. Impressive.
Vertical Entertainment
He Never Died (2015)
If you’re a fan of anything Henry Rollins does, then you need to see He Never Died. It’s not the greatest movie in the world, but it’s an interesting enough mystery/noir/horror mashup, and it’s completely made by the fact that it has Rollins deadpanning his way through the film as the lead, Jack, who we don’t know much about, but who we know is immortal, is miserable, is always running afoul of various sleazy street thugs, and is very, very comfortable with casually doling out extreme amounts of violence. Is the prospect of Henry Rollins viciously bloodying up punks not your thing? Not to worry, because there’s also a subplot here where his loner character has to reconnect with an estranged daughter, and not only is the relationship actually pretty sweet, but Jordan Todosey also shows a good deal of spunk playing the daughter. She’s fun, and research tells me she was on a bunch of episodes of Degrassi, so it looks like I’ve got some Canadian angst to catch up on. Help me out with that, Netflix. All you have is episodes of Next Class, but she was on The Next Generation!
Jafar Panahi’s Taxi (2015)
Filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been banned from making films by the Iranian government for a handful of years now, but he still keeps finding ways to get them made and get them out to the world anyway. His newest, Taxi, is filmed almost entirely from cameras mounted on the dashboard of a taxicab that Panahi himself drives around Tehran. People from all walks of life get in and out of his cab, they experience dramas big and small, some of them are clearly scripted while some of them seem like they could be improvised, and you’re never quite sure what is what, but everything that you see ends up being interesting. Even with such a simple premise, Panahi manages to make his movie layered with themes and Meta goodness. There’s all sorts of stuff in here about the importance of art, the nature of cinema, and how we should respond to censorship. In general, Panahi is just a really good filmmaker and he has about the biggest balls in the world.
Man Up (2015)
Man Up is a ridiculous farce. It does the whole romantic comedy thing, it has a case of mistaken identity at its center, none of its characters act like human beings so much as they act however they need to act in order for wacky hijinks to take place—and yet it’s not unpleasant to watch. Probably because it stars Simon Pegg (Nerd Movies) and Lake Bell (Indie Movies), who are both funny enough and charming enough that watching them play out some kind of modern version of an episode of Three’s Company becomes a good time spent relaxing in your couch groove. Mostly though, this thing is satisfying because the third act sticks to the tried and true romantic comedy format, which we’ve all seen a thousand times before, but which still works because sometimes solid story structure just makes sense.
Must Love Dogs (2005)
If you’re in the mood to watch a generic romantic comedy, and there are a lot of people out there who love watching generic romantic comedies, then you might as well watch one that stars Diane Lane. She’s basically an angel. She could make anything palatable, including Must Love Dogs, which is one of the most clichéd, basic bitch dating farces ever created by Hollywood. It all goes down smooth though, because Lane is there to ease the process, and because Christopher Plummer is there playing her dad, and because the two men she’s put in a love triangle with are Dermot Mulroney and John Cusack. The material these people are working with couldn’t be any more mundane, or even insulting in many places, but they’re all so damned charismatic while delivering it that you’re willing to give them a pass, for old times sake. Must Love Dogs is the very definition of a guilty pleasure.
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