The best of Netflix and streaming video

I don’t go to the movies that often, but I do watch a lot of them at home …

Would you mind shutting the hell up?

January 23, 2012

Don’t you hate asking people behind you in a theater to keep quiet? I do. I always fret that it might escalate into something undignified, like a fistfight in the parking lot. Sometimes appeals to common courtesy hit people the wrong way. It’s like you flipped them the bird or keyed their Camaro. But I [...]

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The guns of New Year’s

January 1, 2012
war horse thumbnail

The New Year is happy so far: I am beginning it with no hangover. Last night we ushered out the old year by watching a lightly-attended showing of War Horse. Later at home we viewed brief snippets of the movies Charade and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. We opened a bottle of cheap bubbly but [...]

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Edward and Bella sittin’ in a tree …

November 18, 2011

You know, I’m almost tempted to go see this new Twilight movie “Breaking Wind Dawn.” The last one I saw was so bad that it was almost fun to watch. Almost, but not quite. From the reviews I’m seeing, this latest one could be a genuine laff riot for somebody like me, who likes to [...]

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With Democrats like these …

November 8, 2011
george clooney ryan gosling

These days, making films about evil Republicans is like shooting fish in a barrel, so I was pleased to see that The Ides of March didn’t take the easy route. Oh, the malevolent hand of the GOP still looms in the background — this is George Clooney’s film, after all — but he spares us [...]

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And the winner of the 2012 Emmies is …

October 11, 2011
bryan cranston in breaking bad

You’ll forgive me if I post a little more praise for Breaking Bad, AMC’s excellent series about the vagaries of the meth business in greater Albuquerque. We just watched the final episode of Season Four: Superb. TV doesn’t get better than this. Movies don’t either. This episode and this season are so good that the [...]

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A latter-day look at “Twin Peaks”

September 27, 2011
laura palmer

It recently came to my attention that I was the last guy in the continental United States who had never viewed an episode of Twin Peaks. It’s been recommended a number of times over the years, most recently by my son Dave Jr., who like me has unerring taste when it comes to quality television. [...]

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‘Bridesmaids’: Not just a chick flick

June 12, 2011
kristen wiig in Bridesmaids

There was a time when nobody vomited in the movies, and nobody defecated, or urinated or even broke wind in an audible way. I don’t guess those days will ever come again. I blame the Farrelly Brothers, who saw the rich comic potential of the excretory functions and cashed in big-time. Still, if you’re going [...]

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’127 Hours’ in ninety-four minutes

June 11, 2011
james franco in 127 hours

Has everyone seen 127 Hours by now? I finally got around to watching it last night. Maybe I should say I watched most of it.  There were some parts where I had to get up and walk around room. If you’ve seen the movie, you know the parts I mean. I don’t which was worse: [...]

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I do not like ‘Black Swan’ or ‘Biutiful’

June 8, 2011
black swan

We arrive now at that point in the program where I clear out my Netflix queue and trash movies that have been lauded by all the major critics. This will contain some spoilers, so if you’re the sort of person who has not seen either Black Swan or Biutiful, you might want to stop now. [...]

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Peace through violence in ‘Liberty Valance’

May 10, 2011
jimmy stewart

I was 11 years old when I first saw The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and it’s been one of my favorite movies ever since. I consider it among the best westerns ever made — right up there with the Coen Brothers’ version of True Grit, or Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch. I’m glad to see [...]

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