Netflix - First Quarter Catch-Up- 2018
Title: Polka King
Co-written and Directed by Maya Forbes (2014’s Infinitely Polar Bear) and starring Jack Black as Jan Lewan. The real life self-proclaimed polka king who, in the early 90’s, devised a Ponzi scheme that targeted the elderly fans of his music. He was also the subject of the 2009 documentary film The Man Who Would Be Polka King, and that’s my biggest problem. This feels like it should’ve been just a documentary. While Jack Black gives a wonderful performance, he is far too likable and the script treats him like a good guy who just got in way over his head, when in reality he lied to everyone around him and took advantage of the elderly trying to invest their life savings to have a better retirement. The movie is fine, I just couldn’t get over that fact. At times, it’s funny and it has a solid cast, led by a great performance by Black. Forbes proved she is adept as a comedy director and I hope she chooses a better subject for her next project. It’s a great movie to watch when you are cleaning your house.
Title: The Open House
This movie is the equivalent of staring at a wall for an hour and a half. Biggest difference is that when you finish staring at that wall you won’t feel you wasted your time. This “movie” is a “horror… “thriller” in which “stuff” happens and you are supposed to be “scared”. I already gave this movie too much of my time so I’m going to wrap this up. Skip it.
Title: A Futile and Stupid Gesture
Biographical comedy based on the life of writer Doug Kenney, co-founder of the magazine National Lampoon and writer of Animal House and Caddyshack. It was directed by David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer) and stars Will Forte as Doug Kenney and Domhnall Gleeson as his business partner Henry Beard. I get what the writers and Wain strived for during the making of this movie. They both wanted to tell the complicated story of a mad comedy genius who isolated everyone around him, but at the same time recreating the crazy nature of his comedic styles like Animal House. This leads to an uneven story that struggles to keep the audience fully engaged in Kenney’s struggles since the movie itself forgets about them for the sake of a joke. I laughed enough to say that I enjoyed my time, but I can’t help to think there is a better version of this movie given how interesting the subject matter was. It’s not a waste of time if you have nothing else to watch.
Title: The Cloverfield Paradox
This is blatantly not a Cloverfield movie. It’s excruciatingly clear that the only reason the studios slapped that name on this movie was to try to salvage their investment on this sci-fi dud. It’s not horrible as it has moments within the runtime that are enjoyable, but all of those moments are done better in far better sci-fi movies. There is nothing original and the “Cloverfield” moments are re-shoots that occur on earth while there is nothing tying it to the events in the spaceships. The character deaths seem random, almost like the script gets tired of carrying them around and gets rid of them. The cast is great but is wasted as they aren’t given anything to do and the ending is flat out dumb. Skip this movie all together.
Title: The Ritual
This horror movie set in the woods centers around a group of friends doing a hike in honor of their recently deceased friend. They stumble upon an abandoned cabin in the woods and hijinks ensue with unexplained surreal dreams based on their fears and a creature stalking them through the woods. This is David Bruckner’s first full feature; his previous works have been shorts within horror compilation films, and he is showing a potential to be the next big director in the horror genre. He uses the camera to his advantage as he guides the audience through this twisted maze of haunted woods, creating just enough tension for the scare to pay off. He didn’t write the script and that’s where the movie falters. The characters are one-sided and the dialogue is generic and at times annoying. The creature design was unique and unnerving and the ending is satisfying. Solid horror movie that could’ve been great if the scrip matched up to the director’s abilities. Fun watch.
I remember when I saw 2009’s Moon for the first time and enjoyed it so much that I went on the internet and searched who made it. Now this is a habit prior to watching a movie and after. When I saw that Duncan Jones was Bowie’s son, I was impressed that he found his own art to excel at. His movies ever since have failed to live up to the hype I left with after watching his debut. Now this movie, the appropriately named Mute, since all I wanted to do was hit mute to finally save my ears from the dialogue, has come out, and I think I’m ready to give up on Jones. I truly want to hear the elevator pitch he gave the studio: “It’s Blade Runner meets Pretty Woman meets The Witness… but all the bad parts.”. It’s a horrible, boring movie and one of the characters is a creepy pedophile for no reason, baby. Skip this movie all together.
Title: The Outsider
Post WWII, an American soldier joins the Yakuza. Sounds cool, right? Until you see it and you realize it’s just a collage of plot points and characters from far superior Yakuza films. This isn’t a horrible thing, I was entertained to a certain extent. The violence is frequent and for some people it could be excessive. Jared Leto is the lead and he is fine, but it becomes a bit annoying that he tries to pull the Ryan Gosling acting-through-staring. Gosling pulls it off through subtle body language and timely eye revelation. Leto just thinks if I keep my eyes wide opened something will eventually happen. It’s a slow burn, with some fun sequences but ultimately adds up to a meh. It’s not bad, it’s not good, it’s just there.
Title: Game Over Man!
From the trio that brought us Comedy Central’s Workaholics, comes Die Hard but with three comedians and a lot of missed jokes. The intro may sound like I didn’t enjoy this movie but I truly did. There are a lot of jokes that landed and they landed hard. But, like many of the comedies produced today, they packed so many “swing for the fences” jokes that there are many that simply leave you cringing at the screen. I guess they think to themselves; “Hey, if one out of the ten jokes we crammed in here works, they will forgive the nine other ones.”. The overall product was funny, entertaining and the action isn’t horrible. This is the ultimate Netflix movie, something you don’t get mad at because it was essentially free since you are paying to watch The Great British Baking Show. Watch it if you are bored.
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