This Week On Netflix: Smoke

BY: ORANGECHAIR

There is honestly only one thing that drew my attention to the film Smoke: Harvey Keitel. My obsession with Harvey Keitel is a side effect of my much larger obsession with Quentin Tarentino and a much appreciated side effect at that. While flipping through the possible films I could watch my eyes managed to find Keitel’s face on the poster for Smoke and this week’s Netflix film was decided.

The film Smoke is the story of a group of characters that have one thing in common, they all have something to do with Auggie Wren’s smoke shop. As these characters meet and interact they begin to find connections between themselves and their lives.

• Auggie Wren (Harvey Keitel)- Auggie is a wholly interesting man. Owning a smoke shop, Auggie has spent years trying to save up enough money to be comfortable. With some money in hand Auggie risks everything when investing in an expensive shipment of Cuban cigars. Augie also takes a picture of the exact same spot at the exact same time every day.

• Ruby McNutt (Stockard Channing)- A woman from Auggie’s past who has obviously played him before. Showing up because she needs help with her daughter who has gone astray, Ruby begs Auggie for help.

• Paul Benjamin (William Hurt)- Paul is an author who lost his wife. Stuck with writer’s block, Paul seems to be stuck in life until he meets a young man whom he can help.

• Thomas ‘Rashid’ Cole (Harold Perrineau)- A young man who has run away from home after getting in trouble with a bad thug. A twist of fate leads Paul and Thomas to meet. Paul gives Thomas a place to stay and helps him get a job at Auggie’s smoke shop. As Paul and Thomas start to become friends, it becomes clear that Rashid is not as innocent as he seems in his involvement with the thug. He is also doing more than just hiding, he is looking for his father.

• Cyrus Cole (Forrest Whitaker)- a man with a wife and child, Cyrus had a rough past and has made a point to try and turn his life around. Owning a garage, Cyrus is forced to return to his past when Rashid comes to visit.

This was an odd film. I have always liked films that take a number of different characters and stories and weave them together but the acting in this film had its ups and downs. Some scenes were absolutely outstanding while some left me wanting more effort and emotion. The story was good with a number of different twists but the writing was also lacking in some scenes. When it comes down to it this was a well done film but I’m not going to rave about it. I give this a C+. It was worth watching but nothing you have to look up right now.

This Week On Netflix- The Trip

BY: ORANGECHAIR

Gentlemen to bed! For at daybreak I will breakfast!
Sire, sire! Tis a continental breakfast. Will only take twenty minutes max.

Take two impressionist, stand-up comedians, put them in a car together and send them on a food tasting trip across Europe and you get the film The Trip. The Trip is a funny yet oddly sad film. Most of the film consists of dialogue between the two main characters as they flex their impression skills and seem to try and verbally outwit one another.

Michael Caine was not in the film The Trip but without Mr. Caine, the film would have been about an hour shorter. The film’s main characters have the ability to impersonate many people but their favorite is obviously Michael Caine. The titular trip that main character Steve Coogan, playing himself, takes was originally supposed to be between Steve and his girlfriend Mischa (Margo Stilley). The trip is a result of Steve getting a job at a magazine to impress his girlfriend. With their relationship on the rocks, Steve does not want to waste the trip so he invites his friend Rob Brydon, also playing himself, and suddenly the romantic trip becomes a sarcastic trip between friends. The two travel across the country on a restaurant tour, trying exquisite food and examining their lives at the same time. While the majority of the film revolves around the witty banter between Steve and Rob during their dinners and car rides, it also took a serious look at being lost in life.

Steve and Rob balance each other out perfectly in this film. While Steve is in a quickly failing relationship, Rob is happily married. Steve needs to go on the trip to get away while Rob is going on the trip for fun and is missing his wife and life back home. The film is hilarious and most scenes are laugh-out-loud but Steve’s character in it is very depressing. Not working and with a failing relationship, Steve is somewhat lost in life. The trip offers a slight break or escape from his life but ultimately it only accentuates what is happening to Steve. The entire film is spent on the road, moving from hotel to hotel and restaurant to restaurant. In fact we don’t even see Steve’s house until the very end of the film. What is disconcerting is that Steve seems less at home in his house than any place he had visited during his trip.

This film was originally made to be a television show but was changed into a film and a very funny one at that. Watching two smart men try to one up each other using only impressions and wit leads to some very funny scenes. Though this film was funny it was also very strange. The characters were not really developed and their back stories were rushed and swept under the rug making the film feel muddled and disjointed. The Trip, a 6.5 out of 10, is certainly worth watching for the humor but as far as the rest of the story goes is nothing better than mediocre.

This Week on Netflix: Brick

BY: ORANGECHAIR

You better be sure you wanna know what you wanna know- Kara

This week’s Netflix film is a detective noir film that is quickly becoming a cult classic. The film Brick, written and directed by the mind behind Looper Rian Johnson, is a modern day detective story following the structure and theme of classic film and literature. The film’s principle mystery is a murder but what is unique about it is it takes the classic detective film and puts it into High School.

I’m going to try and simplify the fairly complicated plot into only a few paragraphs. In this story, our loner detective is student Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon Levitt). Brendan is a sad and lonely young man after being dumped by his girlfriend Emily Kostich (Emilie de Ravin) and turning his friend into the authorities. After receiving a mysterious, panicked call from Emily asking for help, Brendan uses the leader of her group of stoner friends Dode (Noah Segan) to get in contact with her. Denying everything she said on the phone, Brendan steals her notebook. Following an odd symbol in it, Brendan finds Emily’s dead body and takes it upon himself to solve her murder.

Brendan’s search puts him directly in the middle of a drug war. After hearing Emily say “the Pin” on the phone, Brendan figures out that the Pin is in fact a person. Brendan meets with the Pin, a drug dealer, to try and figure out why Emily was murdered. While it takes him a while to uncover anything of consequence, Brendan eventually learns that Emily’s death may have had to do with a shipment of heroin bricks, a shipment in which one brick was missing. As Brendan continues to pry he meets Laura (Nora Zehetner), a woman who at first seems innocent, and Tugger (Noah Floeiss), the Pin’s violent and angry muscle. Working himself to the bone, Brian stops sleeping and puts himself in harms way to solve the murder. As a drug war blossoms around him, Brendan needs to determine who he trusts, avoid having Emily’s murder pinned on him and stay away from an increasing number of people that are trying to harm him all while solving a murder.

This film stemmed from Johnson’s obsession with classic detective stories, especially Dashiell Hammett. This film was a brilliant example of film noir. Dark and gritty, the film was well written and though it was somewhat complicated, the plot wasn’t difficult to follow. What I loved about this film was the fact that it was a hard boiled detective story but most of the characters are High Schoolers. Joseph Gordon Levitt is perfect as the loner detective, putting everything he has into the case even at the expense of his own health. While he is connected with other groups in the school, it is obvious that Brendan keeps to himself. A conversation with the school’s principal further solidifies Brendan as a private detective character. It becomes clear that Brendan has, reluctantly, helped the principal solve a case. The dynamic is such that Brendan is a private detective that helps the police, the school administration when they need it but is not a member of the police force. The film is a true hard-boiled detective noir film, from the vocabulary to the characters to the story that was brilliantly adapted to a High School setting with High School characters.

It is my opinion that Rian Johnson has a great career in front of him. I thought Looper was brilliant and now, after seeing Brick, understand the man’s true talent. With a great script and a great director, Joseph Gordon Levitt is perfectly cast. Now, if you don’t like film noir this might not be the movie for you. For film noir fans, like me, I give this film a 9 out of 10 and highly recommend it.

This Week on Netflix: James and Giant Peach

BY: ORANGECHAIR

I decided to take a quick trip down memory lane the other day when I stumbled across James and the Giant Peach on Netflix. Not only had I seen the film a number of times as a child but I had also read the book it was based on by Roald Dahl. I did not remember much about the film, except for that it was weird. My memory served me correctly. James and the Giant Peach was a fun, entertaining film but there is no arguing that it is quite weird.

I don’t understand why, but having a depressing opening tends to be a theme with films made for children. Finding Nemo starts with an entire family of fish being eaten, other than Marlin and Nemo of course. In the beginning of Tarzan the gorillas lose their baby and Tarzan loses his family. In James and the Giant Peach, James’ parents are killed by a Cloud Rhino and he is forced to live with his physically and verbally abusive Aunts, Aunt Spiker (Joanna Lumley) and Aunt Sponge (Miriam Margolyes). The film starts in live action as James attempts to survive life with his Aunts. Desperately wishing for friends and a different life, James’ chance to escape comes when a mysterious man (Pete Postlethwaite) offers James magic crocodile tongues. Losing them in the dirt, James falls asleep dismayed only to wake up and find that a giant peach has grown where he lost the tongues. James’ aunts turn the peach into a moneymaking scheme and again, James is treated like a slave. One night, out of the watchful eye of his aunts, James explores the Peach and finds a door inside.

Upon entering the Peach, the film shifts from live action to stop action animation. Crawling to the center of the giant fruit, James finds it inhabited by giant bugs. Terrified at first, it does not take James long to realize that Mr. Grasshopper (Simon Callow), Mr. Centipede (Richard Dreyfuss), Mrs. Ladybug (Jane Leeves), Ms. Glowworm (Miriam Margolyes), Ms. Spider (Susan Sarandon) and Mr. Earthworm (David Thewlis) were not going to eat him. Detaching the Peach from its tree, James and the bugs escape his aunts and set out in the Peach on a journey to New York City. Their journey pits them against a killer shark, a ship of skeletal ghosts and forces James to face his greatest feat: the Rhino that killed his family. More importantly than facing his fears, James is finally able to make some friends, even if they are giant bugs.

Considering this is a film where the main characters are giant bugs that befriend a young boy, I think it’s safe to say that me accusing it of being weird is spot on. While the film is very weird, it was also oddly charming and mythical. James and his companions encountered two creatures on their journey, a shark and a rhino. While these are both real animals, neither of them are what you are imagining. The shark was a giant machine, complete with missiles, gears and a mouth with a grinder in it. The rhino, which is said to have escaped from a zoo, is an almost ghostly being with the ability to fly and a body made of clouds. It was touches like this that made this film a charming adventure.

Overall I had fun watching this film. It is very bizarre and I could see some children getting scared by it (I was scared by the Rhino when I was younger) but ultimately its good, family fun. With hilarious characters that go on an epic adventure and not to mention a little bit of singing, I give James and the Giant Peach a 6 out of 10. It is one of the many great family films available on Netflix Instant Queue.

This Week on Netflix: Bernie

BY: ORANGECHAIR

In a small town people will always suspect the worst of someone. But they’ll also suspect the best.

I would have never even thought to give the film Bernie a second glance had I not watched the 2013 Golden Globes. When announcing the nominees for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture- Musical or Comedy, Jack Black’s picture flashed across the screen. I am quite a Jack Black fan and I believe that he is an underrated actor that doesn’t take roles that show he can really act. The moment I saw he had been nominated for a Golden Globe I made not of what movie it was for. Finding it was on Netflix Instant Queue, I decided to watch it and was quite surprised by the uniquely entertaining film.

Based on a true story, the film is not a full blown mockumentary but has many elements of one. The film tells the story of Bernie Tiede (Jack Black), a man from Carthage Texas who is loved by one an all. An assistant funeral director, Bernie is also heavily involved in the church and the community. When her husband passes away, Bernie takes an interest in Marjorie “Marge” Nugent (Shirley MacLaine). A mean old lady whose family has tried to sue her and has lost all of her friends, the only person Marge is happy around is Bernie. For a while Bernie and Marge get along, spending every second together and going on trips. As time goes on, Marge starts to take Bernie for granted and starts to see him as her property.

Running the nicest man in the world to the bone and eventually to insanity, Bernie has no choice but to kill her. Prosecuted by Danny Buck Davison (Matthew McConaughey), the case makes history when it is moved from Carthage because the people of the town loved Bernie so much that Davidson did not believe the jury would make an impartial decision.

There were a number of things about this film that surprised me, the first being the fact that it was based on a true story. When something is based on a true story, it always makes you wonder how truthful the events in the film actually are. Jack Black’s portrayal of the charismatic Bernie Tiede had to be somewhat accurate because it was very difficult to dislike the character. He is famous for being the subject of one of the only cases to have a change of venue due to fear that the jury would be too biased in favor of the murderer.

Shirley MacClaine is one of my favorite female actresses and it does not surprise me that she was great in this film. Perfectly playing Marge, who can only be described as a bitch, MacClaine steals many of the scenes she is in. By the time Bernie actually kills her, you dislike her so much that its hard to feel bad for her death. What surprised me was Jack Black’s performance. The comedy came easy for the veteran but a number of scenes required Black to delve into drama and he easily rose to the occasion to make Bernie a well rounded and well done character.

This film was much funnier than I expected it to be, attacking what could have been seen as a very dark issue and making it oddly amusing. A lot of the comedy comes from the interviews that are interspersed through the story, showing the people of Carthage talking about the town, Bernie and the trial. As seems to be the case with many of my This Week on Netflix choices, you must like dark comedy to enjoy Bernie. I give this film a 7 out of 10. It is a funny film with a compelling subject with acting that will surprise and draw you in.

This Week On Netflix: Hugo

BY: ORANGECHAIR

“If you’ve ever wondered where you’re dreams come from, you look around…..this is where they’re made”-Georges Melies

Hugo is the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a live action classic Disney film. Disney has made live action films and some classic Disney films, like Peter Pan and 101 Dalmatians, have been turned into live action films but none of them were able to truly capture the feel and texture of a Disney classic. The film Enchanted managed to capture the classic Disney feel but then sent it into the real world, allowing it to mix with the grit and grime of New York City. It made for a great film but lacked the purity that I attribute to Disney. Hugo however, though it had nothing to with Disney, was a classic Disney cartoon come to life.

Based on a book titled The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, the bulk of the film takes place in a train station in 1930’s Paris, except for a few flashbacks and two or three forays out into the world beyond the station. The film centers around a young man named Hugo Cabret (Asa Buttefield). Trained by his father (Jude Law) and his drunken Uncle Claude (Ray Winstone) to make and fix clocks, Hugo begins to take care of the clocks in the station. When his father passes away and his uncle disappears, Hugo continues to fix the clocks, living in the walls of the station alone, attempting to avoid Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) and his dog who will send Hugo to the orphanage. Before he passed, Hugo and his father were working to fix an automaton, a broken mechanical man. Hugo becomes obsessed with fixing the automaton, hoping that fixing it will result in a final message from his father that will allow Hugo to make some sense of his death.

To fix the automaton, Hugo has resorted to “borrowing” parts from a toy shop in the station run by Georges Melies (Ben Kingsley). After Georges catches Hugo stealing, he decides to allow Hugo to work off his debt. As the two work together, we see the old, depressed and dejected Georges light-up a little bit, seeming somewhat happy for the first time all film. Hugo eventually meets Georges’ God-daughter, Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), an adventure hungry girl. Immediately becoming friends, the two embark on adventures together. Hugo eventually notices a key hanging around Isabelle’s neck, a key that is the final piece needed to get his automaton working. As the two begin to explore the origin of the automaton and the key, they are pulled into an adventure that uncovers the truth about Georges Melies tragic yet triumphant past.

This film had every aspect of a classic Disney film from the seemingly enchanted, grand settings to a villain dead set on stopping the story’s hero. The visual effects in this film were stunning, turning what could have a been a simple train station into a mystical world of shining gears and secret passage ways. Sacha Baron Cohen was perfectly cast as the villain, constantly chasing Hugo with his trusty dog side kick in scenes that are cartoonish and intense at the same time. The thing that makes me call this a classic Disney film the most was the feeling I got from watching it: profound joy. The film was a fairy tale within a fairy tale. Hugo and Isabelle are traveling through their own fairy tale while uncovering the fairy tale that is Georges’ past.

Without giving away too much I want to touch on how the plot of Hugo is immersed in the history of film. Ben Kingsley’s character is based a real film director of the same name. Directing and acting in a number of different films, Melies is most famous for his film Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon), made in 1902, which plays a central role in Hugo. Hugo takes a look at the true purpose of cinema, to create magic and wonder. Films can do amazing things and take you to amazing places and should be appreciated as such.

Nominated for an Best Picture in 2011 and earning 5 Oscars, including Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. I expected to like this film but I did not expect to be completely entranced by it. A visually stunning fairy tale with some fabulous actors, Hugo is one of the best films available on Netflix Instant Queue. Family friendly and with entertainment for everybody, I give this film an 8 out of 10.

This Week on Netflix: Jeff Who Lives At Home

BY: ORANGECHAIR
When I picked the film Jeff Who Lives at Home, I did not know that I was picking another Duplass Brothers film. I’m not upset that they made the film, its just odd that I picked another one after reviewing the Puffy Chair (another Duplass brothers film) just a few weeks ago. Just like The Puffy Chair, Jeff Who Lives at Home was a truly bizarre and unexpected film. The theme of the film is fate and the film looks at three different characters: Jeff, his brother Pat and their mother Sharon. We follow these characters as their stories intertwine and eventually collide.

• Jeff (Jason Segel): Jeff is in his thirties and lives at home with his mother. Jeff is also a pothead and his only job on the day the film takes place is to go and get wood glue. What seems a simple task for most is not so simple for Jeff who sees a pattern to the world that most do not. Today is not just a day in which he has to get wood glue, it is a day that a man named Kevin is supposed to change his life. While venturing out of the house, Jeff follows a string of signs that he believes the world is giving him. The signs lead him to get mugged, find and help his brother (multiple times) and eventually leads him to a traffic jam on a bridge where he must save a family from certain death.

• Pat (Ed Helms): What should have been a normal day turned into a near disaster for Jeff’s older brother. While Jeff is out following the “signs” he stumbles upon his brother. It quickly becomes clear that the two brothers are not as close as they should be, they seem to have trouble understanding each other. Accidentally finding his wife, Linda (Judy Greer), having lunch with another man, Pat realizes his marriage might be in danger. With the help of his brother, Pat embarks on a journey to save his marriage and the two brothers realize how much the mean to one another along the way. The quest leads them to the traffic logged bridge where Pat runs through the lines of stopped cars to find and win the affection of his wife.

• Sharon (Susan Sarandon): In what is one of the oddest story arcs I have seen in quite some time, Sharon is fed up with her life. She is alone, after her husband passed, and annoyed with her job, life and children. Working in a cubical job, Sharon seems to feel empty, desperately searching for something she can’t grasp. When a secret admirer approaches her, claiming to understand her and want to be with her, Sharon allows herself to feel hope. After thinking she got stood up, Sharon’s secret admirer accidentally reveals themselves and inadvertently forces Sharon to make a decision. Her decision, just like her sons’ decisions, leads her to a bridge only to be stuck in a traffic jam where she finds her two sons.

Throughout the course of watching this film, I had trouble deciding if I liked it or not. It was full of dark, dry humor that perfectly offset the overall depressing tone of the film. Beyond a depressing tone, the film also acted like a crescendo. The handheld style of filming and Jeff’s character makes the film seem as if it is building to something epic, something epic that does not fit with the simple plot we have already seen. The more we travel with Jeff the more we realize that there is something bigger happening, there is something beyond what we can see in front of us. The film works to get the audience to follow the signs Jeff is following. When it ends with Jeff and the audience getting their epic moment, it is one of the more satisfying moments in cinema.

I did not realize how much I enjoyed this film until I started reviewing it. Jeff is the oddball in the film, the one that nobody understands but the script and directing almost forces the audience to connect with him. While the other characters are dealing with “normal” problems, the audience gets caught up with Jeff and his grandeur, paying off at the film’s conclusion. I give Jeff Who Lives at Home an 8 out of 10, a score that surprises even me. Give this movie a chance, even if you don’t like it at first. As long as you get invested with the characters, it will pay off in the end.