April 2004

NetFlix Mania

When Bigfoot and I decided to remain cable-free despite the horrible antenna reception in Central Jersey, we purchased a really cool looking DVD player. It's super thin, and fits perfectly in our tiny mobile media center. It has a remote control which came with batteries. We love it. It's super awesome. We tried, for a week or so, renting DVDs from our local store, but NetFlix called to us fiercely with its one-rate for unlimited DVDs. We've had NetFlix for a few weeks now, and we love it as much as we love the DVD player.

Godzilla, Bigfoot and I decided that we should give quick reviews to all the movies we get, commenting on their overall quality, including audio commentary and bonus features. Here is the first go at this. Bigfoot and I will supply reviews for as many as we can. We will indicate who's review is who's, so don't worry about being confused.

24 - Season 1 Discs 3-6
Grandpa: Our local rental story got us hooked on the junk with disc 1 and 2. At first, we tried to watch one episode at a time, then it was two, and in the end we watched five episodes in a row. This is good tee-vee. I had watched some of Season 3 in the fall, and I kinda liked it, but I didn't get hooked. The DVD does not have any bonus features. Like any good drug, it is all you need.
Bigfoot: I agree wholeheartedly with Grandpa's assessment of the addictive quality of 24. Watching 24 convinced me of the power of tee-vee on my own schedule and without commercials.

Traffic
Grandpa: This is an OK movie. The story of the Mexican police officer is real tight, but the rest is just distraction to preach with. I did not bother with the bonus features, I didn't even look.
Bigfoot: I liked Traffic much more than Grandpa. The multiple interwoven plots kept me watching despite the heavy-handed Michael Douglas scenes. (These were the only scenes I had trouble accepting.) The scenes in Mexico were the best without doubt, especially Benicio del Toro's portrayal of the police officer as Grandpa mentioned above I watched some special features, but honestly I can't remember them very well. We got Traffic fairly early in our Netflix queue. From what I remember the special features were only really worth the time if you were a film nerd.

Prime Suspect - Season 1 Two discs
Grandpa: Very good show. Sure, all that silly "Hello Governor" nonsense was hard to overcome, but being a modern guy, I took it in stride. Like 24, these DVD's offer no bonus nothing. I wish it had about two more episodes. The more, the merrier, you know. I'm excited to see Season 2.
Bigfoot: Prime Suspect 1 was super! Sure, it has all of the bad qualities of any tee-vee from the early 90s, but it makes up for it with great characters, plot, and intrigue.

Insomniac Uncensored - Season 1
Grandpa: This was a total waste of time. We love Insomniac, but this DVD has nothing special. No bonus material, no gratuitous cussing or nudity. No barfing drunks. I was hoping for a "Drunks Gone Wild" kind of DVD, not and "It's the same show you watched, but without the bleeps." Screw that. I want depravity!
Bigfoot: Insomniac was OK. I loved watching it back when we had cable, but it's not a show to watch over & over again in a short space of time. And considering the get-our-money's-worth theory of Netflix, we weren't just going to pop in Insomniac once in while for fun. The "uncensored" bit is essentially unbleeped cursing & unpixelated breasts and bums. Yes, it is legitimately uncensored, but it not legitimately DVD-style cool. I want more antics, more deleted footage…at least as extras. As much as 24 inspired me to want to watch endless tee-vee shows on DVD, Insomniac showed me that a tee-vee shows enjoyability is not necessarily transferable.

Muppet Show featuring Elton John
Grandpa: Of course this was awesome. The Muppet Show is real strange. It's a kids show AND it's an adult show. The balance is terrific. Best of the old-school variety shows, period. Sad to say, the bonus features were pretty weak, but I'll give them that. It's the Muppets.

Y Tu Mama Tambien
Bigfoot: Y Tu Mama Tambien was an enjoyable and thought-proving film, but the special feature, a short film, was better. The short, Me La Debes, takes place at bedtime in a small household but it is far from sleepy. I watched this with and without subtitles to test my growing Spanish comprehension. I'm still not good enough to catch everything, but it doesn't matter because Me La Debes was laugh out loud funny either way. If you haven't seen it, I demand you to get it right now. I won't even tell you another word about it because I don't want to give away a single moment. Every single second is can't-pry-your-eyes-away good.
Grandpa: Sex, sex and a sad ending. Wonderful movie.

On the Waterfront
Grandpa: A classic. A can't miss. Super bonus features about the making of the film. Real creepy interview with Rod Steiger. Of all the movies on this list, I am most likely to buy this one.

Requiem for a Dream
Grandpa: This movie is tied for second for movie-I-want-to-own with "24 Hour Party People." I would love to watch the second half of this movie with no sound. Without a doubt, this is the best don't-use-drugs movie in the world. The implied shame, horror and degradation of the characters is worse than what you see. Beautiful.

L'Auberge Espanole
Bigfoot: L'Auberge Espanole is a foreign film with a Hollywood ending. I liked everything in the movie until this (the truer ending happens only a few minutes earlier; they should have left it at that). Ending issues aside, this is a fun movie for anyone who has ever lived in (or wanted to live in) a multicultural communal environment.
Grandpa: Fun movie, weak ending. Not bad enough to make me hate it, thought. Digital candy.

Spy Kids
Bigfoot: Damn! Damn! Double damn! I don't care that Spy Kids was essentially a kids' movie. It was good. A brother and sister find out within a matter of moments that their parents are secret agents and that they are have been captured by some bad bad folk. Instead of cowering in the corner or shitting themselves like most kids would have done, these two head out on an amazing adventure that shows their mettle. Little warty scaredy pants gets his courage. Bratty selfish preteen develops family pride. This had action, suspense, characters, plot, and humor. I just couldn't help but love it.

Meatballs
Bigfoot: This movie rocked in the 80s and it rocks now. It is the pinnacle of summer camp movies. I watched it more than ten times in elementary school alone, so I won't stand for argument. It rocks - so hard. You can watch it in English or dubbed into Spanish. The Spanish version was hysterical for a Meatballs freak since the movie is so often dependent on Bill Murray's vocal antics (like the morning radio announcement or speaking while burping). It's hard to find a voice-over guy who is as good. I was bummed that its only special feature was filmographies for the main players. Someone somewhere has a great video of behind the scenes antics.
Grandpa: Not enough nudity. Still, a good, funny movie.

24 Hour Party People
Grandpa: This movie was totally rad. I have no idea how close to the truth it is, but that does not matter. A fascinating story told extremely well. Every time I stop by Princeton Records I look for music from the movie as well as the movie. I have not taken to a movie in this way since "The Big Lebowski" or "Boogie Nights."

Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Season 1 Disc 1
Bigfoot: Aqua Teen Hunger Force transfers to DVD well. The disc had 8 episodes, including Drippy and the Mooninites. Aqua Teen is always fun to watch. Don't tell Grandpa but Meatwad and I spent the afternoon together getting all tore up before Grandpa got home. Special features included an early version of Rabbot, and commentary for the pre-Rabbot and two other episodes. Take away the guitars and the creators of Aqua Teen can provide good commentary. With guitars, they are terrible…awful…pitiful. At first, pity can be funny, but not when it just won't end. Do yourself a favor and only use commentary for pre-Rabbot.
Grandpa: Crazy as hell. I'm gonna call you 'Drippy.'

Bottle Rocket
Grandpa: The conclusion of this movie was wicked obvious, once it happened. But the 'con' was totally irrelevant to the outcome of the movie. Those morons would have fucked up with or without professional help. That's the beauty of this movie - the characters are such perfectly created traffic-accidents that you forget to watch the sub-plot appear right before your eyes.

Road to Perdition
Grandpa: My Dad's been asking me to watch this one for, like, twenty million years. I now know why. Tom Hanks and Paul Newman play father figures torn to pieces by misfortune. The ensuing story of Hanks and his son is as touching as it is exciting. Only "Miller's Crossing" is a better 'mob' movie than this.

Coupling -Season 1
Bigfoot: The first night, Grandpa & I watched episodes one and two. (Actually before Grandpa got home, I watched all of the special features. I couldn't help myself.) The first episode had some good funny parts, but I wasn't into the ending. It didn't work in context, but clearly it was intended as the means to keep the otherwise unneeded characters in the fold. The second episode got me hooked. It was crazy funny all the way through. I'm looking forward to the rest much more now.
Grandpa: "It's the UK's version of Friends!" they all said. That statement alone prepared me to hate this show without even watching it. But my older brother said it was cool, so I gave it a chance. Hell, it's the BBC, not NBC (or CBS!)

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