Ryan McNeil
I’m beginning to understand the “It was on Netflix” shrug.
Through the years of recording my podcast or shooting the shit with my many movie-going friends, people often mention watching something that seems beneath their pay-grade. When my face contorts and I ask incredulously “How did you end up watching that?”, the person always says “It was on Netflix”, and follows the statement with a shrug of their shoulders. Sometimes the shrug is even audible in their response.
Now don’t get me wrong – I still believe in looking for the good stuff, and I still believe that time is precious. But I’m beginning to get it…
Sometimes you’re hungry. You don’t have the energy to cook a whole meal, but you want to eat something. Everything you have in the pantry involves turning on the stove, and nothing in the fridge seems what you want. Somewhat defeated, somewhat nonchalant, you grab the jar of peanut butter and a tablespoon.
That’s Netflix.
You might not have wanted to cough up any money to watch LOCKOUT, not in theatres and not on blu-ray…but when you’re bored and hungry, it looks like a jar of peanut butter and a tablespoon.
For me this week, that was THE LAST STAND (which I did enjoy for what it is). JACK REACHER is looking like it’ll be filled with nutty goodness too.
I get it now. I might still feel guilty about it, and still feel like there are better uses of one’s time…but I get it.
Here’s The Week at Hand…
Screenings
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL – More on this over the next two days, but suffice it to say my initial reaction to its trailer was correct.
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
TINY FURNITURE – Which eventually gave way to this.
THE LAST STAND – I mean, what else does one watch following TINY FURNITURE?
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
THE SOCIAL NETWORK – I immediately started reading Gone Girl after this ended.
RUSHMORE – I never got around to BOTTLE ROCKET, but my series of Anderson rewatches was time-well-spent
THE HUNT – For podcasting purposes.
RESERVOIR DOGS – Also for podcasting purposes. I was a bit of a castitute this week.
GOODFELLAS – Recently upgraded to blu-ray. Lordy, am I ever happy I don’t have to switch discs mid-film anymore.
OUT OF SIGHT – Still so damned sexy.
52 First-Timers, 49 Re-Watched
8 Screenings
101 Movies in Total
Gone Girl is sooooo good! I am super excited for the movie now.
Firsts: Nymphomaniac vol 1– The most entertaining Lars von Trier movie I have seen.
Nymphomaniac vol 2– Not as good as the first part but a good story overall.
Queen– So cute. The two Nymphomaniac films and this together made a strange sort of feminist triple bill.
Thumbsucker– Meh.
Midnight Cowboy– Really good. Loved the performances.
Full Metal Jacket– LOVED it! It’s normal to want to learn the opening Sgt. Hartman bit by rote, yes?
Legends of the Guardians– Only Zack Snyder will have a battle between animated owls and bats in slo-mo.
High School Musical– Mette owes me big time.
Life is Beautiful– I cried.
Rewatched: Rebel Without a Cause– That James Dean was quite a looker, wasn’t he?
American Psycho– This film is perfection.
Believe it or not, I wasn’t nuts about FULL METAL JACKET the first time I saw it (which was in the wake of my first viewing of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN). I have since been converted to a believer, of course.
First-Timers: The Wind Rises, Labyrinth of Passion, Through a Glass Darkly, The Householder, Afterschool, and later tonight, Shakespeare Wallah.
Re-watches: WrestleMania VII and Walk the Line.
I’ve only ever heard of *one* of your first-watches!
Gone girl is ridiculous and good. I hope they take liberties and create a great flick.
Glad you get it – saw Safe Haven because it looked like a candy bar. It was a hot Josh Duhamel candy.
I haven’t come across any part of Gone Girl I thought was all that “ridiculous”, but then again, I’m just uner halfway though. Still, even if it is ridiculous, In Fincher I Trust.
I understand the Netflix shrug you speak of, but I rarely succumb to it. The benefits of being interested in tons of films and always being super behind on them. 🙂
For me, first time:
The Imperial Swordsman
Gravity
And I re-watched:
Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy
I don;t think I ever watched BRAIN CANDY all the way through. Deep cut actually – what got you watching it?
I’ve become a huge Kids in the Hall fan over the last five years or so. But we watched it because it was my girlfriend’s birthday and that’s what she wanted to watch! I enjoyed it a lot more this time than the first time I saw it. I’m more tuned in to their humor now and I got a lot of the character references to the show that I missed the first time. It’s a great movie if you like them. Feels like they had a lot of creative control too, which is nice.
Yeah, there were many films I watched on Netflix that I wouldn’t otherwise (including Lockout).
I’ve found that I’ll target Netflix for a certain movie like The Square that I know is playing, but I rarely just dive in to something that seems mindless. Of course, I also have pretty limited time right now. Just one movie that fits the timeframe, though I have two more that I watched this past weekend.
NEBRASKA – Finally caught up with this on DVD. I liked it, and it’s grown on me even since earlier in the week. Not one of my favorites from the year, but the acting is sharp across the board.