#17 We just watched this on Netflix streaming.You should too!:Deliver us from Evil
The Film: Deliver us from Evil
No matter where you come down religiously, this is a must see movie. It is one of the few movies I will recommend that I don’t enjoy watching. How could you enjoy watching this movie, besides that it brings awareness to injustice? It is about a catholic priest from California who admits, on camera, how he molested children and how the church went to unreasonable lengths to cover it up.
Watching the priest so honestly admit to these wrongdoings borders on the surreal. The film also interviews his victims and explores the corruption which kept many of the incidents in the dark.
Why to watch it: It is a shocking indictment
The film always leaves me feeling helpless. Even despite so many of these incidents going public, little, besides financial restitution, has been done. I’m not radical in the sense that I think the Pope should be arrested, rapists should have their genitals cut off, or any nonsense like that, but at least the church should find someway to prevent this.
That Catholic priests frequently get away with this behavior, even in modern times, makes me wonder how many centuries this has been going on and how many victim’s lives destroyed.
Pay attention to this: Oliver O’Grady
Watch him as he laughs, chuckles, and still, to this day, doesn’t feel the way he should about his crimes. There is a moment in the film where he respectfully asks his victims to meet with him and one of the young men immediately responds, “I’d kill his mother”.
Apparently, O’Grady doesn’t see the big picture. According to an article cited on Wikipedia (I checked the original source) he was recently, December 2010, arrested for child pornography and was found working with a local dutch church. He is a sick person, why is he still allowed to walk the streets, but so many pot dealers, and other non-violent criminals, not?
Get Netflix streaming through the link at the bottom and follow along. Have fun out there and E-mail if you, the reader, have anything for us to watch!
-Collin
By Collin, on February 8th, 2011
#16 We just watched this on Netflix streaming.You should too!:Burden of Dreams
The Film: Burden of Dreams
The film is a simple documentary about the production of Fitzcarraldo and it’s legendary director, Werner Herzog. Despite its simplicity, it manages to capture, most likely, the most chaotic production shoot of all time. Yes, you could argue that Apocalypse Now was bad as well, but never has such catastrophic events plagued a film production.
The film Fitzcarraldo is, in terms of great movies, a relatively small achievement. It is not a great movie. However, what makes the documentary better than the original film is the obvious parallels of madness one can draw between the main character and Herzog himself.
Why to watch it: The man, the myth, the legend: Werner Herzog
I came to Herzog very late. I saw his movies Grizzly Man and Aguirre:Wrath of God only days apart and was shocked, only momentarily, they were made by the same man. Herzog has now become a hero of mine despite the fact I’ve only seen a dozen of his movies and enjoyed ever fewer.
He is a hero because he is the ultimate filmmaker. Fearless, courageous, adventurous, and, most of all, totally uncompromising. I read a fantastic quote from Ramin Bahrani, director of Goodbye Solo, where Herzog told Bahrani that if he (Herzog) knew, with certainty, the world was going to end tomorrow, he would start a film. It is that type of intoxicating spirit that has made Herzog so inspirational to so many.
Pay attention to this: Herzog’s madness
Herzog remains relatively calm throughout the movie, however, we start to see the dam break as the documentary progresses. Such an example is how he insisted on pulling the steamboat up the hill despite the chance of death and injury. Even the engineer who created the steamboat pulley system quit, fearing responsibility for death or injury. His abuses are, in my opinion, evil. Where these actions fall on your morality scale are up to you.
What is odd is footage of Kinski loosing his mind his not included. Only in a documentary many years later did the following footage surface:
Get Netflix streaming and follow along. Have fun out there!
-Collin
By Collin, on February 6th, 2011
#15 We just watched this on Netflix streaming. You should too!: Enter the Void
The Film: Enter the Void
You might have heard of this film as: A: The follow up to Gasper Noe’s film Irreversible or B: Quentin Taratino claiming it had one of the best credit sequences of all time. No matter what you think of this movie, as usual, QT was right. Those credits are so cool.
Moreover, a movie like this will likely never get made again. How it got made in the first place is a mystery I’ll never understand. The modest budget of ten to thirteen million is a fortune compared to the audience that would likely receive it in a positive light.
It is also rare in the sense that I disliked it, but admired almost everything about it. I would never watch it fully through again because it is way too long, but feel it did a lot of cool stuff and was bold in its execution.
The film follows a transendant state a drug dealer in Japan experiences after he is shot by the police. He experiences life, death, and his past. What else the movie intends to be is not exactly obvious. I enjoyed Noe’s own explanation which was that it was about the, “shimmering vacuity of the human experience”.
Why to watch it: Probably the most expensive experimental film ever made
The movie suffers from just being too long and having clunky delivered lines from its lead. I admired the stubbornness to which Noe refused to budge on the length and the patience he took to execute his vision, but never would I say I was entertained. Being intriguing and fresh is, indeed, entertaining, however, the film is a kind of a one trick pony in that respect.
I went to an experimental film program and was inundated with films that my teachers insisted should not be looked at in a “psychedelic fashion”. In Void’s case, I totally agree. As with the end scene from 2001: Space Odyssey, it cannot be seen through a lens of psychedelic interpretation. It degrades the spiritual, and certainly, transcendence of the movie.
What that means is don’t just say its a “stoner flick”. It contains ideas and scenes way more enjoyable to talk and think about than actually experience. I encourage everyone to read the press kit here to gleam what you can from the interview with Gasper Noe. Remember, if Gasper is anything, he is fucking fearless.
Pay attention to this: The technical side
The technical talent in the movie is just as impressive as anything you’d see in a movie such as Lord of the Rings or Avatar. The director uses techniques experimented with in Snakes Eyes, but turns up the knob to 11. Never have crane shots been used in this way. Never. Maybe never again.
The cinematography is integral to the ideas and mood of Void. If poorly executed the movie would have never worked. You’ll see camera shots and imagery you will NEVER see again. That I’m sure of. I don’t really know what else to say except there is a shot of a the camera zooming into an aborted fetus. If that doesn’t get you watching, nothing will.
Get Netflix streaming and follow along. Have fun out there!
-Collin
By Collin, on January 11th, 2011
#7 We just watched this on Netflix streaming. You should too!: Disgrace
The Film: Disgrace
I’ll give it to my brother Devon, he knows good movies. He was on top of me for a while to watch this movie. I wasn’t too enthusiastic about it – a fictional story set in apartied Africa…meh.
But it is really good. It is a story with moral and political implications I’ll never understand fully, but contains a genuine emotional power that is hard not to buy into.
Why to watch it: The “bleakness” of the film
Few films offer so little redemption and hope. Many would argue with me, saying that the main character played by Malcovich is provided a certain degree of atonement for his past behavior.
Instead, I’d argue little is gained and very purposeful depictions (and metaphors) are presented that shows a country with little hope for the future. I hate to say this is a reason to watch a movie, but few films regard a country with such confusion, pity, and moral ambiguity.
Pay attention to this: Metaphor
“What?! Metaphor?! Are you my fucking English teacher, you douche?!”
But seriously folks, the source material of the novel with same name won several literature awards and is on a couple “best of the past twenty-five years” lists. This is serious stuff.
I’m not going to delve into any of this stuff, but my brother and I wondered if the dog Malcovich loves and cares for might just represent Africa…think what he mournfully decides to do to it.
Watch this right now when you get home from work or school or whatever it is you’re doing….you should be watching this instead. And if you don’t have Netflix streaming….buy it. It costs the same as a shot and a beer at your local bar!
By Collin, on December 28th, 2010
#4 We just watched this on Netflix streaming. You should too!
Man on Wire
The Film: Man on Wire
Man on Wire isn’t perfect, but it is damn good. It follows a man who walked across a metal wire between the World Trade Center towers in the seventies.
It is really cool to hear the story, but the film feels a biiiit long. Also, the reenactments are kind of silly and there is actually no close-up footage of the man going across. Too bad.
Why to watch it: The act itself is amazing.
Something so absurd deserves to be seen. Philippe Petit, the hire-wire walker, is a truly unique man and his talent and passion is invigorating.
Pay attention to this: Philippe Petit’s focus while on the wire.
Great men and women have a level of focus and dedication that are hard to explain to us mere mortals. To commit oneself to something so powerfully, with all one’s soul and body, it not easy.
Nothing of the sort will ever be done again, but I can’t help but feel a better analysis of the man could have been done by someone like Werner Herzog. This is Herzog’s world. The film is great despite its “heist” elements….you’ll know what I mean.
Watch this right now when you get home from work or school or whatever it is you’re doing….you should be watching this instead.
And if you don’t have Netflix streaming….buy it. It costs the same as a shot and a beer at your local bar.
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