Netflix – Coming & Going

I only have two new titles to tell you about this week: Fawlty Towers is back after–what–a month?  Make up your mind, Netflix!

I’m looking forward to seeing Best Worst Movie, and have been since Christian Toto wrote his review of it.  It’s a documentary about what some claim is the worst movie ever made, Troll 2.  I haven’t seen that, but it’s also available on streaming, so that’s easily fixed.

I couldn’t possibly list all the titles that are expiring at the end of the year.  I couldn’t even list all the notable titles that are going.  I’ll just list the ones that were already in my queue, and note that there’s no time to get to them all.

For a full list of expiring titles, click here.

Mad Max: In a postapocalyptic future, jaded cop Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) is ready to retire. But his world is shattered when a malicious gang murders his family as an act of retaliation, forcing a devastated Max to hit the open road seeking vengeance.

I’ve seen The Road Warrior, and liked it.  Is this significantly better, or basically the same?

Insomnia: Sent to investigate the murder of a teenage girl in a small Alaska town, police detective Will Dormer (Al Pacino) accidentally shoots his partner, Hap (Martin Donovan), while trying to apprehend a suspect (Robin Williams). But in spite of his guilt, he’s still determined to solve the case.

A Christopher Nolan film has to be bumped to the top of the queue, right?

Network: When a network news anchor loses his mind on the air, his outrageous rants reach viewers at home, boost the ratings and intrigue a pair of cutthroat network executives in this Oscar-winning masterpiece that predicted today’s rash of trash television.

I know it’s a classic, but is it good?  I mean, is it fun to watch?  Is it dated?

Dog Day Afternoon: To get money for his gay lover’s sex-change operation, Sonny (Al Pacino) — who’s married with kids — teams up with Sal (John Cazale) to rob a New York bank on a scorching-hot summer day. The stickup goes awry when the press gets wind of the circus sideshow-esque story.

I’ve seen this, but it must have been twenty-five years ago.  I remember thinking it was great, and I wanted to see if my memory was correct.  Probably won’t get to this one when there’s so much I haven’t seen.

Raging Bull: Robert De Niro won an Oscar for his portrayal of self-destructive boxer Jake LaMotta in Martin Scorsese’s widely acclaimed biopic, which paints a raw portrait of a tormented soul unable to control his violent outbursts.

Another classic.  I’ve rented it on disc from Netflix twice, and never got more than ten minutes into it without falling asleep.  (Hence my question about Network.)  I’ll probably never see this one.

Arsenic and Old Lace: Stellar performances highlight this delightfully witty adaptation of the hit Broadway play about two dotty spinsters (Josephine Hull and Jean Adair) with a peculiar avocation: helping lonely old gents by poisoning them and burying them in the cellar. But the jig is up when the ladies’ newlywed nephew, Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant), discovers his aunts’ “benevolent” deeds.

I’ve seen this one several times, so I can afford to miss it this week.  It’s been in my queue in case I felt like a breezy good time.

A Clockwork Orange: In this Stanley Kubrick classic based on Anthony Burgess’s novel, teenage miscreant Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) wanders aimlessly amid a bleak, futuristic urban landscape, drinking drugged milk and listening to Beethoven with his fellow “droogs.” But he also spends his time stealing, raping and beating innocent people in nihilistic orgies of violence, all in an attempt to get his nightly kicks.

Replace the last three words I wrote for Arsenic and Old Lace with “a mesmeric look into darkness.”  (I thought about just copying it and seeing if anyone noticed.)

Going in Style: Out of sheer boredom, septuagenarian roommates Joe (George Burns), Al (Art Carney) and Willie (Lee Strasberg) plan a daring bank heist. But after they pull off the caper, problems begin to crop up — beginning with the death of one of the three old codgers. Hard choices and some even tougher introspection follow as the remaining two head to Las Vegas for a wild fling in this classic comedy.

I don’t remember putting this in my queue.  Maybe since I liked The Sunshine Boys I thought I’d try this?  Won’t make the cut, I’m afraid.

The Bad Seed: Grade-schooler Rhoda Penmark (Patty McCormack) is sweet, smart … and inherently evil! After a school chum dies during a picnic, no one suspects Rhoda, except the janitor (Henry Jones) of her apartment building. But when Rhoda’s mother, Christine (Nancy Kelly), finds out that her own mother is a cold-blooded killer, she begins to suspect Rhoda might be the victim of some faulty genetic wiring.

I’m going to have to see this one.  I know it’s a classic, but I bet I’ll like it anyway.  I’d like to try some horror from before the gore invasion.

Shadowlands: This winner of two British Academy Awards is based on the life of renowned Oxford scholar C.S. Lewis (Joss Ackland), author of the classic The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Vivacious American poet and recent divorcee Joy Gresham (Claire Bloom) travels to England to seek out Lewis, with whom she’s had years of correspondence. The two become an unlikely pair, despite their culture clash, but the most difficult obstacle is yet to come.

I’m a sucker for C.S. Lewis.  I’ve read almost every book he’s written, and one or two biographies.  You’d think that would make me move this to the top of the queue, but I’m leaning against it because it’ll probably be very familiar stuff.  Are the performances so strong that I shouldn’t miss this?

Battlefield Earth: In the year 2000, an alien race known as the Psychlos devastated Earth and turned it into a wasteland. In the year 3000, the aliens — led by the horrific Terl (John Travolta) — still hold the surviving human population hostage and have forced Earthlings into slavery. But when human Johnny Goodboy Tyler (Barry Pepper) discovers the aliens’ major weakness and leads the final fight for Earth’s survival, the parasitic Psychlos are in for a shock.

I know.  I still want to see it.  I really liked the book when I was fifteen.

I know I said I wouldn’t go through the whole list, but I’m a completist.  No summaries, no commentary, and no links:

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Lorenzo’s Oil, Sphere, Amadeus, Commando, Demolition Man, Doctor Zhivago, Driving Miss Daisy, Free Willy, Interview with the Vampire, The Omega Man, Malcolm X, The Man with Two Brains, Natural Born Killers, Bonnie & Clyde, The Last Temptation of Christ, Wild Wild West, Starman, Stardust Memories, Little Shop of Horrors (80s version), Drunken Master, They Call Me Mr. Tibbs, Blackboard Jungle, Funny Girl, Valmont, Heavenly Creatures, Heartbreak Ridge, Eight Men Out, Murder by Death, Queen of the Damned, Howards End, Tightrope, Chariots of Fire, Dead Like Me, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, The Asphalt Jungle, Letters from Iwo Jima, The Virginian, The Addams Family (TV series), The Terminator, Timecop, Man on Wire, and a bunch of James Bond movies (again!) are all expiring.

This is just a small part of what’s leaving, and I’m sure I missed something someone would like to see.  Check out the link.  Most of these, I didn’t even know were available until now.

Share on Facebook