Whether Netflix?

So Netflix's VOD service came to Canada in late September, which is one of the reasons October was a wash for this blog. I'm not sure what the selection for Netflix is like in the States in terms of its VOD service. But for what I'm getting and for the price I'm paying, it's a pretty good deal.

On first glance, browsing through the selection, my thoughts were, "Hm. The selection here seems to be along the lines of a family-run independent video store five years ago when it's a holiday weekend and you've just come in a half-hour before closing. So all the first-run movies are rented out, and most of the second-run movies are as well. In other words, blockbusters like Iron Man and Avatar are nowhere to be seen. (I suspect if Netflix's VOD service in Canada really takes off, they'll offer a premium package for $25 a month, so you can get access to those aforementioned type of new releases.)

On the other hand, the selection is a lot better than I expected. I'd break it down like this: 50% unwatchable direct-to-video independent stuff that even the Sy-Fi channel turned their nose up, (Giant Octopus Vs. Giant Whatever, Independent Horror Movie where All the Female Cast Gets Nekked, Indie Gay Dramady Where Three Actors From Community Theater Sit in a Room and Whine About Being Gay), 30% movies and T.V. shows that you've already seen dozens of times already, but you wouldn't say no to seeing again, like Dune, Aliens, and the Ren and Stimpy show, and 20% films that are pretty good, but you wouldn't have rented them if you were at that mom-and-pop store because they were buried in the stack of dross. (Cache, Yojimbo, Irreversible- a pretty surprisingly good selection at that, really.) The overall selection is large enough that the numbers are in my favour.

So here's a quick look at what I've been watching:

Into the Night (D) - Uneven comedy/thriller by John Landis starring Michelle Pfeffer and Jeff Goldblum. It looks like Landis wanted to direct a tribute to Blake Edwards' Pink Panther series, but the violence is too brutal to laugh off, and some of the cameos are really distracting. (You see Dan Ackroyd in the beginning as one of Goldblum's co-workers, and you assume he's going to turn up in the story later as part of the plot, but it's just a pointless cameo, like David Cronenburg.)

Funny Games (B) - Micheal Heneke's admonition/experiment in horror porn doesn't really work, on account of the type of people who see films like 'Saw' and 'Hostel' don't exactly run to Heneke films. And the type of people who see Heneke films don't watch horror porn, as a rule. I howled over the John Zorn song in the opening, and the 'rewind' bit near the end, which is not the intention Heneke had, I think...

Dune (B+) - Could've been a contender. I'm watching it, and thinking that if Lynch had gotten the control he needed, this would've been a masterpiece. All he needed to do, in retrospect, was remind the money people that he's not Jodrowsky...

Irreversible (A) - Brilliant.

Lake of Fire (B) - Sober doc about the abortion debate in America. Even though director Tony Kaye is being as even-handed and objective as humanly possible about both sides, the pro-life lobby still come across as a bunch of extremist loons. (Fun game: Put the words 'white' and 'christian' in front of the pro-life nuts when they start preaching about the 'rights of the unborn'. It puts their arguments in a more understandable context...)

The Human Centipede (F) - An awful movie, and not just for the obvious reasons. You get the impression director/writer Tom Six would carve a swastika on his forehead if it sold tickets. Matter of fact, if the distributor could figure out a way to charge people to NOT see this film, they'd be making Avatar money. It's not just the crappy acting, direction, editing (in a Tommy Wiseau way), but the fact that Six doesn't seem to understand the difference between an idea and a conceit.