Friday, April 06, 2007

What's In the Netflix Queue #4

Titles I should be enjoying soon:

1. Mr Klein- Joseph Losey's World War II spy film that sounds great- Alain Delon as an art smuggler caught up in international intrigue! Who could ask for more.
2. The Naked City- Jules Dassin's thriller was just released on DVD last week and I can't resist delving into this phenomenal directors work. "Riffifi" is a masterpiece in every sense of the word and I hope this film follows suit.
3. Midway- Readers of these lists will recognize, yes, another war movie I've never seen.
4. Eternity and a Day- This is an interesting case. I've seen one Angelopolous film ("Ulysses Gaze") and started this a few years back, but grew bored with it and quit halfway through. I'm hoping time and age has conditioned me to be in a more receptive mood about Angelopolous' work.
5. The Wire Season 2 disc 5- This second season has been wonderful. What I love about this show is how small incidents ignite a sprawling investigation, full of sharp characters and enthralling details of police procedure. In the first season, the Avon Barksdale case grew out of the seemingly innocuous murder of a witness. In season 2, an argument over a church's stained glass window uncovers international prostitution rings, Greek drug lords and dock yard corruption.
6. Thieves Highway- More classic Jules Dassin.
7. Once Upon a Time in the Midlands- In anticipation of director Shane Meadows' new film "This Is England" which is getting strong word of mouth overseas, I realized I'd not seen this small family comedy he made a couple years back.
8. Spirit of the Beehive- Victor Erice film that got a full Criterion release late last year. I'm almost embarrassed to say I've never seen this. Word of mouth is that its pretty magical.
9. Jigoku- CLassic Japanese horror film. That's all I need to know.
10. The Attic/Crawl Space double feature- I think the Netflix description can do this film justice: In The Attic, the insecure and unmarried daughter (Carrie Snodgress) of an overbearing, invalid father (Ray Milland) escapes her miserable life by hiding in the attic, fantasizing about her father's death. In Crawlspace, a boarding house is equipped with secret passageways and hidden rooms so that the perverted doctor (Klaus Kinski) who runs the home may spy on -- and murder -- his beautiful tenants. (This disc contains both feature films.)

No comments: