What's In the Netflix Queue #16

Before we get into the latest edition of what's in my Netflix queue (which leaves everyone spellbound, I know) let's take a quick inventory of the first few months of the year. How should I put it? Terrible? Lackluster? Uneventful? Well those last two describe the same thing. This has been a pretty dismal year regardless of which term I use. I've actually left the confines of my home and traveled to a movie-house-theater-thing (its been so long I often forget what they're called!) only 9 times this year. Most of the truly great movies I've seen this year were watched on DVD ("Summer Palace", "Inside") and even these suffered through minimal release in New York and Los Angeles only. The other movies I wanted to see, such as David Gordon Green's "Snow Angels" or Wong Kar Wai's "My Blueberry Nights" came and went in the blink of an eye. Still others like "In Bruges" or the Demi Moore/Michael Caine diamond heist flick "Flawless" played (or are currently playing) at the Landmark cinema waaay on the other side of downtown Dallas... which is a trip that never inspires me to make the effort. Basically, with the ever shrinking window between in-theater dates and DVD release dates, I find myself more than willing to wait. Maybe its my 30-something age wearing on me or the fact that gas is 3 and a half fu**#@! dollars a gallon- either way my movie watching habits have shifted dramatically. A lot of my friends feel the same way. I'm not quite ready to proclaim the demise of the theater experience (and as I type this "Iron Man" will be making 120+ million this weekend), but its dying slowly here in my household.

On a lighter note.... here's what's in my Netflix queue!

1. John From Cincinnati (series disc)- As a huge fan of David Milch's "Deadwood", I'm going into this one with an open mind. I understand it's quite slow and different from his previous cocksuckin' efforts with "Deadwood".
2. Road Games- One of the titles I previously spotlighted from the great DVD company Anchor Bay. This 80's film stars Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis about eighteen wheelers, killers and probably Jamie Lee's breasts.
3. Heaven's Gate- This is one of those films that we're always ashamed to say we've never seen. Well, I've never seen it. And it's the 4 hour director's cut of Cimino's original vision. I've read that it's bashing back in the day was unjustified and the film is actually pretty damn brilliant to look at due to Vilmos Zsigmond's cinematography.
4. Who Saw Her Die?- DVD from a new collection of "giallo" slashers never before released. Directed by schlock auteur Aldo Lado. Description says "the daughter of a well-known sculptor is murdered. As the sculptor and his wife investigate, they discover that their knowledge puts them in grave danger, as the killer begins butchering everyone who knows too much. With the body count rising, can truth survive?"
5. Adam's Apples- Danish 'dogme' film starring that kick ass actor named Mads Mikkelsen (the bad guy in "Casino Royale). This one is a black comedy about a paroled crook subtly undermining the local church's power.
6. The Boondock Saints- Never seen it. Time to give it a try after so many friends have urged me to. I just hope it doesn't try too hard to mimic Scorsese or, even worse, that pop-culture tinged dialogue spurned by Tarantino in everything post 1994.
7. Night Train Murders- The second Aldo Lado exploitation flick on this list. This one details two young women trapped on a train with a band of thugs. The VHS copy used to sell for big bucks.
8. Incident At Loch Ness- The director of this mockumentary, Zak Penn, also directed the recent poker mockumentary entitled "The Grand" that looked super-funny and lasted 1 week at that theater waaay down in Dallas that I don't enjoy traveling to. What happened? With a cast like that, it looked solid. I especially loved the smartness of the line from the commentator to David Cross after he didn't recognize Doyle Brunson, and the line was "I think it's a tell if you don't know who Doyle Brunson is." Anyway, "Incident at Loch Ness" is his debut and both of his films have featured Werner Herzog in supporting roles. How cool is that?
9. Fresh Bait- Bertrand Tavernier's critically acclaimed mid 90's film.
10. Let Sleeping Corpses Lie- Straight from Netflix... "Two traveling companions, George (Ray Lovelock) and Edna Simon (Christine Galbo), come across a small town infested with the "living dead" that are satisfying their cannibalistic hunger on anyone they come across." I'll end on that high note.

Bonus You Tube Clip... "The Grand"