Down, Boy

A fellow Netflixer recommended a film to me recently and I couldn’t resist bumping it to the top of my queue immediately.  Who could resist seeing Billy Connolly playing a zombie named Fido?  And, of course, “Fido” is the name of the film.

What intrigued me the most about this crazy comedy was the incredible eye-popping set design.  The zombies themselves are no more than people painted a shade of gray, so if you’re looking for the more gruesome undead featured in “Dawn of the Dead” or similar movies, there’s not much for you here.  But what’s most appealing to this film is that takes place in a sort of parallel history, circa 1950-something.  It’s a world in which the zombie war has been fought and won, where zombies are reduced to collar-wearing slaves, serving humans in household chores…and sometimes a little more than that.

Both my wife and I laughed till our laughing muscles wouldn’t work anymore.  I highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a good dark comedy like “Shaun of the Dead” and “Undead.”

Severe Team Building

The other night a friend of mine recommended a movie called Severance (links to trailer on IMDB)– starring no one in particular, and with roughly zero mass appeal.  I was curious enough to check it out, since I enjoyed Hostel (the first one only, though), and of course Shaun of the Dead. Since Netflix categorized Severance as a dark-comedy-horror, not to mention “suggested” the two aforementioned titles in lieu of Severance, I decided to give it a try.

This is the story of a handful of employees, working for a major warfare manufacturing company. They are vacationing in the German countryside for a “team building” retreat. (A big part of my liking this movie came from the fact that a majority of the cast is British — the only American being a pretty little blond girl; call me male.) Naturally they’re rerouted by a downed tree in the road, and they find themselves on foot, only to arrive at the wrong “luxury hotel.” Here they’re stalked by mysterious masked men, and the coworkers bite the dust one-by-one. Yawn, you might say. But hold on a second.

It’s amazing to me how sometimes a not-so-great movie and not-so-redeeming special effects can sometimes be watched at just the right moment in a person’s life. I was in that particular mindset the other evening, it seemed, to enjoy the tongue-in-cheek approach to an overdone story. The very fact that you can tell they aren’t taking much seriously is a huge draw and excellent pay-off for this film. And — gasp! — they somehow managed to pull a few original twists out of a musty moth-eaten bag.

For anyone who enjoys the A-side of B-cinema, Severance is a fun, sometimes disgusting, way to spend 90 minutes of your life. Say what you like about bad movies, sometimes a good bad movie is just what you need!

Paltrow Outdone by Her Own Mother

I came across the Showtime original series, “Huff” while wasting time surfing about on Netflix. My wife and I are up for anything with Hank Azaria, and the fact that he commands the lead role of this series was too much for us to pass up. But the surprise was that Blythe Danner completely owns the show as Huff’s mother.

This may appear to be just another of those dysfunctional family dramas in the same vein as “Weeds,” but that’s a misleading conception. The acting is solid, the characters are all sympathetic to some degree (unlike in “Weeds,” whose characters tend to be anything but sympathetic), and the direction is impressive. It’s unfortunate that this show ran for only two seasons, but it’s fortunate that it wasn’t aired on a network like Fox, who would’ve canceled it even earlier, most likely.

I was amazed at how Huff’s story develops as the show continues.  What begins as a midlife crisis, brought on by watching one of his patients commit suicide in his office one morning, blooms into a complex story of how one struggles with guilt, identity, and still finds time to deal with everyday problems.  The drama, of which there is plenty, is easily broken-up between witty banter and the incredibly sordid lifestyle of Huff’s best friend, Russ (played impeccably by Oliver Platt).

I’d recommend this show to anyone who enjoys a good adult television series, one not watered-down by the insane demands of prime-time and laugh-tracks.  Blythe won an Emmy for her role and Platt was nominated, both in 2006.

Northingflix Introductory

For those of us out there who pay 16.99 a month on a butt-load of Netflix DVDs instead of 39.99 for obnoxious extended cable, Northingflix is the place to be.  On this blog I will attempt to keep a record of fine films, wacky B movies, and excellent TV shows that people may or may not have heard of before.  Netflix is generally good about “recommending” titles based on a user’s interest.  But, let’s be honest — there’s just so much damned stuff out there.  Thus I will attempt to compile a running list of films and shows that I’ve recently seen and a brief review of each.  Then I’ll mention similar titles, to give the reader a chance to decide if they might be interested in the featured film.

I don’t mistake my own opinions for facts, so you won’t see any blatherings about if a certain movie is crap or brilliant.  I will simply say what I thought and nothing more.  I’m not a film school grad or an aspiring director, nor am I an obese man with terrible glasses and white hair who debuted with a film about transvestites in the seventies.  (That’s right — “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” was co-written by America’s most famous opinion-generator.)

Anyway, here are my opinions for better or for worse.  If you’d rather read about my real passion, writing, feel free to visit my primary blog, My Books Are Waiting.  Thank you and good night.