Kirk (nkl) wrote, @ 2009-06-30 22:52:00

Netflix June: Electric Boogaloo
4 movies, first time we've managed one per weekend for a whole month.


Let's Scare Jessica to Death
Will mentioned this once a long time ago, and I'd heard of it for years but never saw it. This is a low budget horror flick from 1971 about a woman just released from a mental institution who, with her husband and a friend, goes to live in a remote house in the country. And starts seeing/hearing things. Are they real? It's an effective little movie with one major handicap, which is the lead actress gives a really weak performance. Great final scene, though.

Deliverance
Previously seen by me, unseen by Mary-Jane. What can you say? It's Deliverance. Third time I've seen it, hasn't lost a thing. Still brutal, still a classic. I don't imagine it helped Georgia's tourism industry much, though. Mary-Jane commented that she previously hadn't realized that there was a time when Burt Reynolds was hot.

Idiocracy
Two people volunteer for an army experiment in which they're put in hibernation and wake up 500 years in the future. In spite of being chosen for being average, they find themselves the two smartest people in the world in a dumbed-down future which is sort of half consumerist nightmare and half Jerry Springer. (Karl's Jr. ad: "Fuck you--I'm eating.") This is a great idea that is about halfway successful. It's very funny in places--the monster truck rally/rehabilitation scene is brilliant. But oddly, the movie seems hampered by being ruthlessly committed to its premise. That is, the main characters (and the audience) are so surrounded by wall to wall stupidity that the effect alternates between hilarity and despair. It's often really funny, and then it starts to just wear you down. Kind of fascinating, actually. I have no idea if this effect was accidental, or intentional.

Infernal Affairs
The Hong Kong flick that was remade as The Departed. Cop goes undercover in the mob while simultaneously a gangster infiltrates the police dept. Two moles, and neither knows the other's identity. Paranoia and suspense ratchet up from there. Excellent and highly recommended. Best Hong Kong movie I've seen since Hard Boiled.

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