Netflix on Dreamwidth

Here are some movies I've watched recently via Netflix.

Fingersmith

What a disappointment! My friend and I were looking forward to this one after really enjoying Tipping the Velvet; both movies are based on Sarah Waters novels and are historical lesbian romances. But Fingersmith was about people that we hated, was too long, didn't have kinky sex like the other one did, and was dreary. It's hard to care about a movie when you dislike all the characters-- they were lying manipulative people, every one! Boo. Also no captions!

Despicable Me

What a joy! This is a computer-animated film about a super-villain, Gru, who is trying to steal the moon. He adopts three girls in order to use their cookie-selling abilities to get into the fortress of his arch-enemy, Vector. Gru is never very evil, and he finds out that he enjoys being a parent. This is a creative, detailed, funny film.

Little Voice

"A telephone repairman (Ewan McGregor) and a music promoter (Michael Caine) play second fiddle to Little Voice (Jane Horrocks), a young woman whose beautiful pipes could pack a thousand cabarets. Trouble is, she can only sing along to records in her room. This British charmer was a sleeper hit among the indie set thanks to its winning mix of romance, hope and humor."

I loved this film and highly recommend it! It has somewhat of a romance (or perhaps only a friendship) between shy people, which is a soft spot for me. The parts with the emotionally abusive mother might be hard to watch for some people. Streaming.

Wilby Wonderful with Callum Keith Rennie, Paul Gross, Sandra Oh, and Ellen Page

I didn't know this had queer content! I only knew it was a "Canadian actors/CD6" film. I loved this little movie about a small town called Wilby and the people who live there. Trigger warning for multiple suicide attempts, but it is not a sad movie. I liked that it is about flawed people who are trying, and about relationships. Streaming.

The Way Back with Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Jim Sturgess, Saoirse Ronan

I recommend this movie if, like me, you like tales of survival, epic journeys, nature, and landscapes. Several men decide to escape from a gulag at the beginning of WWII, travel South through Siberia and into Mongolia. Once there they decide to keep going into Tibet. It is the sort of journey where not everyone makes it and they have to eat bugs and things. I loved it. It has captions and is streaming.

Kick Ass with Nicholas Cage. Streaming.

This is about a teenager, Dave, who decided to try out being a superhero. Trouble is, he has no superpowers, just a costume and faith. He finds out that others like him exist, and that being a hero is really, really dangerous.

I like this film a lot but had some reservations. It's not a movie for people who don't like violence. I did find it well-written and engaging, and I like how it realistically treated the internet: the older gangsters didn't think of using the internet but the kids were all over social networking sites and youtube. There was a subplot involving Dave being rumored to be gay, which I thought to be the stupidest subplot ever. He reaps all the supposed benefits of this rumor (namely attention from girls) without any of the negative consequences! This film also emphasized how dangerous crime-fighting might be, which is not always apparent from other similar films. There is also a young girl crime fighter (Hit Girl), which some people criticized this film for having-- but people within the film also criticized her father (Nicholas Cage) for raising her that way. It was an interesting film.

x-posted to my own journal!