We Got Netflix Covered: The Coens, Hiroshima, And Chatroulette…

Welcome back to our recurring recommendation article, We Got Netflix Covered, a place where numerous writers will be discussing their specific genre-based favorites that you can stream on Netflix Watch Instantly this very second. To prove that we certainly do have this covered, we’ve developed a list of genres that we’ll be providing recommendations for every week – 11 total genres – and the writers responsible for each section have been established. While these might change week to week, here’s today’s roster: Independent: Sarah Myles Classics: Lauren Humphries-Brooks Television: Eric Hall Action & Adventure: James Garcia (no entry this week) Foreign: Paulo Lazo Documentaries: Adam Donaldson Dramas: Isaac Feldberg (no entry this week) Horror: Matt Donato Family/Children’s Movies: Christian Law (no entry this week) Comedies: Gem Seddon Sci-Fi: Al Lowe (no entry this week) Look at those names – a real “almost” Dirty Dozen if I do say so myself. Enough chatting though, let’s see which Netflix movies you should be streaming this week! Independent Pick: O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) Few films provide a viewing experience as rich and rewarding as 2000’s O Brother, Where Art Thou – written, produced and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Very loosely based on Homer’s Odyssey, the film presents a modernized, satirical take on the themes of that book, while referencing 1941’s Sullivan’s Travels – a film that sees a film director attempt to film a fictional book called O Brother Where Art Thou, about the Great Depression. It all sounds terribly high-brow and confusing, but that is not what this film is. This film is a rollicking rollercoaster ride through the Mississippi of 1937, with an award-winning soundtrack, gorgeous visuals, one of the best screenplays ever written, and a raft of brilliant performances led by a hilarious turn from George Clooney. In short, O Brother, Where Art Thou is another wonderful showcase for everything that the Coen Brothers do perfectly. Ulysses Everett McGill (Clooney), Pete Hogwallop (John Turturro) and Delmar O’Donnell (Tim Blake Nelson) escape from a chain gang with the intention of collecting $1.2 million worth of treasure that McGill claims to have stolen before his imprisonment. The reason for the apparent urgency is its location – at the bottom of a valley that is due to be flooded 4 days later, to pave the way for hydroelectricity. Attempting to climb aboard a moving train to speed their escape, the three men fall back to the tracks, and instead, hitch a ride with a blind man travelling the railroad on a handcar. He predicts their futures, declaring they will find a fortune, but not the one they seek. So begins their journey – and what a journey it is. They encounter law enforcement, religion, political corruption, sirens (the female kind), the Ku Klux Klan, a one-eyed Bible-selling mugger, the Devil, and a record contract. It is funny, thrilling and moving, with a final pay-off that will leave the most cynical of viewers with a warm, effusive glow. With stellar supporting turns from John Goodman, Holly Hunter, Charles Durning, Chris Thomas King and Stephen Root, this is life-affirming cinema at its very best, and comes highly recommended. Classic Pick: Move Over, Darling (1963) Following James Garner’s passing last week, I felt it appropriate to try and recommend one of his films for your viewing pleasure. Unfortunately, Watch Instantly is sparse on some of his best performances, but it does have one of the lighter, merrier comedies he appeared in alongside Doris Day. This one is a remake of My Favorite Wife, a screwball comedy that starred Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. Move Over, Darling has Garner in the role of Nick Arden, a widower whose wife Ellen (Doris Day) vanished in a plane crash. He has two small children now growing up without memory of their mother, and so five years after Ellen vanishes he decides that it’s time to move on and marries Bianca (Polly Bergen). He’s barely started off on his honeymoon, however, when Ellen turns up, very much alive: she’s been stranded on an island for the past five years. What ensues is a bedroom comedy, as Nick has to grapple with the fact that he now has two wives (one of them legally dead). When Ellen’s island companion turns up, things get even more complicated, as jealousy rears its ugly head. If Move Over, Darling sounds ridiculous, that’s because it is. A screwball comedy develops out of a rather soap opera-esque plot, as Ellen and Nick come to terms with the rather bizarre situation they find themselves in, their love for each other undiminished in the intervening years but now rather strained. It’s a light and frothy comedy with charming performances as enjoyable and ephemeral as a piece of candy. Garner is the highlight, though, his affable nature and gentle good looks elevating his character much as Grant had done. There’s perhaps no better way to celebrate this actor’s delightful career than enjoying him at his most charismatic. Television Pick: The Rockford Files (1974) Since we missed last week due to general craziness, I missed the chance to touch upon the recent death of James Garner. A celebrated actor who appeared in films such as The Great Escape and Murphy’s Romance, Garner is best known for his work on the television series’ Maverick and The Rockford Files, which is fully streamable on Netflix. A private investigator, James “Jim” Rockford is not your typical television detective, as the P.I. has spent time in prison, albeit for a crime he didn’t commit. After being released from jail, Rockford takes up shack in a Mobile Home in Malibu, California. A case cracking genius, Rockford is willing to take on cold cases, missing persons investigations, and generally anything that wouldn’t be considered an “open case” by the police. Much like his character on Maverick, Garner’s Jim Rockford was not your prototypical television protagonist. He was a cranky and wise-cracking detective, who could show his annoyance with the state of the law and his own dilapidated life with a glance of the eyes. Nowadays, this formula has been regurgitated over and over again with lesser returns, but Garner was one of the first to perfect this type of flawed hero. Despite being the star, Garner is not the only reason to watch The Rockford Files, as a steady stream of excellent guest stars and a wonderful performance from Noah Beery, Jr. are also worth the watch. Stars such as Isaac Hayes, Tom Selleck, and Rita Moreno appear during the show’s run as memorable characters connected to Rockford through his previous and current life. Beery, Jr., who plays Jim’s father, Joseph “Rocky” Rockford, has excellent rapport with Garner. A weary former truck driver, Joseph wants his son to have a more stable career and this relationship is an integral part of the show. The Rockford Files helped lay the groundwork for the modern, wisecracking television detective that has become so prevalent. While I may not enjoy it as much as Maverick, the show is still an excellent showcase for the talent of James Garner. Foreign Pick: Neighboring Sounds (2012) Much like City of God did a decade ago, I feel as if Neighboring Sounds has changed the game for Brazilian cinema. After a couple of break-ins around the block, a neighborhood Recife collectively decides to hire a private security firm. The plot itself is barely existent. The story jumps from one character to another without giving us much time to care about any of them, which I suspect is done on purpose. We see the security guards interacting with each other, sharing their past traumas, aiding the neighbors, and yet we get a feeling something’s wrong about them. Their presence slowly creates an anxiety-ridden atmosphere in an uneasy district. I review films from time to time, and even though I prefer to believe that I’ve got the capacity to appreciate good cinema, I mostly give perfect scores to movies that bring something new to the table. With Neighboring Sounds, however, I didn’t. Not at first, at least. It pains me to admit that my brain couldn’t process it. Some find Harmony Korine movies hard to follow, while others get lost halfway through a Lynch film. It took me two back-to-back viewings to somewhat comprehend the message of Kleber Mendonça Filho’s movie. The director’s style is certainly unusual, yet fresh and different. Long shots are followed by a variety of short ones. Loud noises come out of nowhere. Secretive neighbors, barking dogs, and other relatively harmless aspects of quiet communities inexplicably give the overwhelming sense that death lurks just around the corner. There’s a particular zoom in with a buzzing noise that is notably terrifying. Even though it possesses comedic and dramatic elements, Neighboring Sounds could be best described as a horror movie waiting to take place in broad daylight. Nevertheless, if you’re in the mood for something safer, try City of God instead. Documentary Pick: Hiroshima: BBC History of World War II (2005) In a little less than two weeks, we’ll mark the 69th anniversary of a historic landmark in science, warfare, and the human drive for self-destruction: the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. On the early morning of August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay under the command of Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. dropped the bomb nicknamed “Little Boy” on the industrial and militarily significant city of Hiroshima, exploding with the power 16 kilotons of dynamite, evaporating everything within the mile of the explosion, and setting fire to anything within four miles. Almost overnight, a drawn out siege of the Japanese home islands seemed unlikely, and Japan bent to the power unleashed by the world’s first weapons of mass destruction. Of course, there’s more to the story than that. Commissioned in time for then 60th anniversary of the bomb, Hiroshima: BBC History of World War II painstakingly realizes the weeks, days and hours leading up the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and follows the aftermath for the American flight crew that dropped it and the people on the ground who suffered though it. Using reenactments, computer effects, archival footage, interviews with witnesses, and the occasionally grim yet still dulcet tones of actor John Hurt narrating, the bombing of Hiroshima is recounted in stunning detail, delicately handling the political decisions, war maneuvers and human cost of the atom bomb. The engaging thing about the documentary Hiroshima is that it shows us in this instance, like in a lot of historical events, the devil’s in the details; there were a million things that could have gone wrong with the mission, or were accidents that ended up going right. The personal stories bring into relief the full impact of the event from both the Japanese and American perspectives, from Dr. Shuntaro Hida, who survived the bomb because he was making a house call outside town when the bomb fell, to Col. Tibbets, who paradoxically bore no regret for commanding the mission that killed so many, so horribly. With the skill of a major Hollywood film, but with the poignancy and gravitas of personal stories that collectively form this history, the story of Hiroshima has never been more vividly told. It’s not a message film, at least not explicitly, but if there is a message of import, it’s a simple one: never forget. Horror Pick: The Den (2014) IFC Midnight was running a flaming hot streak until I reviewed their atrocious dud Alien Abduction, but during that winning period I stumbled upon a sleek little techno-thriller titled The Den - the only movie that could realistically make ChatRoulette an even more horrifying place. Horror movies have been attempting to cash-in on internet based scares for a little while now, like the dismissible Smiley, but The Den is one of the first movies to do so rather successfully. The plot is simple and unnerving, toying with themes of both voyeurism and psychological torment, but most importantly, filmmaker Zachary Donohue addresses the anonymous nature of the internet while channeling every bit of uncertain horror. The internet is a terrifying place where hackers can destroy your entire life, but Donohue injects a slasher mentality that properly capitalizes on every technological paranoia in the book - with a human element. Credit Melanie Papalia with a commanding lead performance as Elizabeth, a doomed student studying the sociological state of users on a ChatRoulette-like video chatting program called The Den. Online, she thinks she witnesses a murder, and then starts to see signs of being stalked by the killer in the video. People don't believe her, there's some trickery, but there's also a refreshing sensation of watching found footage cinema that's not reliant on jump scares and whatnot. Donohue shoots the entire film from the view of a laptop/video chatting surface, much like Open Windows does as well, but there's a creepy grittiness to it all that perfectly suits this techy cat and mouse game. If you thought men pleasuring themselves on camera was the only thing you had to worry about on ChatRoulette, think again. Comedy Pick: 21 & Over The boom of the gross-out frat pack set may have taken a sabbatical, but that’s not to say there’s no mileage left on the old gal. While messrs Ferrell, Stiller, Vaughn, Wilson, Segel and Rudd have taken time out from courting each other via smutty bromance, the gauntlet has been passed to a younger generation. 21 & Over eagerly grabs the frat comedy baton and runs with it. Emulating the “all in one night” premise of cinema gone by, this time the outlandish shenanigans of a trio of college kids direct the drunken goings on. To be truthful, dear readers, I too was skeptical. And then, low and behold, it turned out to actually be quite funny. The story goes like this. Two lifelong buddies Casey (Skylar Astin) and Miller (Miles Teller) are determined to take their buddy Jeff Chang (Justin Chon) out for his 21st birthday - the night of which happens to fall hours before a big medical school interview. Embracing the rite-of-passage to its fullest extent, Jeff proceeds to get thoroughly hammered. His clothes come flying off and he loses control of his major bodily functions. It's chaos at its most fun. Anyone who’s ever tried to coerce an address from a drunken friend before flinging them into a taxi and off into the night will appreciate the cute twist in the tale. Casey and Miller have to locate their unconscious friend’s address, as Jeff provides absolutely not help. Cue an Adventures In Babysitting-style series of pratfalls. From the writers of The Hangover, it’d be easy to assume they found their niche and simply shifted it to a younger demographic. Darting from bars, frat houses, to sorority initiations, the trio are elevated above the cliches they could have been by excitable performances. Miles Teller’s loud-mouthed, fast-talkin’ scamp just about wins you over, despite his incessant shouting. Skylar Astin is the heart of the story, the loveable geek who’s still got a bit of gritty verve (he’s good at beer pong, doncha know), and Justin Chon will make you truly believe he was inebriated for the entirety of the shoot. It’s not rocket science to anticipate the outcome of their wacky setup. It’s just a hell of a lot of fun to watch.