Netflix ex-queue

Since Netflix does such a good job keeping track of the DVDs we've watched over the past several months, I thought it might be interesting to review some of our recent selections:

All the President's Men
Gee whiz I love this movie. Total time warp (typewriters, payphones, pencils!).

Fanny and Alexander
We weren't sure what to expect with this one, and we both loved it to death. Weird.

Labyrinth
This was my wife's choice. The music had me cackling myself to sleep (I passed out about 20 minutes in), with shit like "too much rejection... no love injection".

An Angel at My Table
Another great one that I've seen at least four times (!). First time I saw it I was coming down from a heavy acid trip and I nearly lost my mind. Not "lost my mind" tripping-style but "lost my mind" depression/guilt-style. Then I went to bed and everything was fine again.

Tropic Thunder
Had some funny stuff but suffers from a super-low ratio of funny to not funny. When every line of a movie is a joke, they better be pretty damn funny (This is Spinal Tap, etc.).

Spirited Away
Creepy and entertaining. We decided it wasn't appropriate for Lee Jr. after about 3 minutes (I even wondered if it was appropriate for Lee Sr.) and watched it after he went to bed, I believe.

The Fast Runner
I'm sure I've written about this one before. I wish we lived in a country where this film was required viewing in order to be a citizen. That would be so cool!

Night Shift
Didn't hold up as well as I'd hoped, but still funny as hell. I'm working on a theory that Michael Keaton's character here was among (if not the) first of the goofy-pop-culture-product-big-mouth-everyman protagonists in film history, along with Eddie Murphy's Reggie Hammond (not quite the same but same effect). We've seen so many of these kinds of performances by now that the movie's irreparably dated and damaged (although 48 Hrs. avoids this via Murphy>Keaton, Nolte>Winkler, and other film corollaries I'd rather not get into here).

Sweetie
Another Campion work... I'm pretty sure we watched this one but I have absolutely no recollection of it whatsoever. Netflix info indicates lots of nudity, which I also don't recall. Not sure what happened here.

The Doors
Don't think we made it through this one. We banked on a laugh riot and got shut down by the cops... I hated it even more than the other times I saw it. Val's pretty darn good, but the whole thing's pointless. "Nico" is hilarious in a soft-porn portrayal by Christina Fulton (?), whose resume reveals other drivel like Red Shoe Diaries and Real Stories of the Donut Men.

The Wrestler
My favorite rental in recent memory. I'm working on a proposal to send to my buddies at Yankee Stadium... they MUST show Randy's ring speech before his rematch with The Ayatollah as a new Rocky/Hoosiers/Animal House 9th inning scoreboard rally video!!! No closer would ever register a save against us in the Bronx again. Ever.

The Dark Knight
Returned unwatched after three months and eight days. This is the kind of movie that cannot be enjoyed properly with a little one in the house, as high volume is a must. I knew I shoulda saw it on IMAX while I had the chance.

Rachel Getting Married
Jury's still out on this one, but it's looking like guilty by reason of pretension. I loved it at times, but the idea of an impossibly multicultural and totally unconventional wedding in the middle of nowhere with more dysfunctional relationships than... wait a second, I went to a wedding just like this! Actually, a few of them!