By: Henry J. Fromage –
This week sees more random streaming movie and series picks- truly, a random assortment of random assortments.
446. Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead
Troma is a loud and proud Six Pack-generator, but this despicable zombie flick spoof that’s as dedicated to ham-brained skewering of political correctness as it is the the gleefully nasty gore may be its hardest watch. I can’t imagine anyone involved is truly proud of their work here outside of perhaps the makeup artists, but there’s something admirably awful about the endeavor. Six Pack.
447. Ibiza
I kept expecting things to take a darker turn in this story of three friends who use a work trip for one of them as an excuse for all three to vacation in sunny Spain. It turns out all of the wish-fulfillment, however dodgily pursued, is exactly that, but once you settle in for a mostly pleasant, guardedly raunchy comedy with an assortment of funny characters and low-stakes comic setpieces, you’ll be in for a pleasant rainy afternoon watch. Three Beers.
448. Old School
After mistakenly thinking Will Ferrell was in Ibiza (he just produced, and unfortunately doesn’t stop by for even a cameo), my wife and I decided to watch one of his breakout film hits (which I was surprised she’d never seen). Vince Vaughn may be as much of a highlight, and despite some sexual politics that don’t age too kindly, the comedy otherwise holds up pretty nicely. You’re my boy, Blue! Two Beers.
449. The Anthrax Attacks
This Netflix true crime doc series examines the investigation into the anthrax mail attacks that happened shortly after 9/11. At the time understandably chalked up to Islamic terrorism, it turned out to be terrorism of the domestic variety (the more common extremist threat over the years, people too quickly forget). Clark Gregg plays the disturbingly mundane man actually behind the attacks in reenactments to great effect. Three Beers.
450. Sins of Our Mother
Keeping in the Netflix true crime vein, this series delves into the disturbing case of xxxx and xxx, a couple who captured the attention of the nation for weeks over their refusal to reveal the whereabouts of her two children. Tragically, this turned out to be just what most everyone assumed it to be, but underlying it is a sordid story involving murder, conspiracy theories, and fringe religious sects. The experience of the family members left behind throughout this ordeal as these two pursue their new lives together with shockingly heartless evil is not ignored, however. Two Beers.
451. I Just Killed My Dad
One more of these for good measure (yes, Netflix serves as background podcasting at work when I have the kind of work that lends itself to a bit of background noise). This series examines the shooting of xxxx by his son xxxx, and unlike many of its related series, the mystery at the heart of it is not who did what, but why they did it, and whether the act itself is murder or self-defense, either in the moment or derived from a history of abuse. For my money, it can be both things, which makes it hard to really arrive at your own understanding of what justice would look like here. Three Beers.
452. Sweet & Sour
Another Netflix pick, this Korean romcom starts a little rocky (and indeed many reviewers don’t appear to have been able to get past it), but if you hang on through the initially hard to explain romance between an immature hospital patient and his nurse through the time jump, you will get your answers, as well as an intriguingly complex story of love in the long run that plays your own expectations against you in unique ways. Three Beers.
453. The Comey Rule
Yes, Netflix again, this time a fully fictional dramatization of real events that everyone would’ve been better off if they were a work of imagination. Here Jeff Daniels plays FBI Director James Comey, the man whose inflexible devotion to his own sense of what is right managed to run him afoul of all sides of the political establishment and help pave the way for a politician with no recognizance whatsoever of proprietary or impartial ideals. This plays like the tragedy it was here. Three Beers.
454. The Last Movie Stars
Ethan Hawke’s big pandemic project was this documentary series about the apex of Hollywood royalty for many years, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, their marriage and lives together and separate, and the careers on the big screen and off that made them legends. He enlists a crazy amount of acting friends to collaborate on narration and Zoom-delivered commentary in a way that would feel incongruous if everyone was so enthusiastic about the material. Three Beers.
455. Evil Genius
Okay, yes, Netflix true crime again. This series looks at another sordid crime, one you may remember as questionable inspiration for a Jessie Eisenberg-starring comedic thriller. A pizza deliveryman robs a bank, then is immediately encircled by the police, who he informs he was forced to do the crime by a group of people who fastened an explosive collar around his neck. In real life he wasn’t as lucky as Eisenberg’s character, which the series disturbingly doesn’t cut away from. It also doesn’t take long to find the likely suspects (genius criminals they were not), but their psychology and convoluted plan are a story in and of themselves. Three Beers.
456. Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area
You guessed it- Netflix again in this Korean remake of the Spanish smash hit (or so I understand it to be). I haven’t seen the original version, but I do wonder how they approximated the near future post-reunification political undertones of this one, which are the cleverest bit (yes, North Koreans are going to immediately become an economic underclass without a lot of good planning – and good intentions – beforehand). The actual bank heist stuff is more straightforward, if not unenjoyable. Annoyed it ended on a cliffhanger, though. Three Beers.
457. Minions: Rise of Gru
Yeah, these movies aren’t what you’d call highbrow anymore, but I was here for all those high school kids dressing up in tuxedos to go watch it, and in that goofy fuck it spirit there are laughs to be had at the more and more decipherable gibbering (it’s just high-pitched Italian, right?) of the minions and the 70s trappings and quality voice cast of the Gru stuff. Don’t hate it. Four Beers.
458. The Rehearsal
There’s something about Nathan Fielder that is utterly impenetrable- just when you think you have a handle on his schtick and the feelings he’s trying to provoke with it (and he himself fits into it), he yanks the tablecloth out and you feel no closer to his true motives than when you started. For some, this is excruciating, but for others it’s fascinating, and yes, even hilarious. I’m much closer to the latter camp, and The Rehearsal takes everything about this paradigm and pushes it even further than you’d expect. You’re going on some sort of journey with the man, and I’m going to see where that is. Two Beers.
459. The Princess
This HBO documentary about Princess Diana’s life makes the bold choice of presenting it entirely through primary sources, which doesn’t so much depict the facts of her remarkable existence but rather the public’s consumption of it and attitudes towards it, which underwent quite the rollercoaster over the years and became it’s own generator of drama all the way to the bitter end. Quite unlike other examinations of her life despite it coming entirely from preexisting materials. Three Beers.
