Each Friday we will be bringing you weekend-viewing movie picks available for streaming on Netflix! From the popular to the obscure, we will browse Netflix’s Streaming library so you don’t have to, and bring you what we consider to be “Must Watch” selections!

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (English Subtitles)

Directed by Tsui Hark

Starring Andy Lau, Li Bingbing, and Tony Leung Ka Fai

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame is a virtual who’s-who of the Wuxia, or “wire-fu”, world. Tsui Hark (Once Upon a Time in China series) directs Andy Lau (House of Flying Daggers), Li Bingbing (The Forbidden Kingdom), and Tony Leung Ka Fai (Dragon Inn) in fight scenes choreographed by Sammo Hung (one of the Seven Little Fortunes). This is about the highest pedigree a Wuxia movie can have. For those not familiar with the various martial film genres, Wuxia is almost always a period piece with a heavy focus on special effects.

Detective Dee is a highly fantastical interpretation of Chinese folk hero Di Renjie, a famously wise imperial chancellor in the 7th century Tang dynasty. In The Mystery of the Phantom Flame, magistrates around the imperial palace are spontaneously combusting just before the coronation of Empress Dowager Wu, China’s only female emperor. Detective Dee is sprung from prison and charged with unraveling the mystery.

If you’re looking for strictly realistic martial arts action, then get off your high horse or look somewhere else. This movie is filled with flying fight scenes, magic, and occasional slapstick. Andy Lau plays a Chinese Sherlock Holmes; inhumanly observant and socially unaware. The CGI is not cutting edge, but I never felt that it detracted from the movie. What this movie lacks in the CGI department, it makes up for in creativity. This movie has amazing costume designs, a Buddha to rival the Colossus of Rhodes, and even talking deer!

Have you ever wanted to see a man fight a herd of deer without being overly serious? Then watch Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame.

This week’s Friday ‘Flix Pick was submitted by Nick Burke. Be sure to check him out over at Paper Wasp!

Each Friday we will be bringing you weekend-viewing movie picks available for streaming on Netflix! From the popular to the obscure, we will browse Netflix’s Streaming library so you don’t have to, and bring you what we consider to be “Must Watch” selections!

Stephen Fry In America

Since Arse-Bot is busy you are stuck with me for the weeks pick which means we’re going weird with it. A lot of people aren’t familiar with Stephen Fry but I love the man. His casting as Mycroft Holmes to Robert Downey Jr’s Sherlock was easily my favorite part of the latest Sherlock Holmes movie. You may also remember him from V for Vendetta and catch watch him at the end of this year in The Hobbit.

Now this pick is a little different because it is actually a TV Mini Series/Documentary. Mr. Fry was almost born in America and he says he’s always and an interest with how different he would have been and for this series he explores all 50 states.

Stephen drives a cab in London and brings that over and drives it through the states, so not only is the incredibly witty, polite Brit sticking out for just purely being himself, he’s also driving a London cab through places that have never seen one. From the Northeast out to the Pacific, everywhere gets a little bit of coverage. I like to see insights from people out of place about what they find interesting about certain areas and to watch someone like Stephen go crabbing in Maine or drink whiskey in Kentucky is almost mesmerizing.

Now if you aren’t a Fry fan or a history and culture fan this may sound boring to you. There is just something about Stephen that makes this all so interesting, when he’s on a reservation near Monument Valley or driving in a brutal rain storm in the South he’s so out of place that I can’t help but be drawn to him. Easily my favorite part of the series is a short clip of him boating in Lake Powell. Usually that isn’t so out of the ordinary but if you’ve ever been to Lake Powell you know that million dollar house boats are the norm and Stephen hangs out in is very small swimsuit in the hot tub atop the boat as it slowly cruises the lake.

The show is six episodes, one for each week he spent here and if you have any interest in him or America I highly recommend you give it a try.

Each Friday we will be bringing you weekend-viewing movie picks available for streaming on Netflix! From the popular to the obscure, we will browse Netflix’s Streaming library so you don’t have to, and bring you what we consider to be “Must Watch” selections!

Arsenic and Old Lace

Directed by Frank Capra

Starring Song Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Joesphine Hull, Jean Adair, Raymond Massey

This Friday’s “‘Flix Pick” is a film I fell in love with about eight years ago as a senior in high school. I can’t exactly remember why, but our AP English teacher, Mr. Tucker (my favorite teacher from my formative high school years), made us watch Arsenic and Old Lace. Not being terribly familiar with films from the 1940’s, nor that thrilled to be watching some “old, crappy black and white movie”, I wasn’t exactly thrilled. However, a mere ten-minutes into the film I was hooked, and ever since that day this film has always been one of my all-time favorite movies.

Cary Grant plays Mortimer Brewster, a former womanizer and denouncer of the institution of marriage. Brewster reconnects, falls in love with, and marries a woman whom he grew up with in Brooklyn, Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane). After their Halloween wedding, Brewster decides it’s time to take Elaine home to meet the family, his very eccentric family. Still living in his old family home are his two elderly aunts, Martha and Abby, and his brother, “Teddy”, who is under the delusion that he is Theodore Roosevelt. Shortly after the newlyweds’ arrival, Brewster is appalled to find a dead body hidden in a window seat. He confronts his aunts about it, concerned that his brother may have committed the murder while under the influence of his delusions, but his aunts explain to him very nonchalantly that they have developed a “very bad habit” of killing off lonely bachelors with elderberry wine spiked with arsenic and having “Teddy” bury them in the basement under the illusion that he is digging locks for the Panama Canal.

Already concerned about his aunts’ behavior, Brewster’s situation becomes more complicated when his murderous brother, Jonathan, on the run from the police with his accomplice, a plastic surgeon named Dr. Herman Einstein, show up looking to dispose of their latest victim. Seemingly the only sane member of his family, Mortimer Brewster is tasked with avoiding being murdered by his own criminal brother, caring for his other delusional brother, and trying to protect his well-meaning aunts from the consequences of the “charity” they have been providing to the single men in town – all while dealing with nosy, bumbling police officers and the concern that he too will eventually succumb the crazy that seems to run in the family.

Arsenic and Old Lace may sound like quite the dark tale, but this is an incredibly funny film from Capra based on the play of the same name. Josephine Hull and Jean Adair play the parts of elderly crazy women with good intentions so well, they steal nearly every scene they are in and you can’t help but love how intent they are in that what they are doing is a good deed to the lonely men in town. John Alexander provides a lot of laughs as he insists in only taking the stairs in one manner: with a bellowing “Charge!” and a mad-dash up them with sword in hand. Cary Grant is charming as the only sane member of the Brewster family and has many funny moments in his own right as he frantically attempts to corral all the murder and mayhem happening around him. Priscilla Lane looks absolutely gorgeous in this film in a way that only an actress from the 1940’s can. While not given a lot “to do” in this film, she plays a great anchor to Grant as Elaine; she’s sweet, but she’s also a woman who has changed Mortimer’s entire outlook on love, and in over her head with his crazy family.

I couldn’t recommend a better weekend date night movie than Arsenic and Old Lace. It’s a funny and sweet film from a Hollywood long-since gone, perfect for a night of take-out and movie-watching. The best part is that it’s streaming on Netflix Instant, so add this classic to your instant queue, you won’t regret it!

Thanks to a resurgence in classic cinema on the big screen, I think I see more old movies at the movie theatre than I do new movies. Just last week I caught Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid, accompanied by the organist Blaine Gail. Before that, I caught City Lights, The General, and Modern Times. I’ve seen Casablanca, Shane, and The Searchers this year.

I’m going to be catching Rear Window this weekend at The Tower Theatre in Salt Lake. I caught Vertigo and North by Northwest late last year.

But the small art houses aren’t the only ones doing the screenings anymore. Cinemark has announced a schedule of classic films today that makes me both excited and sad.

I’m excited because this could be my one and only chance to see some of the best movies ever made on the big screen. I’m sad because Cinemark hasn’t seen fit to schedule these into their regular schedule, only special times Wednesday afternoons and evenings… It’s a mild bummer, but for those of you who can take off work in the middle of the day or don’t have Pub Quiz every Wednesday night, this series is for you.

Here’s their schedule and press release:

Plano, TX, May 31, 2012 Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNK), the world’s highest attended motion picture exhibitor, is pleased to announce that the “Summer Classics Series,” featuring eight legendary Hollywood movies, will take place in over 100 Cinemark theatres across the country. All of these digitally restored movies, from the Warner Bros. film catalogue, will be scheduled to play each Wednesday, during the months of June and July, at two separate show times, 2 pm and 7pm.

“Cinemark’s Classic Film Series presents a great opportunity for movie-lovers to revisit some of the greatest Hollywood films of all time,” states James Meredith, VP of Marketing & Communications for Cinemark. “Our customers can experience all of these celebrated movies as they were meant to be seen, on the big screen, with crystal clear digital projection and incredible surround sound.”

Cinemark has worked with Warner Bros. to select eight titles that were visionary films at their time of release, and still stand as true “classics” in every sense of the word. The list of films and dates of their presentation are:

June 6 The Exorcist (1973) Rated R
June 13 Citizen Kane (1941) Rated PG
June 20 Cool Hand Luke (1967) Rated PG
June 27 The Searchers (1956) Rated PG
July 4 That’s Entertainment (1974) Rated G
July 11 A Clockwork Orange (1971) Rated R
July 18 North By Northwest (1959) Not Rated
July 25 Cabaret (1972) Rated PG

Cinemark takes pride in creating the best entertainment experience in the industry. In order to make movie-going as easy and enjoyable as possible, Cinemark focuses on offering more choices to their customers. For example, “Print at Home” ticketing, available at www.cinemark.com, makes it easy for patrons to purchase tickets in advance from the comfort of their home or office. Customers can bypass lines at the box office and go directly to a kiosk in the theatre lobby. Also, guests can download and purchase tickets through Cinemark’s mobile applications that are available for iPhone and Android phones. Finally, to stay connected, customers can sign up online to receive free, weekly showtime e-mailers that contain online coupons for discounts at the concession stand and other weekly special offers.

A full list of participating Cinemark locations, advance ticket purchases and show time information can be found at www.cinemark.com.

The most important two on this list for me is Citizen Kane and Cool Hand Luke. Two of my favorite films and I’ve seen neither on the big screen. We’ll see if I can take the day off work for them or if Cinemark will give us daily showings of the films.

Each Friday we will be bringing you weekend-viewing movie picks available for streaming on Netflix! From the popular to the obscure, we will browse Netflix’s Streaming library so you don’t have to, and bring you what we consider to be “Must Watch” selections!

The Good, The Bad, The Weird (English Subtitles)

Directed by Kim Ji-woon

Starring Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun, and Jung Woo-sung

For this inagural “Friday ‘Flix Picks” I want to highlight a film that I have actually wanted to review for a very long time, The Good, The Bad, The Weird. This gem premiered at the Cannes Film Festival back in 2008, but didn’t hit limited release in the US until April 2010. I stumbled upon a trailer for this film around that time and it stayed on my radar until it hit Netflix Instant – at which point I immediately set aside some time to watch it.

Inspired by Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, this film harkins back to Spaghetti Westerns in all the right ways while incorporating an Asian flare into the story. The Good, The Bad, The Weird begins with a fantastic train heist in which a hitman (The Bad) has been hired to hijack a train to steal a treasure map from a Japanese diplomat. However, a thief (The Weird) on board the train steals the map first, and amidst the train’s derailment, is able to escape with it once  A bounty hunter (The Good) shows up to collect the bounty on The Bad. From this point on, the chase is on for The Weird and the treasure map with The Good, The Bad, a group of bandits, and the Japanese Imperial Army all in pursuit of the riches this map could lead to.

From this point on we are treated to shootouts between the various players, insights into the backgrounds of The Good, The Bad, and The Weird, and an overall exciting time as these various groups all chase down a treasure map said to lead to unimaginable fortune. The film culminates in a fantastic climax as all the forces after the map bear down on The Weird simultaneously, all fighting each other as they chase him across the desert with The Good and The Bad in pursuit as well, navigating the war being waged all around them. I don’t want to give away the ending obviously, but I will say that I quite enjoyed it – even if it does become predictable in the final moments and revelations.

Director Kim Ji-woon really knows his way around a western film, and I would dare say the The Good, The Bad, The Weird stands its ground to the great westerns from decades passed. The action and chase sequences are exciting, and the characters are well fleshed-out with rich histories providing reasons for their actions throughout the film. If you are a fan of the western genre, then add The Good, The Bad, The Weird to your Netflix Instant Queue, it will make for a perfect viewing this weekend!

Yesterday you may have noticed that a new row showed up in your Netflix recommendations list – “Holiday Favorites.” I was looking for something to watch last night before bed and happened to spot the row amongst the rest of my usual recommendations. At first, I figured it would be the usual holiday themed movies and perhaps a musical or two – but this list actually is pretty neat!

The list incorporates the usual holiday classics – movies and musicals like the classic 1947 Miracle on 34th Street, for example – but it has also included holiday episodes from many popular television series! This neat little addition to Netflix is sure to have many watching their favorite holiday episodes from series like 3rd Rock From the Sun, Scrubs, Arrested Development, Fraggle Rock, That 70’s Show, Family Guy, Frasier, and tons more! I’m not sure if the list re-configures given what things you have already rated on Netflix, but even if it doesn’t, it’s still very cool!

One of my personal favorites from the T.V. lineup is the Christmas episode from Season 4 of That 70’s Show.

I recommend going and giving the list a look – I think you’ll be surprised what holiday episodes you may have forgotten over the years!

I woke up this morning with an email from Netflix in my inbox:

Netflix Just for Kids is here – a fun world of kid-friendly TV shows & movies available now on your Nintendo Wii or at netflix.com/kids.

Just for Kids is just like it sounds… A special section designed so kids can easily find great stuff to watch. They’ll discover a world of TV shows & movies – all suitable for children 12 and under.

Wow, cool. So, I fire up my Wii and it asks me to update my Netflix app. Yes please!! (mind you, I’m doing this in the presence of my 6-year old, who currently dominates my instant queue and knows how to use Netflix on the computer, on my phone, on our Roku box, and the Wii– and she is getting impatient!) I get it fired up, and ask her what the new section in the left corner says.

“Just. . . For. . . Kids!!!” she reads excitedly! I hand her the Wii-mote and let her go to town. She scrolls through all of the cartoon pictures at the top of the screen and gets more and more excited at each one.  She almost loses it when she sees that The Fresh Beat Band has been added to Netflix and finds an episode she’s never seen before and starts watching it.

So, kid friendly? Easy to use? Absolutely.  But, then again, she’s mastered both the web and the Roku versions of Netflix, so this isn’t surprising. But I’m betting this is simple enough we can teach her 3 year old brother to use it as well.

This service isn’t entirely new. Netflix has had a Just for Kids section available online for a while now, so this was just inevitable it should come to the console world.

Now, there are some drawbacks. So far, this is only for Wii. So you can only watch 129 hours of VeggieTales in glorious 480 resolution. But, considering how many of these cartoons made in the 80s and 90s do not translate well into HD anyway when they run through the HDMI output on my Roku Box, we’re not missing much. Plus, I hardly know any 10 year olds who are snobs about only watching things in 1080p.

Still, smart move by Netflix to start with Wii customers. That way, they can work out any bugs with a smaller test group, and they can be sure that it works. Also, Wii is more popular with little kids, parents, and grandparents, so what a perfect place to test it (rather than a bunch of caffeinated and cynical teens to 30-somethings probably too busy playing MW3 on their PS3s and XB360s to check out Phineas and Ferb or The Backyardigans).

The other cool thing is that with each show in the kids section, each episode not only has a short text description, but also a screen capture of the episode. Very helpful for children who may have varying levels of literacy. Makes me jealous, actually. I wish flipping through Star Trek episodes was this nice-looking.

The kids section also has its own sub-genres, which is great. My favorites so far? “Superheroes” and “From Books”.

But, because we are geeks, we can’t help but bitch about the things we love. I have a few complaints:
1- The interface is not as crisp-looking as the ones on my Roku or on the web. Again, this may be the difference between  480 and 1080 definition, but the real problem is that the “Just For Kids” marquee only shows up when you hover over the top left of the screen, then have to click on a relatively small arrow to get there. I hope my kids can do it.

2- This is a great feature, but aren’t there dozens of other things we want that would also work? Just read the Netflix Blog announcing this, and the top comments are asking for multiple profiles as an option to segregate kids’ viewing from their parents’, the ability to default to go to the kids menu, or people who want it on their HD next-gen consoles. We can only hope these things are also coming.

So, great job, Netflix. Between this, the Arrested Development news last week, and the other deals you keep making to bring us new content, you’re doing well. Keep doing this, and your Fall and Winter are going to make up for your nearly disastrous summer. Oh, and get me the Roku version ASAP, ok?

Around Christmas time last year I saw the John Travolta version of the Taking Of Pelham 123. Let’s just say it wasn’t very good, but then I heard it was based on a Walter Matthau movie of the same name from 1974. So when I found it on Netflix Instant I decided to give it a try. I keep a running tally of every movie that I first watched in 2011 and so far this is my ninth favorite movie of the year. Why does this version work better then a remake?

The movie if you are unaware is about a group of thieves who hijack a subway car and hold the people hostage as they demand money for their safe return. This movie is perfect for 1974 as the technology makes hijacking a subway car something exciting and doable. The 2009 version is set in 2009 and with the advances of modern technology it just isn’t believable.

But there is more then just the believability. Walter Matthau plays the station manager and he speaks with the main hijacker who plays the role very cold, distant and cunning. In the 09 version Denzel Washington plays the part Matthau plays with some believability but Travolta plays the hijacker and he plays it a lot goofier, more crazy and zany a villain, not one you would believe could pull off a heist like this. It’s like in the 74 version they looked at real life criminals and Travolta took his source from Dick Dastardly.

The 74 version of this movie is fantastic, an absolute treat and one in which I was glued to my seat. If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend it as it’s just as good today as it was in 74. I rated it 5 out of 5 on Netflix.

The last time I recommended a Netflix movie, it quickly became unavailable for streaming. This week’s pick should stay significantly longer, if not indefinitely (I really shouldn’t say that). Anyway, this week’s pick is my personal favorite entry in the venerable Mystery Science Theater 3000 series. The incredibly ambitious (and also incredibly funny) Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie!

MST3K can definitely be an acquired taste, but I find the theatrical movie to be the most accessible to newbies by far. Not only is the movie itself rightly considered a classic (This Island Earth, in case you were wondering), but Mike and the Bots absolutely knock it out of the park at every turn with the quips, cracks, and just outright fun you have watching along with them.

The movie has everything (except the theme song), it succinctly explains the premise of the MST concept in the first five minutes, flows really nicely, and has riffs that are don’t require a PhD in film making to get.

"Should we be seeing this?"

This Island Earth is essentially the story of scientist/jet jockey/entry level d-bag Cal Meachum. A mysterious group sends him parts to an incredibly complex machine called an Interociter. After the succsessful completion of said device, he is contacted by said group and recruited to do cool 50’s/60’s sci-fi type stuff with “ATOMIC ENERGY!” As you might expect, Cal discovers the strange secret behind his benefactors (hint: their giant foreheads are a dead giveaway), and takes the fight, such as it is, to them. The final act takes place on the planet Metaluna and features my favorite Universal Monster, the Metaluna Mutant. Will Cal and his compatriots ever get back to Earth, or will they painfully in a fire (special appearance by Russell Johnson aka Gilligan’s Island’s “The Professor”)? You’ll have to watch the movie and find out for yourself!

"The Secret Government Eggo Project!"

If you’re a fan of sci-fi, comedy, or both you would do well to give this film a watch. and be sure to stay until the end! There’s no after the credits scene, but the credits themselves are a treat to watch. I’ll leave you with some of my favorite out of context quotes. After you see the movie, let’s compare favorite lines!

• You’re being killed by the LightFM!
• What’s with this “And the Rest” crap?
• Normal View!!!!!
• Yeah, let’s slip away under cover of afternoon in the biggest car in the county!
• And if your hands were magnetized, that would mean something.
• Oh, no, Tinkerbell’s going down! Pull up! Tink, oh god no!
• Puppet Wranglers? There weren’t any puppets in this movie!

Netflix announced their quarterly earnings, and more importantly, that they lost another 810,000 subscribers during the last three months, which caused their stocks to drop over 30% in after hours trading.   Ouch.

The GOOD news, however, is that Netflix announced expansion into the UK and Ireland. And as much as we love to give crap to our friendly neighborhood red envelope delivery service (no, I really don’t think it’s a sinking ship, but a little hyperbole is always fun), Netflix is still a strong company. It’s still something I will continue to subscribe to, and as I sit here and type this I am watching streaming movies from my instant queue.

But dear Netflix, I have a billion dollar idea for you.  Instead of trying to reinvent your business or become Qwikster or something, just try to enhance what you already do well for us.  I would pay you an extra $2 a month if you would allow me to set up different “profiles” in my instant queue. Seriously.  So one could be for my kids and have parental controls and be full of Hello Kitty and Phineas and Ferb while I fill up my personal queue with the best in Halloween horror flicks and Star Trek.

Second, give us more. We need some more marquee announcements.  It was HUGE when you announced you had acquired the rights to CBS’s back catalogue: Star Trek, Cheers, Wings, etc.  Then we got AMC– Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and now Walking Dead.  Yes, I realize I’m beng an entertainment glutton, but I think the real shot in the arm you need is that big marquee announcement.

If I had money in the stock market, I’d buy Netflix tomorrow morning, as I think it’s now a bargain– and the future is in their streaming product. And I’ve said it before– October is THE best month to try Netflix because of all the horror and genre films. November and December are also great– especially given the amount of time many of us have off from school or work to be able to enjoy the streaming library. The bottom line is, let’s help Netflix out– that free month coupon you’ve been saving?  Now’s the time to use it. Get copies of Captain America and Attack the Block sent to you in the mail, and watch some Deep Space Nine on streaming.

Make sure you come back every week for a Netflix pick of the week which we provide you every Friday.