Netflix Instant: TV and Movie Picks

We have officially entered one of favorite months for most movie nerds. But if Halloween isn't your cup of tea, I have some light-hearted picks for you this week that you can curl up on the couch and watch.  Enjoy!

Netflix Instant: TV and Movie Picks

We've hit that slump in August. I'm sure by now you've seen GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY at least once, and if you're like me, the only movie even worth see in this week is STEP UP: ALL IN. But if you're not like me and the new NINJA TURTLES film doesn't strike your fancy, here are some titles for you to get through the weekend. Enjoy!

THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE

This is a documentary I've been wanting to check out for a while. I remember when the woman was attacked in Central Park, and the park became a dangerous place to be. This film gives an in depth look and analysis to that situation and the aftermath that followed.

THE HISTORY OF FUTURE FOLK

Both Javi and I have raved about this movie in the past. It's a strange premise: aliens come down to Earth to save their own planet. However, the minute they hear folk music, they quickly abandon their mission and create a band. Obviously.  It's quirky, fun, heartfelt, and you will not be disappointed in this film. 

DANCE ACADEMY

This series stems from Australia and is a teen drama about a young girl in a prestigious dance academy. There is some cheesiness with the dialogue, but the dance sequences are great and the characters are very likable. It's a fun little series to delve into on an idle weekend. 

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Netflix Instant TV and Movie Picks

Halloween has come and gone, and we hope that your Halloween night was filled with ghostly goodness, creative costumes, and plenty of candy. So, if you can pull yourself out of your sugar coma this weekend, here are some random, yet awesome, picks for you to enjoy as you recover from All Hallows' Eve.

V/H/S 2

My cohort and I were split on our review of the first V/H/S. But now, the creators are back with a second anthology and have fixed many of the problems that kept the first one from being great. As always, the found footage aspect is back again, much to my glee, and there is one particular segment that could easily be made into a full-length horror film. 

AZIZ ANSARI: BURIED ALIVE

We are huge fans of Aziz here. His stand-ups are quite hilarious and very quotable. This is his most recent show, and when we saw this live in Dallas, we were shocked at how "adult" his set ended up being. At first, it was a little jarring because he didn't bring up his normal anecdotes about R. Kelly or his cousin Harrison, but the show was still hilarious. It was nice to see a comic try (and succeed) at bringing a comedic perspective at serious topics, like marriage and having kids.

DON'T TRUST THE B IN APARTMENT 23

This poor series was never given it's full due. A typical fish-out-of-water girl ends up rooming with a tough-exterior yet kind hearted New Yorker in a modern take of an Odd Couple. It sounds predictable, but the show managed to create fun characters with solid comedic stories. Also, James Van Der Beek plays a version of "himself", and he's worth watching this series.

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Netflix Instant: TV and Movie Picks - Drinking Edition!

It may still be hot and muggy outside, and nothing helps with that more than beer...delicious, delicious beer. We are big fans of said tasty beverage and regularly seek out rare and delicious beers in bars around town. To celebrate this amazing creation and to go along with THE WORLD'S END hitting theatres today, I have brought you an assortment of drinking movies. 

Cheers!

WITHNAIL AND I 

This black comedy follows two unemployed actors as they wait for their careers to take off. Of course it's easy to start drinking when you're faced with rejection over and over again. There's a drinking game that's not for the faint of liver that goes along with this film. It consists of keeping up drink for drink with each alcoholic substance Withnail drinks. I don't recommend that game unless you want to end up in the hospital.

KEN BURNS: PROHIBITION

There was a time when they took alcoholic drinks away from everyone!? Inconceivable. This highly acclaimed PBS series documents the passing of the 18th Amendment all the way to its appeal. And thank goodness for that. 

BEER
My cohort introduced this little gem of a film to me, and he's that much cooler for it. It's a funny satire film about the advertising industry. It stars David Allen Grier, Rip Torn, and Hot Lips herself, Loretta Swit. It's so fantastic we are able to stream this film. You won't regret it.

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Netflix Instant: TV and Movie Picks

We're about half way through the year and in the dead of summer. It's slowly climbing to 100 degrees everyday here in Dallas, so sometimes it's a very easy decision just to stay in, chill on the couch, and watch a movie. If you're like me and sometimes 100 degrees doesn't sound appealing, here are some titles to keep you company.

TV Trailers that Look Like a Feature Film: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Edition

Phase two of the Avenger's films has just begun with IRON MAN 3 on the verge of making close to a billion dollars by the time its run is over. There are still several more movies coming down the pipeline, THOR: THE DARK WORLD, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, but to sustain your appetite and expand even more into the Marvel universe, ABC has picked up Joss Whedon's series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Agent Coulson is back from his supposed death by Loki, which is a conversation for another time and place, and has put together a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division)  agents to investigate strange cases.


Check the full trailer after the break

Netflix Instant TV & Movie Picks: TV Shows to marathon the hell out of

Now that Halloween is over, we unfortunately have to deal with Christmas. I don't know about you guys, but I kind of dislike this whole season if only because everything from grocery stores, to the mall, and even movie theaters are so packed because people are shopping or need a break from shopping. Because of this, I have a tendency of being a shut-in during the holidays which is why I was thinking this would be a great theme for a column. All of these shows are great and just feel like the type of shows that you just HAVE to marathon through a whole weekend sparing you both sunlight and huge crowds when you're out and about. 

ONCE UPON A TIME

Seriously, this is one of my favorite shows out right now. I'm pretty sure the target audience is younger girls, but it's so incredibly cheesy I can't help but love it. Dealing with the town of "Storybrooke," a woman, Emma, is found by her son who she gave up for adoption. He goes on to tell her that she is the savior of this sleepy town where every inhabitant is actually a fairy tale character, but they just can't remember who they are.

CRACKER

Hagrid being a complete asshole and a brilliant crime psychologist. What else do you need to know? I know, it seems all brilliant British crime solvers are assholes, but Robbie Coltrane nails it. 

NOVA SCIENCE NOW: HOW DOES THE BRAIN WORK?

Neil DeGrasse Tyson is a bad ass. Listening to the Nerdist podcast, he seems to come up pretty often, and I can see why. Now that PBS and other public television channels aren't in danger of being cancelled by evil Mormons, let's celebrate by watching some of the incredibly interesting and educating programs. Even though it's only one episode, this is technically part of a series, which you can see a full list here.

That's it for me, folks. See you in a couple of weeks!

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BLACK MIRROR Discussion- He Said/She Said

BLACK MIRROR is a British anthology television series which features a different cast, setting, and reality with every episode. Each episode has some extreme elements, but nothing that is too far fetched from the reality we're living in today. Charlie Brooker, the show's creator, describes the title:

If technology is a drug - and it does feel like a drug - then what, precisely, are the side-effects? This are - between delight and discomfort -  is where BLACK MIRROR, my new drama series, is set. The "black mirror" of the title is the one you'll find on every wall, on every desk, in the palm of every hand: the cold, shiny screen of a TV, a monitor, a smartphone.  (via The Guardian)

We were able to watch the first season, and both of us could not stop thinking about it. The following is an insanely dense, SPOILER FILLED, discussion of the series, its themes, and what we took from the episodes. (Warning: There might have been beers involved.)

TV Awesomeness: BREAKING BAD preview

One of our favorite shows here at WDYMS on TV right now is BREAKING BAD. It follows a high school science teacher who turns to making meth with a former student in order to make some money. Through three seasons we've followed Walter (Emmy winning Bryan Cranson) and Jesse (Emmy winning Aaron Paul) as they have tried to climb the drug trafficking ladder, while Walt fights cancer and keeping his personal life separate.

AMC has posted a preview for the upcoming season 4, which by the looks of it, will be just as heart-racing and badass as all the previous seasons. When I say this is one of the best shows on TV, I'm not exaggerating. Do yourself a favor and Netflix the previous seasons, all of which have no more than 13 episodes, and get caught up. You won't regret it.

(If you don't want to be spoiled about anything in the series...then walk away now.)

July 17th cannot come fast enough!

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Cool Netflix Instant: TV and Movie Picks

Jonesy here... stepping away from my usual musical suggestions because two movies I absolutely adore made it to Netflix this week.

Before Sunrise

A chance meeting between two young people on a train in Europe end in a once in a lifetime night of just talking.  This is an absolutely wonderful little film about chance encounters and how they change your life.  One of my favorites.

Before Sunset

In a follow up, BEFORE SUNSET explores our couple ten years later.  What has happened in their lives since, how each effected the other, and is there a second chance at love.  A wonderful sequel.

 

Hot Tub Time Machine

The great thing about movies sometimes is you know what you're getting into from just the title.  HOT TUB TIME MACHINE is super cheesy fun set in the backdrop of the 80s.  The concept is completely ridiculous, but I had such a fun time watching this movie, I didn't care.  If you were hesitant about paying $10 to see this at the theatre, now you have nothing to lose!

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Thoughts on Beast Wars and Beast Machines-He said

As part of our attempt to fill the site with more content we will be trying to do not just reviews but essays or dissections of movies/shows that we enjoy as well.  Also we will be doing at least a review independently from movies we’ve both seen from Netflix that are worthy of mention.  The first of this series will be Beast Wars/Machines which I just got done watching.  Let me preface by saying I have seen this series twice, when it first came out and this time when I re watched it.  Also I’m a huge freaking nerd about all transformers-y stuff (except the movies) so to those that are uninitiated this will be a bunch of mumbo jumbo, and to the hardcore nerds, I’ll simply be stating the obvious.

            Predacon Cast Including Various Forms of Megatron

When Beast Wars came out it was the mid 90’s, America had not seen any new Transformers media in a long time with the exception of the comics.  When the license went to toy company Kenner, they decided to shake things up a bit by having Transformers turn into animals instead of cars.  In this story, the protagonists were not the Autobots and Decepticons, but their descendents the Maximals and Predacons It became the first of many ironic fan whine fests over a new direction in the franchise.  Thankfully it became one of the finest examples of Transformers yet.  You have for the first time a small group of characters, which could be developed more interestingly over the course of the series.  Beast Wars much like Transformers Animated after it features a rookie Optimus Prime character, and a deliciously charming Megatron character. 

       Core Cast of Maximals Including Various forms of Optimus Source

What’s great about this series is that with minimal googling you can understand a lot of references if you wanted to, but if you know them already then it makes Beast Wars a richer experience, in my opinion.  Of course this being the age of Avatar, one might consider the graphics to look really crappy and dated, which I guess if you’re some sort of HD fan it would be detrimental, then again no one critiques old Mickey cartoons for their style.  The show can be forgiven every once in a while for being cheesy.  A big example of this is, is how the Maximals and Predacons NEED to say “maximize” and “terrorize” in order to transform, but put it in the context of little kids watching this, I can already picture them playing with the toys and yelling that out. It’s cute.  The biggest complaint about this series is the pacing.  In the first season you can tell that they haven’t quite figured out what direction they are going in and you have basically the first half of the season being the same episode just in different terrain. 

As I have mentioned before the risks that the show took were groundbreaking back then and they still feel fresh today.  The relative small group of characters made sure you got some quality time with everyone in the crews.  I believe everyone can tell a defining characteristic of all the Maximals and Predacons.  This was not the case in Generation 1 where most o the characters were introduced and forgotten all too quickly. This is mostly due to the fact that there were always new toys that needed attention in the show so they would sell.  To my mind the best characters in the series were Dinobot, Megatron, Cheetor and Optimus Primal, you notice such a change in their personalities that would not happen in most cartoon series today.  But the characters were developed thanks to the great stories that the series had.  While I was sure of the fact that the writers didn’t know the direction they were going in completely, in the first season the second and third seasons had great storylines that referenced season 1 and very seldom were full of plot holes. There were tons of good stand-alone that would be silly and ridiculous sometime but all the while they build towards something greater in the background.

Beast Machines, the sequel to Beast Machines was a completely different animal, if you’ll pardon the pun.  The changes were more abrupt, the characters looked like a freakish humanoid versions of themselves, which is jarring to the untrained eye.   But this is a series for the initiated, you have to know the Beast Wars lore, and I really believe that this series is better appreciated in its own context.

                 Vehicon Generals: Tankor, Jetstorm and Thrust Source

The stories have been criticized that they are not episodic enough, there are plotlines building up constantly that have subsequently bigger repercussions later, and many two or three part storylines.  This made it hard for many people to jump in a la Lost.  Given the fact that there was never any certainty about the length of the series, it made sense that there was always something greater to build up to.  Likewise the character designs, which even to me see a bit odd, make sense in the context of the show’s world.  One of the constant themes was about finding balance between the technological and organic.  I love that the story does become bleaker because of the hard themes that it is trying to tackle. The religious fanaticism exhibited by Optimus Primal in the end of the first season seemed a bit too much.  Much like the third season of Beast Wars you can tell that the producers knew his was going to be their last season and rushed to wrap up too many things in a very limited amount of time.

        Beast Machines Maximals: Cheetor, Blackarachnia, Optimus Primal, and Rattrap Source

Overall, I believe that the series suffers too much from its own radical ideas in terms of what transformers should be, Beast Machines suffers from trying to tackle too dark and philosophical themes in a limited time.  The effects of this series are mostly seen in the articulation of the toys and in the elements borrowed by other series such as Transformers: Animated.  By all means though if you are remotely interested in cartoons, or in transformers you got to check this series out.