Kate and I have a Netflix subscription that we’ve mostly been using to obtain various anime series. We’re running a little low on Japanese cartoons, though, having recently finished Martian Successor Nadesico, and with only four discs left of Trigun (two of which will probably be polished off while lolling around Friday after hosting Thanksgiving dinner).
I’ve got other stuff on the Netflix queue– various movies, season two of The Wire— but I’m always looking for suggestions. So, recommend some DVD’s: what movies, tv shows, or foreign cartoon series should I be adding to the Netflix queue?
(Also, don’t expect much of anything here tomorrow– we’re hosting Thanksgiving dinner for nine people, which is going to keep me too busy to blog…)
I’ll assume you’ve seen most of the classic “best films ever”, so here’s a list of films which might be off the standard radar:
Life Is Beautiful
Royal Tenenbaums
Rushmore
Clerks
Big Lebowski
If you can also check out comedy series, try:
Arrested Development
Curb Your Enthusiasm
I don’t know how much access you get to UK comedies, but if you’re able to, try:
Marion and Geoff
The Office (UK version)
Spaced
Thanks for reading!
Have you already seen following?
Ghost in Shell
Samurai Seven (Anime remake of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai)
Fullmetal Alchemist
But,above all, if you haven’t go rent the greatest classic
Graves of fireflies
Touching the Void. If the description sounds interesting, you’ll love the movie.
Life Is Beautiful, Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore, Clerks, Big Lebowski
I’ve seen all of those except Life Is Beautiful, and liked all of them except The Royal Tenenbaums, which was weird even by the standards of Rushmore and Bottle Rocket. I’m not sure what got into Wes Anderson there.
On the anime side, I watched the original Ghost in the Shell some years back, and Kate and I watched all of Fullmetal Alchemist not that long ago. We have the movie, but haven’t watched it yet.
Touching the Void. If the description sounds interesting, you’ll love the movie.
The description sounds interesting, if a little heavy for the usual unwind-after-work slot that DVD-watching goes into.
I had to go check that the Kevin MAcdonald who directed it isn’t the Kevin Macdonald from Kids in the Hall, which would’ve been just too weird…
FLCL is a pretty good, if a bit bizarre, 6-episode anime series with one of the catchiest J-pop songs ever as a theme song. It’s sort of a weird coming-of-age story; but that description doesn’t quite do it justice. I think it’s only a two DVD set, so it would be pretty painless to take a gamble on.
Lain is also an interesting anime series. It’s beginning to show its age, though – it deals a lot with technology, in many of the same themes as Ghost in the Shell, but because technology has changed so rapidly, Lain is maybe a little less relevant. Still pretty good, and a little trippy.
Repo Man is a cult classic of sorts, and it’s nice to see the movie that Quentin Tarantino and many others pay homage to with the whole “open the trunk/suitcase and see a weird glow” scene.
I don’t know that I have laughed out loud at a movie nearly as much as _The Reduced Shakespeare Company_ (which I acquired from Netflix). Highly recommended. It helps if you know Shakespeare, but that isn’t even necessary. Have a vague sense of Romeo & Juliet, a vague sense of Hamlet, and you’re good to go.
If you need to brush up your Shaksespeare, the Zeffereli Hamlet (Mel Gibson and all) is a decent adaption. My favorite adaption is the BBC/Derek Jacobi — it’s complete and long. I haven’t seen the Kenneth Branaugh adaption yet.
Also, don’t miss the Christopher Guest movies : _Waiting for Guffman_, _Best in Show_, and _Spinal Tap_. (I haven’t seen _A Mighty Wind_ yet, so I can’t comment on it.)
See _Office Space_ if you’re one of the few people that hasn’t already.
See _Primer_ for an extremely low-budget science fiction movie that’s fairly well done and entertaining, _and_ features the most lifelike dialog between engineers I’ve ever seen in a movie.
What kinds of TV shows do you generally like?
On the Lighter Side –
Young Frankenstein – Wherein a young Doctor and ScienceBlogger inherits an uncle’s property in some small European country. Hilarity ensues.
Airplane – still funny after all these years!
Slacktivist asked the same thing a while back, you may be interested in the responses he got.
http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2005/11/open_thread_no__1.html
Another Shakespeare recommendation: Michael Almereyda’s version of Hamlet, with Ethan Hawke, Kyle McLachlan, and Sam Shepard. Very deft modern version set in Manhattan, making intelligent use of answering machines, film, faxes, and computers.
Swashbuckling and so forth:
Revenge of the Musketeers (aka La Fille de d’Artagnan) — light, slightly goofy and tongue-in-cheek adventure with Sophie Marceau as d’Artagnan’s daughter. (French)
On Guard — French swashbuckler with Daniel Auteuil and Vincent Perez. Nothing profound, but well done and fun. (French)
Hero — the first of Zhang Yimou’s sumptuous Chinese wuxia historical fantasies, starring Jet Li, Maggie Cheung, and Zhang Ziyi. Absolutely amazing to look at, clever storytelling, and better than House of Flying Daggers. (Chinese)
Bon Voyage — WW2 cloak-and-dagger thriller/farce set during the Fall of France. With Isabelle Adjani and Gerard Depardieu. Plus, physicists desperately trying to smuggle heavy water to England before the Nazis can get their hands on it!
Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex would be a good series to get hooked on to.
Not sure how much Miyazaki you’ve watched, but there are few movies out there that are as good for unwinding. Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service and Spirited Away are all excellent.
And, also, if you liked Robert Altman and Upstairs, Downstairs, I recommend Gosford Park.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone complex is great and very different than the movie. Ghost in the Shell, 2nd gig is good too.
2nd the gosford park recommendation. Terrific cast, particularly Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith.
there’s always the wire season 3.
Anime series: Witch Hunter Robin; Hakkenden (legend of the dog warriors – just ignore the art in ep 9, I have NO idea what happened there!); The Irresponsible Captain Tyler; Planetes
I missed the Firefly/Serenity series/movie when they were aired/shown, but caught them via Netflix. I decided to add them to my collection after that. Too bad the series was cancelled.