Monday 11 November 2013

New to Netflix UK - 11/11/13 (plus a bonus short movie, "The Fifth")

There's some bad, some really good, plus the addition of one of the better-but-lesser seen dark comedies of the last year inspired by one of my favourite short films.


Race to Witch Mountain - Two siblings with psychic powers enlist a reluctant taxi driver to help them escape from a shady government organisation. Dwayne Johnson manages to provide enough charisma to keep this children-fantasy film moderately engaging but otherwise it's typical mediocre Disney fuel.

The Human Centipede 2 - A mentally troubled loner obsessed with the first movie decides to re-enact the events. The meta angle the film aims for is interesting to say the least but it's still a poorly executed mess of tasteless images that only a niche audience will appreciate.

There Be Dragons - A journalist uncovers a slew of dark mysteries about his father when he interviews one of the father's former friends. The storytelling is inconsistent and the characters and dialogue feels forced and unnatural but it is still a decent portrayal of the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, which has unfortunately been largely forgotten in recent years.

Lore - The children of a Nazi Officer flee for their lives when the allies start sweeping in through Germany, forcing them to come to terms with their beliefs. A highly engaging, thought-provoking and well-acted drama that shows a side to the war that is seldom portrayed.

Starbuck - A slacker who has been donating sperm for the last few years finds his life spiral down another direction when he discovers that he's the father of over 500 children, some of whom are taking legal action to find out who their real father is. The story has it's issues and holes but if you look over it you can find a rather unusual but warmhearted comedy.

The Bridge (TV) - A body on the bridge linking Sweden and Denmark forces two detectives from, one from each side of the bridge, to team up and catch the sadistic killer. Standard Scandinavian fare in that it's an exceptionally well thought-out and manoeuvred thriller (putting most English language productions to shame) that still manages to remain original.

Bomb Girls (TV) - Follows the lives of a group of women working in a munitions factory during WW2 as they struggle to cope with the changing social scene around them. Engaging drama from Canada that does a good job of reminding how hard it was to be a woman during the war and the obstacles they had to overcome, even when they were directly contributing to the war effort.

Some Guy Who Kills People - After he is released from a mental institution, a man finds himself stuck in a dead-end job and decides to exact revenge on the people who screwed up his life. A very dark and twisted comedy, with a great performance from Kevin Corrigan, that looks like a sure fire candidate to become a cult hit.
(It's based on a fantastically dark short by Ryan Levin, who also wrote the movie, which you can watch here).

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