It’s a complex film, not only because of deals with cosmic issues like freedom, terrorism, and tyranny, but also because it forces us to explore these issues on a very character driven basis.
This is probably the best example of "alternate history" I've seen on film: what would England have been like had Hitler invaded and won WWII? We follow an apolitical Irish nurse who moves to a bombed out London only to find that the only way she can practice her trade is to joint the Party and become a cog in the Nazi pacification machine.
Richard Donner's 16 BLOCKS
It is fascinating to see how a top notch crew and ensemble of actors transforms a plot composed of overly-familar elements into high quality story telling. 16 Blocks is a prime example of this and turns out to be a superb piece of entertainment.
Steven Soderbergh's SOLARIS
The film superbly rendered on this DVD bears repeated watching. All aspects are masterfully done. It is an adult, literate, and intelligent film that swings back and forth between intellectual challenge, mystery, and wrenching emotion. The music and visuals are stunning.
MirrorMask
These are the words I would use to describe this gorgeous-to-look-at film:
This is a delightful, weird, and fascinating film. It bears re-watchng and study, and each time it does not lose its charm.
Higuchinsky's UZUMAKI
Things in this town are so weird that we cannot take it seriously, yet they are familiar enough to generate a sense of foreboding.
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack
This 2001 movie is wonderfully entertaining. Classic Japanese monster movie elements have been updated to a quality level unknown to Toho and Inoshiro Honda’s early output such as The Mysterians. The basic story is simple: 50 years after his initial rampage, Godzilla returns to stomp Japan, but this time he is opposed by a trio of mythical monsters who awaken from their eons-old slumber just in time.
Walter Salles' DARK WATER
While other reviewers (and the crew interviewed on the DVD’s bonus features) compare it with Rosemary’s Baby, I think it refers back much more to the classic — and disturbing — Don’t Look Now by Nicholas Roeg.
Steven Spielberg's MUNICH
That the issues raised by this faux history of events kicked off by the massacre of Israelis at the 1972 Olympics are still so relevant is a testament to Spielberg’s intelligence and sense of morality.
It also helps that he’s a terrific film-maker who is willing to attack complex topics in an intelligent, personal, and thoughtful way.
Memoirs of a Geisha
How could I resist a film starring Ziyi Zhang, Michelle Yeoh, and Gong Li? Especially when they frequently appear on screen in the same scenes together? When it’s a film about slavery.
Zhang Yimou's THE ROAD HOME
A businessman returns to his country home in rural China to bury his recently deceased schoolteacher father. He finds his distraught mother insisting on a long funeral procession with friends and former students bearing the coffin. The road to be taken has special meaning dating back to the parents' courtship. It is the courtship in flashback that dominates the film.
I’ve been renting DVD’s from Netflix since before 1999, back when they were charging on a per disc basis. I remember getting a bill for $90 one month that made me jump out of my skin. Luckily they switched to a flat rate per month after that.
Marius Penczner's “I WAS A ZOMBIE FOR THE F.B.I.”
What possessed me to rent this movie? No matter. I enjoyed it.
Carnival of Souls
This black and white gem from the early Kennedy administration era is a window into the past.
Robots
I especially liked the battle sequence at the end with its darkness, its massed robotic antagonists, and the feeling I was seeing some real cartoon malevolence the likes of which I haven’t seen since Oogie Boogie in Nightmare Before Christmas.
Yasujiro Ozu's FLOATING WEEDS
This 1959 film follows a down on its luck troupe of actors as they visit a small Japanese seaside village in the late 1950’s to perform popular plays on a small community stage.
Yasujiro Ozu's TOKYO STORY
This 1953 classic by Yasujiro Ozu (Floating Weeds) is a masterpiece of elegant, artistic, and human filmmaking.
Yasujiro Ozu's EARLY SUMMER
In this Japanese film from 1951, 28-year-old Noriko (played by Setsuko Hara, who also appeared in Ozu’s Tokyo Story) lives with her three-generation family. She helps support them with the wages she earns in her downtown Tokyo clerical office job. Her family decides that she is getting along in years and needs to get married. The wheels of an arranged marriage start turning. This leads to complications.