Social Distancing Film Club

[uncut_gems]

Hi All,

I hope everyone is staying safe and well during this hectic time. Since it looks like a fair number of us are due for some extended time inside, I thought I might poke around Netflix and see what was available that I might recommend. I think this would be a great place to talk about films, especially our favorites to watch when home sick or our go-to rewatchables. The ones below are all available on Australian Netflix as of the time of posting. I did my best to avoid anything too heavy/serious/related to sickness!

Action & Adventure:


Princess Mononoke (1997): Gorgeously animated environmentalist fairytale with great English-language voice acting
John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum (2019): incredibly stylish, hyper-violent third entry in the hitman series starring Keanu Reeves
The Matrix (1999): mind-bending story about a society run as a computer simulation
Jurassic Park (1993): Feel-good but thrilling classic about a theme park where dinosaurs are brought back to life
Baby Driver (2017): heist movie about a getaway driver with a great soundtrack


Kids & Family


Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade (1989): Excellent adventure about the search for the Holy Grail with Harrison Ford and Sean Connery
The Iron Giant (1999): Touching animated movie about a boy’s relationship with a robot
Shrek/Shrek 2 (2001/2004): Funny animated send-up of fairytales enjoyable for adults as well
Matilda (1996): Danny DeVito’s adaptation of the Roald Dahl story of a precocious girl and the unimpressive adults in her life
Hairspray (2007): campy adaptation of the John Waters original about an aspiring singer in 1960s Baltimore

 

[Booshark]

Escape from New York is a great movie. My brother forced me to watch it with him when we were kids (glad he did) and I got suckered into it real quick. Have seen it quite a lot of times since.

[Guest_1643]

Looks cool - I like Kurt Russell!

I've started a new Netflix series called Bloodline but I don't really understand it too much

Hope to share some good movie recs here !

[uncut_gems]

Have to plug a movie I've just seen, called Night of the Hunter. It's a beautiful film from 1955 that's sort of a mixture of a film noir and a Brothers Grimm fairytale, and it's really atmospheric and beautifully shot as well. Highly recommend!

[shirker]

I'll second your recommendation for Night of the Hunter - haven't seen it for years, but it's an awesome classic!

Five films that I've enjoyed over the past few months ...

Mr Vampire - if you've ever wanted to see a jiangshi Chinese hopping vampire movie (and who hasn't?), this is a good place to start. The comedy is very much in a Jackie Chan/Stephen Chow vein, but not quite so much martial arts action

The Wedding Singer - say what you want about Adam Sandler, he was great, Drew was great, the music was great ...

Better Days - emotional drama about a bright but bullied high school girl and her unlikely friendship with a futureless young thug, this cleaned up at the most recent HK film awards

First Love - Japanese take on Romeo and Juliet - two star crossed lovers hold hands and stare into each other's eyes while a bloody yakuza war erupts around them. It's a ridiculous amount of fun.

Slap Shot - Paul Newman plays ice hockey. This would have to tie with Bad News Bears as one of the bestest, funniest sports movies ever made.

[uncut_gems]

Wedding Singer is a delight.

Slap Shot has been on my list for ages– I have very, very fond memories of watching Bad News Bears as a kid and absolutely loving it. The sports comedy is very underrated! Thank you for the Asian cinema rec's– HK, Japanese, and Korean films are some of my favourites. Have you seen High and Low?

Haven't seen anything stellar lately, but Boys from Brazil was pretty cool, and Black Narcissus was something else.

[shirker]

I've actually watched very few films from before the 1970's - we had to watch The Seven Samurai in year nine high school and it was so, so deathly boring for me at the time, I've never managed to build up the courage to tackle any other Kurosawa films! One day I'll take the plunge ...

The Boys From Brazil and Black Narcissus have both been on my to-watch list for ages.

I watched Die Hard over the weekend - I'd never bothered with it before, and was surprised to find out just how good it actually was.

Also watched a recent Korean film The House of Us, about a twelve year old girl struggling to keep her disintegrating family together and find her place in the world. The director is brilliant at capturing the world through the eyes of children - I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoyed The Florida Project.

[uncut_gems]

I felt the same way about Die Hard! I think maybe I got it confused with some of the sequels, or other films like Lethal Weapon or whatever– but you're right, it totally rocks. Funny how after you watch it you see how many other action flicks are inspired by it: Die Hard on a Bus (Speed), Die Hard on a Plane (Air Force One), etc, lol.

Keep the great recommendations coming! I've never seen Seven Samurai but I can't imagine my high school self (or any of my peers for that matter) being able to get that much out of a long black-and-white historical epic haha

[Guest_1643]

hi Shirker,

Beautiful list, the wedding singer is amazing. Drew is flawless! I also love Christine Taylor as her sister

Feel Good Movies I like:

Juno - so gorgeous and sweet

Long Shot - really nice rom-com with Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron

On Netflix:

Wine Country

Going the Distance

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Results

The Big Lebowkski

The Break-Up

The Incredible Jessica James

I Feel Pretty

A Star is Born

[shirker]

Thanks Sleepy!

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was great - I loved the whole idea of not wanting to erase unhappy memories if it meant you had to erase the happy memories too. And I loved the way that Jim Carrey was so downbeat, while Kate Winslet was playing the type of character that would usually be played by Jim. (Actually, I just love Kate fullstop lol)

Juno is one of those films that I know a lot of people love, but I've got around to seeing it. I think I've always been worried that it might be a little too, umm, hipster for me .. but I should give it a try.

As for the rest, I can always do with recommendations for uplifting movies ... my partner sometimes asks "Why do you always have to watch so much weird sh**?" lol. Your list can be a good reference point - over half your list are films I've haven't really heard of!

[Guest_1643]

Hi Shirker! I'm so glad... i've found some great recommendations here too and your rec of the Wedding Singer took me back to rewatching bits of it (still so good!!)

Just saw Eternal Sunshine pop up on Netflix - really interesting concept for a movie. Kate Winslet's character is so touching and beautiful. Good point that it was a role reversal! Jim Carrey being more serious and subdued and her being all energetic and intense. I love her too 🙂