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Browsing through NetFlix’s online streaming collection is not unlike those late Friday nights spent browsing through the movie maze in your local video store. The search for that perfect movie is often tricky. Sometimes you have to deal with a fuming partner and/or a melting tub of ice-cream in the car. The pressure is compounded by a listless, unhelpful store clerk in some cases. This column aims to be that clerk for NetFlix Instant Watch – maybe just a little less listless and little more helpful. This is what I waded through recently – at NetFlix.

Went Looking For…

Believe it or not, I sometimes do have a predetermined playlist while browsing for movie titles. Generally, there is a week between my adding them to the playlist and actually watching them. The movies under “Went Looking For…” are typically the movies that I had slotted as “Ended up with…” the previous week.

When I made a list of movies that I planned to watch this week, I seem to have had Africa in my inner eye. I definitely wasn’t aware of it when I added District 9 to my IW queue immediately after it was listed. The next movie in my list was another Africa centric story - Gorillas in the Mist. The story of treason and redemption involving a group of animals resisting human manipulation. I am not sure if I am still talking about Gorillas or G-Force, the next movie on my list. I rounded it off with The Third Man, a classic mystery from yesteryear.





District 9

The story is that Neill Blomkamp was given a reasonable budget and the offer to direct any movie. The director chose to expand on his own short film to come up with this unique movie. At this point, mockumentaries are becoming redundant through every other TV show. This movie probably lost out on a unique narrative style on that account. Still, breaking the fourth wall is the best way of communication for a movie such as this one, where the audience involvement is almost mandatory. For reasons unknown, I expected some awkward pixilation what with the main plot involving aliens but in fact it was seamless CGI. There are quite a few parallels to be drawn with current affairs. The movie is set in Johannesburg, which is not a coincidence. The totally natural performance of no name actors adds to the authenticity of the narration, making it almost believable. It's not for the squeamish, though. The picture quality on NetFlix IW was great.


G-Force

Guinea pigs are trained to save the world. Zach Galifianakis is their coach. This is the movie that Penelope Cruz signed right after being a part of acclaimed director Pedro Almodovar’s Broken embraces. Kitchen appliances are trained killer robots. There are flatulence jokes. Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage lends his voice to a star-nosed mole. There is a love triangle involving three guinea pigs. Federal agents are outsmarted by said G-Pigs. An untrained G-Pig rises to the occasion and helps save the world. Guinea pigs trained by Zach Galifianakis indeed save the world from kitchen appliances programmed to destroy the world. A silly movie. I liked it.

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