Watching Instantly
By Vijay Kumar
August 17, 2010
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.
Planet 51
Planet 51, while confirming some sci-fi theories such as people living outside of earth are possibly green skinned and they do speak English, places your average alien landing on a planet in a reverse milieu where the human crash lands on an alien planet and needs local support to get back to the mother ship. Phew! That's a long, disjointed sentence but that is pretty much the story. I understand the casting of Dwayne Johnson as the cocky astronaut. Justin Long absolutely fits the role of Lem, the soft spoken nerdy hero. Stifler plays the clueless yet wisecracking sidekick to the hilt. I normally wouldn’t say this but it is Jessica Biel that I have a problem with. You don’t associate her as a voice talent. Then again, for a token girlfriend role, who else can you hire? The "Alien" (the movie… no pun intended) inspired "dog" is a nice addition to the cast and so is the WALL-E like rover robot. Writing by Joe Stillman of the original Shrek Fame relies on juxtaposing the story of E.T in another planet where the human is the alien. So we have some of the legendary E.T sequences played out in reverse. That novelty wears off in the effort to push the story forward. Animation is definitely from the Maya school of thought, which means clear well defined character animation.
Every Which Way But Loose
I guess this is as close it comes to a Clint Eastwood comedy. The narrative style is "loose" as suggested in the title. The story follows the wanderlust ways of Philo, a sometimes truck driver and a full-time fist fighter. He has a pet orangutan and a faithful brother for company in his escapades. Just when his life (and indeed the movie) starts getting aimless, purpose comes through a wandering singer who appears to be evading Philo. Philo assumes certain details about her and hits the road in her pursuit with his cohorts, both of whom get hooked up during the trip. That’s right! The orangutan has a one night stand. Thanks to his fist fighting ways, there are two separate groups chasing him. One is a set of bikers trying to avenge constant humiliation at the hands of Philo. The other is a pair of cops trying to settle scores with Philo as well. Hilarity ensues through the ineptness prevalent among them.
There is added hilarity in the side track with Ruth Gordon ("Ma" in the movie) and her attempts to get her driving license renewed. “This is the second Ruth Gordon movie this month. Wonder what that means...” I said trying to draw a comment from my wife. She complained that her eye sockets are hurting with the constant rolling of its contents.
Legend is that everyone was trying to talk Eastwood out of pursuing this movie. His knack of picking hits shines through in this fun ride.
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