Watching Instantly

By Vijay Kumar

September 14, 2010

Surprise! It's your worst nightmare!

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The negative effects of nanotechnology are sprayed on the storyline involving friendship, betrayal, honor, code and revenge. Or is it the other way around? Writing is not the strongest suit of this movie despite having the writers from Pirates of the Caribbean. The one-liners that gain value in action movies are conspicuous by their absence. Alan Silvestri lets his presence be known in the background score when given the occasional explosion and dialogue free scenes to work with.

As I was not an avid follower of the series as a kid, I did not go in with any nostalgic luggage. I guess it made easier for me to appreciate it as a regular popcorn fare. Thanks to the ensemble cast and the production values, the $170 million budget for this movie was not recovered in box office receipts despite a $54 million opening and a strong $150 million end result. I am sure they more than made up for it through other revenue streams. On NetFlix, this one of the slew of new titles available for instant watching following the Epix deal.


Moonstruck

Moonstruck probably set the template for later day "slice of life" successes such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It is difficult to imagine subtlety in a story involving hot blooded Italian-Americans in Brooklyn. Yet, that is the very achievement of director Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night, Fiddler on the Roof). He sets up emotionally explosive situations for the lead characters and diffuses them with wit and humor. The main story line involves Loretta (Cher in an Academy Award winning role), who is engaged to one brother but falls for his one armed younger brother, Ronny (Nicolas Cage). It is difficult to ignore a man who takes you to the opera and mouths lines such as "We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and die." Olympia Dukakis, who plays Cher’s mother, and writer John Patrick Shanley are the two other Academy Award winners for this movie. I am sure Dukakis won the award for conveying so much through her eyes. I particularly relished the sadness with which she dismisses the prospect of infidelity on her own part while mulling over her husband’s indiscretion. Everything comes to head during breakfast time and gets solved in a pleasing fashion over oatmeal first and champagne later. If only more days started like this.

Moonstruck is one of those films that will find longevity in rentals of one form or the other. People will keep coming back to it with some regularity.




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Ended up with…



Whilst checking out the above movies, I invariably end up fattening my instant watch queue with some new additions. These go into my “Ended up with…” list and the plan is to watch them during the week ahead. NetFlix keeps tempting me to move each one of them to the top of the queue but I resist. These are movies that I plan to check out in the days ahead.

Imagine That

I originally wanted to watch Pluto Nash but felt it was too soon after The Love Guru. It would be mean to the successful cast of Shrek. So, I compromised and added Imagine That to my list instead.

Astro Boy

I am continuing my plan to pump up the adrenaline in these dog days of September with at least one super hero movie a week. Astro Boy is my animated choice.

Dead Man Walking

I amuse myself with the thought that Sean Penn will get upset over the fact that I am yet to watch one of his movies on Instant Watch. The more I entertained the thought, the more nervous I became. Not to become in one with the title, I choose Penn’s Dead Man Walking as the third movie for this week.


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