The Vanishing

This Dutch original has a FAR more powerful ending but the acting was better in the remake. Deeply disturbing.  I can't understand why they changed that ending - it was so devastating. Just... wow. 4/5

The Vanishing on Netflix

Neds

This Scottish coming-of-age indie tracks a young man's descent into violence brilliantly & poignantly. Very powerful. 4/5

Neds on Netflix

The Puffy Chair

This early Duplass brothers film gets the characters dead right but moves a bit slowly for me. Still good though. 3/5

The Puffy Chair on Netflix

And Everything Is Going Fine

The documentary captures Spalding Gray in the best way possible - a posthumous monologue 3.5/

And Everything is Going Fine on Netflix

Bal

This dreamy Turkish drama says so much while speaking very little. That's a lost art in US films these days - lovely. 3.5/5

Bal on Netflix

The Tempest

Julie Taymor missed the mark ever so slightly with this retelling but tremendous acting truly saved it. Djimon Hounsou was perfection as Caliban but Mirren not nearly as evil as she should have been. Interesting take. 3.5/5

The Tempest on Netflix

The Double Feature Weekly Wrap-Up, 6/24/12

Welcome to the second edition of The Double Feature Weekly Wrap-Up at From The Rental Queue! This week's films were definitely more challenging than last weeks but I think I managed alright in the end. My self-imposed rules about matching up films can be found here in last week's post. So, without further ado, this week's double feature recommendations.

• The Myth of the American Sleepover - This coming-of-age drama centered on the last night of summer for a group of teenagers was very sleepy, dreamy, and vapid. I would pair it with Skateland, another dreamy coming-of-age period piece about in a similar vein.
• This Means War - This spy-versus-spy romcom was all show and no substance. It would pair perfectly with Cruise and Diaz's Knight & Day, which I found equally as simple and flashy with a very similar plot and tone.
• St. Trinian's - Okay, this was the toughest of the week. This British cult classic with a star-studded cast combines a farcical collection of characters and evolves into a crazy heist film. There's honestly nothing like it I could put my finger on until I thought of The Maiden Heist - a crazy star-studded farcical film about a crazy heist. Tonally it's very similar and I think they make a quite good match. This was really a tough one though.
• Jeff, Who Lives At Home - Ah, the Duplass brothers really scored with this absolutely lovely evolving tale about finding your purpose. This was another tough one because whatever I picked I wanted it to have the same overall understated, observational feeling. Wes Anderson's Rushmore I think would be marvelous to watch with this - in fact, I may have to do that one night.
• Seeking Justice - This confused revenge thriller missed on nearly all fronts and, since it tried to be so many things it made it really difficult to pair with something. If you want to go straight revenge thriller look no further than Chan-Wook Park's revenge trilogy, of which Oldboy is the best. If you want instead a thriller that focuses on saving a family member you could try Taken or, even better, The Next Three Days. I think though my final call for a double feature here will be The Son of No One, Dito Montiel's odd thriller that combines the two themes far more successfully than Seeking Justice does.
• Rampart - Woody Harrelson gave the performance of his life as a rampaging cop in this beautifully drawn thriller. The logical pairing is Casey Affleck in The Killer Inside Me, an equally provocative (although less nuanced) look at a devolving sociopathic lawman in Texas.

There my list for the week - happy viewing!

Rampart

Woody Harrelson is breathtaking in this dark & intense character portrait of a dangerous man. Deeply mesmerizing. 4/5

Rampart on Netflix

Seeking Justice

An utterly uninspired, unoriginal, poorly acted & bad scripted pile of junk. So very much not good. 2/5

Seeking Justice on Netflix

Jeff, Who Lives At Home

I was completely surprised at how touching, endearing & beautifully told this quirky comedy was. Lovely 4/5

Jeff, Who Lives At Home on Netflix

St. Trinian's

I'm honestly shocked that I enjoyed this rompish farce with a star-studded cast as much as I did - quite funny. 3/5

St. Trinian's on Netflix

This Means War

This two-spies-fighting-for-one-girl romcom is just ridiculous, shallow & petty with no redeeming characters. 2/5

This Means War on Netflix

The Myth of the American Sleepover

This indie coming-of-age flick is boring, predictable with far too many holes in it. 2.5/5

The Myth of the American Sleepover on Netflix

The Double Feature Weekly Wrap-Up, 6/17/12

Over the last weeks while watching my movie-of-the-day I've often found myself thinking "Wow, this would be a great double feature with _____". This thought was especially brought into focus when I happened to watch The Fog of War back to back with Dr. Strangelove - two films that very eerily went together. I started thinking about starting a double-feature post of the week here to pair up whatever movies I'd seen that week with a second film similar in plot, tone, style or substance to another I'd seen in the past. Think of it as you would the Netflix "if you liked this you might like...." suggestion feature. The idea stuck, and so I present to you the From The Rental Queue Double Feature Weekly Wrap-Up!

Here are my self-imposed rules.

1. No pairing of sequels. Obvious Watching Iron Man 2 with Iron Man would  be a good double feature, but that's so obvious I don't think it should count. Same with pairing it with another film in the Avengers series.
2. No pairing remakes with originals. Yes, it's tempting to pair the new Arthur with the original, but again that's too obvious.
3. No pairings with the same director or lead actor unless a REALLY persuasive case can be made.

So, without further ado, here's my double-feature pairings for the week:

• Martha Marcy May Marlene - MMMM is a story that centers around a young woman who has escaped from a cult and the psychological turmoil that follows it. Oddly the movie that stuck out to me as a good companion feature is Shame , the story of a young man searching for himself. The similarity is tonal rather than thematic - both movies leave you with a feeling of living in a dream, of struggling away from an internal abyss.
  Alternate feature - Winter's Bone
• The Fog of War and Dr. Strangelove - I watched these two movies back to back and they are honestly a perfect double feature. The Fog of War discusses the reality of a nuclear war and Dr. Strangelove is the farcical relief. As a bonus the Dr. Strangelove DVD even had an interview with Robert McNamara - awesome!
• Chronicle - A found-footage film of three teenagers who develop superpowers and the hell those powers wreak on their lives. I think Trollhunter, another found-footage film of three teenagers discovering that trolls really do exist is the perfect companion to this - I love them both. 
• Arthur - The classic story of an alcoholic rich boy forced to choose between love and money retold with Russell Brand. As tempting as it would be to pair it with the original, I'm going to go with Everything Must Go, the story of an alcoholic man forced to reevaluate his life after losing his job and wife in one day. Watch Everything Must Go first - it's better and will put you in a better position to accept the actions of Arthur. 
• Shallow Grave - The darkly comedic story of three young people in Scotland, a lot of money, and a dead body. Pair this with Fargo, a dark comedy of a very similar vein and you can't go wrong. 
• The High Cost of Living - A film about two lives intersecting after a tragic accident wonderful acted by the two leads. The whole time I was watching it I told about Another Earth, a similar story with a sci-fi twist. 
• A Little Bit of Heaven - There are two ways to go with this one. If you want to stick with the main character struggling with a terminal cancer diagnosis, go with 50/50. If you want to go with the romantic drama part about a man watching his significant other struggle with illness, watch Love and Other Drugs. But, since A Little Bit of Heaven kind of stank and both 50/50 and Love and Other Drugs were awesome, I'd just watch those two and forget Heaven - you'll be happier.

So there you go, my double feature recommendations for the week. Let me know if you like these kind of posts and I'll keep them up or think of new things to try. Thanks for reading!

A Little Bit of Heaven

This sappy romance trades realism for a hollow plot, shallow characters & no emotional commitment. Sad. 2/5

A Little Bit of Heaven on Netflix

The High Cost of Living

Braff & Blais are amazing in this darkly moving tale that reminded me in tone of "Another Earth". 4/5

The High Cost of Living on Netflix

Shallow Grave

This is an odd duck of a film that lacked the pacing & tension to be great, thus settling for merely good. 3/5

Shallow Grave on Netflix

Arthur

Oh dear, another novel. I need to explain this one much more so than the last. I hated the original Arthur. Despised it really. I found it nearly impossible to sympathize with the characters, particularly Arthur himself who I loathed. And yet, I always recognized that Dudley Moore is nothing short of genius in that role and that it should stand as a classic for all time. When I head it was being remade I said for the record it should never be touched, but, if anyone were to try it, Brand was the only one to attempt it. I said that long before becoming smitten with Brand, which is the only reason I watched this TBH. I had the same problem with the remake as I did the original - the plot & characters are shit. However I was right - Brand gave an honest & emotional portrayal that Dudley would have loved. The weakest part was Gertler who was awful - Mirren however was amazing. So... just not my cup of tea. 3/5

Arthur on Netflix

Chronicle

I feel I need to explain myself a little with this review. Maybe it's because I really love these through-the-eye-of-the-camera films (when done right). Maybe it's because TK is my own power of choice. Maybe it's because I understood, related to, and totally got every character's motivation throughout the film. It's all these things and more. When I rate films I rate on the Netflix scale. 1 star means I hated a film, 2 for didn't like, 3 for just liked. 4 for really liked, and 5 for loved. 5 stars doesn't mean it's a perfect picture, or Best Movie material, or something the AFI needs to score. 5 stars means I really loved watching it, would watch it again, would tell others to watch it and will likely be thinking about it for some time. This is a 5 star movie. WATCH IT. 5/5  

Chronicle on Netflix

Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Sellers was magnificent in what is now easily my favorite Kubrick film - darkly funny & edgy, just great. 4/5

Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb on Netflix

The Fog Of War

Errol Morris created his masterpiece with this amazing documentary about Robert McNamara - just wonderful. 4.5/5


The Fog of War on Netflix

Martha Marcy May Marlene

An absolutely excellent portrayal of what happens to the psyche of a cult escapee. Brilliant. 4/5

Martha Marcy May Marlene on Netflix

Russell Brand in New York City

It's official, I'm in love. This is the funniest stand-up I've seen in a while - I adore him. No, seriously, total new celebrity crush time. Sorry baby, but he's divine. *flutter* 5/5

Russell Brand in New York City in Netflix

Circumstance

This movie is more complex than the description belies but falls short of where it could have gone. 3/5

Circumstance on Netflix

Albatross

There's nothing wrong with this film - the acting especially is quite good - but nothing grabbed me either. Meh. 3/5

Albatross on Netflix

Goon

This is exactly the movie you expect, no more, no less. The cast is quite good, the plot mediocre, the action solid. 3/5

Goon on Netflix

Gone

Predictable, forgettable & rather pallid, but reasonably acted & directed. This thriller is the definition of average. 3/5

Gone on Netflix

Boy Wonder

Oh wow, this was amazing - Dark, gripping, twisted & complex. The only fault was weak acting in parts. Wonderful. 4/5

Boy Wonder on Netflix

Rope

One of Hitchcock's classics, this film is beautifully shot & full of tension from the first minute to the last. 3.5/5

Rope on Netflix

We Need To Talk About Kevin

This is just amazing & Swinton is exceptional in this dark & haunting tale that chooses no sides. 4/5

We Need To Talk About Kevin on Netflix