List #15: Adam Goldberg, Why Are You All Over My Netflix Instant Queue?

Do you know why? I don't.


Exhibit A: Dazed and Confused

   

Netflix says: "Director Richard Linklater's coming-of-age comedy follows a group of teenagers -- stoners, jocks, and geeks -- on the last day of school in 1976."

I say: I know one day I'll wake up with the uncontrollable urge to watch this again. In the meantime, it's in my queue, ready and waiting.

Exhibit B: 2 Days in Paris

Netflix says: "On their way home from an ill-fated Venice vacation, Marion and Jack stop in Paris to visit Marion's parents on an equally disastrous excursion."

I say: Julie Delpy, stop being so cool. You're making the rest of us look bad.

Exhibit C: (Untitled)

Netflix says: "After falling in with an unfamiliar social circle of critics of every persuasion, avant-garde composer Adrian becomes smitten with an art dealer."

I say: I would like to have many pieces of Marley Shelton's wardrobe from this movie, please. Trash bag trench coats and confetti skirts, oh yes. And you can go ahead and throw in Eion Bailey while you're at it, thanks.

Exhibit D: The Unusuals

Netflix says: "A dysfunctional squad of New York homicide detectives has developed eccentric ways of dealing with on-the-job pressures."

I say: This was Rec. #173, and I really like it. A lot.

Friday Flashback: Rec. #104: State of Play

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: State of Play is possibly the most suspenseful thriller about research that's ever been made. Newspaper reporters chase a story that starts with an apparent suicide and an apparent drug hit, and that leads them quickly into personal, political, and corporate dirt. Soon all the characters, no matter how well-intentioned, are mired in corruptions both big and small. No one gets away completely clean.

Comparable to: As in All the President's Men, the minutiae and occasional glory of newspaper reporting becomes heroic.

Representative quote [imagine this whisper-growled by Bill Nighy]: "It's a big story. Big day. Big hitters."

You might not like it if: State of Play has a brilliant script, a well-paced plot, non-gimmicky twists, fully developed characters, a sustained momentum of suspense, and a fantastic cast (John Simm, David Morrissey, Kelly Macdonald, Bill Nighy, Deborah Findlay, James McAvoy, Polly Walker). I don't know what else you could want. Seriously, right now the only negative review on Amazon is someone complaining about the swearing.

How to get it: Go for the original British miniseries (2003) and not the U.S. movie version (2009). I mean, watch the movie later if you want, but please start with this.

Connection to previous Wreckage: Creator Paul Abbott definitely has his favorite actors. He gives James McAvoy a scene-stealing part here, and a year later used him again in the marvelous Shameless (Rec. #14). Also, I consider my favorite episode from Shameless (episode 1.4) "the State of Play episode."

[Originally posted 4/14/11.]

Rec. #221: Middlemarch

What: George Eliot's Middlemarch is a "classic." Generally speaking, that usually implies that it is a British novel, it is from the mid-nineteenth century, it is roughly 800 pages long, tragic things happen in it, and sometimes people are very, very smug about reading it. This is all true.

But! It's also very modern and biting and relatable and even funny. I can't explain how George Eliot came to know everything there is to know about life, but she did.

Comparable to: Other long British books from the mid-nineteenth century that seem intimidating until you actually start to read them. 

Opening lines: "Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress."

Representative quote: "Sane people did what their neighbours did, so that if any lunatics were at large, one might know and avoid them."

You might not like it if: "Ugh, that seems like something for school, I can't, I can't, I don't believe you, I just can't, I can't bear to."

How to get it: Public domain! It is all over the place. There's even a Coralie Bickford-Smith edition of it.

Connections to previous Wreckage: I previously mentioned Middlemarch during Personal Wreck Week (List #3).

You can continue the British mid-nineteenth-century novel kick with Elizabeth Gaskell (Mary Barton was Rec. #57) and Charles Dickens (Our Mutual Friend was Rec. #88).

Friday Flashback: Rec. #106: The Hudsucker Proxy

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: With The Hudsucker Proxy, the Coen brothers indulge in their fondness for mid-twentieth-century rat-a-tat. The film stars Tim Robbins in his blank-faced geniality mode, Jennifer Jason Leigh using her "1940s dame" accent, and Paul Newman grinning wickedly around a cigar. Robbins is Norville Barnes, a mailroom schmuck who becomes a company president as part of a stock market swindle in 1958. Leigh is a Stanwyck-esque reporter working undercover. Newman is the bad guy whose plans go awry when Norville gets ideas. I miss Paul Newman.

Comparable to: A Capra/Sturges/Wilder mix, in a very wink-wink nudge-nudge sort of way.

Representative quote: "Finally there would be a thingamajig that would bring everyone together, even if it keeps them apart spatially."

You might not like it if: You've sworn off of all Coen brothers films that don't include Frances McDormand.

How to get it: You can watch it instantly on Netflix or Amazon. Or you can get the disc.

[Originally posted 4/17/11.]

Availability note: Not currently available to watch instantly on Netflix.

Friday [er, Sunday] Flashback: Rec. #96: Zuleika Dobson

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Max Beerbohm, otherwise known as "the incomparable Max," was a satirist and caricaturist of the early twentieth century, and Zuleika Dobson is one of his most delightful creations. The premise: A young, beautiful woman arrives at the all-male Oxford campus and wreaks havoc. By "havoc," I mean that all the undergraduates fall in love with her at first sight and end up taking drastic measures to prove their devotion. Very drastic.

Comparable to: As if Rose Macaulay and Jerome K. Jerome teamed up to re-imagine Chronicle of a Death Foretold with some visual inspiration from Edward Gorey.

Representative quote: "The Duke had an intense horror of unmarried girls. All his vacations were spent eluding them and their chaperons. That he should be confronted with one of them in Oxford seemed to him sheer violation of sanctuary."

You might not like it if: The payoff of the satire is a little too macabre for you. Or maybe the path to the payoff is too flowery (remember it's a satire).

How to get it: Not only is it in print, it's also in the public domain. (Hint: That means you can download it to your Kindle for free.)

Connections to previous Wreckage: Not quite sure what I'm on about, with my "Rose Macaulay"s, my "Jerome K. Jerome"s, and my "Chronicle of a Death Foretold"s? Crewe Train, by Rose Macaulay, was Rec. #84. Rec. #64 was Chronicle of a Death Foretold. We haven't gotten to Mr. Jerome yet, but we will.

[Originally posted 4/5/11.]

Also: We have gotten to Mr. Jerome now. His book Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) was Rec. #208.

Friday Flashback: Rec. #110: Green Wing, series 1

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Green Wing is a British sitcom that's set in a hospital but, thank goodness, there are no medical story lines. And no visible patients. Instead, the show focuses on the personal lives of the staff, including hapless Caroline, smarmy Guy, unflappable Mac, perky Angela, hopeless Martin, and possibly sociopathic Sue.

Comparable to: The above picture is the first series DVD cover, but the image below will give you a better idea of the show's forays into vaguely surrealistic slapstick:

Representative quote: "Join us again for next week's episode of Let's Make No Fucking Sense, when I will be waxing an owl."

You might not like it if: You want fictional doctors to be intelligent, responsible, compassionate individuals who are primarily concerned with the welfare of their patients.

How to get it: The bad news is that the DVD is only available on region 2 format (unplayable on most U.S. players). The good news is that you can watch Green Wing online through IMDb and Hulu.

Connection to previous Wreckage: One of the main characters, Caroline, is played by Tamsin Greig. She has experience playing hapless from her role as Fran on Black Books (Rec. #68).

[Originally posted 4/23/11.]