#100 - Netflix movies

Before I dive into my list - a bit of a news update: During the month of July I caught a bout of unemployment but as of August 10th I am feeling much better. I'll have more to say later about my 49 days without cash flow and how it has affected this list. In one positive note, it freed me up to watch more movies! So here is the recap of the movies I've watched from Netflix since Wendy & Lucy and The Player.

1) There Will Be Blood (Oscar) - Every time I drink a milkshake I will think of this movie.
2) Million Dollar Baby (Oscar) - Every time I am getting beat up by a girl I will think of this movie.
3) Borat - Oh, yes - very nice. I can't believe Sasha Baron Cohen isn't still in jail for some of this.
4) The Fog of War - Brilliant documentary about Robert McNamara - Secretary of Defense during most of the Sixties.
5) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Oscar) - I do love Jack Nicholson in the 1970s.
6) I.O.U.S.A. - Man, and I thought I was in debt. I'm running for President in 2016 on the "America Needs a Buffer" platform.
7) Rebel Without a Cause - "You were just too cool for school. Sock hop, soda pop, basketball and auto shop, The only thing that got you off was breakin' all the rules." To quote the Eagles.
8) 8 Mile - Sucked to be Eminem before he was Eminem.
9) Nowhere in Africa (Foreign) - Jewish family flees Germany for Africa during the 30s. Very nice film about all three of them (mother, father, daughter) adapting to their new environment. Each has their own story arc, own issues to deal with, and own failings as people. Felt very real and was very engrossing.
10) Sunset Boulevard - "There's nothing tragic about being fifty. Not unless you're trying to be twenty-five." So true.
11) Inglorious Bastards (the 1970s' original - not the new Tarantino) - While definitely a B-movie, there was enough there that I was hoping Quentin would just update it and make it better. But he went off in his own direction, so other than title the two movies bear no resemblance. Honestly I was disappointed in the newer version.
12) Rope - Interestingly shot. Bit dated like most Hitchcock is now. But like Psycho able to be appreciated as an art form.
13) Capote (Oscar) - Philip Seymour Hoffman has come a long way from being the fat guy in Boogie Nights.
14) Children of Heaven (Foreign) - A really cute Persian (Iranian) film about two little kids in Tehran who lose a pair of shoes and fearing parental reprisal devise various methods to avoid getting caught.
15) Sexy Beast - A weird and violent movie starring Ben Kingsley. It is odd hearing Gandhi drop an f-bomb every couple of minutes.
16) Walk the Line (Oscar) - I love Johnny Cash. For my next 101 list I am going to shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die. Or perhaps I'll just read his autobiography for one of my non-fictions. Haven't decided yet.
17) The House Bunny - Completely generic and formulaic, not terribly funny either.
18) The Bicycle Thief (Foreign) - Very powerful movie. I could kind of relate while watching this during my unemployment. Obviously the main character was much worse off than I was. But it is interesting to meditate that morality is occasionally an unaffordable luxury.
19) The Full Monty - Another, by coincidence, unemployment movie. Though in this case dignity is the unaffordable luxury.
20) Dog Day Afternoon - Pacino at the top of his game.
21) Schindler's List (Oscar)- I can't think of anything to say about this movie that doesn't sound trite considering the subject matter. Just it is worth the time and emotional investment.
22) Rabbit-Proof Fence - Being from Australia this could be considered a not from Hollywood film but since I am on track with #97, I'll choose not to count it. So I guess the new rule for #97 is subtitles. Though I did have the subtitles on for The Full Monty due to accent difficulties, but there is a difference. For the film itself, it is a good movie, about the 1930s paternalistic policy of removing half-Aboriginal children from their families and integrating them into white society. Three of those children escape and walk the 1500 miles back to their home.
23) The Good Thief - Good performance by Nick Nolte.
24) Black Hawk Down - I'd last about 3 seconds in combat. Provided I got a 2 second head start.
25) The English Patient (Oscar) - Very slow to get going, but it picked up about an hour in.
26) K-19: The Widowmaker - speaking of accent difficulties see Harrison Ford as an occasionally Russian submarine captain.
27) The Cider House Rules - Michael Caine is always good. The movie does kind of meander.
28) To Kill a Mockingbird (Oscar) - Although Gregory Peck creates a great character as Atticus Finch, something about this movie bugged me, and Roger Ebert helped me put my finger on it. It is so paternalistic towards African-Americans. It displays them as completely passive, even when Bob Ewell, who falsely accused Tom Robinson of rape, comes up to the Robinson house. Just as Atticus is telling Robinson's wife that Tom was killed while escaping prison, Ewell tries to start a fight with Atticus. The 10 or so black men gathered on the porch simply stand there. I don't know that would happen, even in 1932 Alabama. But anyway, I think the movie reflects an early 1960s idea of the white liberal helping the black man to advance, but on the timetable of the white liberal. See Rabbit-Proof Fence above for where this concept leads. To quote Dr. King: "Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."

Now before I get unwarranted credit for having the appropriate Dr. King quote at my fingertips, I will admit that by coincidence I just read Letter From Birmingham City Jail today. Just happened to be reprinted on a blog I frequent. It is beautiful. I think I might start a task to annually re-read important documents. Like the Declaration of Independence, Letter..., etc. Any suggestions?

So, those are the movies. I haven't updated the total with Cool Hand Luke, Wendy and Lucy, or The Player so adding the above and those 3 gives us a grand total to date of 51.

My goal is 600, and I am 200 days into the project - so I am at half of my required pace. Which is a bit of an ice bath. But I knew 600 was a big goal. And a bit unrealistic. But I'm not going to revise it yet. I want to see what the next 100 days bring. I unplugged my cable TV and have been TV free for about 3 or 4 weeks now. And so I'm relying on Netflix as my primary form of entertainment. Meaning the movies have been going in and out more regularly. I've dropped my cost per disc down to $1.76 apiece (for the last 3 months). This is according to feedfliks.com. I think this is the important metric for #100. And why I put it on the list in the first place, because I wasn't getting my money's worth. Now I feel I am.