Here’s a brief heads up about some movies that are about to be released in the next few weeks, on Blu-Ray or DVD. Hopefully we’ll see if we can do this on a regular basis.
TODAY: 127 Hours is being shipped today by Netflix — with a stunning performance by Mockingbird favorite (Freaks and Geeks) James Franco.
APRIL 5: The last season of Friday Night Lights. DZ and others say it is amazing. Put it at the top of your queue now.
ALSO ON APRIL 5: I was elated to hear that Taxi Driver, one of the great movies of the amazingly fertile period of the 1970s, is being remastered and released on Blu-Ray. A haunting aching portrayal of loneliness and the need for love; and inner violence, self-assertion, and identity. The music is not to be missed: read this Slate piece on Bernard Herrman’s last great work. I have been on the phone with Netflix and they say they will be getting it, but perhaps not in time for the April 5 release. (Note that the current Taxi Driver entry at NetFlix is not the Blu-Ray version — wait for the real deal!)
A hidden treasure on the TD Blu-Ray may turn out to be the 21-minute featurette “God’s Lonely Man,” which examines how the theme of loneliness dominates the film, and where Paul Schrader discusses the personal hardships that led him to write the screenplay during a two-week stay in an ex-girlfriend’s empty apartment in Los Angeles.
APRIL 12: Marwencol. I haven’t had such a good feeling about a movie I have not yet seen in a long time. I predict that this sweet and tender documentary will become an MB classic. After a terrible beating left Mark Hogancamp brain damaged, he began creating models of a fictional town, Marwencol, to process the trauma. Jeff Malmberg’s documentary explains how Hogancamp uses the elaborate dioramas as stand-ins for real life. When Hogancamp’s work attracts the attention of a prestigious New York art gallery, however, he’s forced to leave the safety of his make-believe world and reconnect with the real one.
And isn’t the poster artwork fabulous?
PS. As always, note that MB film recommendations should be seen with caution. 127 Hours and Taxi Driver both containing violent and disturbing material. So does life, btw.
COMMENTS
3 responses to “Netflix Horizon”
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If I recall correctly, the Marwencol story was first covered on (the wonderful) This American Life. It will be interesting to see how the art world treats this guy.
Best P.S. EVER…
"So does life, BTW."
…Classic!
You talkin to ME?
I LOVE that movie. To think now he's doing Meet the Fo*********** reruns!
When you are old, Hollywood had no use for you.
Cheers.