Comedy Icons

A Piece of Work - A very interesting biography on Joan Rivers, who seems to be the hardest working woman in showbiz at 75.

George Carlin - A load of George Carlin concert films are now instantly watchable - including Carlin on Campus, Carlin at Carnegie, and What Am I Doing in New Jersey?

Shutter Island

Shutter Island - Recent and decent, I liked this psychological thriller by Martin Scorsese.  You're better off going in knowing as little as possible about this movie (unless you've already heard too much!)

Vampires around the world

Some bloodthirsty flix with international flair...

Let the Right One In - this movie is the anti-Twilight, but not for the faint of heart.

Cronos - Guillermo del Toro's directorial debut. Co-stars Ron Perlman.

Thirst - from the director of Oldboy.

Demon Spawn Classics

Rosemary's Baby - Just added to instant watch, this creepy classic was directed by Roman Polanski, and stars Mia Farrow. Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer co-star as the worst neighbors ever.

The Omen - Another adventure in paranormal parental missteps, this has been remade in recent years, but you're probably better off sticking with the original.

It's Alive - I have to admit, I've never seen this one, but I needed a third and it seemed to fit...

I'm Still here

Finally saw this and liked it.  Interesting how JP and crew got the media to make half their movie for them, but I think it works as a profile (fauxfile?) of modern stardom.  Way more bodily functions than I usually like to see in a movie, and those aren't even the most gut wrenching parts.  If I'd seen this movie when there was still some question on whether or not it was a hoax I might not have liked it, but knowing that going in, I found myself laughing a lot at the flagrant assholery on display.

[An interesting footnote, for after you see the movie]

100 Best Movie Lines in 200 Seconds

Kids Movies

Some decent choices for the kids to watch during the holiday break:

Land Before Time

Iron Giant

Secret of the Kells

Valhalla Rising

About as slow and meditative as a movie about Vikings and Crusaders can be.  Not a lot of dialogue,  some brutal action, but if you like your swords and sandals decent, dark and thought-provoking, you may like this.

Bubble

A slow, strange experiment of a movie, from Steven Soderbergh.  I found it oddly watchable, but your mileage may vary.  A decent, lo-def look at the dark corners of mundanity.

Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him?)

 This is a more than decent documentary on an underrated singer/songwriter. If you're like me, you'll find yourself being amazed at how many songs that you've liked over the years were from this guy!

Mother

For a Korean thriller, this is a great Greek tragedy. A decent twisted-thriller-mystery that I liked a lot.

Centurion

Are you entertained!?  This is an entirely decent swords and sandals action flick. Mostly a chase movie, there are lots of battle scenes, and they keep the fake blood effect toned down for the most part. There's some concessions to convention (a love interest, really?) and I'm sure some historical inaccuracies, but if that won't bother you then you might just enjoy this flick.

A Prophet

This is a gritty, violent coming of age tale, GoodFellas meets Oz with subtitles, only decent.