Christopher Nolan
Mark Duplass, who stars as Pete in The League, recommends Netflix picks on his Twitter account on a fairly regular basis. Tonight he pointed to the first feature by Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception), Following. That got me wondering what other Nolan films were available for streaming, so here’s a Nolan Mini-Mega-Post featuring Following, Memento, & Insomnia.
Following, uh, follows a young writer with a penchant for stalking. He falls in with another stalky type, and they get into some trouble. The black and white, noir-style photography suits the subject matter well. Remarkably, Nolan made this movie over the course of a year, filming on weekends, for a ridiculously low budget.
Memento follows Leonard, who has lost his ability to retain short-term memories and has to piece his existence together out of clues he’s left himself via Polaroid pictures. Kind of like Dana Carvey in Clean Slate except, you know, not terrible. Is is one of those movies that you can’t watch the same way the second time, like The Usual Suspects or Fight Club, so if you’re watching it with someone who hasn’t seen it, don’t be a jerk and ruin it for them.
Insomnia is a remake of a foreign film staring Al Pacino and Robin Williams. But, despite all of that, it still has a 92 on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s not my favorite Nolan film, but it’s definitely Queue Worthy. Besides, what else are you going to do when every channel on your TV is showing football?
Super Troopers
Super Troopers is an absolute classic of the stoner comedy genre. Either you’ve seen it and you love it or you haven’t and you’ll hate it. Meow,* maybe you like it, but not so much that you want a DVD of it sitting around your house for your parents to find and try to watch while everyone’s over for Christmas. Fortunately for you, it’s on Netflix Instant!
*You’ve either seen it and you get it, or you think this site took a really weird turn.
Criminal
John C. Reilly can be a bit hit or miss in staring roles—you either like his shtick in movies like Walk Hard and Step Brothers or you don’t, and his independent films can as dark as his comedies are broad. But one thing Reilly has nailed is the likably unlikable character.
If you’re tired of criminals with hearts of gold (Oceans 11, Italian Job, etc.), then Criminal might be just the movie for you. Without giving too much away, I’ll say that you keep waiting for Reilly to do the right thing, but you’re not really disappointed when he doesn’t (he is a con man, after all).
Also, if you prefer Maggie Gyllenhaal in roles that lean more towards sexy than quirky Crminal is a good flick to check out.
