Professor Elam

Monday April 7, 2014

Yep Netflix opens up lots of 'free movies' to view. The problem is figuring out which ones are worth your time. I have found a few of note and am passing them on for what it is worth. 

The only French Movie I ever Understood was 

Finally after a multi-decade wait, I found another one. The Prey is an awkward title but a great movie. If you were a fan of The Fugitive or U S Marshall, this is pretty much the same plot. IN this one Alice Taglioni plays the Detective. And yes it is in subtitles which takes away nothing from the film. 

Everyone wants to win the  lottery but lots of lottery winners have sad stories on the eventual outcome. The same is true for our next two similarly themed films. Route 9 features a couple of hapless county deputy sheriffs out looking for a stray dog when they happen on a drug bust gone bad, with a handy bag of money. Keep the money, lay low, and look forward to good times, right, what could go wrong?  And like The Prey, we have a sharp female detective played by always intriguing Roma Mafrfia. 

A similar plot is at the heart of A Simple Plan.  I am puzzled by the much higher rating for Plan over Route 9 the latter is easily as well written. Both films focus on ethical behavior by the way. In this one the locals happen on a crashed plane, yep, carrying a bag of money, what could go wrong, it's a simple plan, right?

A Fork in the Road like The Prey features an escaped convict.But this one despite the murders is played for laughs. I suspect it earns the low rating due to 15 minutes in the very middle of the film which should have been edited out. The characters are just doing nothing, you will see what I mean. But once it gets going again, the fun begins. 

The Way Back released in 2010 is not a comedy. For those of you with complaining teenagers, or anyone else you meet who is complaining about life, here is a reality check. A handful of prisoners escape a WW II Soviet Gulag, later joined by a young gir. Now all they have to do is trek acorss the Gobi Desert to Freedom. And then across the Himalyas, based on a  true story. 

If you have not seen a live version of the Tuna Series, the movie version of Sordid Lives is pretty close. The story takes place in 24 hours in Snyder, Texas after Mom's death. As the relatives gather we learn more and more about the family secrets which leads to one hilariopus encounter after another. Delta Burke, Olivia Newton John in a surprise role, Bonnie Bedelia (who has never quite achieved the fame she deserves) and Beau Bridges. The scene  between Bubba Owens and the government female shrink at the Big Springs Hospital where Bubba has been doing Tammy Wynette impressions for the patients and the shrink is trying to get on Oprah is not to be missed. 

Greater Tuna is not free on Netflix. But it is the cinema version of the long running Austin play about the third smallest town in Texas Two guys play all the roles leading to =equels Red White and Blue Tuna (Fourth of July) and Tuna Christmas. You have to have lived in small town Texas to reall appreciate the humor but any native Texan will recognize folks we know and love. Look for live performances during holidays in Austin, TX.