Netflix Instant Recommendation #1: The Fall

This is the first in a new series of movie reviews where I recommend some of my favorite films and TV shows that are available to watch instantly on Netflix.

"It was the natural order of things."

I should probably start with my favorite film, Tarsem's The Fall. I briefly mentioned this film before in my post "Life is Bigger Than You and You are Not Me." You probably have a movie like this, it is one of your favorites, but it seems like no one else has ever heard of it. You recommend it to people, but you are not able to explain it very well and they usually don't take your advice. When they do watch it, however, they LOVE it! Every time I lend it to someone who wants to watch it, they end up lending it to someone they know AND buying their own copy.

The Fall stars Lee Pace (from "Pushing Daisies") as Roy, an injured stuntman in the early days of Hollywood. Although he cannot walk, it's really his heart that is broken. He meets a girl in the hospital named Alexandria and begins to tell her a story. From that point on, the film switches between the scenes in the hospital and those where Alexandria pictures the story told by Roy.

One thing that makes this film so amazing is the visuals and the locations (OK, that was TWO things). Director Tarsem Sighn (perhaps best known for directing REM's music video "Losing My Religion") spent years taking jobs directing commericals around the world in order to finance this film, scout locations, and make connections. Just look at some of these stills:

This is by far one of the best little hidden gems available instantly on Netflix. Watch it at night, in the dark, cuddled up under a blanket with some popcorn - it will not disappoint.

If you enjoyed this film (or not) feel free to leave comments!

Here is the official website for the film and here is the IMDB and the Wikipedia page, for more information.

Netflix Streaming on Your Wii

I have a Nintendo Wii. I have Netflix. Soon I will be able to stream Netflix movies instantly via my Wii. That will be pretty cool.

Here's an article about it.

And here is the link at Netflix you go to to ask for a disc (you need a disc for it to work). When the discs become available, you will be sent one in a timely fashion. Then get ready to enjoy... um... "Departures" or "Mallrats" or something (There aren't really that many great instant movies).

Speaking of streaming Netflix movies, tonight I'm going to watch "Talk Radio". I've been wanting to read that play for a while, but I can't bring myself to buy a copy because I don't think plays should cost as much as other books when they only take a couple of hours to read. Anyway...

Life is Bigger than You, and You are not Me!

I've probably mentioned before that my favorite movie is director Tarsem's The Fall starring Lee Pace. Before directing movies like The Fall and The Cell, Tarsem was best known as a music video director and a director of television commercials. Critics don't always love his movie work, but his visuals never fail to impress!

This site has gathered together some of his best commericals as YouTube clips for you to watch.

I am including this link of perhaps his most famous music video, REM's "Losing my Religion", (for which he won an MTV Video Award) and this picture from The Fall, which first got me excited to see it:

Now, you do your part and go add The Fall to your Netflix queue!

Top 10 "Coming Soon to Netflix Streaming" Movie Titles that Sound Like Fake Movies from Seinfeld

1. Marco Polo

2. The Girl From Monaco

3. Tears of the Sun

4. The Chaos Experiment

5. Ghost Ship

6. The Other Man

7. Funky Monkey

8. Pandora's Box

9. Smiles of a Summer Night

10. Blood Alley

George: "So are we still on for the movies tonight?"

Kramer: "Yeah, we've got to see that Blood Alley."

Jerry: "Blood Alley? No, we're going to see Marco Polo."

Elaine: "I don't want to see Marco Polo!"

George: "We could see The girl from Monaco..."

Elaine: "George!"

Kramer: "Well, how about Pandora's Box?"

Elaine: "I am NOT going to see Pandora's Box."

Jerry: "Well, let's just see The Chaos Experiment."

Of, course, when they show up, everything is sold out except for "Smiles of a Summer Night" and no one is happy.

To see a list of crappy movies that will be streaming for free on Netflix soon, go here.

Money Saving Tips

Last year my new year's resolution was to save more money. I hope to continue that this year and hopefully add some new money-saving ideas to my routine. Here are a few tips I picked up that you might find useful.

1: Don't go to the movies. I have Netflix. Going to the movies should be something you only do for a special occasion.

2: Don't buy anything from iTunes. If someone asks me what I want as a gift, I can ask for an iTunes gift card! That's not cheating.

3: Bring a lunch to work. Here's an article with some good tips on bringing leftovers and here's a previous post of mine (and a follow-up post) on bento - a cute, fun, and convenient way to bring your own lunch. Also, try making your own (frozen) "fast food". See this article for ideas. Here's another one.

4: Call some of the companies you pay bills to (such as the cable company) and ask them to lower your payments.

5: Cancel your credit card. Then, set up a regular payment every month until you pay it off.

6: Invite friends over. This can cut down on your going out costs, especially if they return the favor by later inviting you over. Play games or watch one of your Netflix rentals!

7: Make a shopping list before you go to the grocery store. Plan out your meals. Make plans with your friends in advance if you are going to go out, so you can plan accordingly. Make sure to plan out what you are going to bring to work for lunch!

8: When you do go out to eat, save half of your food and bring it home. If that breakfast burrito cost you ten dollars, eat half and take the other half home. THEN you can even take the half you took home and stretch that out with some eggs in your fridge to make two or more meals.

9: Ask around at work about job benefits. I found out that people who work where I do can get a discount on their cell phone bill. I just overheard someone talking about it and asked them. I had no idea.

10: Get a separate savings account. Once my debt pay-off plan really kicks in, I'm thinking of getting a separate savings account at an online bank such as ING Direct. The savings account I have right now is so easy to access because it's attached to my checking account. If I put some of my money away elsewhere, where I can only get it if I go online type in my passwords and really arrange a transfer, it won't be so easy or tempting to dip into savings.

Finally, don't make yourself unhappy. It can be depressing to turn down an offer to go out with friends or to go right home after work instead of out shopping. Saving money doesn't have to mean staying alone at home every day doing nothing - find something new to do and do it - even if it costs a little money, it can make you happier which will keep you from going around spending that money or more on other things. I always wanted to take guitar lessons but I thought I couldn't afford a guitar, let alone weekly lessons! Once I invested in a good but cheap guitar and signed up for a $68 beginner course at the local community college, I found a new hobby that makes me happy and that I can now do for free every day. Check out Meetup.com to join a book club or find a free or inexpensive yoga class or just to meet up with some new people who enjoy some of the same things that you do. Give yourself some exciting new things to look forward to, and you won't have time to be sad about saving money!

Top 10 "Middle" Movies of the Decade

I don't know who David Wane is (his blog is apparently titled, "BLOG"), but I like his top ten list of the ten "middle" movies of the decade - movies that were not the best or the worst. :) Here is the list (I have added links to IMDB pages, years, and my own unnecessary snarky comments).

1. Changing Lanes (2002): Ben Affleck and Sam Jackson... change lanes or something.
2. Blue Crush (2002): Hotel maid gives surfing lessons to football player or something.
3. Runaway Jury (Tie with Baby Mama) (2003): A jury runs away from home and then learns a valuable lesson, maybe?
4. Baby Mama (Tie with Runaway Jury) (2008): Everyone loves that Tina Fey, right? Right?
5. 3:10 to Yuma (2007): A psycho outlaw tries to outwit a rancher. One of these characters is played by Christian Bale and the other is Russel Crowe. My question: which one is not the psycho?
6. Music & Lyrics (2007): This movie is pretty cool. Plus, It has that guy from Glee in it.
7. Charlie Wilson's War (2007): This has Tom Hanks in it.
8. The Terminal (2004): So does this.
9. Insomnia (2002) The Robin Williams/Al Pacino flick we had all been waiting for.
10. The Mexican (2001): This is about a gun. I think.

Get those Netflix queues ready fans of mediocrity!

Netflix

Do you have Netflix? These are the top 20 DVDs in my queue right now.

1. Every Little Step (Short Wait)

2. Orphan (releases 10/27/09)

3. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

4. That Hamilton Woman

5. Land of the Lost (Short Wait)

6. Anvil: The Story of Anvil

7. Dexter: Season 3: Disc 3

8. Dexter: Season 3: Disc 4

9. Away We Go

10. The Proposal

11. Grey Gardens

12. Sophie's Choice

13. What Dreams May Come

14. Get Smart

15. Waltz with Bashir

16-20. Big Love: Season 1

I have 142 total. Is that too many?

What's in your queue?