Sick flicks

Summer viewing tips for the bed-bound Netflix watcher

I’m sick at the onset of summer, but it’s OK. I’ll live. And I’ll spare you the gory details. But whatever God(s?) I pissed off has been having a lot of sadistic fun at the expense of this puny mortal. Or perhaps someone made a voodoo doll of me? No idea.

The only real upside is easy access to my remote control and my Netflix queue. Not to undersell that occasional, soothing rainstorm, but if it weren’t for the great movies there (and a couple of solid series), I’d probably have been Googling how to self-induce a coma by now. Though my ills did get me out of seeing “Transformers: Age of Extinction.” So there’s that.

Here’s what you should see if you’re in similar straits.

“World War Z” // No single mega-budget adaptation of Max Brooks’ incredible novel was ever going to capture the vast array of narratives that make up the “oral History of the Zombie War,” and thankfully this one doesn’t really try. Brad Pitt portrays a U.N. envoy who hops around the globe looking for “patient zero” in the hopes of creating a vaccine to protect the living against billions of ravenous undead. The action set pieces are exciting, certain sequences (like Newark) build a surprising amount of tension, and the scope looks grand. The end doesn’t really stick the landing but, considering the film’s legendary production problems, it’s a miracle this thing turned out well. The unrated cut only adds the digital blood and a couple of slightly gorier shots that were conspicuously absent from the almost-bloodless theatrical version. Either way, it’s a unique zombie film, if nothing else, and is completely worth your time. Though you should read the book if you haven’t yet. It’s great.  

“Never Sleep Again” // This expansive documentary (it runs about four hours) is pretty much the definitive word on everything you wanted know about the “Nightmare on Elm Street” films. The documentary largely leans on interviews with many of the principals, from directors Wes Craven and Renny Harlin and producer Bob Shaye, along with stars Robert Englund and Tulsa native Heather Langenkamp, all the way to the background characters and some now-legendary SFX artists. “Never Sleep Again” also charts the rise and fall of New Line Films, which found its first real success with “Elm Street” as a parallel to the slew of sequels that the studio pumped out to build on the success of Freddy Krueger. It’s frank (the films get picked apart, sometimes viciously, for their many sins), funny, and an entertaining and compelling look at the filmmakers behind the curtain. A must for fans.

“The Long Goodbye” // You have a great movie you’ve been meaning to watch that’s been sitting in your queue for three-and-a-half years. One day, you’ll get around to it. This one was mine: Robert Altman’s near perfect (and so Altman) 1973 adaptation of the eponymous Raymond Chandler crime-noir novel, and its gumshoe detective, anti-hero Philip Marlowe. Hired to clear a friend of a murder, Marlowe finds nothing is as it seems in gritty Los Angeles. Obviously. The easy grace of Altman’s direction of Leigh Brackett’s superb script is masterfully assured, and the role of Marlowe is wonderfully embodied by a simmering Elliott Gould. I never knew the guy could be that cool. It looks beautiful, it’s bleakly noir, and it wraps you up in its cinematic tendrils almost instantly. “The Long Goodbye” is a great example of Altman being one of the most formidably badass directors during my favorite era of filmmaking, the American New Wave.     ` 

“House of the Devil” // Director Ti West has a lot of detractors in the horror film community. But after our own Josh Kline confirmed a mutual friend’s recommendation, I gave his third film, “House of the Devil,” a shot. I’m glad I did. Released in 2009, the movie, which follows a babysitter who takes a job for a weird, old couple (Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov!), at a creepy house in the woods on the night of a lunar eclipse, was shot on 16mm and genuinely looks like it was made in 1982. Some critics call it a gimmick. I call it a well-done homage to the look and tropes of grindhouse horror movies, made on a tiny budget, that gets the “gimmick” far better than “Grindhouse” did for millions more. Slow-burning fun.

“Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction” // This thoughtful, nearly hypnotic documentary is a rare look inside the well-loved character actors life and work. Turns out Stanton’s famously world-weary mug isn’t an act, as he recounts his hard-fought successes in the film and music world (turns out he’s quite the crooner) and his life behind the camera—he’s still kind of heartbroken that Rebecca De Mornay left him for Tom Cruise during the filming of “Risky Business”—and what keeps him ticking now that old age is finally upon him. Great interviews with David Lynch and others who’ve worked with Stanton seal the deal on an already brilliant and satisfying film. 
 

“Pain & Gain” // OK, I didn’t see the new “Transformers,” but I don’t have to in order to tell you why Michael Bay’s true-crime tale is better. First, it’s not “Transformers.” It’s a Michael Bay movie without robots punching the shit out of humanity. Well, mostly. Mark Wahlberg portrays a real-life, body-building, dim-witted con artist who teams up with a pious ex-convict (The Rock) to extort a fortune from a Miami tycoon played by Tony Shalhoub. The cast has a fine chemistry and Bay manages to balance the comedic tone evenly enough with the violent drama of the story. Not a masterwork (expect maybe for Bay), but it got some laughs out of me and was quite a bit of fun to watch. And wince at.   

“Louie” // Louis C.K. is a God (maybe I’m sick because I pissed him off?), so if you love marathons full of sublime greatness then this is the way to go. Funny, weird, profane, avant garde, and often flat-out inspired, “Louie” defies synopsis other than to say the TV series seems like a thinly veiled transposition of the comedian’s real life, embellished by the aforementioned flourishes of awesome. The first three seasons are up and if you’ve never seen them before, I pity you. Can’t recommend this one enough.

“The Writer’s Room” // This writer geeks’ series hosted by “Community” star Jim Rash gets in-depth with the scripting teams behind many of television’s most successful shows, most notably “Game of Thrones” and “Breaking Bad.” Fascinating stuff for fans that is lively for everyone else due to Rash’s infectious enthusiasm and smart interviews. 

“Night of the Creeps” // Fred Dekker’s B-movie, drive-in cult classic is still a straight-up blast almost thirty years later. Aliens on a passing ship inadvertently jettison a canister holding a dangerous experiment: wriggling space worms that turn humans into parasitic zombies. It’s up to Rusty from “National Lampoons’ Vacation” (as a whimpy college kid) and the legendary Tom Atkins as a crazed, burned-out detective to stop the interstellar plague. Endlessly quotable lines, cheeky nods to tons of horror films, and the game and funny cast are among the many charms that make this ‘80s gem endlessly re-watchable. “Thrill me.”

“The Station Agent” // This one’s for “Game of Thrones” fans who always wondered what Lord Tyrion was up to before the whole Westeros thing. Peter Dinklage is quietly loco for locomotives as Fin, a dwarf who loses his job at a camera shop when the owner dies. He decides to move into an abandoned train depot in New Jersey that his boss left him in his will, where Fin’s presence sparks immediate interest from the locals. The prickly Fin eventually succumbs to Bobby Cannavale’s fast-talking Joe, a food-truck owner who parks out in the middle of nowhere for some damn reason, and eventually to Olivia (Patricia Clarkson), a broken artist coming to grips with the death of her son. The film beautifully balances its naturalistic humor and drama with adeptness, and the performances from the main cast are distinct and expertly realized. It’s a warmly genuine film that you won’t forget once you’ve seen it. So, go do that. Like now.
I’ll be right here.