Diamonds in the Netflix Queue

When I was first unemployed ( a problem I have since remedied and is the reason why my blog posts come in fits and starts)  one of my favorite things to do was to go through my Netflix Instant Watch and find a movie that I have never heard of and watch it. Sometimes it was good and sometimes I was so bored that it helped my insomniac head sleep. Then I met a girl who could keep me up nights talking and doing other less blog friendly things and that past time went away a bit. Oh sure when she broke my heart (a problem I have not remedied and don't see being remedied unless she has a change of heart), I went back to my old mistress the strange...movies. I loved watching independent and smart thrillers, cheesy comedies, splattery horror and even a documentary or two. Nothing like A Inconvenient Truth or something worthwhile like Super Size Me. No I went for the Paul McCartney Really is Dead and The Iceman Interviews. Through it all I found a certain joy in looking at a movie I had not heard about and seeing if it was worth it. 99 percent of Independent movies fall into the horrible/pretentious category. Yet there are always a few diamonds in the rough that just got lost in the hustle and flow of the movie business. I'd like to review the latest batch of movies that I watched. Not all of them are good but maybe by giving a good review to some, you will go see them and perhaps by telling you which belong as a way to help the insomniac find slumber. So here are a few movies you should see...and one I just couldn't get into.

Mystery Team

Donald Glover stars as the leader of a Hardy Boys/Encyclopedia Brown group of junior detectives that run around and solve mysteries in their small idyllic town. When the kids were still children, the town hailed them as heroes. Now as they near graduation, their obsession with who stuck their finger in Mrs. McGillicuty's  pie seems childish and sad. This movie is a study in delayed adolescence. The Mystery Team consists of Jason, the Master of Disguise who is rarely disguised. Duncan, The Boy Genius, who memorized a book of random facts as a child. The Last member of the Mystery Team is Charlie, the strongest kid on the school yard. Jason believes that the Mystery Team really just needs one big case to break them out of funk they've been. That is when a double murder happens down the block and the 10 year old daughter of the murder victims pays the Mystery Team their 10 cent fee to find the ring the murderers stole. It leads the Mystery Team on an adventure unlike anything they've ever seen. This movie is funny, smart and takes itself seriously. There is a good mystery, a good adventure, and it awakens the old memories of running around as child trying to solve big crimes. Was I the only one who did that? Donald Glover is great as a man-child awakening to the world around him, Ellie Kemper is fabulous in a small role ( I keep waiting for her breakout performance to come) and Aubrey Plaza is great as the daughter of the murder victims just trying to keep her family from falling apart. The Mystery Team is one of those fun, joyful "R" rated comedies that makes the inner kid in you feel good, in a non catholic priest kind of way. 

Mr. Unhappy sez: The Hardy Boys meets American Pie... except with far more subtle comedy. It may not be for everyone but if you don't get it you need a funny transplant.

8213 Gacy House

I've been on a found footage bender and I don't see me getting off anytime soon. Gacy House is one of those movies that is so bad it is probably good. A group of paranormal investigators go to John Wayne Gacy's house to awaken the spirit of the clown dressed serial killer. In typical shaky cam fashion you are thrown for a loop as the investigators are. Cameras are knocked down, people get hit by an unnatural force and one screamy girl looses her shit and needs to go out to the van to get away.The ghost predictably does not allow her to escape his wrath in the back of a van all by her lonesome. It was as though I was watching a Friday The 13th movie where everyone pairs up and then proceeds to wander off alone to be picked off like the sad little cattle they are. There is literally a scene where two of the "investigators" take time off to have sex in one of the rooms where the cameras went down. Come on kids, watch a horror movie once and awhile. I like these kinds of movies because while you can be scared, you are mostly just frustrated by the teenagers inability to recognize danger. 8213 Gacy house takes the kind building atmospheric fear of the found footage movie and adds the yelling at the screen anger of a slasher movie. Don't go into this movie expecting the Citizen Kane of horror movies and just enjoy the ride. Gacy House has enough scares and enough fun to make it worth your while.

Mr. Unhappy sez: If I'm ever hanging out in a serial killers house, I'd try not to piss off the serial killers ghost....but that's just me.

Paranormal Incident

The great thing about Netflix is that when you watch a horrible horror movie, when the credits start, you get directed to "Other films you may enjoy". This is what happened here. Gacy House ended and up pops the above poster of a buxom beauty pressing her chest to a window and it says Paranormal Incident. This is not to be confused with Paranormal Activity or Paranormal Entity or ParaNorman or Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Nights. Those movies are completely similar...with the exception of ParaNorman. This movie is about a group of paranormal investigator college students who go to the haunted Odenbrook Sanitarium to poke at the ghosts of mental patients. Seems like a good idea. The movie is told in flashback through found footage. There is just one survivor after the weekend at the sanitarium and he is pleading his case that he did not kill his friends. He locked them in the sanitarium and he went back in and tried to scare them but it was the ghosts that killed his friends. The fun in this movie comes quite unexpectedly by the explanation that the movie was filmed over the home movies of one of the characters. So brief moments of what was previously recorded (a sex romp with one of the other students) keeps popping up throughout. It would be the most frustrating porn to watch as it is intermixed with moments of the students doing the school project. I wonder what their professor would have thought if he had been able to watch their final project film. The ending to the movie takes a bit of a u-turn and then you wonder exactly what is going on but you don't really care. I can't say this is a gem but it is entertaining. It only received a 2.5 out of 10 stars on IMDB but that seems a bit harsh for me. To quote Method Man from Garden State "Who here just saw some titties?!" So calm down and stop being so damned critical.

Mr. Unhappy sez: Can we just say that none of us is going to go to a sanitarium and poke at ghosts with sticks? Can we?

Primer

I was listening to Smodcast the other week and Kevin Smith was interviewing Rian Johnson. He is the director of The Brothers Bloom, Brick and Looper. All great movies and the stories he tells are always interesting. So when he mentioned to Kevin that he should see the movie Primer, I was up for the adventure. Primer is a time travel adventure about two guys who accidentally make a time machine and begin going forward in time to make money. Unfortunately the movie is bogged down in a endless mire of talking moments about what the box does in the most technical terms possible. I read a article on the movie that explained that the director did not want to dumb down the movie for the audience. To that I say, mission accomplished. I only got 45 minutes into it and still the only thing that appears to have gone back in time is a Russian nesting doll. Good lord it was an exercise in staying awake during this movie. I didn't understand half of the jargon and science in the movie but that has never been my strong point. They did mention something to the effect of what the machine Ben Affleck made in Paycheck did but I don't know I just couldn't get into it. Maybe it was too cerebral for me. So if you want to test your intelligence and understanding of physics by all means, see Primer. I just didn't get it, I might revisit it to see if it gets better as time goes along. It just bored me. That happens. You can't win them all.

Mr. Unhappy sez: Primer made me feel stupid. Fuck Primer. Just kidding, Rian Johnson liked it...maybe you will too. I'd just prefer to watch Brick or Looper instead. 

Amber Lake

Amber Lake is an interesting story. It starts with the discovery of a body out on Amber Lake. The body is of a psychologist who had initiated a reunion with his 3 estranged daughters, all named Amber. The question of guilt is quite obviously one of the Ambers. Thus begins the telling of three versions of events the day before. There was definitely an incident in town but what happened after the "family" returned to the cabin on Amber Lake. All of the stories are similar but cast a shadow of doubt on a different sister. The town Sheriff is tasked with figuring out who did the deed and arrest the killer. It is a bit of the mystery but by midway through the movie I had a decent understanding of what happened. The final twist because in a movie like this, there has to be a twist, is exciting and unexpected, at least for me but we've already shown with Primer that I am an idiot. I liked the movie because it was quick and interesting. While the story often retold parts you've already seen, I was never bored with the repetition. The Ambers were especially fascinating. Each girl grew up with a different psychological problem. I thought that each Amber may have been the Id, Ego and Superego of one Amber. Maybe that was the initial intent. Yet this movie surprised me and kept me interested. I never hovered over the pause button to turn the movie off as I am know to do when doing an experimental watch. For me, that might as well have been a 4 out of 5 star review.

Mr. Unhappy Sez: The Ambers stories are often sad but the tales told are very bold.

I cannot say that I am a great judge of movies. In fact, some of you would probably say that I am a bit of a idiot when it comes to this stuff. I have a love of movies though. If a movie can keep me watching and entertain me, depress me, make me laugh, or make me cry, I will recommend them to you. Check them out for yourself. They are, at the very least, interesting for a boring rainy day watch.