Lazy Sunday Micro Movie Roundup

Last Sunday I sat by the fireplace and indulged in some heavy movie watching on netflicks.

Dark Days: A documentary about people living underground in the subways of New York. It is filmed in black and white and has no narration and minimal narrative structure. Interesting but also a tad dull. You have to read between the lines to get a feel for the people and how they live, nothing is explained, you have to learn by observation. Only at the very end is there any kind of story telling or do any of the subjects reflect much on their lives. I wouldn’t recommend it unless the subject especially interests you.

A Town Called Panic: This is a stop motion animated film in French. It’s a wacky comedy about a cowboy, Indian, and horse which uses cheap plastic toys as its protagonists. Great character work and increasingly imaginative gags kept it funny and engaging start to finish. I was especially taken with the fact that none of the humor was pandering to adult tastes, yet it didn’t seem especially aimed at a child audience either. It hit the perfect sweet spot between innocent and intelligent. Well worth a watch!

Alien Vs Hunter: A Z grade Aliens knock off set in a rural town. Not sure how this got in my instant Que but I had to click on its one star glory. It lasted about 5 minutes before Anne sounded the gong and we shut it off. Its awfulness was evident from moment 1. Endure at your own peril.

Pontypool: This is a Canadian made zombie movie with an unusual take on the means by which the virus spreads and told from the point of a morning show radio DJ and his staff reporting on the outbreak rather than being in the thick of it themselves, at least to start. Anne and I split on this one. I enjoyed the fresh take on the genre and the characters; she was bored and hated the writing style and format. It’s not great but I do recommend it.

Ghost Hound: This is an anime series revolving around some young men who had traumatic life experiences that hint at but do not directly confirm the supernatural. I am watching episode 4 as I type. It’s slow paced and coy in its story telling in a way I tend not to like. I was bored with episode 1 but with each follow up they turn up the intensity a bit and things get more interesting. It’s definitely peaking my curiosity now.

Floored: A documentary about traditional stock market traders transitioning, or not, to the modern era of trading. I picked this one, and I like the subject matter, but I didn’t like this movie much. The pacing was poor and I didn’t get a strong sense of story from it. The style was also odd and not much to my liking. I’d say give this one a pass.

Also watched was a Frontline special on forensic coroners in the US which was fascinating and a national geographic about the Aryan Brotherhood which spent as much time hyping itself as exploring the subject resulting in pretty slim pickings information wise.