Netflix Instant Picks 2/22/13—2/28/13

Corey and I have our latest Netflix Instant picks for US and Canadian subscribers. I'm on a Johnnie To kick, so you know I gotta recommend one of a handful of his excellent films up on streaming, as well as one of the silent films that hooked me on silent cinema, as well as a graceful Korean film from Lee Chang-dong.

My picks are up now at Movie Mezzanine.

Special Giveaway: Fandango Gift Card (NOW CLOSED)

Recently, I was invited by 20th Century Fox's Fan Network to participate in some social media promotion in advance of A Good Day to Die Hard with #DieHard and #spon hastags. This week, 20th Century Fox sent me a $25 gift card from Fandango to give away to a lucky reader. Here's how to win:

In the comments section below, tell me your favorite Die Hard sequel, and why. A winner will be selected at random from the commenters, so be sure to leave a Twitter name or email address I can use to contact you if you win.

I will be accepting comments for the giveaway until Monday, Feb. 25, 2013 at 11:59 EST. A winner will be selected shortly thereafter and notified. Good luck!

UPDATE: Congratulations to Tabathia, who was the randomly selected winner! She will be contacted shortly. Thanks everyone else for your comments.

Like Someone in Love (Abbas Kiarostami, 2013)

Abbas Kiarostami continues to work wonders outside Iran, bringing all the masterful techniques he developed and perfected in his homeland while adapting them to new settings. Like Someone in Love almost feels like the antithesis of his usual work, though the irreconcilable differences of false identities, idealized perspectives and a technology that distances by bringing people together are all quintessential elements of his cinema. Here, though, they amount to something disturbing and claustrophobic instead of warm and far-reaching. It feels like Kiarostami's bleakest, from a devastating car ride set to the sad voicemails of a grandmother missing her grandchild to a downright suspenseful conclusion that repeats the final shot framing the window in Certified Copy but now highlights how the portal obscures and blinds instead of revealing in quiet grace. The density of its visual and aural construction makes it worth intense study, but this is one of the few Kiarostami features I've seen I did not want to instantly rewatch upon completion, for I was so unsettled.

My full review is up now at Spectrum Culture.

Bullet to the Head (Walter Hill, 2013)

Walter Hill's Bullet to the Head may be a middling feature, but it offers a thrilling glimpse at how a great talent can elevate even mediocre material. In his hands, an inconsistent script and an empty Sly Stallone vehicle becomes a collision of incompatible codes, a pit of violence with a nastiness that cannot be enjoyed mindlessly. Stallone's severe performance, in keeping with his 'roid-hardened physique, bests the winking referential humor of Arnold's return to star roles in Kim Jee-woon's underwhelming The Last Stand. Likewise, Hill's direction, which adheres to modern action filmmaking tics but finds ways to genuinely communicate their visceral intent, actually confronts the violence rather than playing it for wan satire. A few too many bad one-liners and thinly sketched characters leave the film frustratingly weighed down by some conventions, but if Hill is well past his glory years, Bullet to the Head shows he still has a spark within him most cannot replicate at their best.

My full piece is up at Movie Mezzanine.

The Fire (Brigitte Bertele, 2013)

When it attempts to be a thriller, Brigitte Bertele's The Fire falls flat; what's more, it seems to know this, as these attempts prove fleeting indeed. Far better, and more viscerally effective, is the running outrage less at the protagonist's rape than how society does everything it can to avoid confronting such a crime, even placing all blame upon her. So white-hot does the righteous fury burn that even the increasingly staid European distance cannot mask the emotions that raise the film above its austere severity.

Check out my full review at Movie Mezzanine.

Shelf Life: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

I have a fondness for Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and did a brief review of it  at Movie Mezzanine for my weekly recommendation. Weighed down by some integral flaws, sure, but the film is nevertheless a giddy display of imagination from an artist who knows that the fakeness of CGI cannot ever be fully hidden and thus can offer bold new visual treats by embracing its falsity.For that and its surprisingly touching tribute to the late Heath Ledger, it belongs closer to the top of Gilliam's films than the bottom.

Head over to Movie Mezzanine and check out my piece.

Netflix Instant Picks 2/15/13—2/21/13

It's that of week again where Corey and I post our favorite picks for Netflix Instant. This week, I celebrate finally getting the chance to watch the Comedy Bang Bang show, big up my favorite PTA movie and remind myself to finally watch Me and Orson Welles before it drops off streaming.

Check out our full post at Movie Mezzanine.