Kenny’s Netflix Recommendations For The Indulgent Cinephile
With so much content on Netflix and so little time to watch it all!
Recommendations for what to watch on the popular streaming service are always welcomed among my family, friends, and social media network. Research shows that people spend on average 20 minutes finding something to watch on Netflix. You can watch an episode of a comedy series in that time! Here at Film Fad, I want to start providing more suggestions on what to watch on Netflix (with HBO and Amazon Prime “alerts” as well. The following are my Netflix recommendations.
“Dope” – a spirited coming of age indie:
Dope
A Sundance Film Festival sensation from a few years ago had a decent play for a smaller movie in theaters during the summer season. (You probably missed it then when it opened the same week as “Inside Out” and the week after “Jurassic World.”) Thankfully, audiences have discovered this fun loving original indie about 90’s obsessed high schoolers on Netflix. When I watched it on opening night, I knew it would garner a cult following even if the theater wasn’t too full. The amusing and witty award winner is a coming of age comedy/drama with snappy dialogue about a geek preparing for college caught up in unexpected and dangerous circumstances that lead to sometimes hysterical results. Netflix was meant for people to watch movies they might have missed. Likewise, support smaller movies in the theater so we can receive more of them beyond awards season.
“Welcome To Leith” – a timely, thought-provoking documentary:
Welcome to Leith
2015’s best documentary is a truly fascinating and uncomfortable examination of a Neo-Nazis organization overtaking small town Leith, North Dakota. The residents, who will have none of this, rally to fight back. The mature directorial effort from Christopher K Walker and Michael Beach Nichols doesn’t make fun of the subject matters nor sensationalize the dramatic moments caught on camera. Unsettling when I watched it over a year ago (before this Presidential election madness), it feels terrifyingly relevant. Talking heads from the Southern Poverty Law Center insert some tension as they discuss the influential rise of hate groups warning America. Considering our current American political climate, one can’t help but wonder if this is an allegorical, self-fulfilling prophecy.
“Hush” – an unsettling horror thriller:
Hush
Horror can be a tough genre for a movie to succeed in. A midnight movie from this year’s SXSW Film Festival, “Hush” was acquired by Netflix around the time of its world premiere and debuted on its streaming services weeks later…and for good reason. A female Deaf writer is trapped in her remote cabin and at odds with a mysterious masked killer trying to break in. “Hush” thrives in the tension as the protagonist has to out smart the killer outside her remote cabin home. Audiences who enjoy an old fashioned, at times bloody cat-and-mouse type thriller will be pretty satisfied. The tension was enthralling keep people on the edge of their seats.
“My Beautiful Broken Brain” – an experimental, visionary documentary:
My Beautiful Broken Brain
Playing at this year’s SXSW film festival, this enthralling and creative Netflix documentary blends multiple genres as it chronicles Lotje Sodderland’s at 34 year old, who recovers from a serious stroke. Her friends and loved ones emotionally recall the incident as she struggles to overcome her life changing circumstances. The documentary also chronicles her neurological experimental treatment she embarks with You’ll be captivated with how filmmaker Sophie Robinson re-created moments that resemble a stroke and what it is like to recover from one.
“No Country For Old Men” – the Best Picture Oscar winning classic:
No Country For Old Men
In need of no introduction, movie fans are still talking, referencing, and debating the Coen Brothers greatness that is “No Country For Old Men.” This movie is always in need of revisiting. I loved the stark cinematography and how the film’s script captured the existential dread of the book. Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh character is an iconic movie villain. I still have never looked at a roadside motel or cattle stun guns the same way. The ending, where not everything is explained, concluded a perfect movie.
