We watch a lot of movies around here, and sometimes we watch stuff that we want to talk just a little bit about, not a full review worth. These are those films. We’ll also note any particular recommendations we have that are available on Netflix Instant Watch in either the US or Canada by putting a direct link below the capsule.

A Streetcar Named Desire

(4.5/5)

1951 USA. Director: Elia Kazan. Starring: Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Stanley, Karl Malden.

This is me knocking one more film off my List of Shame – as a huge classic film buff, there’s no excuse for not having seen A Streetcar Named Desire yet. I’d been putting it off because of its root as a play (which don’t always translate to film well), my apathy towards Marlon Brando and Elia Kazan, and not a small amount of rebelling against its reputation. But sometimes reputations are deserved, and this one totally is. Vivien Leigh plays Blanche duBois as a fading Southern belle, almost a “Scarlett O’Hara ten years later” sort of approach, with nervous energy and intentional theatricality. She’s desperate, and desperate not to seem desperate. Then when Brando steps into the frame as her brother-in-law Stanley, I suddenly understood why everyone idolizes him so – I never really got it until now, but he is utterly magnetic here, holding a languid tension that seems always ready to burst into passion or violence, and yet also ready with an irresistible cocky smile. Brando’s naturalistic Method acting and Leigh’s old-school theatrical style do not belong in the same movie, and yet somehow when the two meet on screen, sparks fly and the very contrast becomes part of their characters, their relationship, and the texture of the film itself. The film is an odd combination of realism and heightened gothicism, much more unusual in tone and feeling than I expected, and much more compelling.
-JANDY

Julia’s Eyes

(3.5/5)

2010 SPAIN. Director: Guillem Morales. Starring: Belén Rueda, Lluís Homar, Pablo Derqui, Francesc Orella, Joan Dalmau.

A sleekly made Spanish horror/thriller, Julia’s Eyes tells the story of woman afflicted by an illness that is slowly rendering her blind, but who is never-the-less determined to discover the culprit behind her sister’s death, ruled by the police as a suicide. Produced by Guillermo del Toro, whose name will no doubt be a big draw for foreign audiences as was for 2007’s The Orphanage, the first thirty minutes of Julia’s Eyes are not particularly impressive; the dialogue is clunky, and first time feature director Guillem Morales relies far too heavily on the film’s overly dramatic score to provide cheap jump scares. However as the film progresses the suspense is laid on thicker and thicker, culminating in a spectacular tense and rather ingenious finishing act and magnificently staged final confrontation. It’s (probably) only a matter of time before this film gets an American remake, so be sure to catch the original so you can snobbishly remark to your friends how much better it is.
-TOM

Cane Toads: The Conquest 3D

(3.5/5)

2011 AUSTRALIA. Director: Mark Lewis.

Cane Toads: The Conquest 3D – not the Roger Corman B-movie that the title suggest, but rather a light hearted documentary that chronicles both the geographical and cultural journey of Australia’s most troublesome biological pest. Originally introduced to combat the cane beetle, for the past eight decades the South American cane toad has wreaked holy havoc on northern Australia’s natural flora and fauna, reproducing at a prodigious rate while at the same time coming to occupy a unique place in the nation’s popular consciousness. In this follow up to his 1988 short documentary Cane Toads: An Unnatural History, director Mark Lewis focuses on a collection of colourful Australians whose lives have been touched by the ugly amphibian, exploring with playful brevity the sometimes loving, often hostile relationship between the toad and a nation of people completely unable to stop their Westward spread. Conquest is decidedly silly, occasionally to a fault – little time is spent on the more serious implications of the cane toad infestation. But idiosyncratic interviewees, a distinctively Australian sense of humour and knowingly gimmicky 3D ensures that even when the film doesn’t educate, it sure does entertain.
-TOM

My Best Fiend

1999 Germany. Director: Werner Herzog. Starring: Klaus Kinski.

Even when Werner Herzog makes a documentary – including first hand accounts involving himself – I still don’t believe a damn word that comes out of his mouth. His 1999 film about his abrasive, loving, rage-filled, funny and bordering on murderous relationship with Klaus Kinski (star of 5 of his films between 1972 and 1987) takes the same route as many of his documentaries – stories and statements that become wilder as the film progresses, each one not completely believable, but when strung together paint an overall picture (the “ecstatic truth” Herzog says he wants to get to in each film) of his subject. During the filming of Fitzcarraldo, did tribesmen really come up to Herzog and actually offer to kill Kinski? And did Herzog seriously consider the offer (“And I said, ‘No for God’s sake! I still need him for shooting!’”)? Did Kinski regularly complain about miniscule items on set by screaming at people for hours at a time? Did Herzog really almost firebomb Kinski’s house? None of it really matters since the stories (true or not) are fascinating, wonderfully told by Herzog and indicative of the way the two men fought, felt about each other and approached their art – full bore and full steam ahead.
-BOB

The Tourist

(2.5/5)

2010. USA. Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Starring: Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie

The biggest problem with The Tourist is the massive potential it had. With high caliber actors who have proven in the past to play aggressively heady roles and the director of The Lives of Others, all coupled with a very amusing and great looking trailer taking place in the “streets” of Venice, I actually had my hopes turned up a notch for this one. But its tone is scatter shot, it’s story is predictable and its humor just doesn’t quite hit the mark. It felt like Roman Polanski-lite and this more than anything bothered me. It’s a fun little popcorn thriller for a Tuesday night rental but I kept thinking to myself, “man, if they could just get rid of the whimsy and fluff here, make me believe that the characters might actually be in danger and hand the whole thing over to Polanski, WOW(!) you’d have a really great underrated gem on your hands!” But alas, it plays it too fun and on the nose for my tastes. A real shame.
-ANDREW