There are a bunch of big-name releases this week, from Bad Teacher to Pirates of the Caribbean 4 to Red State, but I can’t manage to work up much enthusiasm for any of them. In the interest of transmitting information, I’m adding a section of major releases that I haven’t seen, probably won’t see, and have nothing to say about. The New York Times doc, though, seems intriguing. So I’ll feature that. A handful of notable stuff coming onto Instant, but November 1 sees a bunch of expirations, especially a TON of classic silents. Looks like Netflix’s deal with Kino has perhaps ended, which is a shame if they don’t renew it by the end of the month – Kino is fast becoming Criterion-level quality when it comes to silent cinema.

New Release Pick of the Week

Page One: Inside the New York Times
I wanted to see this documentary focusing the inner workings of the NYTimes as a kind of microcosm of the (dying) print newspaper business in general, but timing didn’t work out properly. I didn’t hear a lot about it, and some of that was mixed, but I’m still quite curious.
2011 USA, dir Andrew Rossi, stars David Carr, Bruce Headlam.
Amazon DVD | Amazon Blu-ray | Netflix

Major New Releases Presented Without Comment

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Matt Brown’s review. Cinecast.
2011 USA. Director: Rob Marshall. Starring: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush.
Amazon DVD | Amazon Blu-ray | Netflix

Bad Teacher
Cinecast.
2011 USA. Director: Jake Kasdan. Starring: Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Jason Segel.
Amazon DVD | Amazon Blu-ray | Netflix

Red State
Kurt’s print review. Kurt’s video review. Cinecast.
2011 USA. Director: Kevin Smith. Starring: Michael Angarano, Michael Parks, Melissa Leo, John Goodman.
Amazon DVD | Amazon Blu-ray | Netflix

Monte Carlo
2011 USA. Director: Thomas Bezucha. Starring: Selena Gomez, Leighton Meester.
Amazon DVD | Blu-ray | Netflix

OTHER NEW RELEASES
A Better Life (2011 USA, dir Chris Weitz, stars Demián Bechir, José Julián; Blu-ray/Netflix)
The Last Circus (2011 Spain, dir Alex de la Iglesia, stars Carlos Areces; Blu-ray/Netflix)
Batman: Year One (2011 USA, stars Benjamin McKenzie, Bryan Cranston; Blu-ray/Netflix)
Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest (2011 USA, dir Michael Rapaport, stars A Tribe Called Quest; Blu-ray/Netflix)
The Captains: A Film by William Shatner (2011 USA, dir William Shatner, stars Patrick Stewart; Netflix)

Classic Pick of the Week

Kuroneko: Criterion Collection
I am woefully lacking when it comes to Japanese horror cinema, but judging from Bob’s recent review, this is definitely one to seek out. I usually trust Criterion’s picks anyway, but this b&w ghost story just moved up my to-see list.
1968 Japan. Director: Kaneto Shindo. Starring: Kichiemon Nakamura, Nobuko Otowa.
Amazon DVDAmazon Blu-ray | Netflix

Blu-Ray Pick of the Week

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory: 40th Anniversary
The film is also being re-released on DVD this week, I believe, but this Ultimate Collector’s edition looks pretty cool. Three discs (Blu-ray, DVD, and a disc of interviews and featurettes), plus a behind-the-scenes book, production correspondence, and various other doodads. I’m not a giant fan of the movie, but for those who are, looks like a nice upgrade.
1971 USA. Director: Mel Stuart. Starring: Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson.
Amazon Blu-ray/DVD Combo

OTHER BLU-RAY RELEASES
Cape Fear (1991 USA, dir Martin Scorsese, stars Robert De Niro, Jessica Lange)
The Crow (1994 USA, dir Alex Proyas, stars Brandon Lee, Michael Wincott)
Darkness Falls (2003 USA, dir Jonathan Liebesman, stars Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield)
The Goonies (1985 USA, dir Richard Donner, stars Josh Brolin, Sean Astin)
The Guns of Navarone (1961 USA, dir Alexander Mackendrick, J. Lee Thompson, stars Gregory Peck)
Under Suspicion (1991 USA, dir Simon Moore, stars Liam Neeson, Laura San Giacomo)

Television Releases

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Season 3 (2010 USA, creator George Lucas, stars Matt Lanter; Blu-ray/Netflix)
V: Season 2 (2010 USA, creator Kenneth Johnson, stars Elizabeth Mitchell; Blu-ray/Netflix)

Instant Watch Picks of the Week

The Trip
One of last year’s most enjoyable comedies, with Coogan and Brydon riffing off their real-life personas on a restaurant tour of England. Enough serious moments to lend it weight, but mostly just a nice time with these two guys.
2010 UK. Director: Michael Winterbottom. Starring: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon.

Nikita: Season 1
Admittedly I stopped watching Nikita early on, but I enjoyed it well enough for an actiony update to the original series, and I heard it improved as the season went on.
2010 USA. Creator: Craig Silverstein. Starring: Maggie Q, Lyndsy Fonseca.

Paranormal Activity 2
Having just watched the first Paranormal Activity a few days ago, I’m not sure I liked it enough to go straight on to PA2, but it’s still nice to have it available, especially with PA3 out in theatres now.
2010 USA. Director: Tod Williams. Starring: Brian Boland, Molly Ephraim.

The Ward
John Carpenter’s newest horror film garnered fairly negative reviews, but on Instant, it might be worth a look.
2011 USA. Director: John Carpenter. Starring: Amber Heard, Danielle Panabaker.

A Town Called Panic
This has been on Instant before, and I usually refrain from featuring the same movies over and over due to the whims of Netflix’s deal-making, but I get such joy from this movie that I have to mention it again. If you like absurdity, stop-motion animation, and deer getting pelted by giant snowballs, look no further.
2009 Belgium. Director: Vincent Patar. Starring: Bruce Ellison, Vincent Patar.

OTHER INSTANT WATCHES
Being Human (2008-2011 UK, creator Toby Whithouse, stars Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow)
Boccaccio ’70 (1962 Italy, dir Fellini, De Sica, etc., stars Sophia Loren)
Casino Jack (2010 USA, dir George Hickenlooper. Starring: Kevin Spacey, Barry Pepper)
Damages: Season 3 (2010 USA, creator Glenn & Todd Kessler, stars Glenn Close, Rose Byrne)
Gossip Girl (2007-2010 USA, creator Josh Schwartz, stars Blake Lively, Leighton Meester)
Kiss of Death (1995 USA, dir Barbet Schroeder, stars David Caruso, Nicolas Cage)
The Mask (1994 USA, dir Charles Russell, stars Jim Carrey, Cameron Diaz)
One Tree Hill (2003-2010 USA, creator Mark Schwahn, stars James Lafferty, Sophia Bush)
The Princess of Montpensier (2010 France, dir Bertrand Tavernier, stars Mélanie Thierry)
Private Practice (2007-2010 USA, creator Shonda Rhimes, stars Kate Walsh, Tim Daly)
Septien (2011 USA, dir Michael Tully, stars Michael Tully, Robert Longstreet)
The Vampire Diaries (2009-2010 USA, creator Kevin Williamson, stars Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley)

See all new and upcoming titles.

Instant Watch Expiring Picks

Audition (1999 Japan, dir Takashi Miike, stars Ryo Ishibashi, Elhi Shiina) [10/20]
Bad Boys (1983 USA, dir Rick Rosenthal, stars Sean Penn, Esai Morales) [10/24]
Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010 USA, dir Brandon Vietti, stars Jensen Ackles) [10/25]
K-9 (1989 USA, dir Rod Daniel, stars James Belushi, Kevin Tighe) [10/25]
Montana Belle (1952 USA, dir Allan Dwan, stars Jane Russell, George Brent) [10/25]
Point of No Return (1993 USA, dir John Badham, stars Bridget Fonda, Gabriel Byrne) [10/25]
Harry and the Hendersons (1987 USA, dir William Dear, stars John Lithgow, Melinda Dillon) [10/26]
Mo’ Better Blues (1990 USA, dir Spike Lee, stars Denzel Washington, Spike Lee) [10/26]
Someone Like You (2001 USA, dir Tony Goldwyn, stars Ashley Judd, Hugh Jackman) [10/27]
When in Rome (2010 USA, dir Mark Steven Johnson, stars Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel) [10/27]
The Education of Charlie Banks (2007 USA, dir Fred Durst, stars Jesse Eisenberg) [10/28]
Going My Way (1944 USA, dir Leo McCarey, stars Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald) [10/30]
Let’s Make Love (1960 USA, dir George Cukor, stars Yves Montand, Marilyn Monroe) [10/31]
8 Mile (2002 USA, dir Curtis Hanson, stars Eminem, Brittany Murphy) [11/1]
Aelita, Queen of Mars (1924 USSR, dir Yakov Protazanov, stars Yuliya Solntseva) [11/1]
The Affairs of Anatol (1921 USA, dir Cecil B. DeMille, stars Wallace Reid, Gloria Swanson) [11/1]
Alexander Nevsky (1938 USSR, dir Sergei Eisenstein, stars Nikolai Cherkasov) [11/1]
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976 USA, dir John Carpenter, stars Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston) [11/1]
Benny and Joon (1993 USA, dir Jeremiah S. Checkik, stars Johnny Depp) [11/1]
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927 Germany, dir Walter Ruttmann) [11/1]
The Birth of a Nation (1915 USA, dir D.W. Griffith, stars Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh) [11/1]
Blackmail is My Life (1968 Japan, dir Kinji Fukasaku, stars Hiroki Matsukata, Tomomi Sato) [11/1]
Cabiria (1914 Italy, dir Giovanni Pastrone, stars Lidia Quararita, Gina Marangoni) [11/1]
The Cat and the Canary (1927 USA, dir Paul Leni, stars Forrest Stanley) [11/1]
Destiny (1921 Germany, dir Fritz Lang, stars Bernhard Goetzke) [11/1]
Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (1922 Germany, dir Fritz Lang, stars Rudolf Klein-Rogge) [11/1]
Earth (1930 USSR, dir Aleksandr Dovzhenko, stars Stepan Shkurat, Semyon Svashenko) [11/1]
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943 USA, dir Sam Wood, stars Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman) [11/1]
The Glass Menagerie (1973 USA, dir Anthony Harvey, stars Katharine Hepburn) [11/1]
The Good German (2006 USA, dir Steven Soderbergh, stars George Clooney) [11/1]
Henri Langlois: Phantom of the Cinematheque (2005 France, dir Jacques Richard) [11/1]
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923 USA, dir Wallace Worsley, stars Lon Chaney) [11/1]
Ivan the Terrible (1944 USSR, dir Sergei Eisenstein, stars Nikolai Cherkasov) [11/1]
Leaves from Satan’s Book (1921 Denmark, dir Carl Theodor Dreyer, stars Helge Nissen) [11/1]
Look Both Ways (2005 Australia, dir Sarah Watt, stars Justine Clarke, William McInnes) [11/1]
The Lost World (1925 USA, dir Harry O. Hoyt, stars Wallace Beery, Alma Bennett) [11/1]
The Mark of Zorro (1920 USA, dir Fred Niblo, stars Douglas Fairbanks, Robert McKim) [11/1]
Meet Joe Black (1998 USA, dir Martin Brest, stars Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins) [11/1]
My Cousin Vinny (1992 USA, dir Jonathan Lynn, stars Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei) [11/1]
October (1927 USSR, dir Sergei Eisenstein) [11/1]
An Officer and a Gentlemen (1982 USA, dir Taylor Hackford, stars Richard Gere) [11/1]
One Fine Day (1996 USA, dir Michael Hoffman, stars George Clooney, Michelle Pfeiffer) [11/1]
Orphans of the Storm (1921 USA, dir D.W. Griffith, stars Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish) [11/1]
Pale Flower (1964 Japan, dir Mashiro Shinoda, stars Ryo Ikebe, Mariko Kaga) [11/1]
The Phantom of the Opera (1925 USA, dir Rupert Julian, stars Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin) [11/1]
Scream (1996 USA, dir Wes Craven, stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox) [11/1]
The Sheik (1921 USA, dir George Melford, stars Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres) [11/1]
Spaceballs (1987 USA, dir Mel Brooks, stars Bill Pullman, John Candy) [11/1]
Tattooed Life (1965 Japan, dir Seijun Suzuki, stars Hideki Takahashi, Akira Yamauchi) [11/1]
True Lies (1994 USA, dir James Cameron, stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis) [11/1]
Way Down East (1920 USA, dir D.W. Griffith, stars Lillian Gish, Lowell Sherman) [11/1]

See all expiring titles.

Disclaimers

• Amazon links use my affiliate account, and will kick a small percentage of your purchase back to me. You pay the same price you would anyway.
• Not all new releases are available on Netflix immediately. Some studio films have a 30-day release window before Netflix can rent them, and some smaller releases are not picked up by Netflix immediately. Add them to your “saved” queue if you’re interested; that tells Netflix there is demand for the disc.
• Not all new Blu-ray releases are available on Netflix – Netflix usually buys both DVD and Blu-ray editions of new releases, but if a DVD has already been released, they don’t always get the Blu-ray when it comes out later.
• Instant Watch releases are not always 100% accurate – often the data from the API is not fully accurate until the actual day of release. I always check on release day to make sure things actually do hit Instant Watch, but for things that come out later than Tuesday when I publish this post, I won’t be able to tell.
• Instant Watch expirations are not always 100% accurate – sometimes they don’t expire after all, sometimes things expire with little advance warning. I always check to make sure the data is accurate to the best of my knowledge when I publish the post, but things could still change, especially since I’m giving expiration warnings up to two weeks in advance.
• I rely on Box Office Mojo and InstantWatcher for the majority of the data for these posts, so thank you to them for the work they do.