Watch Instantly

Went on a Netflix “Watch Instantly” bender this weekend and screened the titles to follow. So far their selection is dominated by “straight-to-video” fare, but I'll rue the day when a more sizeable share of their DVD holdings makes the transition to the format. I already have a hard enough time leaving the house w/ the ever-replenishing piles of multimedia strewn about.

The Long Riders (1980): Peckinpah-inspired western from Walter Hill. A little lazy in spots (esp. the ending), but it’s kind of nifty seeing the sibling teams onscreen together (Keachs, Quaids, Carradines). I’ve read some commentary claiming the final shootout superior to that of The Wild Bunch, but I’m just can’t fathom the claim. The squib & slingshot wire technology is certainly better, but that’s about it.

Calvaire (2004): French roasted exploitation blend of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Deliverance that goes down more like a two-day old pot of sludge. The opening act is suitably innocuous, but the switch to yokel-orchestrated horror in the second felt strained w/ too many “why didn’t he?” moments. And the third act gets plain ridiculous w/ all sorts of travails assailing a lead character that I’d long since lost interest in. One plus: the weird danse macabre that erupts to the strains of dissonant barrelhouse piano at a hillbilly watering hole.

Attack! (1956): Early Robert Aldrich WWII potboiler, with basically the same plot as Paths to Glory & Jack Palance playing Dax to Eddie Albert’s Moulard. Regrettably Aldrich falls prey to his more lurid melodramatic tendencies short-circuiting Albert’s promising performance and turning him into a caricature by the climax. Palance is good, but wobbly in his odd mix of volcanic rage and tender empathy. Decent supporting work from reliables Buddy Ebsen & Robert Strauss, and Lee Marvin works his magic as a career-blinded colonel w/ a weakness for Kentucky bourbon.

Days of Wine and Roses (1962): One of my faves. Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick as slaves to the bottle. Blake Edwards directs w/ a deft hand, painting a pretty picture at the beginning and slowly soiling it with the debauched descent of his leads. Surprisingly, few punches are pulled. The scene in the greenhouse still makes me cringe with Lemmon attacking the potted plants like a feral animal in a frenzied search for that elusive fifth of gin.

Heavy Metal (1981): Contraband celluloid from my early teen years that’s more artifact than classic to these adult eyes. The magazine was a staple in tree fort libraries throughout my neighborhood and the film does a decent (if primitive) job transferring page to screen, though the Den segment only captures a fraction of Richard Corben’s airbrush genius. The soundtrack is still the best part with tunes from Cheap Trick, Sammy Hagar, Blue Oyster Cult and others seamlessly edited and synched to the onscreen sex, drugs & rock ‘n’ roll antics.