Author: Bjorn Munson

(Note: this capsule review is part of my farewell to the Netflix DVD service. #GetThroughMyQueue) This DVD has been hanging out on the “unavailable” section of my Netflix queue for years. Years! It’s one of many collections and has the Quay’s films from roughly 1979 through 1993. There are apparently more comprehensives collections, though finding them available in the U.S. is difficult. Yet another reason I’ve been happy to keep the Netflix DVDs flowing. For…

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(Note: this capsule review is part of my farewell to the Netflix DVD service. #GetThroughMyQueue) This is a mini-series version, so at 3 hours, divided into two parts, it gives the story time to breathe… and I really like that approach for this story. One of my favorite versions of Treasure Island is a two-plus-hour audio version by the Mind’s Eye. At the same time they make the fatal flaw so many of these adaptations…

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(Note: this capsule review is part of my farewell to the Netflix DVD service. #GetThroughMyQueue) This is one of those films I’ve been meaning to catch for ages… likely since it came out. And I’m thinking some of it has not aged so well since then — though the main plot of a pharmaceutical company being more than a little unscrupulous in trying to mass distribute a happiness pill with disastrous side effects is still…

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(Note: this capsule review is part of my farewell to the Netflix DVD service. #GetThroughMyQueue) This is one of those classic anti-war movies – in this case based on the classic anti-war novel of the same name by Joseph Heller. I’m pretty sure I have a copy of the novel, printed as the 1970 movie tie-in, in my library somewhere, but I haven’t read that or seen the movie, so this seemed like an ideal…

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(Note: this capsule review is part of my farewell to the Netflix DVD service. #GetThroughMyQueue) Okay, so this actually isn’t a film I’ve gotten from Netflix.  I decided to get this after finally rewatching the ‘99 – ‘03 TV movie series — and after the last two entries, I needed some cinematic comfort food. Right from the get-go, you get Robert Farnon’s rousing score that proclaims you’re in for a ripping yarn. The stakes are…

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(Note: this capsule review is part of my farewell to the Netflix DVD service. #GetThroughMyQueue) Come on, I can’t just stop with one version of Ben-Hur, right? Unlike the mini-series from yesterday, this had been on my list for a while, though I knew it wasn’t well received. Timur Bekmambetov, of Night Watch and Day Watch fame, employs some visual panache, the script by Keith Clarke and John Ridley has some flair, and the art…

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(Note: this capsule review is part of my farewell to the Netflix DVD service. #GetThroughMyQueue) Sometimes you just have a hankering for a Biblical version of The Count of Monte Cristo, so after watching the iconic ’59 version for the umpteenth time and not wanting to rewatch either the 1907 or 1925 versions, I thought, “Hey, there’s a 2010s version of the tale, right?” If you’re thinking of the 2016 big budget remake with Morgan…

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(Note: this capsule review is part of my farewell to the Netflix DVD service. #GetThroughMyQueue) Admittedly a tonal shift from the last film in my queue as Paddington would doubtless point out that it would be better to put marmalade on toast rather than throw it at the screen — and his inherent politeness might make the denizens of the castle stop their machinations for a moment (though that doesn’t preclude another musical number and…

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(Note: this capsule review is part of my farewell to the Netflix DVD service. #GetThroughMyQueue) The poster child for cult movies with those iconic lips on the poster… and it’s a cult movie that still has a veritable cult (plus a an enviable box office return on its original budget, considering it still plays in theaters). I like some of the songs, there’s some great comic bits, and I’ve talked ad nauseam with many of…

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