Netflix Instant Play is a great tool for procrastination. It is also where your procrastinating habits manifest themselves in the most blatant of manners (really, how long is that instant queue of yours?). There are so many movies that you can watch instantly and so little time. I keep telling myself that if I don’t watch them now, I will never watch them. So without any further ado, here is a random list of movies that you need to watch instantly (if you do find a pattern, feel free to psychoanalyze me). And when you’re done, don’t forget you still have to work on that accounting homework you abandoned earlier.
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
This movie deserves a viewing just because it was Heath Ledger’s last work before his untimely death back in 2008. But even when you take away Ledger’s performance from this extravagant equation of wonder and woe, “The Imaginarium of Doctor of Parnassus” is a curiously complex film. Central to the film is the centuries’ long tug-of-war between Parnassus’ good and the evil of Mr. Nick, who has come to collect Parnassus’ young daughter, for her soul is to be handed to him after she turns 16. It showcases some fine acting from Ledger, Christopher Plummer and most notably, Andrew Garfield, who was still a relative unknown at the time, and it boasts one of the most outrageous visuals you’ll ever see.
“Moon”
Duncan Jones’ new movie “Source Code” has been doing the trailer rounds in the theaters and on the Internet for some time now, but before Jones conjured up the intriguing premise of his latest movie, he wrote and directed “Moon,” a quiet film that centers on Sam Bell, a man who’s been working alone in a lunar base for three years. Things get complicated when Sam hallucinates and gets into an accident two weeks before he is scheduled to go back to Earth. Sam Rockwell deftly commands his part as the lead and carries the bulk of the movie on his shoulder with the subtlest of control. The plot progression is slow, butClint Mansell’s resonantly menacing score and under Jones’s confident direction, everything feels very immediate and pressing. If you intend to see “Source Code” when it comes out in April, you should most definitely watch “Moon” first to get a feel of what to expect.
“The White Ribbon”
Written and directed by Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke, “The White Ribbon” is a disturbing look at life in a small German village at the cusp of World War I. It is narrated by the village schoolteacher years after the events have taken place and chronicles the numerous mysterious accidents that befall villagers and more terrifyingly, their children. There is, however, so much wrong
going on inside different households in this village that at times, it doesn’t surprise you that the face of the terror slowly engulfing the whole village is so ugly. The tension that stacks up as the Yplot progresses is intense. You do not anticipate what is going to happen next; you absolutely fear it. With its ghastly depiction of this horror-stricken village, “The White Ribbon” is thought provoking and immensely frightening. It was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category last year and also won the Palme d’Or at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival.
“The Secret in their Eyes”
Outstanding in every way a movie should be, this Argentine thriller took home last year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film beating out “The White Ribbon” and three other contenders. “The Secret in their Eyes” revolves around a murder case that has haunted a federal agent for more than 30 years and who, after retiring, decides to write a novel about it. Director Juan José Campanella, whose work in America has been mostly in television directing episodes of hit shows like “House” and “30 Rock,” takes a story that in itself is memorable and infuses it with his unapologetic vision of retribution to create something of uncompromised beauty. The dialogue is witty, and all members of the cast give solid performances. However, it should be noted that “The Secret in their Eyes” is not for the faint hearted. There are a couple of scenes that are so explicitly violent that it will make even the most fanatical of Quentin Tarantino enthusiasts turn their heads away.
