NETFLIX QUICK PIX!!!

THREE STINKERS AND A PEARL
OR HOW NETFLIX CAN FUCK UP YOUR WEEKEND

Well, as can sometimes happen, just as you planned your weekend around some frothy affair, NETFLIX manages to send some irrelevant CRAP that you had on your queue for months, scolling down past the things specifically chosen for a couple of days of light-hearted viewing. What you end up getting some obnoxious fare that was chosen months ago out for whatever reason making Life resemble a really bad pseudo-MGM movie.

Generally speaking, I really enjoy those Stage to Screen adaptations of classic dramas. However, I could not even remotely get into HOGAN'S GOAT. Based on William Alfred's play, and starring Faye Dunaway, this torrid period piece of early 20th Century political tripe set in Brooklyn (of all places) would better had it been called HARRY'S SWINE. Dunaway (post Best Actress Oscar nod) hams it up and chaws scenery. Why she EVER got an Oscar is beyond me.

PINK NARCISSUS. Well, this ART film of the 70's stars no one in particular, features a bunch of naked guys wandering around doing nothing. Just because it's old and gay, doesn't make it vintage or good. Think: Kenneth Anger, and you'll get the picture.

Speaking of hams: THE SCARLET EMPRESS stars an early Marlene Deitrich. No, she's not the pig in this one, it's director Josef Von Sternberg. He lights, choreographs and manipulates the story of Catherine the Great to the nth degree. What comes out?! Nothing. I mean, where the hell is the legendary horse?! Dietrich is as Dietrich does. Frankly, I expect more from The Criterion Collection.

The game breaker: KM. O. This film from Spain is a delight. Following 14 intertwining lives on a hot summer day, this film was funny, poignant, eye popping, well written and by-gosh, I just got a kick out of it. The men are gorgeous (and I bet stinky, like cheese) the women stellar. This was a dreamy little film that just made me feel warm all over. I can't say it was like a lovely pitcher of Sangria would have been, but in that I'm swearing off the liquor, it was a close as it could get. 4 Star Fare!

Yes, NETFLIX can be as unreliable as the Stock Market, but sometimes, they do deliver.

(THE MOVIES I WANTED ARE ON THE WAY TODAY!)