b.rox

Dear Netflix, After many years of loyal patronage, I will be canceling my Netflix membership at the end of December. As we’ve shared so many delightful years together I thought you deserved an explanation, so I’m writing this letter to spell it all out for you. I’ve been with you from almost the beginning. I [...]

I remember back in 2004 I had a revelation on how Netflix could enhance its service by adding social features. I thought it was a such a good idea I contemplated writing to them to make the suggestion. I never actually contacted them, but I was pleased as punch when they actually did roll out [...]

We’ve finished our second pass through the alphabet. The first go-round took three years and was interrupted by Katrina; this second go-round took thirteen months and was interrupted by the birth of our daughter. Out of 130-odd DVDs, my favorites were 28 Days Later, A.I., The Bridge on the River Kwai, Baraka, The Bicycle Thief, [...]

I like Netflix. They’ve got a nice service that I enjoy and they did right by their customers after Katrina, automatically suspending all subscriptions within the disaster zone. But by God, I am not promoting this event on Thursday. Dennis Quaid rocks Spanish Plaza, followed by a screening of The Big Easy? I have no [...]

Woo to the hoo. We’ve reached the final letter of the alphabet. We watched three films that began with Z. Z (1969) This is a French film but it is set in Greece. Since I speak neither French nor Greek, my confusion was minimal. The story concerns violent political intrigue and is based on real [...]

Three films that start with Y. The Yes Men (2004) This documentary chronicles the global adventures of a pair of ingenious and ballsy political pranksters. New Orleanians will remember these guys impersonated a HUD official and declared the re-opening of the housing projects. (That event took place after this film was produced.) Just after Katrina [...]

Everybody knows that X is the coolest letter in the alphabet, yet there was only one X movie on my list: X: The Unheard Music (1985). It’s a documentary about the band, X. The band is great, but the movie is merely good with some great moments (and of course great music). I think the [...]

We are rapidly closing in on the end of this three-year video adventure. For those just joining us, we’ve been watching all the movies I’ve always wanted to see, but somehow never did… in alphabetical order. We now present those titles that begin with W. That’s double-u, not Dubya. My apologies to any who might [...]

There were four “V” movies on my list, and three of them were quite good. In fact, I’m not sure which of these I liked best: Victim — 1961. If I said this was gay noir you’d probably get the wrong idea. It’s a taut and suspenseful drama about a time (not that long ago) [...]

There was only one ‘U’ movie on our list: Under Fire, 1983. Nick Nolte is a photographer running around Nicaragua with Gene Hackman and Joanna Cassidy, circa 1979, during the civil war. There’s action and politics and romance and intrigue. It was even a little educational. It was pretty good, but could have been much [...]

We continue to make our way through the alphabet, and we’re entering the homestretch. Ordinarily I make a note of my thoughts on a movie a day or two after viewing. But with the ‘T’ movies, I didn’t. Let’s see if I can remember anything about these 15 films. Here they are in rough order [...]

I read Dangerblond’s musings on how to put a man to sleep. (Personally I think the Architectures documentary series sounds fascinating, and I don’t think it would put me to sleep at all.) Anyway, I invited Danger to be on my Netflix friends list. She accepted, and according to Netflix we have a 71% similarity [...]

Nero fiddled. I watch movies. But it must be noted that I’m not the emperor.

Xy and I are continuing our alphacinematic odyssey, at a much reduced pace. I don’t have as many evenings to watch movies as I once did. Nevertheless, it remains a welcome distraction, and we’ve finally made it through the letter R. It took us five weeks to watch eleven movies. They were mostly pretty good, [...]

There was only one Q movie on my alphabetical list: Quest for Fire (1982). If I had time for research I suspect I’d discover some serious philosophical issues with this film, but all the same I was deeply impressed by the ambition and imagination at work here. The dawn of humanity is a fascinating topic, [...]

It’s taken a while but we’ve finally viewed all the “P” movies on our list. I liked these a lot: Patton — 1970. Great character study. Persona — 1967. A serious avantgarde Swedish art film that’s perplexing and mysterious and somehow not boring. It’s actually quite gripping, beautiful and painful to watch, even though I [...]

Many ages ago, in my pre-Katrina life, I had embarked on an cinematic odyssey via Netflix, to see all the movies I’d always wanted to see but never had — in alphabetical order. Many people have thought this was an odd way to proceed, but it provides a nice mix. I’d get bored if I [...]

Strange — there were only six movies on our list that started with “N.” Good: Night and Fog — 1955. Short and brutal documentary about the Holocaust. Why hasn’t the narration been translated into multiple languages? Nashville — 1975. I’ve come to the conclusion that Robert Altman’s flicks just don’t translate to the small screen [...]

I already posted my thoughts on the seven “Man” films. Here’s the rest of the letter M. This letter was plagued by an abundance of technical problems. Note: Of course, I loved Microcosmos and The Maltese Falcon and Magnolia and Midnight Cowboy and Minority Report and Manufacturing Consent and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and [...]

We’ve still got a lot of movies that start with “M” on our list, but we’ve muddled our way through the manly films — that is, films that start with the word “man.” Bestest: The Man in the White Suit — 1951. Brilliant. Quite good: A Man for All Seasons — 1966. The King has [...]