Camelot (1967)

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table as a Musical.  While very much dated and long, this is a wonderful film worth watching if you like musicals, especially '60s musicals.  Richard Harris is awesome as King Arthur and Vanessa Redgrave might be the best Guinevere I've seen on the big screen.   The music is typical of that time with most of it being really good and a couple songs being unnecessary (The Lusty Month of May for example).  Great visuals, fantastic acting, what can more can you ask for (besides being a little shorter).  What I enjoyed most about this film was how it inspired me to go back and read the original tale. Grade: B+

The Damages (Season 2)

Glenn Close and Rose Bryne return for the second season of this legal/crime drama-thriller. Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt join in for the fun.  It has a slow start but once you get past the set up everything starts to heat up until you have a season that's better than the first (which I didn't see happening).  If you haven't started watching this show, please do.  While there are a few flaws here and there, there's a lot of good storytelling going on.  Grade: A-

Netflix Is In Trouble (Commentary)

I hate to say it but Netflix is sinking and it kills me because for me it's the best movie-watching experience out there.  But the studios don't like their business model and to make things worse Netflix management keeps making rotten decisions.   Thankfully they're not splitting off their website into two.   Qwikster is dead!  Celebrate while it lasts.  I will continue being loyal to this company to the bitter end but in order to survive what's coming in the next few years they're going to have to adapt and I can only hope I like what's left over. 

Keep DVDS:  Even with rumors that the post office will collapse Netflix can't afford to dissolve the DVD mail-in service.  There's just not enough available to stream yet.   Don't forget that its the DVD business that put you where you are. 

New Streaming Plans:  There's a way to raise prices without pissing off your customers.   Give them a product that they want to pay more for.  Create a Gold Streaming Plan where new releases and popular TV shows are available.  Get HBO on board by saying you'll charge your customers more for their content.   Once a show becomes less popular you can shift it over to the regular streaming plan.  But if you want a better library you're going to have to pay for it, just give the customer the choice.

No Commercials:  Never, never, never have commercials.  Once you do that you're toast.  I'll certainly cancel my subscription. 

Original Content:  Making deals with production companies for content that only you can stream is brilliant.   Make your customers stick around because there's programming that they can't get anywhere else. 

Overall I'm hoping Netflix survives.  I love how I can get hard-to-find titles and that I don't have to travel anywhere to get my entertainment.   But Amazon.com and Apple are hovering, wanting to take over.  Blockbuster wants to be on top again.  If they want to be around for awhile they'll need to take care of their customers and improve their library.   It'll be interesting to see how it all pans out. 

Red State (2011)

I'm not a Kevin Smith fan.  He just doesn't do it for me.  That said, he's improving and this his first good film shows that making four or five practice films does make one better.   I'm glad I didn't watch this for my horror film marathon because this is not a horror film.  It tricks you, starting out as a horror film (with a nightmarish scenerio of three young men kidnapped by a religious cult) but quickly turns into something else.  In many ways it's two films compressed into one and it's entertaining and inventive because of this structure.  Some of the heavy-handed commentary that Mr. Smith paints on is as thick as usual but it didn't bother me this time around.  John Goodman is great like always and there are many surprises worth waiting for.  Grade: B+.

Outside the Law (2010)

The Algerian War told from the point of view of three brothers.  This French production was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar last year and it certainly looks it.  While some of the violence celebrates more than I would have liked, it's a good film and worth a viewing.  Jamel Debbouze plays the youngest brother, the one more interested in getting a head and making a dollar then winning freedom for his country.  Sami Bouajila plays the leader of the rebels, a man willing to put himself over the cause.  But its Roschdy Zem that I really connected to the most.  The loyal brother who will kill even thought it goes against his core beliefs.  There's much to love about this film.  Grade: A-

Black Death (2010)

We need more films that take place during the dark ages.  It's a bleak period but there's so much potential for drama.  Here's a perfect example that argues for my case.  Eddie Redmayne starts as a young monk who volunteers to guide a band of witch hunters lead by the always reliable Sean Bean.  Marketed as a horror film, this drama is not.  Sure it's a dark film but the horror is implied not really the core of this story. There's some real evil at work and it's not witchcraft but human folly and manipulation.   Grade: B+.

November Is National Novel Writing Month (Commentary)

November begins a tradition in my household and that's participating in NaNoWirMo, or National Novel Writing Month.  It's a celebration of the written word and in this case 50,000 words written in 30 days.  It's a fun challenge and I recommend that everyone try it.  It's easier than a marathon and afterward you'll have a novel to read, maybe revise and maybe give to someone to read.  Let's be clear though, publication is not the goal.  It's about quantity over quality.  Novels (or novellas, because let's be honest novels are longer than 50,000 words) written during this time are all probably crap.   Yet you never know, you might find something special in what spews out of you, some literary creature that with time you can nurture into . . . something.   If anything what this project does is activate people into writing and that's a great thing.   So give it a try.  You don't win anything if you succeed or lose anything if you come short.  I've done this for three years and once I wasn't able to reach my goal.  So what.  I finished in December instead.