this week's netflix

I do leave the house, I swear. This is actually a couple weeks' worth of Netflix. (Warning: spoilers ahead...)

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou: I'm a fan of Wes Anderson and, I think like most of his fans, I was disappointed by this film. It seemed to go in too many directions at once without going in any one direction far enough. Is it a comedy? Is it surrealism? Is it a family tragedy? What is it? When Owen Wilson's character met his end, I didn't know if I was supposed to laugh, cry, smoke a cigarette, slap Willem Dafoe...

Finding Neverland: A few of my female friends had called and said, "OMG, you have to see this movie," so I figured Johnny Depp was looking scrubbed and yummy. Johnny, unlike Wes, did not disappoint. The film itself was perfectly charming, but that perfection made it slightly dull. I also found it a bit hard to believe JM Barrie and Sylvia Davies never kissed once. Not once. Not even on her deathbed. Not once.

Kinsey: I had been looking forward to this film since its release. Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, and Peter Sarsgaard all gave powerful performances, and the story itself is titillating and historically significant. I did wish we had learned more about the actual surveys, their results, and their impact on society, but I guess that's what the book is for. Or maybe I'll just read TC Boyle...The very next day after seeing this film, I caught about five minutes of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and the contestant's question was what species Kinsey was studying before humans (wasps, if you haven't seen it). The contestant called his phone-a-friend, and the phone-a-friend said he was pretty sure it was rats. Isn't your phone-a-friend supposed to be sitting there with his finger on the Internet trigger? Rats.

Tarnation: The hype around this documentary was pretty outrageous, and for once, I'd say the hype was completely deserved. This film comes as close to a cinematic representation of madness as anything I've ever seen. It's painful, not pretty, and very moving.

Reconstruction: This movie was silly. It didn't come close to reaching the impressive metaphysical heights to which it aspired, but it did present a thoroughly enjoyable tour of beautiful downtown Copenhagen. I think I know where I want to go on my next oversøisk rejse.