A Dilettante TV & Film Review: Recent Episodes
Joseph Hazani
This podcast uses widely accessible works of art in film and television to discover truths about the human condition that are symbolically reflected in the culture captured within each work. This podcast also reviews the quality of the work in creating its symbolism and in the truth it attempts to convey.
Available on Netflix. An otherwise healthy twentysomething has a comically early midlife crisis when he gets slapped with a cancer diagnosis -- and a 50-50 chance of survival. Grade: C-
Available on Netflix. As he's about to commit suicide, downcast Richie is interrupted by his estranged sister asking him to babysit her daughter. When events force Richie to spend more time with his niece than expected, she prompts him to reassess his dark views of life.
Grade: A-
Available in Theatres. A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.
Grade: A-
Available on Netflix. Simpleminded Karl has just been released from a psychiatric hospital, where he'd been confined since age 12 for murdering his mother and her lover. He lands a job at a garage fixing motors and befriends a young boy -- but can Karl outrun his past?
Grade: A
Now available in select theatres. Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution, to paint a portrait of the man at its epicenter. The story unfolds backstage at three iconic product launches, ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac.
Grade: A
Available on Netflix. Preparing for the 1988 Olympics, two sibling wrestlers cross paths with a paranoid schizophrenic millionaire in this drama based on a true story. The competitive Schultz brothers soon learn their new acquaintance is a dangerous distraction.
Grade: A
Available on Netflix. Director Steven Spielberg takes on the towering legacy of Abraham Lincoln, focusing on his stewardship of the Union during the Civil War years. The biographical saga also reveals the conflicts within Lincoln's cabinet regarding the war and abolition.
Grade: D
Available on Netflix. Based on his memoir of the same name, this military biopic centers on legendary sniper Chris Kyle, who amassed a record number of kills on the battlefield during his 10-year career as a Navy SEAL.
Grade: A-
Available on Netflix. In Red Flag, a filmmaker takes hi independent film on tour hoping to escape the pain of his recent breakup.
Grade: A
Available on Netflix. Soon after returning to his native Oklahoma with a beautiful woman he met in Paris, Neil finds himself drifting toward an old friend. Meanwhile, the woman he brought back with him has unfinished business with her first husband.
Grade: A
Available on Netflix. Eager for any work that will make ends meet, Lou Bloom joins the flock of camera crews prowling the nighttime streets of Los Angeles in search of scandal and crime. But before long, Lou finds himself caught in the tabloid limelight.
Grade: A
Available on Netflix. In this surreal independent thriller from writer-director David Lynch, an innocent man gets mixed up in a small-town murder mystery involving a kinky nightclub chanteuse and a kidnapper with a penchant for snorting helium.
Grade: B
Available on Netflix. In this semi-spoof of romantic comedies, candy company exec Joel falls for Molly, who owns a corner candy store he's tasked with closing. Their road to romance is filled with oddball obstacles, not the least of which is Molly's utter hatred for Joel.
Grade: A-
Available on Netflix. After FedEx systems engineer Chuck Noland's (Tom Hanks) plane crashes in the Pacific Ocean, he finds himself fighting to survive on a deserted island with nothing but a painted volleyball -- a silent partner he names Wilson -- for company. An acting tour de force for Hanks (who received a Golden Globe Award for his performance), this drama from director Robert Zemeckis is a fascinating abstract about the indomitability of the human spirit.
Grade: B-
Available on Netflix. A self-diagnosed nymphomaniac reveals a lifetime of sexual experiences to a man who saves her from being beaten in an alley. As the aging but charming bachelor tends to the woman, she shares erotic details of encounters from her youth to her present.
Grade: A
Available on HBO. Togetherness follows two couples living under the same roof who struggle to keep their relationships alive while pursuing their individual dreams.
Grade: B
Available on Netflix. Francis Ford Coppola follows The Godfather with this intimate film about an audio surveillance expert who faces a moral quandary when he suspects that a couple whose conversation he's been hired to record will be murdered.
Grade: B+
Available on Netflix. An aspiring musician joins a band of eccentrics led by an enigmatic singer -- who wears a fake head -- and his unstable girlfriend. Creative tension mounts as the group retreats to the woods to cut an album.
Grade: A-
Available on Netflix. A tour guide and part-time con artist finds himself caught in a dangerous arrangement when he meets a wealthy couple sightseeing in Greece.
Available on Netflix. A washed-up, ambulance-chasing attorney gets a chance at redemption when his friend tosses him an open-and-shut medical malpractice case. But instead of accepting an easy cash settlement, he takes the powerful defendant to court.
Grade: A
Available on Netflix. Award-winning animator Don Hertzfeldt unites three short films about a hapless guy named Bill with new material to create this feature-length tale.
Grade: A+
Available on Netflix. Philandering his way across Europe to find the grandfather he's never met, William unexpectedly befriends a 14-year-old who changes how he sees women.
Grade: B
Available on Netflix. When two strangers yearning to escape their discontented lives eventually cross paths in a Paris airport hotel, neither of them is prepared for the series of surprises that follow their chance meeting.
Grade: B
Available on Netflix. An unapologetically sexy and vulgar romantic comedy based on the best-selling novel by Charlotte Roche. When an embarrassing shaving accident lands rebellious teen Helen (Carla Juri) in the hospital, she develops an unlikely bond with her male nurse (Christoph Letkowski) who she seduces with stories of her sexual adventures while using her illness to reunite her divorced parents.
Grade: B-
Available on Netflix. On the day piano prodigy Eli is to audition for a famous conservatory, he gets sidetracked by an attempt to stash his cocaine-addled mother, Penny, in rehab. When Penny is denied admittance, Eli enters into a bizarre partnership with her dealers.
Grade: B+
Available on Netflix. Nothing seems to go right for Niko Fischer: His girlfriend dumps him, he loses his driver's license, and his father cuts him off financially. With nothing else to do, he wanders around Berlin, crossing paths with a slew of eccentric characters.
Grade: A
Available on Netflix. When his only friend dies, a man with dwarfism relocates to an abandoned train station in rural New Jersey, intent on living the life of a hermit. But his solitude is interrupted by his colorful neighbors.
Grade: B+
Available on Netflix streaming. Oscar winners Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek team up to tell the true story of irascible Felix Bush, a backwoods Tennessee loner who planned his funeral in 1938 while he was still around to attend -- and enjoy -- the proceedings.
Grade: A-
Available on Netflix streaming. The Earth's remaining inhabitants are confined to a single train circling the globe as revolution brews among the class-divided cars. Based on a French graphic novel and set in a new ice age, this futuristic thriller stars a top-notch ensemble cast.
Grade: C
Available on Netflix streaming. Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) appears to have the election for student council president sewn up until one of her teachers, Mr. McAllister (Matthew Broderick), rounds up a worthy opponent: a popular and naïve varsity football player (Chris Klein) whose knee injury has him sidelined for the season. Tracy is desperate to win the race at any cost. But Mr. McAllister is just as determined to see Tracy -- a textbook overachiever -- soundly defeated.
Grade: A+
After arriving in New York, Polish immigrant Ewa must provide for her ill sister -- and soon falls under the thumb of charming thug Bruno, who forces her into a life of prostitution. But when she falls for a magician, her fortunes may turn.
Grade: B+
Available on Netflix Streaming. Bad news from the past unhinges vagabond Dwight Evans, sending him on a mission of bloody retribution that takes him to his boyhood hometown. After killing his quarry, Dwight holes up in a relative's house to await payback from his victim's family.
Grade: A
Available on Netflix streaming. Confronted with the potential end of their marriage, Ethan and Sophie take off for a weekend together, hoping to negotiate their future. When they reach their idyllic destination, however, the couple strolls into a bizarre new brand of trouble.
Grade: A-
Paul Newman scores as pool shark "Fast Eddie" Felson, who tours the country hustling games -- even challenging reigning champion Minnesota Fats -- in this brooding drama that explores the synergies between good and evil, love and desperation.
Grade: B+
Available on Netflix Streaming. In an alternate reality where "frequencies" determine one's level of success in life, low-end Zak falls for Marie, who's much farther up the scale. Complicating things further, their difference means Zak can only see Marie one minute a year.
Grade: B+
Available on Netflix Streaming. After a long search, a Parisian writer-director has found the perfect woman to play the lead in a provocative play about masochistic relationships.
Grade: A-
Available on Netflix Streaming. This atmospheric dramedy centers on hard-living actor Johnny, whose life is thrown for a loop when his 11-year-old daughter, Cleo, pays him a surprise visit. As the two become better acquainted, Johnny realizes he needs to make changes.
Grade: A
Available on Netflix streaming. After their child dies, a therapist and his wife flee to their cabin in the woods, where they hope to mend their emotional wounds. But the grief-stricken couple watches their troubles multiply when very strange things begin to happen.
Grade: A-
Available on Netflix Streaming. Oliver, a graphic artist, is coming to grips with the imminent death of his father, who, at 75, has one last secret: He's gay. Inspired and confused by his father's determination to find true love at last, Oliver tentatively pursues his own romance.
Grade: F
Available on Netflix Streaming. Ronald and Sara Lisbon are raising five alluring, adolescent daughters on a short leash in 1970s suburbia. When the youngest, Cecilia, kills herself, Sara attempts to shelter the rest of them from intrigued neighborhood boys.
Grade: A
Available on Netflix streaming.This romantic dark comedy stars film legend Peter O'Toole (who earned an Oscar nod for his performance) as veteran actor Maurice, a man whose quiet golden years turn topsy-turvy when he falls for a young and brash nude model.
Grade: A+
Available on Netflix streaming. When faded TV personality Martin Sharp decides to end his life on New Year's Eve by jumping off a London skyscraper, he meets three strangers who had the exact same plan. But instead of taking the leap, the four lost souls vow to stick together.
Grade: C+
Available in Theatres. A team of explorers travel through a wormhole in an attempt to find a potentially habitable planet that will sustain humanity.
Grade: A+
Available on Netflix Streaming. Believing he's dying, former comedian Mark hires a young cameraman to capture important life lessons for his unborn son on video.
Grade: C+
Available on Netflix Streaming. When a couple low-level crooks make a dumb move by robbing a Mob-protected poker game and unwittingly bringing a recession to the area's criminal economy, a slick enforcer is hired to track down the offenders and take care of business.
Grade: A-
Available on Netflix streaming. Workmates at a small Chicago brewery, Luke and Kate are romantically involved with others but also the best of friends -- on and off the clock. Things get complicated, however, when the couples spend a weekend together at a lakeside retreat.
Grade: A
Available on Netflix streaming. In the wake of a zombie apocalypse that desolates the world as we know it, a group of survivors led by police officer Rick Grimes holds on to the hope of humanity by banding together to wage a never-ending fight for their own survival.
Grade: A
Available on Netflix streaming. Freddie, a volatile, heavy-drinking veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, finds some semblance of a family when he stumbles onto the ship of Lancaster Dodd, the charismatic leader of a new "religion" he forms after World War II.
Grade: A-
Available on Netflix Streaming. When his manic radio show proves a huge morale-booster, Armed Forces Radio disc jockey Adrian Cronauer gets sent to Vietnam, where his monkeyshines -- lampooning any and all sacred cows -- tickle the troops but land him in trouble with his superiors.
Grade: B+
Available on Netflix streaming. Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, works with her boyfriend and colleague, Mason, to help at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled past, Grace's tough exterior begins eroding.
Grade: B
Available on Netflix Streaming. Jesse Eisenberg plays the dual roles of a timid office worker and his charismatic doppelganger in this cinematic adaptation of a Dostoevsky tale. First spotted on the bus, then at work, Simon's double may share his looks, but he's no carbon copy.
Grade: A
Available on Netflix Streaming. Set in 1962 Los Angeles, this stream-of-consciousness drama centers on a day in the life of George Falconer, a gay college professor who plans to commit suicide in the wake of his longtime lover's recent death.
Grade: B+
Available on Netflix streaming. Faced with the absurd competitiveness surrounding his son's youth league baseball team, Max Morris, a famous comedian, decides to get to know the colorful parents and coaches of the team better in an effort to find the inspiration for his next movie.
Grade: B
Available on Netflix Streaming. Worried about their aging father living alone, Frank's kids give him a humanoid robot that's programmed to be his caretaker. Reluctant Frank -- a retired cat burglar -- soon warms up to his new helper and begins to treat it as a partner in crime.
Grade: A-
Available on Netflix streaming. After a stint in a psychiatric hospital, bipolar Pat has no choice but to move back in with his football-obsessed parents. While he tries in vain to reconcile with his wife, Pat meets a woman who's as unstable as he is -- and she changes his life.
Grade: B+
The last mortal in a world of immortals, Nemo Nobody begins reviewing his life at the age of 120, trying to determine if he made the right decisions. Potential choices during a pivotal moment on a train platform lead to several possible lives.
Grade: A-
With his future as a writer in ruins and his girlfriend gone, Nathan Fisher travels to Florida to help take care of his ailing parents. There, Nathan meets a manicurist who may be able to help him put things in perspective and step up to the plate.
Grade: B+
Devoted small-town English teacher Linda yearns for love. Enter Jason, a former student whose career as a Broadway playwright didn't pan out. When she persuades him to stage his play at the school before giving up, love -- and controversy -- arises.
Grade: B
Available on Netflix Streaming. In this romantic comedy, newlyweds Nat and Josh find their marriage beginning to fall apart almost immediately after their fairy tale wedding. The couple seeks the advice of a counselor, but both are also tempted by old and new lovers.
Grade: C
Available on Netflix streaming. In this fact-based thriller starring Nicolas Cage, an Alaska state trooper looking to bring a notorious serial killer to justice teams with a 17-year-old prostitute who escaped the predator's clutches.
Grade: B
Available on Netflix streaming. After the world's energy grid suddenly fails, some longtime friends find their way to a self-sufficient compound in Northern California. As their sanctuary comes under threat from desperate outsiders, the group's unity begins to dissolve.
Grade: B-
Available on Netflix streaming. Working-class siblings Russell and Rodney Baze are desperate to flee the Rust Belt and find better lives. But when a twist of fate lands Russell in jail, Rodney gets mixed up with a crime syndicate -- and their brotherly bond is soon put to the test.
Grade: B
Available on Netflix streaming. A widowed professor living alone in Paris sees no meaningful future for himself until he meets a free-spirited young dance instructor.
Grade: B-
Available on Netflix streaming. A ruthless politician will stop at nothing to conquer Washington D.C. in this Emmy and Golden Globe winning political drama.
Grade: B+
Available at Redbox. Llewyn Davis is at a crossroads. Guitar in tow, huddled against the unforgiving New York winter, he is struggling to make it as a musician against seemingly insurmountable obstacles - some of them of his own making. Living at the mercy of both friends and strangers, scaring up what work he can find, Llewyn's misadventures take him from the baskethouses of the Village to an empty Chicago club - on an odyssey to audition for a music mogul - and back again.
Grade: B+
Available on Netflix streaming. Based on a short story by David Sedaris, this comedy follows the brash young author as he travels to Oregon to work on an apple farm. The journey exposes him to all sorts of culture clashes, but what awaits him at the farm is far worse.
Grade: B+
Available on Netflix Streaming. This quirky tale follows a year in the lives of the Borgens clan, which is in a tailspin thanks to the family patriarch's obsession with his ex-wife.
Grade: C
Having for decades disguised herself as a man while working as a butler in a posh 19th-century Dublin hotel, a woman calling herself Albert Nobbs reconsiders her charade when a handsome painter arrives on the scene.
The high life leads to high anxiety for a fashionable New York City homemaker in crisis who finds herself forced to live a more modest lifestyle in San Francisco. Woody Allen directs an ensemble cast that includes Cate Blanchett and Alec Baldwin.
Available on Netflix streaming. Winner of four Oscars -- including Best Picture and Best Actress -- director Woody Allen's iconic romantic comedy charts the relationship between neurotic writer Alvy Singer and quirky aspiring singer Annie Hall.
Written and directed by comic Louis C.K. -- who plays a fictionalized version of himself -- this FX series eschews sitcom structure for a loose format that lets single dad Louie be his irascible self -- through vignettes, club performances and more.
Asked by her dying husband to locate a boy he fathered through a sperm donation decades ago, a repressed housewife sets out on a wild road trip, shedding her strict morals and making an unlikely connection with her husband's troubled son.
A self-absorbed young American traveling in Chile plans a journey with his pals to find a legendary hallucinogenic cactus. But when he invites the free-spirited Crystal Fairy along, they find themselves locked in a battle of wills.
In a bid to jump-start his flagging career, a hapless songwriter (Henry Phillips) moves to L.A., where through a stroke of dumb luck, he lands a record deal. But show biz is a fickle mistress, and that luck soon turns when he becomes the victim of a vicious rumor. Winner of the Audience Award at the Slamdance Film Festival, this indie comedy -- directed by Gregori Viens -- co-stars Ellen Ratner and Matthew Walker.
The rate of Netflix streaming churn is very high, to the point where I will be focusing the show exclusively on exploring new releases on Netflix streaming, versus exploring film & shows available on the entire Netflix streaming platform to find gems.
Available on Netflix DVD. With a chiseled chin and physique, Patrick Bateman's looks make him the ideal yuppie -- and the ideal serial killer. Bateman takes pathological pride in his business card and his CD collection, all while plotting his next victim's vivisection.
Grade: A-
Available on Netflix DVD. The toast of New York City society after penning "Breakfast at Tiffany's," flamboyant writer Truman Capote finds himself in a dance with the devil while researching the Clutter family murders for his masterwork, "In Cold Blood."
Grade: B+
Available on Netflix DVD. Homeschooled siblings who grow up cut off from society create an idyllic alternate universe, which is shattered when their father lets in an outsider -- a female security officer brought home to satisfy his son's libido.
Grade: B+
Available on Netflix DVD. Taken aback when she receives a letter from an old boyfriend announcing that he's just had a baby with his wife, divorced fiction writer Mavis Gary decides to return to her small hometown and reconnect with her former lover.
Grade: A-
Available on Netflix DVD. Trusted adviser to 1920s Irish crime boss Lee O'Bannon, Tom Reagan's loyalty is tested when he takes up with O'Bannon's gal pal, Verna Bernbaum. Meanwhile, rivals Johnny Caspar and Eddie Dane threaten O'Bannon's racket.
Grade: A-
Available on Netflix DVD. To earn cash as a freelance sex stud and work toward his dream of becoming a kept man, hayseed hustler Joe Buck heads to New York City, where an improbable friendship blossoms when he meets seedy con man Ratso Rizzo.
Grade: A
The most startling thing about the emergence of 12 Years a Slave is its undeniable dominant casting performance. In particular, the flawless drama created by its black actors. In an almost humiliating manner, these actors flawlessly displayed the blemishes of Hollywood and Tinsel Town’s incapability to cast black talent. Sweepingly, this drama proved the talent is there, in overflowing abundance.
Available in Theatres. In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty at the hands of a malevolent slave owner, as well as unexpected kindnesses, Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon's chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist will forever alter his life.
Grade: A
Available on Netflix. When Josh (Mark Duplass, whose brother Jay directs) finds the perfect birthday present for his father, he decides to deliver it in person. But with his high-maintenance girlfriend (Kathryn Aselton) and granola brother (Rhett Wilkins) along for the ride, Josh's road trip turns into a bigger journey than anyone anticipated.
Grade: A-
Available on Netflix. Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.
Grade: B+
Available on Netflix. After being dumped by yet another girlfriend, serial bachelor Don vows he'll be alone forever. But when an anonymous letter informs him he has a 19-year-old son, Don sets out on a cross-country journey to confront his past -- and a few old flames.
Grade: B
Available on Netflix DVD. This gripping drama follows the parallel lives of three 20th-century women: incomparable writer Virginia Woolf, an unsatisfied 1950s housewife and a modern-day book editor who's losing her former lover to AIDS.
Grade: B
Available in theatres. Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stockbroker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.
Grade: A-
Available in Theatres. The film tells the story of brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld, who along with his equally cunning and seductive British partner Sydney Prosser is forced to work for a wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso. DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that's as dangerous as it is enchanting.
Grade: B+
Available on Netflix DVD. When Texas cop Steven Russell realizes he's gay, he changes his life and pulls con jobs that land him jail, where he meets his one true love. When the man is transferred to another prison, lovesick Steven mounts a series of jailbreaks.
Grade: A-
Now in Theatres. Set in the Los Angeles of the slight future, the story follows Theodore Twombly, a complex, soulful man who makes his living writing touching, personal letters for other people. Heartbroken after the end of a long relationship, he becomes intrigued with a new, advanced operating system, which promises to be an intuitive entity in its own right, individual to each user. Upon initiating it, he is delighted to meet "Samantha," a bright, female voice, who is insightful, sensitive and surprisingly funny. As her needs and desires grow, in tandem with his own, their friendship deepens into an eventual love for each other.
Grade: B+
Available on Netflix. In this unflinching noir drama, resilient teen Ree Dolly goes on the trail of her missing, drug-dealing father when his absence jeopardizes the family's safety. Her deadbeat dad has a key court date pending -- and Ree is determined that he show up.
Grade: A
Available on Netflix DVD. Narcissistic Hollywood millionaire Zach spends his nights boozing and sleeping around until he begins to fall for Rebecca, a complicated woman he can't have. But his pursuit of her is sidetracked by increasing pressures from his beleaguered family.
Grade: B
Available on Netflix. Too-smart-for-his-own-good 10-year-old Henry James Herman sets out to locate his father, an anonymous sperm donor, in this quirky comedy. Along the way, Henry uncovers family secrets that only deepen his existential quandary.
Grade: D+
Available on Netflix DVD. In this offbeat comedy, a trio of Texas friends tries to embark on a life of crime. After knocking over a bookstore and going on the lam, they bungle their way into a huge heist engineered by a silver-tongued con artist.
Grade: B-
Available in Theatres. A world-weary political journalist picks up the story of a woman's search for her son, who was taken away from her decades ago after she became pregnant and was forced to live in a convent.
Grade: A
Available on Netflix. Siblings Jay and Mark Duplass direct this comedy focusing on two brothers -- one a moderate success, the other still living with Mom. A trip to the store for glue, however, turns into an encounter with destiny for the stay-at-home slacker.
Grade: A
Now in theatres. Dr. Ryan Stone is a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone - tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth...and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.
Grade: D
Available on Netflix DVD. Accompanied by a German bounty hunter, a freed slave named Django travels across America to free his wife from a sadistic plantation owner. Quentin Tarantino directs this modern-day spaghetti Western.
Grade: B+