Disney Comes To Netflix

I was pretty happy yesterday to see some honest-to-goodness Disney Classics arrive on the Netflix streaming service. Hopefully this is the start of a beautiful relationship between the two entertainment giants and more titles both popular and obscure will start to surface!

Some major titles making their debut on Netflix:

• Dumbo (1941)
• Alice In Wonderland (1951)
• The Aristocats (1970)
• The Fox and the Hound (1981)
• The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
• The Rescuers Down Under (1991)
• Pocahontas (1995)
• The Tigger Movie (2000)

And then some other goodies from the studio:

• One Magic Christmas (1985)
• Pocahontas II: Journey To A New World (1998)
• The Brave Little Toaster Goes To Mars (1998)
• The Brave Little Toaster To The Rescue (1999)
• Air Bud: World Pup (2000)
• Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch (2002)
• Tarzan & Jane (2002)
• Air Bud: Spikes Back (2003)
• Air Buddies (2006)
• Tinker Bell (2008)
• The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos (2008)
• Mickey Mouse Club House: Road Rally (2010)
• Car Toons: Mater's Tall Tales (2010)
• Spooky Buddies (2011)

I was surprised to see some of Disney's real animated treasures like Dumbo and Alice in Wonderland available and pleased to find some off-beat titles as well. It looks like this could be the start of something magical...

My Week In Movies - When Will I Learn That RomComs Aren't Funny

Something Borrowed (2011) The biggest problem (for me) with this romantic comedy is that it isn't that funny. I realize it's a rom-com, but ya still gotta give a little in the com department! Ginnifer Goodwin and Kate Hudson play best friends, Hudson is engaged, Goodwin sleeps with the groom-to-be, all rom-com hell breaks loose! John Krasinski (Jim from The Office) plays another friend who doesn't really fit into the picture but that's ok, because he's just playing the exact same character as Jim. He even mugs to the camera in one part! Ginnifer Goodwin is a good actress and I think she's down right pretty yet this is the third movie I've seen her in where she is supposed to be the "not hot" one. Does she look not attractive to anyone? Hollywood can be so lame when they still have to cast an attractive person to play a supposedly unattractive person.

Your Highness (2011) The joke of this movie is, "Let's make a big budget sword and sorcery film with lavish sets, costumes and special effects and then just drop the F-bomb every other sentence." And how long can that last, you might ask? By my count it only took 21 minutes before it was obvious that was going to be the only joke in the movie. And it can't really hold 100 minutes of film! Sure, there's also a Yoda-type puppet character who seeks manual gratification and a scene involving a centaur getting his freak on...but how funny can that be? Danny McBride is a great comedic actor and he's pretty good here, but it's not the best thing he's appeared in. James Franco is always fun in my book and he looks like he's having a good time. The biggest question in the casting is why in the world is Academy Award winning actress Natalie Portman doing in this penis joke filled romp. The fact that Portman chose to do this silly movie is just one of the reasons why she's such a great actress. Still, it's a horrible movie.

Not Quite Hollywood (2008) This is a crazy, fast-paced, kinetic documentary about the Australian film industry. The folks Down Under have only been making movies since the 1970's and they've felt they've always lived in the shadow of Hollywood. With different attitudes about sex & violence than the States, Australia has produced some wild & crazy films. This doc is loaded with clips and interviews and focuses on three popular genres of film: sex comedies, horror and action films. This is great fun and a wonderful exposure to some less popular films you might be interested in tracking down. Available on Netflix Streaming.

Cougar Hunting (2011) Having seen so many bad movies lately, I sat down the other night with every intention of watching something with a good story and good word-of-mouth. However, me being me...I ended up watching a recent low-budget sex comedy called Cougar Hunting, ladies and gentlemen! Thank you very much. Even though this was obviously filmed on consumer grade equipment and edited on someones laptop, it's a pretty decent film. Three friends decide to escape their dead-end lives and move to Aspen where they hear easy, available older women are plentiful. Each of the three guys gets into their own adventure. Actual name actress Lara Flynn Boyle has a role as the mother of one of the guy's new girlfriends. Yes, she tries to sleep with him. And Vanessa Angel, who played the Kelly LeBrock role on the Weird Science TV show also pops up in a strange role. It's a fairly well done movie with more heart than raunch.

Dirty Work (1998) One of the greats in the genre of Silly Movies! Norm MacDonald (in his only staring vehicle to date) and Artie Lange are two down-and-out guys who start a revenge for hire business. They go around a pull pranks on people and get paid for it. There's a minimal plot about raising money for a heart transplant and also something to do with an evil land developer (yeah!) But honestly, who needs story when you have a plethora of dead hooker jokes! The cast includes Chevy Chase, Jack Warden, Don Rickles & Christopher McDonald. This was also the feature film directorial debut of Danny Tanner a.k.a. Bob Saget. Awesome movie!

Netflix Find: It's Showtime (1976)

When I was younger, I used to spend hours in my local video store (Video Systems, Holler!) discovering tons of movies that I was curious to see. The Watch Instantly feature of Netflix has become my new Great American Video Store. There are quite literally thousands of titles just sitting there waiting to be discovered. A good number of recent additions are movies not available on DVD or even VHS.

This morning while searching for artwork for another post, I stumbled across the poster for a movie called "It's Showtime." Let's look at the number of reasons this movie was quickly elevated to Must-See Status. First, look at this awesome poster! I love movie posters that are cartoony illustrations of the cast. Second, I love clip movies - compilations of scenes from other movies. They don't really make these anymore, but I discovered them a few years ago and they are great fun. In the 60's and 70's, there were several documentaries on classic cinema released. They are fun, bouncy, and very silly. Last, I love animal movies - especially when an animal is talking and/or wearing clothes. I like the sentimental more realistic animal movies too, but if you put an animal in clothes and then get him to talk...that's movie magic in my book! All these things aside, I would also plop down money sight unseen to view a movie with the title It's Showtime.

So, anywho...after seeing this mind-blowing poster I headed over to Netflix on the off chance they had a copy of this fine film to borrow. Turns out they don't have a DVD of it, but you can watch it streaming to your computer or TV...which is exactly what I did later that evening!

It's Showtime is kind of a jumbled mess. It's mostly JUST clips of various animal scenes from movies from the silent era up through the 1960's. There are a few segments devoted to types of animals: horses, dogs, cats and monkeys. Then there are also segments of the film spotlighting specific animal movie stars. Rin Tin Tin, Lassie, and Flipper are all featured as well as some lesser known animal stars. My kids were laughing hysterically throughout the clips featuring Daisy from the old Columbia Pictures Blondie films. Which got me to thinking, there really aren't a whole lot of Blondie movies out on DVD. And that's a shame.

Usually, when I watch this type of movie-movie, I keep a pen and paper handy to jot down the names of movies mentioned that I'd like to hunt down. Alas, the narration in It's Showtime is kept to a minimum, so you really have no idea what movies you are seeing clips from. Still, if you like animals, old movies or bizarre packages of old movie clips you should check out this wacky little relic of Hollywood history. You'll go APE for it...or...it's DOG gone good. Oh wait, It's purrrrfectly awesome. Nevermind.