Boise Weekly

Cobweb

Archives | RSS

« MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice Cancelled… | Deadlines Cometh »

Monday, November 9, 2009

Movies What I Did On My Fall Vacation

Posted by Amy Atkins on Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 12:22 PM

I am back to work after a week-long vacation, the first I've taken in a couple of years. My response to my coworkers' "How was it?" question has been the same each time: "I get why people do this."

I had big plans for my time off. I was going to clean out a long-neglected closet. I have a long-overdue personal writing project I was going to finish (actually start). I was going to sand and polish my hardwood floors. Maybe you can guess where I'm going with this ... I did none of the above. Instead, I read, caught up with friends, went out a few times, napped profusely and watched Netflix.

Thoroughly addicted to Nexflix's Watch Instantly option—especially now that I don't have cable—I fed the movie monkey on my back a veritable buffet of British humor, indie flicks, documentaries and Asian horror.

I started off the week with The IT Crowd, a sit-com about a couple of dorky IT guys working in the basement of a huge corporation. Not quite sated, I moved on to Little Britain, in which Matt Lucas and David Walliams portray a plethora of recurring characters. It took me at least an episode or two before I realized that, except for a handful of supporting actors, those two play nearly everyone a la Monty Python. Hilarious.

I was then completely drawn into Suspension. After Daniel's (Scott Cordes) wife and son are killed in a car accident, he discovers that the video camera his son was carrying has the ability to freeze time. Sarah (Annie Tedesco), whose husband was killed in the same accident, becomes the unwilling and unaware recipient of Daniel's increasing—and increasingly dangerous—attention.

Next, I moved on to Adam McKay directing Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly in Step Brothers, a film at which I laughed out loud in spite of myself. Don't judge me.

I watched a few documentaries including Pageant, about the Miss Gay America pageant; Modify, about body modification; and Very Young Girls, about 13- to 15-year-old prostitutes.

Then came A Tale of Two Sisters, Phone, The Ghost, Cinderella and The Red Shoes, all Korean horror films, all with a revenge motif. While each had its moments—and the requisite ghost girl with long, stringy, black hair—I highly recommend A Tale of Two Sisters, a psychological thriller. After their mother's death, sisters Su-mi and Su-yeon return home to find an wicked stepmother and something far more evil awaiting their return. It's a scary movie with an incredible twist.

For the sake of brevity, (yeah, right) I didn't list everything I watched this week. If you want to see more, send me an e-mail at amy@boiseweekly.com and I'll add you to my list (two people) of Netflix friends. I need to see what you're watching as well ... I'm planning another movie marathon vacation soon.

Tags: Little Britain, The IT Crowd, The Red Shoes, Cinderella, Phone, The Ghost, A Tale of Two Sisters, Pageant, Very Young Girls, Step Brothers, Modify, Video