Second Summer Netflixing

It's Summer In October here in Lalaland, so how about a little Netflixing?
And how about a little Netflixing about exotic sunny locales like Morocco and Egypt?
Sure! Why not?

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest Of Spies (2006) -
OSS 117 is the codename for Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, a secret agent created by Jean Bruce, a French fiction
writer. OSS 117 is originally an American Colonel from Louisiana of French descent. After service in the O.S.S.,
he worked for the C.I.A., then the National Security Council. The first OSS book was released in 1949.
The film is set in 1955 and 117 is sent to Cairo to investigate the death of OSS agent jack Jefferson, an ex-partner.
There have been OSS 117 movies before, but this one is different. Instead of trying to modernize Hubert and his world,
the creative team decided to make a period parody of the spy genre. The film is set in 1955 and tries its best to
look it in every respect: clothing, haircuts, cars, attitudes, body language, fight scenes, sets, smoking, drinking.
This is not a PC film, nor is it vulgar. It's actually a slick, classy affair totally unlike "Austin Powers".
Hubert is very French and very colonialist and insults the Cairo natives without even realizing it. There's a bit
of the Maxwell Smart in him, and some James Bond. He's good-looking, confident, and women throw themselves at him.
I was amused at the many clichéed periods bits shoehorned into this film. A rear-projection is used whenever the
characters are in a car and talking. The knife used in two separate fights is the identical obviously fake rubber
practice knife (my brother had one). OSS 117 actually assumes the infamous "Knee-Up" position (see MST3K "The Giant
Gila Monster") no less than FOUR TIMES! Hubert fights off Russians, Germans (Nazis!), and a goofy Belgian spy.
Night scenes are shot in the day with filters. The film is all shot in close-ups and medium shots and plan shots.
There's no ADD-editing, no Matrix fireworks, no CGI, no motion capture, it's all simple and straightforward.
It's very colorful, using palettes of the era, and has that "obvious film fakery" je-ne-sais-quoi vibe.
The film is in French with English subtitles, so obviously, I turned the subtitles off. :D
However, I had to rewind and watch certain scenes with the subtitles turned back on because some characters spoke in
Arabic (these scenes were subtitled in French in the original French version), and I only speak Bad Arabic. :D
OSS 117 is played by Jean Dujardin, a terrific performer who deserves a long and fruitful movie career.
And poking around IMDB reveals an OSS 117 sequel currently filming! WOO HOO!!!
And I see that he's also slated to play famous French comicbook cowboy Lucky Luke in an upcoming live action movie.
Which doesn't surprise me one bit because he definitely looks the part.
So anyway, I really enjoyed the film! It's good-looking and funny!
And on top of that, the DVD also includes a making of, a gag reel, and deleted scenes.
This is the newly-released Region 1 DVD version and it should be available everywhere.
If you're in the mood for some good clean classy retro-50's spy fun in French, Dr. Zrath prescribes some OSS 117.
Vive la France!

Iron Man (2008) - "Aw come on, this is not the most embarassing thing you've ever caught me doing."
You must see this movie. I don't care who you are or what you like, you must see this movie.
Rent it, buy it, watch it, cherish it, LOVE IT!!
My favorite movie of 2008.
'Nuff said. :D

Voodoo (1995)
When I did the "10 Things I've Done That You Probably Haven't" meme recently, I mentioned being in this film.
I also mentioned not knowing for sure I was in this movie. So I rented it to check.
About 35 minutes into the movie, I'm in it. I have screen captures! Watch for them soon, in a separate post.
I didn't watch the movie all the way through. It's some low-budget turd with Corey Feldman.
He's the new kid on campus and he gets invited to join the creepy fraternity run by a preppy voodoo priest.
Or some crap. I think it turns out the other frat guys are zombies, the original still-living kind.
Bad movie! Bad! No chicken!

Eureka - Season 1 (2006) - Sheriff: "Why does this dummy head look like me?" - Henry: "Oh, they're generic."
I caught the premiere episode of this TV show back when I had cable, and it looked interesting.
When my Netflix queue's movie backlog was cleared, I started putting TV shows in it. This was one of them.
And you know, it's not bad at all. The concept is intriguing: a small town somewhere in America that's actually
a large government thinktank and research facility. The "Half-Life" fan in me is tickled by this premise. :)
Colin Ferguson plays the US Marshall who stumbles across the town, helps them solve a case, then winds up becoming
the new sheriff. He brings a certain down-to-earth and chaotic touch that complements most of the town's highly
logical and scientific mindset. He sees things that they don't. The supporting cast is diverse and interesting.
Joe Morton (Miles Dyson from "T2") plays Henry, tow truck driver and ex-NASA shuttle engineer, and forensics,
and just about anything else you can think. Matt "Max Headroom" Frewer (gosh it's nice to see him working again!)
plays Jim Taggart, an Australian cryptozoologist who seems like a tall, gangly version of Steve Irwin.
Salli Richardson (last seen in "I Am Legend") plays Allison Blake, the Department of Defense liaison between
Eureka and the Pentagon. Also, she is very SEXAY!! RRRRRRROOOOOOWWWWWWRRR!!!
Ahem...
Tamlyn Tomita was in a few episodes. There's a name I hadn't heard in a long time! :)
And there's some other people who fill out the rest of the cast and all have their quirks.
The show is fun and geeky and dramatic and I'm Netflixing Season 2 as we speak.
Good stuff!


STREAMFLIXING

March Or Die (1977) - o/~ Tiens! Voila du boudin! Voila du boudin! Voila du boudin! o/~
This little gem was in my Netflix Save Queue for a while. There didn't seem to be any DVD version released.
Then about 4 days, I glanced at my Save list and noticed the dark blue PLAY button next to the movie title.
That usually means the title can be watched with "Instant Play" (aka Streamflix).
How bizarre, thought I, that this movie not be available from Netflix on DVD but viewable online.
So I clicked the button and watched "March Or Die".
The video quality was pretty awful. It looked like a VHS dub taped off one of the Starz cable channels.
This is a French Foreign Legion film, set in 1920 Morocco. It stars an international cast: Gene Hackman, Rufus,
Catherine Deneuve, Terence Hill ("My Name Is Trinity"), Max Von Sydow, Ian Holm, and an uncredited Richard Kiel.
The film opens at the end of WWI, with a rather moving scene of wounded soldiers disembarking a train in a
Paris station and being greeted by a crowd who promptly stars singing "La Marseillaise" (the French anthem).
We then see some German prisoners joining the Legion because it certainly beats the alternative.
We're introduced to other various characters, then the whole kit and kaboodle gets sent to Morocco, under the
command of Major Foster (Gene Hackman), the token American, who is haunted by his memories of the Great War.
His command is assigned to protect a group of archaeologists at their dig. And to find out what happened to the
previous archaelogists. Morocco is divided in various tribes and it's a dangerous place.
It's your basic Foreign Legion film, a bit like "Beau Geste" and its derivatives, though more modern.
And it was fun to hear bits of "Le Boudin", the official march of the Legion.
Hard to find and only of interest to Legion and/or desert war movie buffs.

Devo In The Land Of The Rising Sun (2003) - "...And now, we've got a retarded cowboy in charge of the country."
Simple concert film of Devo playing in Tokyo in 2003. Lots of delirious incoherent Japanese Devo fans. :)
The set list covers the first four albums:
That's Good - Girl U Want - Whip It - Satisfaction - Uncontrollable Urge - Mongoloid - Blockhead - Jocko Homo -
Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA - Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy - Gates of Steel - Freedom of Choice - Come Back Jonee.
I was reminded that some of these tunes ROCK HARD!
In between the tunes, there's some footage of Devo being interviewed and other things. It's during one of those that
Mark Mothersbaugh is asked how he felt about America right now (2003). He answered that America is a mixture of good
things and bad archaic things that are no good for anyone. He went on to say that Devo never believed that there was
"no future", that there was a future and that it was ugly, and they were right! And that's when he talked about
the "retarded cowboy". Holy smokes! My friends, we must break the cycle of Devolution. You know what to do next month.
(Whoops, I subverted the intent of Netflixing and turned it political.)
Anyway, Devo still rocks.
BE HAPPY OR NOT!