Netflix Has Set Me Free

I love movies. But, since I don’t like crowds of people, unruly children, and having my hearing impaired by the booming surround-sound, I don’t like to go to the theater. OK, mainly I don’t like those itty-bitty theater seats that I’ll have to sit sideways in, if my butt gets any bigger. The last movie theater I went to was in Omaha and it had nice, plush seats with arm rests that could be raised, which added just enough room to feel comfortable. The theater here has seats made of sparsely upholstered plywood, and stationary arm rests, and by the time the movie is over, I’m numb from the waist down. These seats would make an airline proud.

But, problem solved. I have discovered Netflix. I know, I’ve come late to the party, but it takes me a while to accept change. So sue me.

The first two movies I ordered were "Walk The Line", which I think I've already mentioned, and “Capote”, which I found fascinating. If anyone out there is old enough to remember Truman Capote when he used to appear on talk shows (“The Tonight Show”, for instance), you will quickly realize that Philip Seymour Hoffman nailed that performance. Beautifully underplayed it. Capote was always so flamboyant that it would be easy to turn him into a caricature. On the other hand, Catherine Keener, who played Capote’s lifelong friend, Harper Lee, didn’t have much to worry about, because nobody much knew what she was like, anyway, except that she was one of the world's most reclusive authors, and wrote " To Kill A Mockingbird".

“The Village” was on television the other night and I really enjoyed it until I made the mistake of reading some critic’s review that made me feel as though I had watched a whole different movie. He carped on and on about all the things wrong with the movie, and how silly it was, how unrealistic, yap, yap, yappity-yap.

I finally came to the conclusion that this critic had never heard the phrase, “suspension of disbelief”. He’d have been a lot happier if he had approached M Night Shyamalan’s movies the way he would “Harry Potter” or "War of the Worlds" or "Star Wars". Maybe then he wouldn’t have been so rigid in his assumption that Shyamalan was trying to make a docudrama, where everything had to be believed.

The movie was certainly full of big-name stars: Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, Joaquin Phoenix, Adrian Brody and a not-big-star-yet, but she will be, Bryce Dallas Howard (Opie’s daughter. Yes, I said Opie!).

Today, for a change of pace, I watched the next Netflix movie on my list, “The Prairie Home Companion”. I couldn’t stop laughing. And, Kevin Kline, Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep were hilarious, as was the rest of the cast. Even Lindsay Lohan couldn't stink this one up.

Next on the list is “The Devil Wore Prada”, and I can’t wait. It should be here by Monday or Tuesday.