Tuesday, December 28, 2010

North Korea and Sabah

While home on vacation, I have spent the past few days engulfed in Netflix.

Instead of watching (what most women watch) - I am drawn to the documentaries and social/culturally/emotionally charged dramas.

Instead of a "book review"  - I thought I would do a little "movie review." If you have Netflix, and you are able to stream it on your computer or WII - there are a few "Instant Play" options you might want to give a try.

Here is a run down of the most recent movies I have watched and what they are about:

1. The House of the Devil - okay, if you are looking for an 80s horror flick, this might do it for you. It's a little silly and a little creepy and ends very oddly.  It is about this college student looking to make a little extra money, so she takes a "baby sitting" job... that.. well.. turns out to be the home of a satanic cult.

2. Vice Guide To Travel series - I WATCHED THEM ALL! I was intrigued by two episodes in particular - North Korea and Liberia. Basically the Vice Magazine folks tour insane places - like North Korea. Seriously, they got into North Korea.. and well, it is like a time warp there. Then on the trip to Liberia, they actually interview the war lords from the past- people like General Butt Naked who fought nude (b/c he thought it make him impenetrable) and ate the hearts of small children; then there was General Bin Laden. Oh yeah.. good stuff. Did I forget to tell you about their trip to Chernobyl? (Did I spell that right?) They hunted mutant boar, wolves and bears.

3. Legion - Did you guys see that one? Not perfect, but interested concept about the end of the world. Angels more like demons.. trying to kill the messiah. Good versus evil, hope versus despair.

4. Sabah: a Love Story - is about a woman from Syria living in Canada and trying to mix the western and eastern culture. She is muslim and falls in love with a Christian man. (If you did not know, it is completely NOT acceptable for a muslim woman to marry a christian man, but the muslim man can marry a christian woman.) The story is a good one.

5. Not Without My Daughter - OMG. DId you guys see this back in the 90s? An American woman is married to an Iranian man and they have a daughter. He is a doctor in Michigan and they live a really good life. They decide to travel to Iran to see his family... and man oh man.. the tides turn. Give it a go... you won't be disappointed.

6. Amreeka - Too wonderful. It is about a Palestinian divorcee and her son winning the lottery visa to America. They move in with her sister in a little suburban town outside of Chicago and go through all types of adjustment. They are arab Christians and are mistreated b/c so many people thinks they are Iraqi and muslim. (Typical ignorance... trust me on this one..)

7. Losing Isiah - I finally saw this one with Halle Berry. Man.. it was GOOD. Definitely poses the excellent question - should a child be allowed to live with it's poor, addict mother or a good adoptive family. Also deals with race. EXCELLENT.

8. Outsourced - too cute for words. I wonder if the series came from this movie. It's about an average American guy who is transferred to India to help the call center become Americanized. Turns out - he needed to learn more about their culture in order to help the Indians. Good movie.

9. Frontline: Behind Taliban Lines - Very interesting. The one thing that stood out - the terrorist groups said over and over, "When America leaves this country, then we will lay down our arms."

10.  The War Within - About this guy who is wrongly accused of being a terrorist. Then he decides to actually become one - interesting look at the mindset and how it all happens.

Okay - give a few a whirl and tell me what you think.

Also - have any off-the-wall  never-heard-of movies for me to watch?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not Without My Daughter has been playing on THIS TV pretty frequently over the last couple of weeks! It is an excellent film.

I have wanted to see Legion...haven't seen it yet, thanks for the reminder!

Robin said...

Not Without My Daughter is a true story based on a book published by (wait for it) St. Martin's Press. Guess when? Sometime during 1990-1992. Because it was when I worked there. Oh yeah. I am very well acquainted with the whole thing. I didn't get to work with the author, but that book was huge for the publishing house and everyone in publicity fielded phone calls. You have no idea how many calls I got from people who had similar experiences. Crying, hysterical phone calls. My loved one is trapped over there and how do I get HER OUT???? And they expected ME to give them the magical answer. Instead, all I could do was cry on the phone with them. That was a crushing couple of months. I left the office drained, depleted, numb, bruised inside. Yeah, I am very familiar with Not Without My Daughter. And all of the other daughters, sisters, cousins, best friends, aunts, etc. who trusted a man and skipped into Iran or Iraq or some other Muslim country and became trapped. Yeah, I know it well. And the movie is good, although I couldn't bear to watch it again.

The Kingdom is another bit of insight into this whole debacle.

Anonymous said...

Have you seen "I Love You To Death?" it's on instant Netflix play... I also suggest "Sophie Scholl: The Final Days" it's a subtitled foreign film, but honestly worth it because it's a true story. Uhmm... "Peter and Vandy"..."Dear Zachery"..."The Fall" with Lee Pace..."Wristcutters: A Love Story"...
All of them are on Netflix instant watch.

A warning, "Dear Zachery" will make you cry... A LOT, but it is so worth it.

Anonymous said...

Oh and Outsourced, the movie, was the inspiration for the show.

Kamila said...

the onnly movie I saw within the rest is LEGION.. though I was really in panicked when I watch that... haha.. I'm scared of almost anything...horror..sci fi.. or something action.. I don't kknow.. I'm better with love stories and romantics one.. hahah x)

Cheeseboy said...

I've seen one of those movies: Outsourced. I thought it was okay, but strangely the TV show is funnier.

Interesting taste in movies. Do you have the same taste in books?

Leanne said...

Hmmmmm . . . I'm a little abscent on the movie suggestions for you, as I'm really a chick flick happy feel good kind of movie watcher. ALTHOUGH - PG and I just returned from "Black Swan". It was amazing . . . and not quite the chick flick film I would usually see. But TOTALLY recommend it!

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