My 5-Star Netflix DVDs

Here are the DVDs that I rated 5-Stars in Netflix:

1. 12 Angry Men
2. 16 Blocks
3. 21 Grams
4. 25th Hour
5. After the Wedding
6. Amores Perros
7. Animal Kingdom
8. Annie Hall
9. Another Year
10. Babel
11. Before Night Falls
12. Blow
13. Body of Lies
14. Boyz N the Hood
15. Bread and Roses
16. Breaking and Entering
17. Brooklyn’s Finest
18. Brothers
19. Brothers
20. City of God
21. Closer
22. Dead Man Walking
23. Die Hard
24. Eastern Promises
25. Factory Girl
26. Fair Game
27. Fargo
28. Five Minutes of Heaven
29. Four Brothers
30. Fragments
31. Fresh
32. Friends with Money
33. Great Pas de Deux
34. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
35. In Bruges
36. Inception
37. Inside the Actors Studio: Robin Williams
38. Kids
39. La Haine
40. Man on Fire
41. Million Dollar Baby
42. Monster’s Ball
43. Mother and Child
44. Mystic River
45. Onegin
46. Please Give
47. Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
48. Pride and Glory
49. Redemption
50. Requiem for a Dream
51. Running Scared
52. sex, lies, and videotape
53. Shooter
54. Spun
55. Street Kings
56. Sylvia
57. Taxi Driver
58. Tender Mercies
59. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
60. The Battle of Algiers
61. The Beat That My Heart Skipped
62. The Bourne Identity
63. The Bourne Supremacy
64. The Bourne Ultimatum
65. The Celebration
66. The Crime of Padre Amaro
67. The Departed
68. The Fighter
69. The Good Shepherd
70. The Hours
71. The Hunt for Red October
72. The Hurt Locker
73. The Kids Are All Right
74. The Kingdom
75. The Lives of Others
76. The Lover
77. The Matrix
78. The Pledge
79. The Remains of the Day
80. There Will Be Blood
81. The Score
82. The Shawshank Redemption
83. The Transporter
84. Things We Lost in the Fire
85. Thirteen Days
86. Three Kings
87. Traffic
88. Training Day
89. Up in the Air

Netflix

• OneginThe most beautiful photography I have ever seen. And wonderful acting and a beautiful translation.
• Requiem for a DreamThe compelling soundtrack crafts the power of this film.
• The Lives of Others
• After the Wedding
• The Battle of Algiers I misunderstood the subject because of the title. It’s not your typical war movie.
• 25th Hour
• Au Revoir Les Enfants
• The Wrestler
• The Transporter
• The Chumscrubber
• Cloverfield

Netflix Instant

• District B13 Fantastic action flick with great sound. The chase scenes look like mogul skiing down the sides of buildings — without the skis
• We Own the Night Watch it soon, it’s only available until July 15.
• 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
• Central Station
• The Life of Mammals Amazing what you can do with an unlimited budget. Every scene is amazing.
• This Girl’s Life
• Kinamand
• Cocaine Cowboys
• Water Lilies
• Arranged

Review of audible book ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’ by James Joyce

This is the finest audible book I have listened to so far. Joyce excels at evoking characters through their conversation, and at expressing philosophical ideas. His storytelling is engaging, humorous and clever. I did weary of his extended descriptions of Catholic beliefs, just as I wearied of the extended descriptions of cetology in Moby Dick.

This is also the finest narration I have listened to in an audible book. Some narrators imagine themselves as performers and contrive distinct voices for each character. Yet none of these “performers” is in fact a great actor, and it is often painful to listen to them — particularly to their attempts at imitating female voices.

In contrast, Jim Killavey uses three or four slight alterations of voice to distinguish characters in a way that is both unambiguous and unobtrusive. It is a true pleasure to listen to his narration. His pronunciation is clear and precise, as is appropriate for reading a work of literature. I was taken aback on a few occasions by his pronunciation of certain words (e.g. in-‘die-sees for indices, fair-‘rool for ferrule, and ‘poig-nant for poignant), but this is a minor issue on the whole.

(This review is posted at Download A Portrait of the Artist)

Review of audible book ‘The Reserve’ by Russell Banks

Having enjoyed Russell Banks’ “Continental Drift”, I purchased “The Reserve”. I should have been alerted to the impending catastrophe when the narrator self-described his presentation as “The Reserve, performed by Tom Stechschulte”. Indeed, this book was not read, it was “performed”. The performer attempted to create unique voices for each character, and his imitations of female voices are incompetent to the point of being embarrassing and painful to hear, sounding more like a parody of a gay man. When a fine actor like Winona Ryder reads “The Diary of a Young Girl” without attempting to imitate a male voice for Mr. Dussel, it is inexcusable for Tom Stechschulte to impose his performance on us.

I shouldered on, only to find that “The Reserve” has none of the qualities of “Continental Drift”. The plot degrades into a silly tale of characters making foolish, unmotivated decisions. With another two hours of “performance” to go, I doubt that I will finish listening.

(This review is posted at Download The Reserve)