Next up in the series (read part I here and part II here) are playwrights A. Zell Williams (Emotional Foreign Father-Daughter Films: The Foreign Affair) and Dipika Guha (Because You Watched Downton Abbey: Violently Overstated British Period Drama for ages 19-100).
Here are the movies it takes to generate hyper-specific categories like “Films That Answer the Question ‘What Happened to Selma Hayek?'”
A. Zell Williams
In the queue:
Hyper-specific Netflix category: Because You Support Playwrights in the Film Biz
I lived in Chicago for a few years. It’s my favorite city in the U.S. and the theater there is outstanding. The first show I saw when I got to town was the original run of Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County, so I’m a big fan of his work. [Ed note: Letts wrote both the play and the screen adaptation of Killer Joe]
Hyper-specific Netflix category: Films that Answer the Question “What happened to Selma Hayek?”
One of the earliest crushes I’d ever had was on Selma Hayek in From Dusk ‘til Dawn, so I’ve missed her. Anything that brings her back into my life must be a good thing.
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Hyper-specific Netflix category: Because You Didn’t Lose Your Virginity in High School
Batman: DKR is one of the most insightful takes on the character ever written. We get to visit Bruce Wayne as an old man confronting his legacy and limitations. DC’s done an incredible job of transposing the spirit of their comics into a series of animated features.
Hyper-specific Netflix category: Because if Joe-Go Love is Wrong, You Don’t Wanna Be Right
My old college roommate forced me to check out … Brick written by Rian Johnson [Ed note: Rian Johnson wrote and directed Looper] and starring Joesph Gordon-Levitt. We didn’t share the same taste in films, so I was hesitant. It was one of the best movie-going experiences I had that summer.
Hyper-specific Netflix category: Dual Listing: Films Where the Badass Michael Shannon’s Being A Badass & See above category.
Again, Chi-Town stand-up! Michael Shannon’s one of the most captivating actors I’ve seen. I used to work in the lobby of the Goodman Theatre and once saw him walking through on his way to see a show. He just MOVES in a more interesting way than anyone else. My favorite theater experience of 2011 was seeing him in Mistakes Were Made at Barrow Street. And Joseph Gordon-Levitt brings the charm there, as well.
Dipika Guha
Full disclosure note from Dipika: My Netflix queue has honest to goodness vanished. Consider this my reincarnated queue dredged up from my memory (which may or may not be more reliable than the internet and may or may not be a work of fiction).
In the queue:
Hyper-specific Netflix category: Critically Acclaimed Fantasy
Because everyone said it was amazing but watching pure fantasy feels a bit like work to me.
Hyper-specific Netflix category: Mortally Affecting Horror Films with a Dead Female Lead
Because everyone says it’s worth watching but I’m deeply impressionable and worried about inducing indelible terror.
Hyper-specific Netflix category: A Steve Martin Comedy
I had completely forgotten about this film until the musical opened. In a flash I remembered seeing it as a kid and absolutely loving it. This one I really want to re-watch.
Hyper-specific Netflix category: Emotional Period Pieces Featuring a Strong (Living) Female Lead
In the hope that maybe THIS is the one Henry James screen adaptation that might be good. It went into the queue because of the apprehension that it may not be.
Hyper-specific Netflix category: Quirky, Witty-Independent-Heartfelt-Visually-Striking-Adventure-Action-Comedy-Written-y-the-Cohen-Nrothers
I last saw this film ten years ago and loved it. I mean to revisit Cohen brothers films as much as possible.
