Behold My Netflix Queue Black Hole

One of my goals for 2019 was to finally watch all the films I've had saved in my Netflix streaming queue for what seems like an eternity. I estimate that all of the titles below have been in my queue for at least a year. 41 total, and I did it! I'd like to thank the horrid winter we had this year that made a lot of this possible.

Here are my very quick thoughts on all the titles in my black hole of a queue. Now only a few films + a bunch of TV shows are left in it. Time to binge all that TV, I guess. 


The Life and Death of of Marsha P. Johnson - I had never heard of Marsha and was happy to learn about her but I think this doc tried to take on a bit too much at once. It was good, but could've been better - B

The White Helmets - After watching the full length Last Men In Aleppo I never did get around to watching the short film following the same brave men helping save people in their war torn cities in Syria. This was very good and I'm glad more has been expanded on it - A

In This Corner Of The World - Overall I liked this story, but I think they went way overboard with Suzu being "naive" and a "dreamer" I get what they were going for but they made her almost seem like she had some type of mental disability that wasn't addressed and in turn it made her situation even more uncomfortable. It could've just been the dub I was watching, but I couldn't shake that thought. B-

The Fundamentals of Caring - Parts of this are touching but I swear they check off every generic indie film trope out there. C+

Adore - Is this supposed to be a parody? D

Hot Fuzz - This had some funny moments. I didn't enjoy it as much as Shaun of the Dead but more so than World's End. B

City of God - This movie really reminded me of Guy Ritchie's older work. I had seen bits and pieces of it before, but never all at once so I'm happy I finally sat down and watched. It's a solid film. B

Advantageous - This took a while to get going but was ultimately a pretty interesting little sci fi film. I think this has been in my queue the longest so I'm happy to finally get to it. B

People Places Things - I liked this and it's by the same writer that did The Incredible Jessica James. Jemaine Clement is always reliable. B

Trash - This was shot beautifully, kind of like a City of God/Slumdog Millionaire mashup but about half way through I realized I had forgotten the original motivations of some of these characters. A compelling story was in here somewhere. C

Moonwalkers - This actually had a lot of potential to be a good parody but it's honestly just too dumb for words. Too many of their jokes rely on the characters being stoned. What happened to Rupert Grint? He should have Taron Edgerton's career post Potter and instead he's doing this? D

Lucky Them - Toni Collette is great but Thomas Hayden Church is not. No one other than Toni has a personality in this. It's not bad, but it's definitely not memorable. I wonder if I'll even remember this movie when this post goes up? C

Kelly & Cal - This started off fine until they pointed out that Cal is actually 17 and when you cast an actor that is closer to 30 to play a high school student, all my suspension of disbelief goes out the window. I think this would've been a better film if Cal had been a college student in his 20's. I would've had a slightly easier time buying that.  B-

White Girl - I think this is a great portrayal of white privilege and how it can affect bother the girl in question and the POC around her, but I started to lose interest when the sex scenes felt like they started to be about titillation and less about the plot. Then tossing in a rape towards the end just rubbed me the wrong way. Morgan Saylor was great though. C+

Under The Shadow - This was a solid ghost/entity story. Although when I hit "play" Netflix immediately started with the dub and when I switched it to subs and heard the actual voices....lord I hope no one watches the dub. B-

Blind Date - I realized when watching this that I don't see enough goofy French movies. This was cute. It's completely nonsensical but it had a lot of funny moments and quite possibly one of the best placed headbutts in cinema history. B

Other People - I cried. Full review here. A-

Imperial Dreams - This was pretty heavy. John Boyega gives a good performance as a father trying to do the best for his young son but I just didn't buy him in the gang-type scenes. That threw me out of this a bit. B-

Love Song - I love Jena Malone and Riley Keough is proving to be wonderful as well, but I got kind of annoyed with the story occasionally. It was a nice film overall. B

It's Only The End of the World - Wow, this was so cold and detached. Dolan should've focused less on his close ups and camera tricks and more on the story which had a ton of subtext but was severely lacking in expanding on any of it. C-

The Incredible Jessica James - LOVE! Full review here. A

Desierto - Neither myself or my husband recall adding this and I can only deduce that it's some type of mistake because why would I ever want to watch trash like this? I can't believe I did. I kept thinking maybe something would jog my memory. F

A War - I sometimes forget Pilou Asbæk can do more than play absolute douchebags, but he's excellent in this Danish film about a soldier in Afghanistan who is put on trial for a war crime. They spend a good amount of time building up both parts of this story. It was slow in parts but very satisfying overall. B

Catfight - This was so ridiculous but I had a lot of fun watching it. I suppose you can't go wrong when a lesson in "not being a dick" interludes Sandra Oh and Anne Heche beating the shit out of each other while classical music plays. B

The Void - I was enjoying this until I saw the conclusion of the female characters' stories. It really just rubbed me the wrong way. B- 

God's Pocket- What a waste of an excellent cast. Tonally this movie was all over the place. C-

Girlfriend's Day - What the fuck is this movie? Was this avant garde? Honestly how do you make 70 minutes feel so long? D

Girl Asleep - THIS is how you do a weird 70 minute movie. Full review here. A-

Dark Night - This seems like it tried to do what Little Athens did so much better in 2005. Telling the story of the mundane ordinary before tragedy strikes, only this doesn't have anything interesting to say until it suggests a recreation of the Aurora, CO movie theater massacre. Don't worry, they at least spare us seeing that unfold. F

Hurricane Bianca - The entire premise of this is so unbelievable and stupid but it's worth the watch for sassy Queens. C+

Shimmer Lake - I had the laziest reaction ever to this movie. It's told backwards but it's not interesting enough for me to make an effort to try to follow things more closely. Benjamin Walker is in it and now I want to rewatch Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter instead. C

Super Dark Times - I really liked this but it's also a text book example of a rushed ending. Full review here. B+

The Wound - I know nothing about the Xhosa culture so this was a fascinating and beautifully shot film that does a lot in its short run time. That ending though...not sure how I feel about it. That was unexpected. B+

Planetarium - This was so dull the only thing I can say about it is that Lily-Rose Depp surprised me and did a pretty good job. - D

6 Years - As someone in a long term relationship that started when I was in college,  6 years, which follows a young couple who have to decide what to do with their relationship when one of them gets a job offer appealed to me. The leads had wonderful chemistry and while the film itself was pretty basic, I enjoyed it. I felt it ended a bit too soon though. It could've used 5 more minutes. - B

The Ritual - Four twats in a forest! This is one of the better horror movies I've seen on Netflix. It builds tension very well and the ending is actually satisfying. I was expecting something far more open ended. B

God's Own Country - I'll do a full review on this eventually as it was the last film I watched but man was this beautiful. The chemistry between the leads was outstanding and I loved the ending. Side note: Alec Secareanu is soooooooo hot. A

Faces Places - This worked for me in a way that Stories We Tell didn't. A documentary about ordinary stories, but this set in France with beautiful artwork as their backdrops and of course the glorious Agnes Varda. A-

Miss Stevens - With a lesser writer this could've ended up in "teacher messing around with student" territory but it never did. I thought this was a great look at how a teacher and student can relate in depression and unhappiness. Great performances too. B

The Endless - I dug it. Full review here. - B+

Quiz Show - It's been years, but I finally watched all of Quiz Show in one sitting! It still holds up. B