Noticias

Netflix has revolutionized the home movie experience for fans of film with its instant streaming technology. Netflix Nuggets is my way of spreading the word about independent, classic and foreign films made available by Netflix for instant streaming.

This Week’s New Instant Releases…

Promised Lands (1974)

Streaming Available: 04/19/2011

Cast: Documentary

Director: Susan Sontag

Synopsis: Set in Israel during the final days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, this powerful documentary — initially barred by Israel authorities — from writer-director Susan Sontag examines divergent perceptions of the enduring Arab-Israeli clash. Weighing in on matters related to socialism, anti-Semitism, nation sovereignty and American materialism are The Last Jew writer Yoram Kaniuk and military physicist Yuval Ne’eman.

Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (2009)

Streaming Available: 04/19/2011

Cast: Barbara Sukowa, Heino Ferch, Hannah Herzsprung, Gerald Alexander Held, Lena Stolze, Sunnyi Melles

Synopsis: Directed by longtime star of independent German cinema Margarethe von Trotta, this reverent...

Senso (1954) Direction: Luchino Visconti Cast: Alida Valli, Farley Granger, Heinz Moog, Nina Morelli, Massimo Girotti, Christian Marquand, Sergio Fantoni Screenplay: Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Luchino Visconti; from Camillo Boito's novella Highly Recommended Alida Valli, Farley Granger, Senso Critical consensus regards Luchino Visconti's Senso as a radical departure, a sign of the director's shift in focus from the gritty world of downtrodden proles (such as in his neorealist classics Ossessione and La Terra Trema) to a rather more exciting historical fantasy involving the illicit romance between Countess Serpieri (Alida Valli) and Lieutenant Mahler (Farley Granger) during the Italian revolt against Austria — shot in radiant three-strip Technicolor to boot. A rather more defensible truism portrays Senso as a dry run for Visconti's later adaptation of Giuseppe di Lampedusa's The Leopard. There are obvious parallels between the two: male leads played by American actors (Granger in Senso, Burt Lancaster in The Leopard), brilliant color cinematography,...

Director: Luchino Visconti Writers: Luchino Visconti, Suso Cecchi d’Amico, Carlo Alianello, Tennessee Williams, Giorgio Bassani, Paul Bowles, Giorgio Prosperi Cinematographers: G.R. Aldo and Robert Krasker Starring: Alida Valli, Farley Granger, Heinz Moog, Rina Morelli Studio/Runtime: Criterion/123 mins. Arguably the first movie that could be called Italian Neo-realist was Luchino Visconti’s Ossesione, which he then followed up with two more features in the same tradition. But as the war that fostered the movement faded into the past Visconti radically shifted his style with Senso. Where neo-realism focused on the poor, here he brought his spotlight to aristrocrats. Where neo-realism...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

Drive Angry – Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard, William Fichtner

Hall Pass – Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Christina Applegate

Shelter – Julianne Moore, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Jeffrey DeMunn (limited)

Movie of the Week

Hall Pass

The Stars: Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Christina Applegate

The Plot: A married man (Wilson) is granted the opportunity to have an affair by his wife.

The Buzz: I’m happy to see, after a four-year hiatus, the Farrelly Brothers are back (Dumb & Dumber, There’s Something About Mary, Shallow Hal) — it’s also nice to see Owen Wilson back to his regular Hollywood hard-working self. I didn’t think the red-band trailer for Hall Pass was as funny as the green-band, but I am still holding out hope that the Farrelly’s and Mr. Wilson are as good a match-up in reality as they are on paper. The supporting cast looks solid, with Jason Sudeikis,...