I like recommending films to people, especially now that people have so many films that they can Watch Instantly on Netflix. It makes it so much easier. So, with that said, I’m starting this little section that is devoted to film recommendations based off of what is currently available on Netflix Instant. These won’t archive very well as the Netflix films rotate in and out of Instant Watch, but I’ll still keep old posts up in case you decide to add the film to your regular queue.

I am not going to do big write-ups on the films I recommend, just maybe a sentence or two. Preceded by a link and brief synopsis from Netflix. I will list them by categories (and with icons), which you can find below. You can find a brief explanation of each category if you’re a little confused as to why I’m recommending certain films. I’ll probably only recommend a handful of the following categories with each post. I won’t be able to do every category like I am demonstrating here.

Lastly, I will be posting these randomly, I won’t be posting once a week or anything. I’ll try to get a couple up each month. I will number the posts too so that’s easy to keep up with how many there have been. If you watch any of the recommendations please leave a comment letting us know if you liked or disliked the film. Happy movie watching!

CLASSIC (Oldy, but goody. Most likely B&W, and undeniably good.)

RASHOMON Considered one of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s masterpieces, this Oscar-winning crime drama unfolds as four witnesses to a rape and murder report their versions of the attack, leaving the viewer to decide what really happened.

Kurosawa, Mifune, and samurai swords. What more do you need?

DRAAAMA (Heavy-hitting Drama that will drain you emotionally, but a great film nonetheless.)

PARIS, TEXAS Director Wim Wenders is at his offbeat best in this “road movie” about weary drifter Travis Henderson (Harry Dean Stanton). In a quest to rebuild his life and reconnect with his son, Travis — who’s been gone four years — tries to untangle his thorny past with his wife (Nastassja Kinski).

I adore this film. Beautiful cinematography and a wonderful performance from the incomparable Harry Dean Stanton. One of the best films I’ve ever seen on the subject of divorce, and lost love.

WHAT’S ON TV? (TV Shows worth investing in.)

BRICK CITY Mayor Cory Booker, Police Director Garry McCarthy and Central High School Principal Ras Baraka join the citizens of Newark to fight an uphill battle against crime, poverty and corruption in the New Jersey metropolis.

This is a 5 part mini-documentary-series that originally aired on The Sundance Channel. The access that the filmmakers have here is phenomenal. This show is so engaging, it’s some of the best TV programming I’ve seen in a loooong time. You can’t write stuff this good, unless of course you’re a writer for The Wire. Which by the way, if you are a fan of The Wire, this show is an absolute MUST.

JUST MISSED IT (New movies to Netflix Instant that were recently in theaters.)

MOON As he nears the end of a lonely three-year stint on the moon base Sarang, astronaut Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) begins to hear and see strange things.

Ok, so it was probably over a year ago that this was in theaters, but that’s ok because I think most people missed it. A great psychological thriller with some sci-fi elements and an amazing performance by the great Sam Rockwell. Worth watching for the Clint Mansell score alone.

WORD OF MOUTH (Smaller Indy films that you might not have heard of, but are definitely worth seeing.)

SHOTGUN STORIES Set in southeast Arkansas, this cautionary indie tale from director Jeff Nichols tracks a blood feud that erupts when two sets of half-brothers come to blows at their father’s funeral.

A powerful, but subtle, revenge film. Doesn’t focus on the violence of revenge but rather the consequences. I loved the fresh take on this genre. I also loved the fact that the feud is between two sets of brothers all with the same father, such great writing.

YOU COULD DO BETTER (You probably could have done a better job making this movie. So bad it’s good.)

CON AIR When the government puts all its rotten criminal eggs in one airborne basket, it’s asking for trouble. Before you can say, “Pass the barf bag,” the crooks control the plane, led by creepy Cyrus “The Virus” Grissom (John Malkovich).

This first 5 minutes of this movie get me every time! So, so, soooo funny! Some of the worst acting you’ll ever see from some of the best actors working today, Cage especially.

FOR THE FAM (Bust out the popcorn, a movie the whole family can enjoy!)

3 NINJAS A neat twist on The Karate Kid finds three youngsters — Samuel, Jeffrey and Michael — aiding their grandfather (Victor Wong III) in his fight against an old “friend” named Snyder, who turns out to be a corrupt FBI officer.

“We should run, we should hide, we should kick their butts!” With the new Karate Kid coming out, this is a good warm up. If you’re afraid this is just a movie for the boys, and the girls in the family won’t enjoy it, boy are you ever wrong! There’s a girl in it… somewhere. Anyway, also make sure to take note of the basketball scene, not since White Men Can’t Jump have I seen such moves put on screen.

PAY TO SEE (May not be the best thing you’ve ever seen, but entertaining and worth the price of admission.)

SINGLES Generation X neighbors share their bittersweet, intertwined stories of the single life in director Cameron Crowe’s quirky relationship comedy set against the backdrop of Seattle’s grunge music scene in the 1990s.

For the ladies, this is basically the original Sex and the City. Definitely dated, and not that great, but fun to look back on. Grunge is actually back in style, so the ripped jeans and flannel shirts won’t look too unfamiliar. Full of Cameron Crowe’s (Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire) sappy dialogue.

I LIKE AVATAR (If you like Avatar, and Jason Statham is your favorite actor, this is for you.  Light on story and heavy on blowing crap up!)

THE ROCK When a disgruntled ex-Marine (Ed Harris) seizes Alcatraz prison, taking hostages and threatening to blanket San Francisco with nerve gas, the feds send in a strike force led by a chemical-weapons expert (Nicolas Cage) and an ex-con (Sean Connery) who broke out of “the Rock” years earlier.

Pure action awesomeness.

REEL LIFE (Documentary recommendation.)

THE YES MEN This humorous documentary monitors the exploits of a group of jokester liberals who make names for themselves as they mimic members of the World Trade Organization at various venues across the globe.

Funny, entertaining, informative, and educational. The perfect ingredients for a great documentary. Watch it for 10 minutes and I bet you won’t be able to turn it off.

FILM BUFF (For the elite. The smug, film nerds that are willing to sit through a 3 1/2 hour B&W foreign film.)

FUNNY GAMES An affluent German family is settling into their lakeside vacation home when a young man named Peter (Frank Giering) comes to the door asking to borrow eggs. Anna (Susanne Lothar) is alone in the house while her husband (Ulrich Muhe) and son (Stefan Clapczynski) are off swimming.

This is the original one, I haven’t seen the remake yet. When I first saw this film it haunted me long after and I immediately wanted to track down everything by Michael Haneke. I was hooked from the moment that classical music turned to death metal in the opening title sequence. This film meets the insatiable appetite we Americans seem to have for violence in cinema. It pries our mouths open and forces it down our throats with a shovel.

OLD SCHOOL (Old enough to be on VHS, but not quite old enough to be a classic. Or good enough.)

THE PISTOL: THE BIRTH OF A LEGEND “Pistol” Pete Maravich (Adam Guier) pushes himself to the limit in this stirring biopic recounting the National Basketball Association all-star’s adolescence and first year on his high school’s varsity squad.

I used to watch this film religiously as a kid. It’s the story of Pete Maravich and how he learned the game of basketball. If you’re not into basketball then you could still watch the film and make a drinking game out of it. Take a shot every time there is a montage and you’ll probably blackout in the first 45 minutes.

Which brings me to our last category…

HAVE A DRINK (These ones will probably be best after you’ve had a few drinks)

THE OCTAGON A group of terrorist ninjas have been wreaking havoc on the life of a wealthy woman named Justine (Karen Carlson), so she hires former karate champion Scott James (Chuck Norris) to be her bodyguard.

Ok, I know the whole Chuck Norris thing is way played out, but this film is golden. This is the type of film that made Chuck Norris what he is today. You have to watch at least 15 minutes of it just to hear the hilarious, whispering voice-over that Norris does throughout the film.

be sure to check back on our Instant Pix section for more recommendations

I had the chance to see Macgruber while I was at SXSW and it was the longest line I had seen for any of the films there. Macgruber is definitely one of those guilty pleasures where the more stupid it looks, the more you want to see it. If for any reason you need any more confirmation that the 80′s are officially back, the release of a film inspired by the 80′s television show Macgyver should be all you the proof you need. However, Macgruber is not a parody of Macgyver, but rather a mockery.

Macgruber is based on the SNL sketch about an “Ex-special operative” that spends more time whining and moaning than he does diffusing the bomb that is seconds away from going off. This usually always ends with a mid-sentence cut to a huge explosion. How he was awarded “16 purple hearts, 3 Congressional Medals of Honor and 7 presidential medals of bravery” I will never know. It’s definitely funny, especially if you grew up watching Macgyver. Although, like I said above, the film as well as the sketch, don’t really have anything to do with Macgyver outside of the silly wardrobe, bad mullet, and similar sounding name. And unlike Macgruber, I don’t remember Macgyver having awesome lyrics to its theme song… or an excessive amount of “throat-ripping”.

I’m not going to get too much into the specifics of the plot here because um, it’s Macgruber. If you’re going to see this film for the plot, you probably shouldn’t go. In fact, if you are in an irritable mood or just irritable in general, do not see Macgruber.  However, If you’re ready to watch something that’s pretty mindless and you want to have a good time and laugh, Macgruber does the trick. A couple pre-show beers wouldn’t hurt either.

The last SNL movie made based off of a sketch was Ladies Man, that was over 10 years ago. SNL movies have a bad reputation of being well, horrible. Sometimes a sketch should just remain a sketch. Macgruber seems like it should be one of those SNL sketches that should remain just that, but surprisingly, it’s not. Macgruber succeeds as a feature length film, and a lot of that credit goes to co-writer/director Jorma Taccone. Taccone (of the comedy trio The Lonely Island) does a good job of never pressing on the breaks, he never even slightly reaches for some underlying “message”, but really just continues to push the absurdity of this film and keeps delivering on big laughs throughout. He also does a good job with directing some fairly big action sequences.

Obviously Will Forte does a good job of carrying the film, otherwise it wouldn’t work, but you really don’t want to give much credit to Macgruber himself, because frankly, he’s an asshole. The tagline for this film couldn’t be more fitting “the ultimate tool”. Macgruber is definitely that, and if you see the film and still need further proof, check out his twitter @Grubes69. Kristen Wiig also does a great job here in probably her biggest role to date. Val Kilmer, Ryan Phillipe, and Powers Boothe basically play the straight men, sort of parodying a lot of the same roles they’ve played before, but this time for intentional laughs.

With the humor in this film being as lowbrow and crass as it is, I’m sure you can imagine it’s a hard R. A lot of the jokes are drawn-out almost to an exhausting extent, but luckily the jokes are funny enough that you continue laughing before they wear thin. Also, don’t go into the film thinking Macgruber is someone you’re going to root for, he has to be one of the worst protagonists ever put on screen. He’s a complete moron, a lowlife, and there is no real redeeming value about him whatsoever.  The only thing Macgruber would probably take a bullet for is his car stereo that he never leaves without. You can probably relate more to the villains in this film than you can Macgruber. The main villain is named Dieter Von Cunth by the way. That should give you a good idea of the type of humor in this film.

This is probably the dirtiest film SNL has ever released, it is from the guys that made “jizz in my pants” a household song though, so it’s no real surprise. If you like The Lonely Island humor and are a fan of the SNL digital shorts (the only thing good about SNL these days), this is in that vein. The Lonely Island crew also had a big part in the hilarious, and also lowbrow comedy, Hot Rod. That film was directed by Lonely Island member Akiva Schaffer who serves as an executive producer on Macgruber. But due to the fact that Jorma was a a co-writer on Macgruber I would say it has more of their stamp on it than Hot Rod, even though the third member of the trio, Andy Samberg, had nothing to do with it. Most devoted Lonely Island fans (people that know what “Awesometown” is) will more than likely enjoy this film.

Macgruber, the man and the film, is obnoxious, crude, annoying, inconsiderate, psychotic, ignorant, irritating, and pretty funny too. There are many memorable scenes in this film, many of which you’d probably wish you couldn’t remember, but you’ll laugh nonetheless. Without spoiling anything I will leave you with this warning: Do not bring celery as a snack when you go to see this film and expect to not have an appetite for celery for a while after viewing it. You’ll thank me later.

Macgruber will be released in theaters on May 21st, 2010. You can view the trailer here

For more SXSW news, reviews, pictures, and videos, click on the SXSW tab in the above bar.

If you haven’t heard of the the 48 Hour Film Project it’s an international filmmaking competition that challenges filmmakers to put together a short film within a matter of 48 Hours. It’s exciting, enabling, and exhausting. But it’s definitely worth it, it’s always fun to see what people come up with in the short span of a weekend.

The first official 2010 48 Hour Film Project event kicks off this Thursday! If you live in the San Diego area you have a chance to attend the World Premiere of the 2009 Best of 48HFP Films. These are the top films out of 3000+ films shot during the 2009 48HFP season and are not to be missed! Meet this year’s 48HFP producers and previous year’s filmmakers after the screening and learn how to shoot your own 48HFP film.

There will also be a meet and greet event at the next-door DoubleTree Hotel after the screening.

Date: Thursday, May 20, 2010
Time: 7:00pm – 10:30pm
Location: UltraStar Cinemas Mission Valley at Hazard Center
Street: 7510 Hazard Center Drive

Tickets available online at:
http://www.ultrastarmovies.com/

If you plan on attending, please RSVP here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=127375927274570&ref=ts

More information about the 48 Hour Film Project:
http://www.48hourfilm.com