Drawing and Streaming - 12/27/09 - 1/2/10

I have no grand New Year's post yet, but — I have been going through my Netflix Instant Streaming queue while I draw. Here's how I spent my week . . .

Rise: Blood Hunter

I've heard a lot of people toss on this movie, but I liked it. It wasn't anything ground-breaking, but it wasn't crap either. I did think it was a perfect waste of a good Carla Gugino. She's a leading lady, people. But Lucy Liu is pretty interesting here - and I had no problems with her as the main character. I was surprised to see Michael Chiklis in this, too — along with weird cameos by Robert Forster, Nick Lachey and Marilyn Manson(!) 

Humpday

I knew nothing about this one. It is a low budget indy about two old college friends. They meet up after years of not seeing each other, and we see the different paths each has taken. There's a proposed project/dare between them that really makes up the plot, but the outcome seems pretty natural without being predictable. I'd like to see more work from the guy who played Ron. Something tells me he could play a great villain.

House Bunny

Anna Faris is extremely likable. While most of the other characters in this piece are supposed to come off as caricatures, we get to spend more time with Faris, and she really sells the character. The only other thing I've seen her in was Observe and Report, and I thought she was hilarious in that. She's one to watch and is definitely the best thing about this movie.

Murder by Death

Ever seen this movie? It's short, clean and awesome. It stars the likes of Peter Sellers, Alec Guinness, Peter Falk, David Niven, James Coco, James Cromwell, Elsa Lanchester (the Bride of Frankenstein herself!), Nancy Walker and Truman Capote. It's a Neil Simon production with the above mentioned actors portraying classic detective archetypes (Charlie Chan, Miss Marples, Sam Spade, Nick and Nora Charles,  Hercule Poirot) It's comedy, and these actors make some of the goofiest lines hilarious. Also - Charles Addams (creator of the Addams Family) did the poster art and intro/outro art.


That's it for this week's cinematic excursions. Still over 130 in the queue . . .