Four movies that should be in your netflix queue

By Nate Loomis

Published: Thursday, February 8, 2007

Updated: Sunday, September 6, 2009

Courtesy Photo

Picture yourself browsing the "New Releases" aisle of Blockbuster or scrolling the "DVD's Releasing this Week" page on Netflix.com. If you find yourself saying, "seen that, seen that" or "the first one wasn't funny, why would they make a sequel?" or "I'm boycotting movies with crazy couch-jumping scientologists and anti-Semitic Australians," then you need to clip out this article and have it handy.

"A Very Long Engagement" (2004)

If you've seen the highly regarded French film "Amelie" (2001), then you're familiar with the stylized and visually rich productions that Jean-Pierre Jeunet turns out. "A Very Long Engagement" is Jeunet's brilliant screen adaptation of the acclaimed novel written by Sebastien Japrisot.

Starring none other than Jeunet's favorite muse, Audrey Tautou, "A Very Long Engagement" is the story of Matilde, a young crippled woman whose fiancé Manech (Gaspard Ulliel "Hannibal Rising" 2007), is reported as missing or dead in the trenches of WWI. Matilde refuses to believe that her soul mate has perished and she embarks on a relentless heart-wrenching search for evidence of his fate

This is the ultimate date movie with enough war and gore for the guys and plenty of romance and sentimentality for the ladies. Furthermore, Jeunet's beautiful location shots unfold like impressionist paintings with vivid colors and infinite depth. And for those of you who hate subtitles have no fear; this film is also dubbed in English.

"Gummo" (1997)

Everyone has his or her preferences when it comes to film but any truly worthwhile film should have an effect on the viewer be it joy, sorrow, awe or disgust. With "Gummo" you'll get a little of everything but you'll surely be thankful that you don't live in Xenia Ohio.

While markedly thin on plot and character arc, "Gummo" follows a group of teenagers as they wade through the madness and grime that is Xenia, Ohio. Hit by a massive tornado in the 70's, Xenia has never recovered. What remains is a town inhabited by degenerates and junkies who let their equally disturbed children roam the streets shooting cats and sniffing glue. With a cast of characters you'll never forget, like a mentally challenged prostitute pimped out by her own brother or a rabbit-ear wearing skateboarder, "Gummo" is nothing less than disturbing.

Written and directed by Harmony Korine (screenwriter "Kids" 1995) who is no stranger to controversy, "Gummo" has an almost documentary-style feel, which cushions the lack of plot. If the final "tub" scene in this film doesn't disturb and stick with you then you might actually be from Xenia.

"The House of Yes" (1997)

If you like Parker Posey or you just want to see proof that Tori Spelling has actually been in a decent film then you must see "The House of Yes." Adapted from a stage play by Wendy MaCleod and directed by Mark Waters, this quirky indie film is uplifted by a poignant script and a superb cast.

The story follows Marty Pascal (Josh Hamilton), as he returns home to introduce his bride-to-be (Spelling) to his dysfunctional family. Drama ensues as Marty's sister Jackie-O (Posey), works herself into a tirade upon hearing the news of the engagement and the family's past indiscretions begin to surface. Marty's sister not only adopts the former First Lady's handle but dresses and acts the part too. The story takes an interesting twist when Marty's fiancé starts to figure out the sibling's strange past.

This extremely dark comedy manages to touch on murder, incest and mental illness in ways you won't soon forget. A film highlighting some of Parker Posey's best work in a role that seems custom tailored for her.

"Welcome to the Dollhouse" (1995)

What might be considered a more raw and honest version of "Napoleon Dynamite," this is the film that put indie filmmaker Todd Solondz on the map. Though not quite as controversial as his sophomore and junior efforts, "Welcome to the Dollhouse" lapped up a Grand Jury Award at Sundance and Best Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards amongst many other accolades.

"Welcome to the Dollhouse" takes a look at the life of an outcast middle-schooler who is ridiculed both at home and in school. As if it wasn't hard enough being a 7th grader, Dawn Wiener (Heather Matarazzo), dubbed Wiener-dog by her classmates, tries to cope with pre-adolescence. Constantly abused by her classmates at school and bullied by her nerdy big brother and ultra-cutesy little sister at home, Dawn just can't catch a break.

With this darkly comic examination of the complexities of pre-adolescence Solondz underscores how cruel and unforgiving growing up can be, while still providing plenty of laughs.

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Recent Comments

Scavengers steal Scan TV sign Saturday

If you read on their facebook page for the stolen sign they accuse them of taking it. I just think that the blame game has gone too far on this campus and people see fraternities as a good scape goat. Yes some do some shady stuff, but at the same time one cannot instantly blame them. "They think it was maybe a fraternity stunt or scavenger hunt of some kind." - taken directly from their facebook page. I do hope that your sign does get returned because I understand how iconic it is for the university and the MUB.

posted by: UNHAlum
Faculty members need a wake-up call

It is time the faculity sucked it up like the rest of us on campus. This year staff over $40,000 received no raise, faculity received 5.5%. Take the 1.5% and be happy.
Do You remember why you became a professor? I hope, to pass your knowledge on to the next generation.
Some of you look like greedy individuals who can only think of the God almighty dollar and not the students you teach and mentor. If we keep increasing out tuition to pay for salaries students will look at other schools and then where will you be, on the street.

posted by: Robert Pettigrew
Faculty members need a wake-up call

I don't think it's fair to compare UNH to UMass (Amherst, I assume) and UConn. Both those schools are considerably larger than UNH — 26,000 and 20,000 undergrads, respectively — while the other schools mentioned are closer to UNH's size, give or take 3,000 students. Massachusetts and Connecticut are also feeling the effects of the recession slightly more than NH is. I realize that UNH commonly uses those schools as comparators, but those two are just on a different level than our school.
There are two other things I'm going to look up before I decide how I feel about this.
First, how does the average UNH professor's salary compare to to other universities? It's probably in line with other schools, but if it's significantly lower, shouldn't UNH profs get that too?
As some have said, if the pay is lower here, professors can quit and go to other schools — if they can find an open position somewhere else. But, if a professor leaves, the school will be left in the position of trying to attract a new teacher with lower-than-average salaries. Enact the raises and UNH remains competitive in keeping and hiring the best professors.
Second, what percentage of UNH's budget goes toward paying the professors? Again, this could be that the professors are asking the university to dedicate an equal amount to paying educators at UNH as they are paid at other schools. If UNH only dedicates 15% of the budget to prof pay and the other schools all dedicate 20%, why shouldn't that be changed? Not to sound Beck-ian, but I don't know and that's something that should be looked at.
Neither of those questions deal with the larger problem of education funding from the state, which I think was something like 2 percent (and that's for all schools, not just colleges). California students staged huge protests yesterday because fee hikes raised they amount they pay per year for school to around $11,000. Meanwhile, that's close to what UNH students have been paying for tuition alone for years, and it continues to rise. If Governor Lynch and our state reps don't start working to increase education funding in the state, all the groups involved, students, professors and administration, need to start showing the kind of outrage that California showed yesterday.

posted by: Clark Kent
Faculty members need a wake-up call

The whiny, lazy, faculty all need to get fired. I haven't seen a more wanna-be-entitled bunch anywhere I have worked. They don't deserve any raises, but instead a pay cut. The rest of the staff had a mandatory salary freeze that will last probably 2 years at least. Faculty also get the bonus of cheaper benefits than the rest of the staff. To top it off they are whiners and complainers about anything not in their contract or if they feel the least bit slighted by the administration. They got out of taking mandatory sexual-harrassment training that everyone else on staff had to take, since somehow their union filed a grievance with the administration that it wasn't required in their contract. The entire training was online and took less than an hour but that's too much for those slackers.
Tenure indeed is the only thing that keeps many of them employed, and it's a concept that needs to get thrown out. Many of them are dead wood, not bringing new ideas to the table and too 'busy' to try anything new, despite having many grad assistants and others to do all their real work, and the most over the top support structure of any organization I have seen.
Yet their greed continues unchecked! Ugh!
Good riddance!

posted by: Your name
Faculty members need a wake-up call

How quickly things change.
Just last week, when editorializing about a group of campus perverts, the attitude of the editors was: "we also don’t think it’s any of our business to judge an organization just because their activities are a shock to our system." Seven days ago we were advised to "shackle our judgment" and told that the campus S&M crowd "deserves respect." Now, a mere week later, when the same editorial board concludes that the UNH faculty union's collective bargaining position is "shocking," what do the editors do? Take their own advice and "shackle their judgment?" Offer respect to the faculty? Conclude that the negotiations are none of their business?
No, none of these. Instead, the hypocritical editors tell "whining" and "greedy" faculty they are lucky to have a job, and should be satisfied with whatever the administration considers to be a fair offer -- because, presumably, the administration ALWAYS tells the truth about university finances, and ALWAYS treats the employees of the university fairly.
Why not spend some effort actually learning the facts regarding the financial situation of the university -- revenues from the state, tuition increases, higher enrollments, grant money? Why not report on the value of the faculty and the university as an economic engine for the state? Why not investigate both the enormous increase in administrative salaries and the bloated growth in new administrative positions over the last two decades? Why not write about the relative compensation of your faculty compared to those with similar education, training, and experience in other fields? I guess these tasks were too challenging. It's just easier to call faculty names.
Everybody loves free-market capitalism as long as the managers and administrators get to call the shots and the workers remain docile and content with whatever the bosses decide they deserve. But, when workers assert their rights and engage in labor negotiations as equals -- well, that is just unacceptable to our enlightened editorial masters. You're all doing a great job of learning how to be corporate lap dog journalists.
Oh, and you spelled "principal" incorrectly.

posted by: Prof. "Greedy," Ph.D.

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Four movies that should be in your netflix queue

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