Welcome to Netflix Weekend! Each week I’ll be highlighting three films available to watch on Netflix Instant that (hopefully) share a coherent theme, and why they should be watched.
In celebration of this weekend’s new releases, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and 22 Jump Street, I’ll be taking a look at a buddy cop movie, a movie about the thrills of discovery, and one film that’s celebrating its 30th birthday.
So first, let’s talk about Bad Boys. This is a very special movie: it features Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s unbeatable chemistry, Jerry Bruckheimer’s patented ridiculous production, and most importantly, it heralded the arrival of Michael Fucking Bay. As the vulgar auteur’s directorial debut, it defined all the key elements of ridiculousness that would mark his career for the next two decades.
After 100 million dollars’ worth of heroin is stolen from a secure police vault, Smith and Lawrence must track it down, or the narcotics division will be shut down in five days. This might be the most absurd log line for a film in the history of cinema (though Bay would certainly try to outdo it later on), but oh man is it worth it. Building on the foundation of the likes of Lethal Weapon, the film lives and dies on the comedic chemistry and charisma of its two leads, and thrives on the sheer energetic direction that Bay injects into the proceedings. The hyperactive, attention-deficit style would become prevalent throughout Bay’s career, but here, it still feels like a lean, grounded attempt at action filmmaking for a new wave of adolescents. One wishes Bay would get back to this kind of work, instead of yet another CGI-laden explosion fest, but that doesn’t seem likely in the near future. But we’ll always have his early stuff as a reminder of the kind of insane, hard action films he once made.
Speaking of action comedies, Ghostbusters is just about as perfectly made as they get, and it turned 30 this week. The film follows a group of parapsychologists who decide to team up to contain the increasing amounts of paranormal activity in New York. Starring four titans of the comedy genre and written by two of them, the film is as insanely quotable and hilarious as ever, standing out as one of the pinnacles of the ’80s blockbuster revolution. If nothing else, it’s worth observing as one of the key works of the late Harold Ramis, whose contribution to comedy was unmatched as a director and actor.
Lastly, since this weekend also gives us How to Train Your Dragon 2, let’s take a look at a film that is all about the complex thrills of discovery, and how it defines us as individuals and as part of a greater whole: Close Encounters of the Third Kind. After Jaws, Steven Spielberg was handed the keys to the kingdom… and then gave us 1941. While we know how that turned out, the maestro next turned his attention to the stars in 1977, crafting a masterpiece about our world finally making contact with extraterrestrial life, and what it means for us as a species.
Mysterious lights illuminate the night sky, people begin disappearing, and a family man has uncontrollable visions of a mountain he doesn’t recognize. All of these strange signs lead mankind towards a single destination, where it comes together to experience something greater than itself. At the time, Spielberg’s colleagues, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, encouraged him to write the movie himself, both directors having written their own films at that point. It remains Spielberg’s sole effort as writer of his own film, and that’s really a shame, because it’s some of the most finely tuned dialogue in his entire oeuvre.
Spielberg was apparently dissatisfied with the final cut, and would mastermind several re-releases and special editions, each with their own merits. He would later go on to say that after having children, he would have completely changed Roy’s decision at the end of the film, shifting his arc entirely. While that’s a commendable admission and certainly one worth considering, I feel it’s fortunate that we didn’t get that version, as the ending we do have is perfectly in keeping with the thematic landscape of the film. Close Encounters is an essential blockbuster, filled to the brim with optimism for our future, the kind Hollywood doesn’t seem interested in making anymore in our irony-saturated market. It is a masterpiece.
That’s a wrap for this week’s edition of Netflix Weekend. Questions? Comments? Want to share what you thought of these movies? Hit up the comments section. And as always, happy streaming.
