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Here are some quick reviews of what I’ve been watching.  Annie and I are back on Netflix (hooked it up through Alec’s XBox, even), and we’ve really managed to give the service a workout in the last couple months.

I’ll try to do this once a month.

Five Wives, Three Secretaries and Me (1998)
A documentary by Tessa Blake, with whom I spent some time in Canada at a conference.  It’s a look at her father, who has had five wives, and his experiences as a Texas oil baron.  Touching at times, and the ending has a message about how much we’ll compartmentalize aspects we don’t like about the people we love.

Rent (2005)
This was…okay.  I wanted to like it much more than I did.  There were a couple great musical numbers (“La Vie Boheme” was wonderful), but it was little depressing, and, in the end, I couldn’t pick out a clear message.  I was left wondering, so what?  I’m willing to bet the play is much better. (The traveling version came through Sioux Falls a couple years ago — I should have gone.)

American Gangster (2007)
Denzel Washington has a perfect role as a drug lord in early 70s New York. Russell Crowe isn’t bad either as the cop chasing him.  But, in the end, it was standard cops and robbers fare.  Nothing special.

The Great Debaters (2007)
I liked this one.  It’s the story of the debate team from Wiley College in the 1930s.  Denzel was commanding as hell (when is he not?), and on top of the inspirational story, it gives you a scary look into the lives of black people in the South during the Depression.  The lynching scene is harrowing.

The Constant Gardener (2005)
Really good film.  Nice, tight thriller shot in beautiful Africa.  I love a good, solid conspiracy theory.  A bit confusing on the way, but it all makes sense in the end.  Rachel Weisz was great, and earned every bit of that Oscar.

Syriana (2005)
Probably the most confusing film I’ve ever seen.  I defy anyone to understand it on first viewing.  There are about six overlapping plots (Roger Ebert calls this “hyperlink cinema“), and it took me an hour’s worth of research after it was over until I had even the barest grasp of what happened.  (In the future, I may want to skip any movie that requires a Flash-enabled flowchart in order to explain it.) In the end, it was worth it.  You don’t watch Syriana as much as you conquer it.  It’s the kind of film you think about for days afterward, both for the intricacy of the story, and for the scene where George Clooney gets his fingernails ripped out. Can’t unsee that.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
Enthralling documentary about the Enron disaster.  What a trainwreck that company was — they were doing five or six different illegal things, any one of which would have destroyed them.  Compelling look inside the biggest financial disaster until…well, the current one.

Then She Found Me (2007)
Understated film with Helen Hunt about a woman who gets abandoned by her husband, contacted by her birth mother, and is trying to find love and have a baby at whatever cost.  Good, but it meandered quite a bit.  The ending is very sweet.  A bit harder edge that your run-of-the-mill romantic comedy, and has Matthew Broderick playing against type as an immature ass.

Helvetica (2007)
Great documentary about a font.  I reviewed it in-depth over at Gadgetopia.

Mondovino (2004)
A documentary about wine which has been accused (rightfully) of tremendous bias.  The filmmaker really pushes the point that the globalization and “corporatization” of wine is ruining the industry.  He vilifies people like wine critic Robert Parker and the Mondavi family.  The “I’ll ram my point-of-view down your throat” tone got old, but still a good look into the high-end wine business.

Word Wars (2005)
Wonderful documentary about high-stakes Scrabble players.  These guys live, eat, and breathe Scrabble.  It follows four players in the nine month run-up to the 2003 National Championships.  I absolutely loved this film.  The payoff in the end almost made me cry.

Small Town Gay Bar (2006)
An interesting documentary about gay bars in small towns in Southern Mississippi.  The gay people in these towns really have no outlet other than these little roadhouses.  Given that there’s no gay culture or community whatsoever where they live (there’s often outright hostility, in fact), they spend their entire weeks waiting to go to these bars on the weekends.  The bars are the only place they can let their guard down.

Only You (1992)
The very definition of light romantic comedy.  This is a gem of a film with a likable cast, beautiful locations, a breezy plot, and not one hint of a larger point.  It’s pure escapist romance, set on the coast of Italy, including the beauty that is Positano.  This movie will leave you with nothing but a huge smile.

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Hugh Grant is awesome — one of the most instantly likeable actors working today.  This is the film that made him a star, and it’s worth every minute.  Both hilariously funny and tear-jerking at times, though I’m sad that Hugh didn’t end up with who I wanted him to in the end.