I somehow happened upon and decided to watch "The Girl Next Door" (2007), which is also known as "Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Dooor." Please note that this is not the film with Elisha Cuthbert and Emile Hirsch.

This film is "inspired by actual events" and is based on the story of two adolescent girls who are sent to live with their aunt after their parents die. The aunt and her children abuse and torture her nieces. It also involves a neighbor boy who befriends the nieces and shows how he struggles to prevent and rescue the girls from their torture.

I have mixed feelings about this movie. I thought it was decent/pretty good, but at the same time heart-wrenching and horrifying. It grabbed my attention from the beginning and didn't let go. I wanted to stop watching it jut because I didn't want to see that form of "child abuse," but I had to know it ended.

There is another movie called "An American Crime" that is supposedly more true to the real story, but I have not seen it.

I didn't read the Wikipedia or TruTV's Crime Library stories regarding the actual events before watching the movie. I would recommend you avoid them as well. But here they are if you want to read about the story without watching the movie. I think they are both worth reading. The links are in the spoiler tag.

Got my Streaming Disc for Wii today as well. It's my 2nd streaming device now, so I have one for the bedroom. Man, this stuff really changes how you use your TV.

I have a Roku in the living room and a LG blu-ray (which does Netflix and U-Tube among other things) in the bedroom. I'm seriously considering dropping cable, renewing mlb.tv for the Roku (to watch Red Sox).

I can get "American Idol" with rabbit ears .

Funny, I just reupped my MLB.tv and had a discussion with Girlfriend about dumping cable. The only thing I can think of I watch anymore on cable is Top Gear and The Pacific.

If it wasn't for the fact that we in the old country seem to be missing out on this...

My account is up for renewal next week. I probably have to cancel because April is a busy month, and I realized with horror the other night that, according to my complicated mathematical calculations, I would not have enough time/discs left to watch what I need to watch in time. I needed the final disc of John From Cincinnati, plus the 3 discs of Mad Men S3 on Blu.

After several hours of scrambling on my part, I hatched an elaborate plan - I upgraded to 2-out at a time (pro-rated for the rest of the month). Still had to sweat a little to make sure Mad Men disc 1 shipped on time (since it's brand new), but it did and I should be in really good shape. Also managed to score a "we're sorry your DVD shipped late" (which AFAIK it didn't) bonus rental, so it's all gravy baby.

If you're into Documentaries, Netflix instant is great. Some good ones not mentioned so far.

* I Like Killing Flies
Claims to be based on the Soup Nazi character from Seinfeld, shows his day-to-day interactions with his customers and family, as well as the struggle to keep the business running. The guy is a really interesting character.

* In the Realms of the Unreal
This is pretty amazing. Henry Darger was a reclusive janitor in a Chicago hospital who spent all of his free time writing and illustrating a massive children's fantasy universe that wasn't discovered until his death at 80 totalling around 15000 pages. The documentary shifts between an abridged visual narration of his work and a study of his life through interviews of his neighbors. It's like imagining an uneducated, poor, autistic reclusive version of Tolkien trying to create the hobbit mythology just for himself.

* Cosmos: The Complete Collection with Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan on the Universe! It's pretty dated, but the guy is so enthusiastic and intelligent it's fun to watch.

* Carrier
A film crew spends 6-months on the U.S.S Nimitz documenting crew life.

* Encounters At The End of the World
Already mentioned, but bears repeating. Great Werner Herzog documentary on the Antarctic.

* Wall-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
Muckraking!

* Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Good biopic of the man.

* A League of Ordinary Gentleman
I find Pro bowling to be pretty boring, but the characters in this are interesting, and I liked the film's pacing and style. It follows some of the top players on the PBA and their ups and downs.

And of course the mandatories are Man on a Wire and King of Kong, but those have both been mentioned to death.

Some good non-documentaries not mentioned..

* Mongol
I watched this without knowing it was about Ghengis Khan until I looked up the main character's name on wikipedia afterwards. I liked it more before I discovered that, the movie portrays him far too humanistically and romantically, and the ending of the movie which covers the early foundation of his empire has little to no build-up and explanation earlier in the film. It's still a good watch but it feels a bit like the script got mangled in post-production.

* Ned Kelly
Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom play turn-of-the-century poor Irish immigrants under the oppression of the British crown. They end up on the run and form a gang to fight back. The story is nothing new, but it's well written with good acting and scenery. If you're a fan of non-Brokeback Heath Ledger, this is worth watching.

* From Dusk Till Dawn
This is up currently, classic Terentino.

instant recs:
Humbolt county - Surprisingly good quirky indie comedy/drama

Anthony Bordain's No reservation series - if you like food/travel shows

Bottle Shock - A film about how napa valley become a major player in the world of wine, and how the world of wine itself was transformed during this period.

The Rape of Europa - Powerful documentary about the looting and pillaging the nazis did to great art throughout europe, and the effort to relocate and return these stolen treasures.

Absolute Zero: Nova - if you like nova this one is worth checking out.

Paradise Now - A moving film that attempts to portray two palestinian would be terrorists as actual humans...

I can't remember if its been mentioned yet, but For All Mankind, a documentary on the moon landing, made from hundreds of hours of film shot on site.

Its in HD, and is pretty awesome.

My favorite part: They set up the "live" feed from the moon to mission control and the picture is in black and white instead of color. You see a an astronaut walk up to the camera from mission control's point of view and a shake and its fixed. Mission control asked how he fixed it and he responds that he hit it with a hammer.

Very good, watched it a couple years ago. All subtitles iirc.

Dear Zachary was exhausting.

Got my Wii disc today and watched a great German film called "Sophie Scholl: The Final Days" about German students who were part of a resistance movement inside Germany in the latter stages of WW2.

i also watched the 1st few episodes of Rescue Me season 1 and I am kind of struggling to get through it so far. Does it pick up anytime soon?

Arrested Development is up

and Rocky & Bullwinkle for you youngins

It picks up and gets awesome then drops off to abysmal and then returns to kinda ok and watchable.

Are you referring to Rescue Me or Sophie Scholl?

lol, whoops.

Rescue Me.

Was really excited to watch this since apparently from reading OOT my life is not complete without seeing it. Added all 3 seasons to my queue and season 1 comes up "play episode 2." Apparently episode one is DVD only WTF IS UP WITH THAT?

episode 1 is just an extended pilot on the dvds, worth seeing but you aren't missing out on too much watching the regular pilot

+1 he's such a realistic character compared to steve carell... carell more palatable somehow cuz he's so phony.

Sweet, thanks for the heads up. Watched season 1 on DVD awhile back, but never got around to the rest.


FYI to everyone: Seasons 1-5 of Weeds are now on Watch Instantly. One of the favorite shows of my favorite shows.

Wow, the TV selection is really growing. Lots of stuff I'll probably check out on there...AD + Firefly, Rescue Me, 24, and maybe even Dollhouse. That's just from the new arrivals list.

EDIT: Just noticed the original Inglorious Basterds under movies, will probably give that a watch for curiosity sake.

I had a friend swear to me that this show was great. I sat thru 3 seasons. It does not change at all.

obv im reconsidering my friendship

Just watched a movie called Triangle that was absolutely awesome. I really cant explain what its about without ruining it, but its awesomely twisty and pretty hard to follow. One of the best ive seen on Netflix.

Reviews are good: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1212111-triangle/

Better Off Ted is available, and it's magnificent. It's like Arrested Development meets Office Space.