How To Eat Your Watermelon In White Company (And Enjoy It!) (2005)

 

Available: Netflix, Amazon

 

The Red Chapel (2009)

This is a documentary made by Danish journalist Mads Brügger. Under the pretense of a cultural exchange, Brügger brings two Danish-Korean comedians, Jacob and Simon, to North Korea to perform a vaudeville comedy show. They tell the dictatorship government that they are a pro-socialist group called The Red Chapel. However, the real intention of the visit is to explore and expose the closed society of the country. Every night the footage that is shot must be reviewed by official censors but since Jacob is physically handicapped, he is able to get away with saying things about this society that cannot translated and understood by the North Koreans. This film gives a glimpse into a tyrannical nation that is both funny and terrifying.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Baadasssss! (2003)

Mario Van Peebles directs and stars in this docudrama about his father Melvin Van Peebles. The movie tells the story of how Melvin went about creating the first truly independent African-American film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. The drama is beyond anything that could be made up. Roadblocks of all sorts keep popping up: from Union workers stopping production, SAG fees making the use of those actors totally cost prohibitive, the money-man being arrested, no distribution company daring to even touch it, etc. It's an incredible and a true tribute to the man who would never give up.

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Special (2006)

Michael Rapaport stars as Les Franken, a parking enforcement cop who's basically a pathetic loser. One day he decides to take part in a drug study. The drug is supposed to eliminate self doubt. However in Les' case it has caused him to have delusions that he is a super hero. This unfortunate side-effect has Les thinking that he has telepathy, can hover above the ground and walk through walls. The executive brothers (Paul Blackthorne and Ian Bohen) that run the drug company are worried that these adverse reactions will put a bad light on the drug and so they try to get Les to stop taking them. But by this time Les is so convinced that he has super powers he refuses to stop and goes after the Suits like the villains that they are.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Transporter 3 (2008)

Jason Statham returns as Frank Martin. This time he is unwillingly recruited by Johnson (Robert Knepper) to drive his car to an unknown destination. He will be accompanied by Valentina (Natalya Rudakova), a young attractive Ukrainian woman and the daughter of the head of the Ukrainian Environmental Protection Agency. Both Frank and Valentina are fitted with bracelets that prevents them from being more than 75 feet from the car. With the help of Inspector Tarconi (François Berléand), Frank tries to get out of the desperate situation he is in and at the same time foil the plot of whomever is behind it all.

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Shut Up And Shoot Me (2005)

British man Colin Frampton (Andy Nyman) wants to kill himself after his wife dies in a freak accident while they are vacationing in Prague. He pays his hired driver Mr. Zeman (Karel Roden) to do the deed for him. Unfortunately the method that Zeman utilizes does not do the job so Colin shows up at his house expecting him to get it right. When Zeman decides to exterminate Colin by angering a gangster that is sure to annihilate him, things get really hairy as the body counts mounts. Regretfully, Colin never seems to be one of the deceased.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

The Invention of Lying (2009)

This film written, directed and starring Ricky Gervais takes place in an alternate reality. It is a world where the human race has never learned to tell a lie. There is no fiction, no religion, everyone is up front with what they are thinking. Suddenly one day, chubby loser Mark Bellison (Gervias) tells an untruth and it changes his life forever. He uses his new power to not only improve his own life, but the lives of other unhappy people. Things get complicated though when he tells his dying mother about a life after death. Unexpectedly, Mark becomes a kind of Messiah. He also becomes very rich and famous. However, this celebrity does not bring him what he wants most, which is to marry Anna (Jennifer Garner). No matter what Anna feels for Mark, she does believe him to be her perfect genetic match. And as much as Mark wants to be with her, he cannot lie to her.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Killing Cabos (2004)

Very funny Mexican film that starts off quite surreal before settling into an entertaining adventure taking place over the course of one crazy night. Jaque (Tony Dalton) and Mudo (Kristoff) have the unclothed, unconscious body of their tyrannical boss Cabos (Pedro Armendariz, Jr) in the trunk of their car. After being rear-ended by a crazed, cross-eyed bus driver, they call their friend Ruben (Joaquin Cosio) to help them sort out the situation. Ruben was once know as "Mascarita", a masked Mexican wrestler, but don't ever call him that or he'll beat the crap out of you. Ruben shows up with his bodyguard Tony The Cannibal (Silverio Palacios) who helps him get out of some scrapes with a team of aggressive rugby players. And finally, there's vicious Botcha (Raul Mendez). He thinks that he has kidnapped Cabos. Not only has he got the wrong man, but he can't even get any response from the family when he contacts them threatening to kill him if he doesn't get retribution.

Alternate Titles: Matando Cabos

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District B13 (2004)

Impressive stunts rule the day in this semi futuristic action film.

A ghetto area of France is now a crime-ridden city with its own rules after a stone wall was put up around the section. It is run by Taha (Bibi Naceri) and his troops of heavily armed thugs. After Leito, played by parkour artist David Belle, has stolen a shipment of drugs from him, Taha holds his sister Lola (Dany Verissimo) prisoner by keep her addicted to heroine. Leito eventually teams up with Damien (Cyril Raffaelli), a super cop who has to retrieve and defuse a "clean bomb" after it was stolen by Taha the Drug Lord.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Bunny And The Bull (2009)

This surreal film is written and directed by Paul King, the director of The Mighty Boosh TV series. The story concerns Stephen (Edward Hogg), a recluse for the past year whose days are precisely-timed routines. One day his pattern is disrupted by unforeseen circumstances and he is forced to remember the past events that lead him to this point. He reminisces about the trip he took through Europe with his friend Bunny (Simon Farnaby), a party guy who likes to drink and pick up women. In the course of the trip they come across many interesting people including an unforgettable hobo (Julian Barratt) who likes to drink dog milk. They also meet Eloise, a young Spanish woman (Verónica Echegui) who hitches a ride with them back to Spain. Always the gambler, Bunny bets that he can fight a bull, and gets lessons from Eloise's brother (Noel Fielding). However, this may be one wager that he can't win.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

This is an animated film from Dreamworks studios starring Jack Black as Po, a fat panda that dreams of being a Kung Fu master. His father wants him to continue in the noodle restaurant business, but Po has fantasies of joining the Furious Five. He actually gets his chance when the wise Oogway has to choose someone to be The Dragon Master. It seems that the evil Tai Lung (Ian McShane) has escaped from prison and is going to exact his revenge on his former teacher Shifu (Dustin Hoffman); only the Dragon Master can defeat him when he learns the secret from the sacred scroll. The Furious Five martial arts masters are quite resentful that this overweight loser is the chosen one, but as it always occurs in Kung Fu movies, things happen for a reason.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Ice People (2008)

This documentary follows a small team of Antarctic researchers as they discover fossils and other geological clues to what the surrounding area was like a million years ago. The small scientific group of explorers include two professors and two graduate students and is headed by Allan Ashworth and Adam Lewis of North Dakota State University. We also get a quick glimpse of life at McMurdo Station as the staff there talk about their life at the bottom of the world.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Bad Day To Go Fishing (2009)

This film from Uruguay is about a shifty promoter and his washed-up, former champion strongman. Gary Piquer is Prince Orsini, a scam artist who books fights for German wrestler Jacob van Oppen (Jouko Ahola). Jacob was at one time a titleholder but is now older and in poor health. Orsini sets up the fights in each of the South American towns they visit so that the challenger could not possibly win the $1000 purse. Things start to go bad for him in the present town when his challenger is arrested for being drunk and disorderly. Then a young woman insists that Jacob fight her fiancee, a young healthy Turk. Orisini tries to worm his way out of the fight, but Jacob insists on fighting not realizing that they have been scamming audiences all along.

Alternate Titles: Mal Día Para Pescar

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Divan (2003)

This is a documentary from Borough Park, Brooklyn native Pearl Gluck. It is, on the surface, the story of her journey to Hungary to retrieve a family heirloom: a couch on which several important rabbis slept. But it also a tale about her Hasidic Jewish heritage, even though she left that lifestyle behind much to the disappointment of her father. We are witness to many customs and rituals of the Hasidic community in both Brooklyn, New York and abroad in Hungary. And we gain some insight into those that "slipped" from the strict practice of that religion.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Defiance (2008)

Based on the true story of the Polish (now Belarus) Bielski Partisians, this film stars Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski, the eldest brother of four whose parents are killed when the Nazis liquidate the Jewish community where they lived. The siblings escape into the woods and hide out to escape the death squads. However, there are other Jews who have also got away and the population of the forest camp quickly rises to hundreds. Tuvia, the self-appointed leader, makes sure to organize the people into a working community but the second-eldest, Zus (Liev Schreiber), doesn't agree with his brother's methods and leaves to fight with the Russian resistance. This secret society struggles to survive, not only trying to avoid the Gestapo but also starvation and the harsh winter.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Cropsey (2009)

Fantastic documentary by Staten Island, New York natives Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio about the local Urban Legend of Cropsey. The story goes that a former mental patient lived at the abandoned Willowbrook Mental Institution and would come out at night and snatch children. As the filmmakers got older, they came to realize that the tale was just a story to scare the kids from hanging around the crumbling hospital buildings. However thing got creepy when a young girl did disappear and a drifter and former hospital worker was arrested for the crime. As the police investigated the crime, it came out that quite a few children have been reported missing over the years. Are the tales true? And does Staten Island have a real live Boogieman in its midst?

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Good Hair (2009)

Comedian Chris Rock goes on a journey to find out about black women's hair after his young daughter asked him why she didn't have "good hair". He explores all the different ways that these women change their naturally nappy hair to become the "ideal" flowing locks reminiscent of Caucasian women. He interviews women about hair relaxer and weaves, and even travels to India where "real human hair" comes from. Through-out the film we cut back to a handful of contestants who are competing in the Bronner Bros. hair show hoping to be this year's winner. 

Available: Netflix, Amazon

The One (2001)

This science-fiction film proposes that there are multiple universes with multiple versions of ourselves in each of these worlds. One man, Yulaw (Jet Li), has traveled to each of these places and has assassinated all his other selves. Each time one of them dies, he gets stronger as the life force is distributed to the remaining ones. He hopes to eventually be "The One", a God-like being. The Multiverse Authority has sent out agents Rodecker (Delroy Lindo) and Funsch (Jason Statham) to try to stop Yulaw. Things get intense as the showdown between Yulaw and his final self, of course occurs in our world.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Dear Wendy (2005)

Jamie Bell stars as Dick, a young man who does not want to follow in his father's footsteps down into the mines. Through the encouragement of his caring housekeeper Clarabelle (Novella Nelson), Dick gets a job at the local market even though not being a miner brands one a loser in the town of Estherslope, West Virginia. After his father dies, Dick becomes friends with his co-worker Stevie (Mark Webber) who shows him a vintage gun that he owns. Though both are pacifists, the young men become obsessed with their guns going so far as giving them names and secretly shooting them down in an abandoned mine. Dick and Stevie recruit other misfits from the town and form a secret society that they call "The Dandies". These kids form a close bond not only with each other but with their "partners", their guns.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

Surrogates (2009)

This science-fiction film is based on a comic book series of the same name. In the near future, humans have become so vain and lazy that they don't even leave their homes anymore. They have employed "surrogates" to do their daily routines for them. In fact, the people of tomorrow even sends their robots out to enjoy the nightlife while they stay at home and experience the fun vicariously.

This world seems pretty perfect until one day there are some murders of surrogates that also kills their handlers. This should be impossible, but it looks like someone has developed a weapon that could wipe out everyone. Detective Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) and his partner Peters (Radha Mitchell) are assigned to the case. During his investigation, Greer's surrogate gets destroyed. Suddenly he is thrust out into a world that he was sheltered from for many years when he decides to continue the investigation, going out into the world on his own.

Available: Amazon, Netflix