George Clooney is a Fox

Fantastic Mr. Fox - Wes Anderson - 2009

George Clooney does the voice of Mr. Fox which in itself is enough to recommend a movie. I found the story and content to be more suitable for an older audience, and what's in it for the kids is the furry puppets. Mr. Fox hustles for a living and alcoholic apple cider is key player in this film. My little brother and I really loved how this film modified use of profanity. For instance, if a character were to ask,"What the #$%@ do you think you’re doing?" it would turn out, "What the cuss do you think you’re doing?" A drinking game to this movie where you took a shot everytime a character said "cuss" would get you sloshy. The film has very high replay value and will be apart of my personal collection soon.

Look out for: Magical blueberries

Rating: []Like It []Love It [X]Gotta Have It




The Great Dictator - Charles Chaplin - 1940

I’m a big Charlie Chaplin fan and have been trying to watch this movie for years. This satirical film is definitely one of Chaplin’s best works. Charlie’s character is a naïve and good natured Jewish barber who saved an anti-Semitic soldier’s life. However, the accident put Charlie in the hospital for 20 years. Upon his discharge he’s oblivious to the change in political climate in his hometown. Luckily, even though he is anti-Semitic, the soldier who was saved by Charlie remembers his Jewish Barber amigo and does what he can to protect him and his friends. A crucial source of conflict and confusion for the characters is that Charlie looks exactly like Hynkel, the comical yet bad as shi*t dictator. His harangues are gibberized adaptations of what sounds like German. Hilarious. Charlie Chaplin plays both characters and this is one of the few films with full dialogue. I highly recommend this film for any history enthusiast looking for a laugh. Personally, this movie was a little long for my taste.

*Did you know that Hitler sports Chaplin's signature mustache--not the other way around. Hitler wanted to win popularity with the Americans so he adopted Chaplin's mustache, which what what we recognize today as a very taboo facial hair choice.

Look out for: Hynkel’s scene where he plays with a giant inflated globe with the grace of a ballerina.

Rating: [X]Like It []Love It []Gotta Have It




Monster’s Ball - Marc Forster - 2001

Recommended by: S Nair

Two of the hottest names in hop hip (Puff Daddy/P. Diddy and Mos Def) join Halle Berry, Heath Ledger and Billie Bob Thorton in this heavy drama about ::gasp:: racism and bigotry. This film is a Hollywood powerhouse. Puffy's performance was a little bland, which I guess if your character is about to get executed you don't have that much life left in you anyway. Lots of sex in this movie so don't invite your mom or little brother to watch this with you. Puffy and Mos should stick to rapping but the performances by the other 3 celebs were stellar. Very good character development and the dramatic scenes were certainly gripping. The theme of forgiveness fuels the plot with a satisfying amount of motifs and symbols.

Look out for: The Mighty Mos Mechanic and Puffy trades writing raps for drawing charicatures.

Rating: [X]Like It []Love It []Gotta Have It




Amelie - Jean-Pierre Jeunet - 2001

Recommended by: SD Parker

This French flick stars Audrey Tatou as a woman who has this child-like fascination with the world. She kind of lived a messed up childhood which the film retells in a very clever and humorous way; the beginning of the movie is one of the best moments of the film. As an adult she is a bit awkward and inexperienced so this can be seen as a coming-of-age film in an odd way. The challenge with foreign films is that if I turn my head for just a a few seconds I could miss some integral pieces of the plot. That happened watching this film. It deserves another viewing. Artfully shot, colorful, trippy, playful.. your imagination has been fiending for a movie like this. Amelie plays this game with a man whose photo album she found. They have never met, so they're on a hunt to find eachother. Going through the plot is somewhat like playing a videogame.

Look out for: Amelie's imaginary friends

Rating: []Like It [X]Love It []Gotta Have It

Ponyo Wins!!

Ponyo - Hayao Miyazaki - 2008

Recommended by: SD Parker

Life can get kind of heavy and there are days I wish I didn't have to feign being an adult. It's times like these when movies like Ponyo are especially refreshing. Ponyo is the perfect example of how hand-drawn animation still to this day trumps computerized animated features. I'm convinced this movie was made for drugs because the colors were so bold and stunning, and all those sea creatures live the trippiest lives. Our little protagonist, Sosuke, can only save Ponyo, a fish turned girl, if his "love is true". I was very impressed with how this children's movie drove home the idea of true love through youthful innocence. This film is an adaptation of the story of The Little Mermaid, with the obvious varations including Tina Fey as the voice of Sosuke's mom and Matt Damon as the dad. Not kidding. Ponyo has become one of my favorite movies of all time and I need to get my paws on the DVD for keepsies.

Look out for: Seriously--those sea creatures--never seen anything like them.

Rating: []Like It []Love It [X]Gotta Have It




La Haine - Mathieu Kassovitz - 1995

Recommended by: E Ranz

From The Criterion Collection, we follow three besties [one Jewish, one Arab, one black] as they venture through the trials and tribulations living as hoodlums in the French Ghetto. Vinz stumbles upon a gun thanks to the butterfingers of a police officer and swears to kill a cop if their comatose friend ends up dying [I think he was beat up by the cops]. Vinz is kind of a wuss who's more bark than bite, but he thinks he's the jam because he's got a gun. This is my first film taken place in the streetz of France, and what was interesting to me was how big of a deal it was that his cop's gun was lost. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Chicago deals with that stuff all the time. No big. Great acting, nice variety of where scenes were shot, and plenty violent. I believe Vinz was in Oceans 11/12/13 as well.

Look out for: Pretty sick break dance scene. Also, watch out for a loose cow.

Rating: [X]Like It []Love It []Gotta Have It




A Collection of 2007 Academy Award Nominated Short Films - VA - 2007

I actively seek out short films, and I regretfully admit that this DVD sucked. I've seen the 2005, 2006, 2008 editions of this collection and they were all exceptional. Only one of the 2007 short films was in English, and it was a Western and I was hardly impressed. The one short film about the 3 female cancer patients was the only redeeming film, it actually made me teary eyed and honestly made me think about life for a day or two. My one qualm with it was that it felt like it lasted 30 minutes--too long for a short film. The Peter and the Wolf film adaptation sucked. Aaand that's all I care to remember about this DVD.

Look out for: As I referenced above, "At Night" (Denmark) live action short is definitely worth watching.

Rating: NO SALE. []Like It []Love It []Gotta Have It

Restructure

I started this blog my senior year to document things that make me happy. "Permanent Daylight" is taken from a Radiohead song title and I think the those words together create the potential for a pretty sweet mental outlook.

The "Permanent Daylight" blog has been stagnant for nearly a year, and actually turned into more of a concert review blog. Fail. Rereading my entries I found them riddled with profanity and poor grammar (think drunk texting). Consequently I deleted all 4 entries. "Permanent Daylight" as a title for a Netflix blog is the biggest non-sequitor ever, but I'm keeping it because I really really love that title.

I subscribed to Netflix about 1.5 months ago. A huge chuck were recommendations from friends. I don't take recommendations just to be polite! I want to explore the kinds of movies my friends like and you will see your movie blogged here. Call me out if you don't!
The recommendations so far have been pretty dope. So, I started this blog to return the favor.

My backlog is 12+ movies to write about (20+ currently in my queue) so I'll be updating this blog frequently. I'll write them in the order I watched them. If you're expecting a critical analysis you'll be horribly disappointed. It's kind of quantity over quality at the moment, so treat the entries like rants.

Entries will include who recommended, things to watch out for, and the ColdStone rating system. I'm making a conscious effort not to "ruin" any of the movies with spoilers.

Thanks to all those who recommended movies--keep them coming!

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American Beauty - Sam Mendes - 1999

My first Netflix rental was American Beauty. I got a lot of crap everytime someone found out I haven't seen this so I knew I had to watch it ASAP. I have yet to watch a Kevin Spacey play a role that didn't creep me out. I will say this was one of his friendliest roles, though. As someone who lives in the suburbs I can't say any film's representation of our world has ever been flattering, rather almost always satirical. Hmm. The 'burbs are seemingly stellar... then you realize every subdivision has their own Edward Scissorhands. Mrs. Burnham did a great job of displaying how hard suburbanites try sometimes, to fit in and compete with your co-inhabitants, manipulating your own family at any and all costs. I didn't realize this movie was full of twists, I guess it's a nice parallel to how the suburbs actually are (you're no better off moving here, srsly). I would watch this again.

Look out for: What drug money can buy you.

Rating: []Like It [X]Love It []Gotta Have It




Iron Man - Jon Favreau - 2008

Recommended by: SD Parker

I wanted to rent this when it first came out on DVD but Parker discouraged me from watching it. He warned me that it was such an epic movie and because I was watching it so late, I completely missed the bandwagon and would have no one to share the excitement with. I found out a few months ago he was just kidding, so I anxiously made this 1/2 of my very first Netflix rental. I watched this with my dad and conveniently I found it more family-friendly than many other superhero movies (Spider-Man, the Batmans, Watchmen, etc.). I felt it lacked emotionally-gripping drama and skimped on the sex. Don't get me wrong--Robert Downey Jr. did a bad ass job. I really liked how his character was the smartest man alive turned weapon maker and I think that's the coolest job in the universe (if only!). Special effects + filthy rich protagonist = the coolest looking action sequences. That is the formula for superhero movies.

Look out for: Does Gweneth Paltrow do Iron Man's dry cleaning?

Rating: []Like It [X]Love It []Gotta Have It