Last Ten Films I've Seen (as of Oct. 16th): Watching a Three-Hour Doc on a Friday Night

"The Autobiography of Nicolea Ceausescu" is a three-hour documentary about a Romanian Cold War dictator who was eventually executed by gunfire by his own people after 22 years of dictatorial rule, and last Friday night was soooo boring (as Moon Unit Zappa would say) that I ended up watching it on Netflix! The film uses official footage and has no narration. One shocking thing I learned from the film was that American Richard Nixon actually traveled to Bucharest to meet Nicolea Ceaucescu.

Other films on the list include "Au Hasard Balthazar," a brilliant, but depressing film about the life of a donkey, which could have been filmed in Greece or Turkey as easily as France. "4:44: Last Day on Earth" is a dire film with Willem Defoe about what the end might be like. Lastly, "Alan Partridge," starring Steve Coogan as the title character who is also a radio dj, is quite hilarious; the green coffee cup above is in his honor. We tried to use a Manchester United coffee cup, but we believe those images are perhaps copyrighted.

Here is the list:

1) Au Hasard Balthazar. France. 1966. Director: Robert Bresson

2) For All Mankind. Documentary. 1989. Dir: Al Reinert

3) McCabe and Mrs. Miller. 1971. Dir: Robert Altman

4) Lebanon. (Israeli film). 2009. Dir:Samuel Maoz.

5) Chico and Rita. Animation. Spain. Dir: Tono Errando, et al

6) 4:44: Last Day on Earth. Dir: Abel Ferrara

7) Alan Partridge. 2013. Dir: Declan Lowney.

8) Marwencol. Documentary. Dir: Jeff Malmberg

9) Zanjeer. India. 1973. Dir: Prakash Mehra.

10) The Autobiography of Nicolea Ceausescu. Documentary. 2010. Romania

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Last Ten Films I've Seen: Mostly Netflix Week

Greetings to our blog readers in Sweden, Brazil and China.

Why do we have images of a map of Italy, the Athens, Ga., indie rock icons REM, and photo of a grizzly bear chasing a salmon in Alaska? They all relate to the last ten films I've seen; it should be pointed out that one of the films "The One I Love" shares its name with a song by REM, hence the reason why we have an image of the band fronted by Michael Stipe that was one of the best during the 1980s.


All of these films, except "The Trip to Italy" and "The One I Love," which were both showing at the local art house cinema, where viewed either through Netflix or Netflix streaming; two of the films, "A Trip to Italy" and "What Maisie Knew" feature English actor Steve Coogan:

1) "Point Blank." France. 2010. Dir: Fred Cavaye (no connection to Lee Marvin film with the same name)

2) The Trip to Italy. 2014. Dir: Michael Winterbottom.

3) "The One I Love" 2014. Dir: Charlie McDowell w/Elisabeth Moss from "Mad Men."

4) Grizzly. 1976. Dir: William Girdler (yes, it is a guilty pleasure film)

5) "Passion" 2012. Dir: Brian De Palma (remake of the French film "Love Crime")

6) Trance. 2013. Dir: Danny Boyle (Films features a very nude Rosario Dawson!)

7) What Maisie Knew. 2012. Dir: Scott McGhee, et al.

8) The King of Thieves. Slovakia (in German). 2004. Dir: Ivan Fila

9) "Paradise: Faith" Austria. 2012. Dir: Ulrich Seidl (first film in a triology)

10) Buddy. Norway. 2003. Dir: Mortem Tyldum

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