Instant Entertainment: Beginnings And Endings Edition
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After four years in the mythical (and abnormally warm) Ohio University of Cypress-Rhodes, the ABC Family dramedy Greek came to a well-earned conclusion last week. But that doesn't mean you can't go back and revisit (or meet for the first time) the gang on Netflix, which is currently playing all six "chapters" of the series. As you'd expect from the title, the fraternities and sororities and their brothers and sisters (in one case literally) are at the center of the show. But even if you weren't one for Greek life in college (in fact, even if you hated it) doesn't mean you should just write this one off. The able and willing cast—especially Kelsey Grammer's daughter Spencer Grammer and her love interest played by Scott Michael Foster—have a whole lot of fun with their characters and the writing is surprisingly snappy (though sometimes saccharinely sweet). This isn't The Wire by any means, but it doesn't ever pretend to be. It is, however, a cute and campy entertainment you can step in and out of while doing other things (though we suspect you find yourself doing more and more of the former as the series progresses).
If you ever wondered what the end of the world would be like in Canada, look no further than the lovely Last Night written, directed and staring Don McKellar. Shot all over Toronto with a cast Canadians ranging from Sandra Oh (pre-Grey's Anatomy) to David Cronenberg to Sarah Polley, the movie deals with how ordinary people deal with the final hours of mankind. Except this being a Canadian film, we never actually know what the apocalypse. People just keep counting down and the screen gets brighter and brighter as the movie progresses.The performances are all top-notch and the script goes in directions you aren't really expecting yet accept immediately: one mother insists her family, whether they like it or not, recreate Christmas dinner since that is when she is happiest while another couple desperately tries to reunite so they can commit suicide before the end of the world. Yes, there are people rioting and partying, but they are so very much not the point of the film (did we mention it was very Canadian?). Jerry Bruckheimer this is not.
Roald Dahl penned some of the most fantastical and frightening children's books ever, and Hollywood has done a commendable job (for the most part) of breathing new life into those contemporary fables over the years. We love the psychedelic aesthetic of the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, the madcap comedy of Matilda as directed by Danny Devito (though we wish she'd have lost her powers at the end), and Wes Andersonâs kitschy take on The Fantastic Mr. Fox. But one of the best Dahl adaptations might also be one of the most underappreciated: James and the Giant Peach, which follows an orphan and his anthropomorphic bug-friends on a rollicking adventure from the country to New York City. James will be pulled from Netflix Instant Queue on Monday, March 21st, so catch it while you can.