I found a great site for finding goodies among the ever changing collection of Netflix Instant Watch titles.

It’s called InstantWatcher.com.

In my excitment I did three demos.

1) Some of the ins and outs of instantwatcher.com

2) Checking out the expiring titles.

3) Looking at highest T-score HD titles from the last two years.

I know these movies are out there . . . but rarely do I see such a blatant, no excuses, summer popcorn — whatever you want to call it — thrill ride as Salt. Easy to understand and 75% action with a 110 pound leading lady taking on all comers with no problems and surviving countless escape scenarios — all cheaply portrayed with sharp edits and jerky handheld shots. Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor have the huge roles and are never mentally challenged. I was thinking Salt got an unexpected boost of credibility with the recent news reports about actual Russian sleeper spy cells in the U.S. But those Russian spies sure lead boring lives compared to what we see here. I had to laugh out loud with the ending . . . turns out these 99 minutes were a teaser for Salt 2. [ RT ]

This time I made it through Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Barely. Goofy, silly and boring . . . sums it up. If it hadn’t been so loud all the talk about dreams and fantasies would have put me to sleep. Special Effects are so OVER. We have known for years that Computer Graphics can bend and twist and blow up anything imaginable including the whole of the Earth. Let’s return to some creative writing. You certainly won’t find it in the mundane simple story here no matter how many bending cities, gun fights and car chases you drape on it. [ RT ]

This is a tricky story to write as one tries to avoid stereotypes and cliches. But the task is accomplished and what we have is originality with a capitol “O.” The characters and their life is made to be so ordinary . . . the family is, for once, so functional . . with all the disruption, emotion and disconnects . . . it all rings true . . sometimes painfully so. The performances by the whole cast is breathtaking. Especially Mark Ruffalo who knocks it out the park. Come fall there will be nominations galore. There is one dinner table scene that I will not forget for a line time. It is the best incorporation of music into movie scene that I can recall. It is based on Joni Mitchell’s “Blue.” And we don’t hear Joni. All we see is the “Blue” album cover; all we hear is Ruffalo’s and Annette Bening’s characters singing / harmonizing a cappella. The Kids Are All Right lived up to all the hype and that is saying something. [ RT ]

From scene one I barely understood what was going on. Some kind of mumbo jumbo about stealing ideas from people’s brains and./or creating realities from fantasies in those same brains. The special effects looked to be inspired by old fashion carnival funhouse mirrors. Director Christopher Nolan also wrote the story which is clumsily told. Let me try . . . The first quarter-hour sets up the confusion. No opening credits. In the first couple of shots, Leo DiCaprio’s character washes up on a beach (Japan?) and is dragged into a luxurious house for an audience with an aging gangster. No, wait — now he (Ken Watanabe), the gangster, is much younger. Cobb (Leo) and his sharp-dressed partner, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who seems to have materialized out of nowhere, offer to train him to protect himself from dream raiders. No, wait — this is the gangster’s dream, and Cobb and Arthur have set a trap for him. Unless he’s also setting a trap for them! But who’s the sultry foreign bombshell (Marion Cotillard) who aligns herself with the gangster against Cobb, and doesn’t really seem to belong here? Then they team up with a college-girl genius (Ellen Page) as the “architect” who designs the dream worlds . . . this is where I left the cinema is search of a better movie. [ RT ] [ Poll: Will 'Inception' be nominated for best picture at the Oscars? ]