NIQP: Four Lions

(Previously on NIQP: The Sting)

In true Nussy fashion, I've already failed at the Netflix Instant-Queue-Palooza. So if you had 3 movies in the "When will Nussy fail" pool, you won! (Editors Note: The following movie was actually watched the day after The Sting, however its taken me a week to write the review so I am not counting it towards successful movies)

Even though I have failed, I figured I should still sporadically update this with whatever I watch on Netflix, especially when its a movie worth talking about and this is a movie worth talking about. Four Lions tells the tale of a couple of bumbling suicide bombers living in London. Now a comedy centered around sleeper cell terrorists whose ultimate goal is blow themselves up isn't exactly an easy pill to swallow and that's most likely why it didn't find success at the box offices. The movie however is excellent if you're a fan of dry British humor. It's funny, dark but most importantly heartfelt and I would like to think honest in its portrayal of these men who may be suicide bombers but are real people with real emotions as well. The ending is one of the more touching endings to a comedy I've seen, despite its seriously dark nature.

Go see this movie, you won't regret it.

NIQP: The Sting

(Previously on NIQP: Mortal Kombat)

Do you like con movies? Do you like Paul Newman? Well there isn't much else to say about The Sting. It's a story about a grifter named Johnny Hooker, played by Robert Redford, who seeks out Henry Gondorff, Newman, to help him do a long con against an evil banker who killed his friend. It's a little predictable, but only because it's one of the earlier con movies and all future con movies reused this shit over and over again. Watch it!

Next Up: Four Lions

NIQP: Mortal Kombat

(Previously on NIQP: Beer Wars)

Cheesy one liners and crappy special effects are a staple of any good 90s action movie, and Mortal Kombat is no exception. Surprisingly faithful to the plot of the video game from which it's based, Mortal Kombat tells the story of 3 chosen humans who have to defend the "earth realm" from Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung in a martial arts tournament.

Most of the flaws with this movie stem from the poor writing. Why is Johnny Cage wandering in the forest? Why does Shang Tsung really want Liu Kang, Sonya and Johnny Cage at the tournament? Who's this token black dude that they all care so much about? Why is Sonya suddenly a damsel in distress? Would Johnny Cage and Sonya just kiss and get it over with? Is it possible for Christopher Lambert to overract anymore? These are just a few of the questions raised by the script. Most of this can be hand waved away with "Who cares it's all just an excuse to have these people fight." but then why do the main characters so rarely use the special moves they're known for? Also what is the point of the shitty cgi Reptile? Who came up with that?

Despite all of this I still enjoyed the movie since it is essentially just an excuse to watch characters from a video game fight each other, especially enjoyable since Mortal Kombat is experiencing a bit of a rennessance after the newest game came out last month. Really I would just be happy if it were an hour and a half of this with people randomly fighting.

Oh and remember, "Those were five hundred dollar sunglasses asshole".

Next Up: The Sting

NIQP: Beer Wars

If you know me, you know how much I despise major American beer commercials and the piss water they are made to sell. The documentary Beer Wars was made for people who share this belief. It shows how much of a stranglehold Anheiser Busch has on the beer industry and gives a closer look at a couple of companies trying to gain a portion of the marketshare, such as Dogfish Head and a very small company that makes Moonshot, a caffeinated beer.

The first part of this documentary is a little all over the place as it introduces us to the major three beer manufacturers, A-B, Coors and Miller, and how much they spend on advertising. It really settles down in the second act where it tells the story of smaller more independent breweries. The film jumps back and forth between painting AB as this mega evil corporation and the struggles of the smaller companies. These parts of the movie, where they talk about the various microbreweries, I found to be the strongest and most interesting.

Overall I'd have to recommend this documentary to anyone with an interest in beer and who it comes from, especially anyone who's tried brewing their own beer.

Next up: Mortal Kombat

Netflix-Instant-Queue-Palooza

My Netflix Instant Queue has grown to around 160 movies and television series and this is entirely too large. So to remedy this situation I am going to watch at least one movie a day to clean out this queue. To make it worthwhile to anyone who reads this blog, I will also write up a brief review of the movies as I watch them.

But first, some ground rules:
I will watch the movies in the order they were added to the queue. Hopefully this will not result in genre fatigue since the movies were probably added in chunks of "similar to" chains, as Netflix growing is want to do. Exceptions to this rule are that I am going to skip TV series, since those are much longer than a standard 2 hour movie. MST3K movies, while not listed as a series still fall under this exclusion.

So here's to Netflix one of the greatest inventions of our time and feel free to give your thoughts on any of the movies I review in the comments section of the posts.

First Up: Beer Wars

Norm is awesome

Norm's joke here is probably better than any retelling of the Aristocrats joke.


If you click it you should be able to watch the whole episode.

Beatles Rockband

Just when the whole play plastic instruments in a videogame genre began to feel stale and played out, Harmonix announced plans for a Beatles themed Rock Band. For those who haven't seen it, here's the ridiculously awesome intro cinematic: Clicky Clicky

Anyway I won't go into how awesome the plastic instruments look (SPOILER: They look awesome!) or the fact that you can sing harmonies with multiple people, or the already announced 10 songs or already announced DLC (Some might even be in my list, it's like a game for the reader!), but I will do what probably every other blog has done, and that's list my top 10 songs that I NEED to have in the game either straight away or as downloadable content. (Watch, they will all conveniently appear only as downloadable content just to make me pay more).

In no particular order:

• Helter Skelter
• While My Guitar Gently Weeps
• I Want You (She's So Heavy)
• Oh, Darlin'!
• I'm So Tired
• She Came In Through the Bathroom Window
• Glass Onion
• Help
• Come Together
• Good Morning, Good Morning

I probably forgot about 15 other songs I would be angry at missing, but such is the Beatles.

What songs do YOU want in this game? Leave a list in the comments.