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Really interesting documentary on Netflix now: The Wrecking Crew (2008), about the fabled LA studio musicians who evidently played on every hit song recorded on the west coast in the 1960s.

I was vaguely aware of Tommy Tedesco and Hal Blaine (who’s hilarious), but had never even heard of Carol Kaye. Killer soundtrack, but when I am king, there will be a rule that if you start playing “Good Vibrations” in your movie, you damn well have to let it finish. I kept having to pause so I could go listen to the songs in their entirety.

I saw this a few years ago at a St. Louis film festival – well, now that I think of it, it was probably about eight years ago, as I date this by a former girlfriend I was with.

Anyway, Tedesco’s son made the documentary and he was there to chat about it after the screening. I remember him talking about how hard it was to get Brian Wilson to agree to participate, and then when he finally did, how Wilson barely said anything when Tedesco’s son interviewed him. He gave one word answers most of the time, like his brain was fried. Which it may very well be. It was frustrating, but he managed to do a decent film cut and get some of it in. He had hoped it would be the main selling point of the film, alas.

I did really enjoy the documentary and it now makes sense when I listen to groups like the Mama’s and Papa’s and hear that great instrumentation in their songs. It was The Wrecking Crew. Once I understood that, so many of the other hit songs of that era made sense in how they had a similar sound. Those guys were really good.

And the Wrecking Crew was just one studio band. Motown had their own version too.

I was also interested to learn that Glen Campbell got his start in The Wrecking Crew as an instrumentalist before he broke out big on his own.

Brian Wilson was a catch—I was surprised as hell to see him in this—but yeah, while he didn’t seem surly or uncooperative, he wasn’t exactly garrulous. Carol Kaye talking about the bass lines in “Good Vibrations” was the best part of that section, I thought.

I think Netflix is still listing another interesting documentary, on the Muscle Shoals guys, which is worth checking out if you liked The Wrecking Crew.

Standing in the Shadows of Motown, the documentary about the Motown studio musicians, the Funk Brothers, is amazing.

Has this become the general ‘stuff on Netflix’ thread? I haven’t seen any other threads with action in them. If so, got a couple of things.

First, you guys might be all over this, but there is a website I occasionally use that shows what’s new on Netflix. It’s called, strangely enough, What’s New On Netflix.

Secondly, there are 2 new sci fi movies out that seem interesting to me, but I’ve not seen either. Anyone caught them? One is a Netflix original, called ARQ, which seems sort of like a take on Source Code (guy repeats day over and over, tries to change things). If that sounds interesting I’d say don’t watch the trailer, because I felt it was a little spoilery. The second is called Black Road which sounds interesting but has gotten moderately poor reviews.(seems as though it’s set in a mildly dystopian near future, though they may have achieved that effect by just filming where there aren’t any other people around… so perhaps low-budget?).

Anyway, that’s my current two cents.

As a postscript, I gotta say Netflix is certainly churning out the originals now. It’s gone from a big deal press release type of thing to a seemingly large part of their content. Seems that as a strategy of protecting them from the financial tyranny of the studios, it appears to be working out.

Arq was decent.

I saw Arq pop up when I first loaded Netflix so gave it a try. I was actually under the impression that it was a Netflix series, not just a movie. Didn’t realize I was wrong until about halfway through. Agree with Timx - it was pretty decent.

I also thought it was a series until around halfways through it.

Noticed that Crazy-Ex Girlfriend is streaming now on Netflix. It’s an hour-long musical comedy ('sorta – a couple of musical comedy bits each episode), and my wife and I really enjoyed it. Some episodes are hit-and-miss, and the multiple cyclical will-they-or-won’t-they’s maybe gets slightly tiresome, but the cast is great and it’s just a ton of fun (but not completely without pathos). The music numbers poke fun at/are homages to pop, 80’s rock ballads, show tunes, R&B, Billy Joel, Bollywood, and a bunch of other stuff.

Much fun. Looking forward to season 2.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend wasn’t for me, but I watched four or five episodes and I’m glad I gave it a shot. I recommend giving it a try too.

I liked the musical interludes a lot but the story itself got old fast for me.

Zootopia is now on Netflix.

I watched Ali Wong’s stand up special on Netflix. It’s so good. Absolutely hilarious.

New season of Longmire. Pretty solid, good character arc for the daughter.

Luther, Season 4! (2 episodes due to time constraints)

Aired Dec 2015.

I lost track of where I was in Luthor. What season ends with:

Luthor threatening to set himself on fire in the back of a semi trailer to accomplish…something?

No idea, sorry! I had to rewatch Season 3 just to confirm I had watched it. I tried reading the season recaps to see if I can answer your question, but no luck.

I’m watching The Bodyguard now. So far the setup and flow are really good, I’m only 20 minutes in. This feels like it was directed by a Hong Kong film school grad magpie who saw a lot of Guy Ritchie when he was studying abroad. But the whole movie is worth it just for the trick the crime boss does with the golf ball and his shoe at 18:30. I’ll never bend over teeing up a golf ball again! Never!

Is that the Jet Li movie or something else?