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The self-congratulatory Academy Awards ceremony, with its TV ratings in steady decline in part because no one has seen or wants to see any of the movies nominated, is on Sunday evening.
The Oscars is not just the only event of this kind that the public has tuned out.
Distributed by Netflix, The Power of the Dog is one of those mostly unseen films that is expected to scoop up one or more Oscars.
As a subscriber, If you’re spending more time scrolling through the content trying to find something to watch on Netflix rather than actually watching something on Netflix, you’re not alone.
Instead of Netflix and chill, it’s more like Netflix and nil or Netflix and next.
In 2021, Netflix reportedly spent $17 billion either acquiring or developing content, and that expenditure is reportedly set to increase to $18 billion this year. Despite that massive financial commitment, apparently there is no quality control office at the subscription streaming service’s California headquarters. Implausablity is one continuing thread.
As such, consumers need to be particularly wary of any movie or series labeled as a Netflix “original” because the material is usually subpar, with a number of notable exceptions, here and there.
You also have to be skeptical when Netflix designates certain movies as trending.
Recall that the Netflix production Mank, which was utterly boring, received a slew of Oscar nominations last year.
Checking the IMDB user reviews (and excluding the obviously planted 10/10 entries) is often a good idea to avoid wasting your time on mediocre fare.
The much-hyped Army of the Dead on Netflix, for example, was DOA.
Another heavily promoted opus, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot, the plot for which can be summarized as an eviction gone horribly wrong, was run of the mill at best. Fortunately, it clocks in at just 81 minutes, and people start getting killed within 19, so that’s a plus.
It also contains that most annoying Hollywood trope: Overconfident character A gets the drop on character B, and instead of taking care of business, decides to engage in conversation, thereby allowing Character B to escape.
Other than the beautiful scenery in Croatia, the storyline of The Weekend Away (starring Gossip Girl Leighton Meester) seems totally fake and thus something you might want to stay way from. Also, every male character in the cast is a horrible person, other than one dude with a credential that Netflix cherishes.
A separate aspect of the plot that actually might have some validity is when the decadent divorcee encourages her best friend to dump her husband so they both can be equally miserable, although there is more to it than that.
The just-premiered and tedious Windfall (starring Jason Segel in an unusual turn for him as a bad guy) also disappoints as a supposed Hitchcock sendup. It’s another pointless, improbable exercise (that tries and fails to offer social commentary) with wholly unsympathetic characters.
Ironically, the Big Tech billionaire played by Jesse Plemons of Breaking Bad fame (who also stars in The Power of the Dog) is supposed to be actual the bad guy, although apparently the screenwriter was unaware that much of his dialogue made sense.
The four-character drama also stars Lily Collins (Phil’s daughter) and was directed by Lily’s husband Charlie McDowell.
Spoilers: Why didn’t the gardener just quietly get in his truck and drive off the property instead of giving the whole thing away by overacting? And what happened to the scheduled cash delivery?
As one IMDB commenter aptly observed, “Netflix in its quest to supply content needs to do a better job of evaluating [the] quality of product being delivered.”
Wrote another, “I love how Netfix prices keep going up and up and the quality of the movies and shows keep going down.”
A movie that appeared to have promise was The Dig, based on true story (a designation which can be problematic given the way the movie industry distorts the past) of a historic excavation in the U.K. on the eve of World War II.
Unfortunately, the second half of the film seems like a different movie entirely and devolves into a needless soap opera. Moreover, you only get to see one artifact; nor are there any scenes in the British Museum where all of the relics are stored. In short, NEXT.
The list goes on.
