Netflix Nuggets: Mobsters, Monsters & Metaphysics

Netflix has revolutionized the home movie experience for fans of film with its instant streaming technology. Netflix Nuggets is my way of spreading the word about independent, classic and foreign films being made available by Netflix for instant streaming. Important Note: There may be some films that do not become available on the specified dates. This is merely a report of the most accurate release dates I can find, but is not directly confirmed by Netflix themselves.

DEV.D (2009)
Streaming Available: 06/14/2011
Synopsis: Because they come from different castes, Dev (Abhay Deol), the son of a tax collector, and his true love, Paro (Mahie Gill), are not allowed to marry. After Paro’s family sends her to Calcutta, where she marries an older, wealthy widower, Dev despairs. He soon meets prostitute Chanda (Kalki Koechlin) and gradually spirals down into a life of overindulgence in this adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s best-selling novel Devdas.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.2

JODHAA AKBAR (2007)
Streaming Available: 06/14/2011
Synopsis: What begins as a strategic alliance between two cultures becomes a genuine opportunity for true love in this epic romance set amid the opulence and glamour of the 16th century and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar agrees to marry the Raja Bharmal’s daughter, Jodhaa. But he never expected her stunning beauty, fierce intelligence and considerable charms to inspire him to win her heart.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.8

SWEET KARMA (2009)
Streaming Available: 06/14/2011
Synopsis: When her sister Anna (Patricia Stasiak) becomes a tragic casualty of Toronto’s underground sex trade, mute Karma (Shera Bechard) embarks on a vengeful quest from Russia to Canada to single-handedly bring down the lowlifes responsible for Anna’s death. Our unarmed hero must summon all her butt-kicking abilities to exact her revenge in this independent thriller filled with gritty, realistic fight scenes.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.5

AT THE SINATRA CLUB (2010)
Streaming Available: 06/15/2011
Synopsis: Brutal and celebrated Mafia gangster John Gotti (Danny Nucci) schemes, shoves and murders his way to the top of that world in this gritty biography told from the perspective of Salvatore Polisi (Jason Gedrick), who owns the Sinatra Club, where Gotti’s crew hangs out. Determined to make his name, the young Gotti plans a daring armored-car robbery that he expects to get him noticed by the bosses of each of New York’s five major crime families.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.5

THE BEAST OF BRAY ROAD (2005)
Streaming Available: 06/15/2011
Synopsis: A wolf man terrorizes a small town in Leigh Scott’s hair-raising creature feature based on actual events. Beginning in the early 1990s, dozens of people reported seeing a werewolf-like creature stalking the cornfields of southeastern Wisconsin. In this fictional account, a big-city cop and an off-kilter scientist must protect the town’s citizens from the werewolf. Jeff Denton, Tom Downey, Tom Nagel, Heather Conforto and Joel Hebner star.
Average Netflix Rating: 2.8

DESERT SON (2010)
Streaming Available: 06/15/2011
Synopsis: In this atmospheric thriller, naive teenager Phillip is rescued by volatile runaways Jack and Lucy after being abandoned in the desert, but a tragic crime and desperate paranoia overwhelm their attempts to create an insular family unit.
Average Netflix Rating: 4.1
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THE MAN FROM NOWHERE (2010)
Streaming Available: 06/15/2011
Synopsis: This hard-hitting tale of revenge stars Bin Won as Tae-Sik, a former special agent living a bitter and lonely life following his wife’s tragic death. When a young girl (Sae-Ron Kim) he befriends is kidnapped by a vicious drug gang, Tae-Sik rushes to her aid. Bloodthirsty and hell-bent on justice — particularly after being framed by the gang — he takes the law into his own hands, infiltrating the ring and systematically wiping out its members.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.9

MEET BILL (2007)
Streaming Available: 06/15/2011
Synopsis: Beleaguered bank employee Bill (Aaron Eckhart) has his hands full with his two-timing wife (Elizabeth Banks), his oblivious father-in-law (Holmes Osborne) who runs the bank and frustrated efforts to change careers. But Bill’s life just may turn around when he’s coaxed to mentor a wisecracking teen (Logan Lerman). Timothy Olyphant, Jessica Alba and Kristen Wiig also star in this offbeat tale of self-discovery.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.1

SELLING GOD (2009)
Streaming Available: 06/15/2011
Synopsis: This documentary combines black comedy and serious historical research to examine how the marketing of fundamentalist Christianity has evolved over the years, including televangelism, megachurches and the post-Sept. 11 battle for moral superiority.
Average Netflix Rating: 2.5
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PRINCESS KAIULANI (2009)
Streaming Available: 06/16/2011
Synopsis: Lush scenery and gorgeous photography highlight this bio of Princess Kaiulani (Q’Orianka Kilcher), a 19th-century Hawaiian princess raised in England but determined to maintain her people’s independence from aggressive American businessmen. After being sent to England as a child by her Scottish father, Kaiulani returns to Hawaii and becomes a political activist who fights to retain her throne, even though she must leave her English paramour.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.3

VANISHING ON 7TH STREET (2010)
Streaming Available: 06/16/2011
Synopsis: No one can explain the mystery when residents of a vibrant urban center begin disappearing one by one. But it seems to have something to do with the shadowy figures they come into contact with right before they vanish. Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton, John Leguizamo, Jacob Latimore and Taylor Groothuis co-star in this independent thriller from director Brad Anderson (Transsiberian, The Machinist).
Average Netflix Rating: 2.7

THE DEVIL’S OWN (1997)
Streaming Available: 06/17/2011
Synopsis: After seeing British soldiers gun down his father as a child, Frankie McGuire (Brad Pitt) joins the Irish Republican Army, determined to avenge his father’s death, and sails to America to buy weapons from an underground arms dealer. Going by the alias of Rory Devaney, Frankie moves into the home of cop Tom O’Meara (Harrison Ford), who, when he learns of Rory’s agenda, must choose between his sympathy for a troubled man and his desire for justice.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.4

A WOMAN, A GUN AND A NOODLE SHOP (2009)
Streaming Available: 06/17/2011
Synopsis: Master director Yimou Zhang tackles an adaptation of the Coen brothers’ classic Blood Simple in this period dramedy full of slapstick and plot twists. When the owner of a Chinese noodle shop attempts to kill his adulterous wife, the fireworks fly. The proprietor also hopes to eliminate his wife’s woebegone lover, but complications and high-flying action arise courtesy of a rampaging band of feudal soldiers and the shop’s wacky employees.
Average Netflix Rating: 2.8