Husband and wife, mother and father, and now Buntology film critics? Check out the first installment of Rod and Rochelle’s latest feature, in which they watch and review obscure Netflix movies so you don’t have to. 

Rochelle: Rod and I have very different tastes in movies. He’s more the action, kill, lots of noise and aliens type, and I like suspense, mystery and romance. My favorite movie is Bridges of Madison County (a moment of silence please…) while his is Live Free or Die Hard. However, we both agree that Pulp Fiction is an all-time favorite and I think he shed a “manly tear” over Marley and Me.

Rod: Yes, Pulp Fiction appeals to a wide cross-section of people. Besides, the Gimp reminds me of my Mother-in-Law, Goldie.

Rochelle: Thanks to modern technology, and having more desktop and laptop computers than people currently living at Buntington Manor, these days we can be side-by-side each viewing whatever we like. Despite this, we do actually enjoy interacting and sharing the experience of watching a good flick together- I think that’s why we chose to be a couple. So, we devised a plan by which we pick a movie off Netflix streaming that piques both of our interests and give it the “15 minute test.” The deal is that the movie has 15 minutes to captivate us enough to stay with it. Sometimes I like it and Rod doesn’t or vice versa and in that case we put it in the queue for a later date when we can watch it alone.

(Rod: Noticing more and more lesbian-themed movies in the Rochelle queue. What’s up with that?)

The movie only stays on if we both agree that it’s a keeper.  We have found that independent movies are the best options. Even the bad ones are interesting. They rarely have large budgets so I always wonder why the big name star is doing the movie. Was he/she a friend of the director or was it a case of being totally blown away by the script? This was the case recently with the movie, What Just Happened, starring Robert DeNiro, Bruce Willis, Catherine Keener and Robin Wright – to name a few.

Rochelle: Rod and I saw all these celebs and figured it’s either going to be really great or really awful.  Who doesn’t love DeNiro? And Bruce is one action hero I can tolerate so we gave it a shot.

Rod: When I see De Niro’s name on the credits, I figure it’s going to be great or painful, with no in-between. Remember his performance as Al Capone in the Untouchables? Mmm, yeah. Or how about when he was Stanley Cox, in Stanley and Iris? …… Exactly.

Rochelle: This is an independent film made in 2008 and based on a novel. It’s a comedy that’s described as “witty” by Netflix. That means it’s not “stupid” funny aka Jackass movies.

Rod: There’s nothing wittier than a naked man getting tased!

Rochelle: It’s 104 minutes long which is perfect. Don’t you hate when a movie steals too much of your evening? We gave this movie 20 minutes because we were wishy-washy at 15. So, did What Just Happened pass the test? Indeed it did! The film satisfied both of our tastes. We watched the whole movie and discussed it Bunty style afterward, aka argued its merits and flaws for an hour.