GRINGO

A dark comedy with a story that's all over the place. Amazon put a little money behind this with their marketing but the film wasn't satisfying for me. A somewhat decent cast (Charlize Theron, Thandie Newton and Amanda Seyfried). With the exception of Theron and Joel Edgerton, they're all underutilized. Star David Oyelowo was passable as Harold Soyinka who's about to be fired from his pharmaceutical job due to a merger of his company and concocts a kidnapping story to get money from the company he's about to be fired from. In the process, he's on the run from a Mexican drug cartel who's recently been cut out of a business deal with the same pharmaceutical company and they're under the (wrong) impression that Harold is the boss. The only positive I found with the film was Theron who is a no nonsense, ball-breaking, dog eat dog woman who is only out for her best interests. She shines while everyone else fades. 5.5/10

THE OUTSIDER

I would definitely say this is one of Netflix better movies. In 1954, former US soldier Jared Leto joins a yakuza. The story centers on a rival gang that is at odds with Leto's gang over who controls certain territories in post-World War II Japan. The tension of the war is still very much alive between this American and the Japanese. Leto gives a good performance and at times, even being the main star, doesn't have a lot of dialogue (which is even pointed out by a former soldier he was in the service with that he happens to come across one night). Kind of reminded me of Meiko Kaji during her FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION series from the 1970's where her actions, facial expressions and eyes do her talking for her. A solid film in my opinion. 7/10