By Movie Geeks | August 31, 2011

Netflix has revolutionized the home viewing market for movies with their instant streaming service. Netflix Nuggets is my way of spreading the word about films of all genres worth holding a spot on your instant viewing queue. (Release dates are subject to change.)

007 Heaven…

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: When he discovers that his evil nemesis, Blofeld (Charles Gray), is stockpiling the world’s supply of diamonds to use in a deadly laser satellite, secret agent James Bond (Sean Connery) sets out to stop the madman, with the help of beautiful smuggler Tiffany Case (Jill St. John). Connery’s final turn as Bond (until 1983’s unofficial outing, Never Say Never Again) boasts the gadgets, gunplay and girls that symbolize the heyday of the 007 series.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.8

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (1981)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: In the 12th film in the series based on Ian Fleming’s short stories, British spy James Bond (Roger Moore) faces yet another devastating threat. When a British ship is sunk, the world’s superpowers race to recover its valuable cargo and prevent global devastation. As Agent 007 joins the hunt for Soviet spies, he also finds time to get to know the lovely Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet). Bill Conti’s theme song earned an Oscar nomination.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.7

LICENSE TO KILL (1989)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: James Bond (Timothy Dalton) resigns from the Secret Service after a friend in the CIA (along with his new wife) is brutally murdered by drug lord Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi). With a score to settle, Bond partners up with pilot Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell) and Sanchez’s mistress (Talisa Soto). While avoiding the British government, Bond races across land, air and water in a whirlwind of action and suspense.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.5

LIVE AND LET DIE (1973)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: Roger Moore steps in as the suave, sophisticated Agent 007 in this eighth Bond installment. Bond’s investigation of the murders of three fellow agents in New York soon puts him on the trail of Mr. Big (Yaphet Kotto), a Harlem crime boss plotting a globally threatening scheme involving tons of self-produced heroin. Jane Seymour plays Mr. Big’s Tarot card reader, the beautiful Solitaire, whose loyalties are quickly cultivated by the charming Bond.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.7

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (1987)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: Timothy Dalton makes his suave and lethal debut as superagent James Bond in this turbo-charged action-adventure. This time, Bond’s charged with protecting a Soviet general (Jeroen Krabbe) from a beautiful sniper (Maryam d’Abo). But after being used as a pawn in a fake defector scheme, Agent 007 must trek across the world to find the escaped general and stop a terrifying weapons conspiracy that may be linked to the Soviet military high command.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.5

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee), the world’s deadliest assassin, has set his sights set on 007 (Roger Moore). James Bond has a license to kill, but Scaramanga isn’t playing by anyone’s rules as the cat-and-mouse game of death takes the two from the Far East to Scaramanga’s island lair. Also includes director Guy Hamilton’s commentary and extensive documentaries.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.7

MOONRAKER (1979)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: Agent 007 (Roger Moore) blasts into orbit in this action-packed adventure that takes him to Venice, Rio de Janeiro … and outer space. Bond investigates the hijacking of an American space shuttle by power-mad industrialist Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale). Along with beautiful CIA agent Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles), Bond’s soon locked in a life-or-death struggle against Drax, whose horrific scheme may destroy all human life on Earth.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.6

NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (1983)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: Sean Connery makes his final appearance as Agent 007 in this action classic. When two atomic warheads are hijacked by the evil SPECTRE organization, James Bond jumps into a frantic race to save the world from nuclear terrorists. With Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer), Blofeld (Max von Sydow) and Fatima (Barbara Carrera) bent on destroying the world, Bond is never far from death in director Irvin Kershner’s Golden Globe-nominated spy flick.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.6

OCTOPUSSY (1983)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: In the 13th installment of the legendary James Bond series, Agent 007 (Roger Moore) discovers a plot hatched by a renegade Soviet general (Steven Berkoff) and an exiled Indian (Louis Jourdan) to launch a nuclear attack against NATO forces in Europe. The terrorists plan to fund the attack with the sale of Faberge eggs. A beautiful but mysterious smuggler (Maud Adams) doesn’t make things easy for him, but Bond is determined to save the day.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.6

ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE (1969)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: George Lazenby takes over the role of Agent 007 for what many consider to be the finest Bond film ever made. Bond tracks archnemesis Ernst Blofeld (Telly Savalas) to a mountaintop retreat where he’s training an army of beautiful but lethal women. Along the way, Bond falls for Italian contessa Tracy Draco (Diana Rigg) — and marries her in order to get closer to Blofeld. Meanwhile, he locates Blofeld in the Alps and embarks on a classic ski chase.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.5

THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: In this action-packed James Bond adventure, someone has found a way to track submarines and offers the technology to the highest bidder. An international crisis breaks out when a British submarine equipped with 16 nuclear warheads disappears. Agent 007 (Roger Moore) joins forces with a brainy female Russian spy (Barbara Bach) to locate the vessel before the missiles can be launched at New York City.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.7

THUNDERBALL (1965)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: Terrorist mastermind Emilio Largo hijacks two nuclear weapons and has his sights set on a blackmail payday of global proportions — unless James Bond (Sean Connery) can stop him! Thunderball gets the Special Edition treatment with commentary by director Terence Young and two making-of featurettes. An action classic that’ll move and thrill you, Thunderball is one of the best of the franchise.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.9

A VIEW TO A KILL (1985)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: Agent 007 (Roger Moore, in his final appearance as Bond) races against time to stop a power-mad French industrialist (Christopher Walken) who plots to destroy California’s Silicon Valley — by triggering a massive earthquake that would kill millions — in order to corner the world’s microchip supply. From the Eiffel Tower to the top of the Golden Gate Bridge, James Bond can’t be stopped! Grace Jones and Tanya Roberts co-star.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.6

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: After American and Soviet spaceships disappear, the two countries trade blame for the incidents. As the nations edge toward war, James Bond (Sean Connery) finds himself in the middle of another international mystery. After staging his own death, Agent 007, with Tiger Tanaka (Tetsuro Tanba) and the beautiful Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi), discovers that the leader (Donald Pleasence) of the SPECTRE crime organization orchestrated the events.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.8

Everything Else…

AIRPLANE! (1980)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: In this joke-a-second parody of disaster movies, traumatized former combat pilot Ted Striker (Robert Hays) is forced to land a passenger plane when food poisoning strikes the crew and there’s no one else on board who can do the job. In some clever casting, leading dramatic actors Peter Graves, Robert Stack and Leslie Nielsen never betray that they’re in on the joke. Multiple viewings are required to catch every gag.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.7

BEAUTIFUL GIRLS (1996)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: In director Ted Demme’s smartly written, slice-of-life film, Willie Conway (Timothy Hutton) returns to the small town he left behind as erstwhile friends, lovers and the scary thought of settling down swirl around him. A friend’s unapproachable cousin (Uma Thurman) and the winsome teenager next door (Natalie Portman, in a standout performance) couldn’t be more different, but they afford glimpses of two possible futures.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.5

BROTHERHOOD (2010)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: Fledgling director Will Canon expands his award-winning short “Roslyn” for his first feature-length film with this gritty drama about Adam Buckley, a young collegiate whose last night of pledging for a fraternity takes an ominous turn. When he’s ordered to hold up a convenience store as part of his initiation, Adam complies, but after everything goes wrong, he must find the courage to help a friend. Jon Foster and Lou Taylor Pucci co-star.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.1

CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in his breakout role as Conan, who — after his parents are killed by an evil sorcerer (James Earl Jones) — is sent to a slave camp, where he trains to be a gladiator. Once granted freedom, the bruiser seeks to avenge his parents’ deaths. This pure swords-and-sorcery epic is one of the best of its kind, sparking a wave of fantasy films (as well as a sequel) in the early 1980s.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.5

DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: Director Richard Linklater’s follow-up to Slacker takes an autobiographical look at some Texas teens (including Ben Affleck and Matthew McConaughey) on their last day of school in 1976, centering on student Randall Floyd (Jason London), who moves easily among stoners, jocks and geeks. Floyd is a star athlete, but he also likes smoking weed, which presents a conundrum when his football coach demands he sign a “no drugs” pledge.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.9

THE DEAD POOL (1988)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: A macabre sports pool is placing bets on which celebrity is going to die next and crossing names off a list as each of them meets their demise. A serial killer who preys on famous figures enters the scene, and suddenly the odds are dramatically changed. When rogue cop “Dirty Harry” Callahan (Clint Eastwood) and high-profile TV journalist Samantha Walker (Patricia Clarkson) suddenly find their names on the list, the game hits too close to home.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.5

DIRTY HARRY (1971)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: When a madman dubbed the “Scorpio Killer” terrorizes San Francisco, hard-boiled cop Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) — famous for his take-no-prisoners approach to law enforcement — is tasked with hunting down the psychopath. Harry eventually collars Scorpio in the process of rescuing a kidnap victim, only to see him walk on technicalities. Now, the maverick detective is determined to nail the maniac himself.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.9

DUTCH (1991)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: During a Thanksgiving break from his Eastern boarding school, a snobby, upper-class kid (Ethan Randall) learns a lot about life when he’s forced to take a cross-country road trip with his mom’s (JoBeth Williams) working-class boyfriend (Ed O’Neill). A lighthearted comedy with an excellent O’Neill in the titular role (which combines some of the “attributes” of his character Al Bundy in TV’s “Married with Children”). Peter Faiman directs.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.6

HEIDI (1937)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: When 8-year-old Heidi (Shirley Temple) is orphaned, her mean Aunt Dete (Mady Christians) takes her to the mountains to live with her even meaner grandfather, Adolph (Jean Hersholt). Heidi’s eternal charm soon warms her grandfather’s heart, and the two become great friends. But when Aunt Dete returns and steals Heidi, Adolph sets out on a quest to find the girl and bring her home in this sweet classic from Hollywood’s golden age.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.7

LEVIATHAN (1989)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: Perched on the hull of a wrecked Soviet freighter, a team of deep-sea miners (including Hector Elizondo, Ernie Hudson and Daniel Stern) — led by head oceanographer Steven Beck (Peter Weller) — comes face to face with a mutant creature that’s the product of a failed genetic experiment. As Beck’s crew members begin to disappear one by one, the flesh-eating monster lurks below the surface — and the divers left alive are scared to death.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.1

THE LITTLE TRAITOR (2007)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: In 1947 Palestine, the occupying British army is a source of outrage and anger for the locals, and young Proffy Liebowitz is no exception, until he strikes up an unusual and unexpected friendship with a fatherly British officer. The great Alfred Molina plays Sgt. Dunlop, who is hardly the enemy Liebowitz takes him for upon their first meeting. Ultimately, their relationship will change the two men’s lives in ways they could never imagine.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.1

LONE WOLF McQUADE (1983)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: J.J. McQuade (Chuck Norris), a legendary Texas Ranger, prefers to work alone and break rules in the process. When his daughter is threatened by a gang of ruthless gun smugglers, McQuade sets out on a personal mission to bring them down hard. But when he comes face to face with the gang’s kingpin, martial arts expert Rawley Wilkes (David Carradine), he’s in for the fight of his life. Steve Carver directs this action-packed Western adventure.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.3

THE LONG GOODBYE (1973)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: Robert Altman cleverly updates the exploits of classic 1940s hard-boiled gumshoe Phillip Marlowe (Elliott Gould, in an unforgettable performance), who ferrets out a killer in the City of Angels circa 1974. Now, Marlowe is a wisecracking cynic who deals with coke-addled, sun-worshipping suspects and nudist neighbors. Funny, suspenseful and engaging, the film features an early, unbilled appearance by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.4

 

PEOPLE WILL TALK (1951)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: Dr. Praetorius (Cary Grant) is a well-liked medical professor at a dull Midwestern college who impresses those around him with his unorthodox ways of teaching. Not as impressed is Praetorius’s archrival (Hume Cronyn), a conservative doctor who does everything within his power to bring Praetorius down. Out of the blue, Praetorius meets and falls in love with an unattached pregnant woman (Jeanne Crain), spiraling him into uncharted territory.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.8

THEY CALL ME MR. TIBBS (1970)

Streaming Available: 09/01/2011
Synopsis: This sequel to In the Heat of the Night finds detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) and his family living in San Francisco. Tibbs becomes embroiled in an explosive case when a liberal preacher is suspected of murdering a prostitute. The action-oriented film isn’t as topical or as tense as its predecessor, but Poitier sizzles — as always.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.6