With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit the interwebs. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
Deadpool (Tim Miller)
As Hollywood struggles to reinvent their array of superheroes with each iteration, it’s no surprise that audiences would become hungry for something off the beaten path. While it’s not the first post-modern comic-book adaptation, Deadpool is billed as ushering in a new direction: a fan-spurred, self-aware tentpole that’s R-rated to its core, featuring a wise-ass character (don’t call him a superhero) who’s fully cognizant of his outsider status in both the world he inhabits and Hollywood’s comic-book sandbox writ large. Despite the excess of fourth-wall-breaking continually reminding us of both, Tim Miller‘s directorial debut ultimately ends up feeling like another similarly structured, monotonous origin story, albeit with a more vulgar veneer. – Jordan R. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Eden (Mia Hansen-Løve)
With the breadth of time and emotion it displays, Mia Hansen-Løve‘s Eden is a simultaneously sprawling and intimate journey of ambitions and community within the then-emerging electronica scene. In capturing both the intoxicating allure of following one’s passion and the steadily unraveling grasp on the prospects of making it a livable career, Eden is masterful in its moment-to-moment, understated depiction of the transformation. Rich with details in time, place, and character, this is far from the Daft Punk-layered, rousing spectacle of electronica stardom its marketing might suggest, and all the more better for it. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: Amazon Prime
Hellion (Kat Candler)
One of the first real stunners of the year has arrived with Kat Candler‘s heart-wrenching dramaHellion. Much like last year’s Short Term 12, this is a feature-length film expanded from an already produced short that depicts troubled kids and the equally troubled adults tasked with providing stability in an unstable world. Anchored by an amazing cast who give their all to conjure emotionally-draining performances one won’t soon forget, each character is set onto a path towards learning what it means to be responsible for one’s own actions. For those of us unfortunate enough to live tragic-filled lives, it’s easy to blame circumstances, lash out at those doling out punishment, and completely ignore one’s own capacity to rise above hardship and prove detractors wrong. We’d rather throw a tantrum and play the victim than hold ourselves accountable. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
High-Rise (Ben Wheatley)
As soon as the voice of Tom Hiddleston‘s Dr. Robert Laing was heard speaking narration above his weathered and crazed visage manically moving from cluttered, dirty room to darkened feverish corner, my mind started racing. Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas popped into my consciousness and then his Brazil, after a quick title card shoves us back in time to watch as Laing enters his new concrete behemoth of a housing structure, oppressively standing above a vast and still parking lot. Add the clinical precision of Stanley Kubrick dolly shots and the chaotic, linear social ladder climb of Snowpiercer with a bitingly satirical wit replacing the high-octane action and you come close to describing the masterpiece that is Ben Wheatley‘s High-Rise. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Jurassic World (Colin Trevorrow)
As all good sequels must learn, the key to success is delivering on the promise set forth by the original while also providing something fresh and improved. Just ask James Cameron, a master at the task, who injected action-packed life into both Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgment Day without negating or watering down the mythology still relevant beneath those newfound popcorn blockbuster sensibilities. Neither The Lost World nor Jurassic Park III did it. They decided to both reinvent the wheel and forget what the appeal of Jurassic Park was. Hint: its humanistic characters with relatable, authentic wonder in their eyes at seeing a living, breathing dinosaur. Take away the theme park attraction setting and you strip away the childlike glee necessary for an audience member to step inside its science fiction and experience its adventure. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: HBO Go
Mustang (Deniz Gamze Ergüven)
This year, Mad Max: Fury Road dominated the conversation about challenging patriarchal values and the ways that human values can be corrupted, but Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Mustang is an exploration of social mores that’s just as trenchant, incisive, and visceral without ever needing the fantastical backdrop of a futuristic wasteland. Set in a remote village in Turkey, Mustang pivots on the aftermath of one event that, to much of the world, may appear innocuous. It’s a demonstration of gender expectations in a micro context that expands into a heartfelt, angry, and telling story of freedom, individuality, and the sheer potential of these repressed women. But, like other culturally sensitive films (e.g. Jafar Panahi’s Offside), Mustang continually pushes back at the staid conventions of society while recognizing that these social dictates have their own complicated history. Erüguven never needs to resort to explicit finger wagging, for the gradual cloistering of these girls stands as the most persuasive argument. – Michael S.
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Son of Saul (László Nemes)
Emotionally devastating and profoundly moving without ever being soft or cheap, László Nemes’ Son of Saul is a tour de force that puts many Holocaust-set films to shame. In no way shying away from the horror, Nemes actually enhances the atrocities by closing in and making this the personal document of a man waging a war for his own soul amidst a living nightmare. Shot almost entirely in close-ups so tight that we appear to be constantly staring into Géza Röhrig’s weary, guilty eyes, Son shears away easy sentiment in favor of looking through the chinks of this swelling darkness to find some hidden stores of compassion and feeling. The journey is neither easy for him to endure nor easy for the casual viewer to digest, but Nemes, in his first foray behind the camera, shows us the Holocaust in a way we’ve never seen it before: almost directly through the eyes of someone who is desperate to atone for his part. For this reviewer, it’s the most emotionally affecting cinematic experience of 2015. – Nathan B.
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Special Correspondents (Ricky Gervais)
Before returning as David Brent this summer, Ricky Gervais is back with Special Correspondents. Directing, writing, and starring in the feature, he joins Erica Bana as the two team as a struggling radio journalist and hapless technician who fake frontline war reports from a NYC hideout. Also starring Vera Farmiga, Kelly Macdonald, America Ferrera, Benjamin Bratt, and Kevin Pollak, it’s now available to stream on Netflix following its Tribeca Film Festival premiere.
Where to Stream: Netflix
Team Foxcatcher (Jon Greenhalgh)
For those looking to explore the true story behind Bennett Miller‘s Foxcatcher, director Jon Greenhalgh‘s new documentary explores John du Pont’s descent from philanthropist to murderer with exclusive new footage. “I’m proud to be a part of this film that was six years in the making to honor the incredible legacy of David,” said Nancy Schultz. “With his ties to the wrestling community, we felt Jon Greenhalgh was the perfect filmmaker to tell this story and pay homage to the kind of man and athlete David was.”
Where to Stream: Netflix
Where to Invade Next (Michael Moore)
Say what you will about Michael Moore — as if it hasn’t already been said, and not at all from a single side of the two-party battle line — but the man knows how to fashion viewpoints and distribution methods into a fine point. Six years after Capitalism: A Love Story, the documentarian brings Where to Invade Next, a feature that will first play as thoroughly familiar to any of us who can envision his work at the drop of a hat. Give this a bit of time, though, and it becomes clear that he’s found a way to expand his interests. At play here is a multi-part (some would say shotgun-spray) outline that combines the common Moore question (what is a particular American system doing wrong?) with a query about how — not if, and only in a certain sense why — other countries are doing it better. Rather than the standard procession of interviews, clips, documents, etc. revolving around one pressing matter, Invade uses a pressing matter as the springboard for a greatest-hits collection. Violence! Education! Institutional corruption! Factory conditions! The doings of politicians! You probably had some vision of what you would be getting when you heard Moore made a new feature. This time, you’ll be getting it in spades. – Nick N. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
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