Each week within this column we strive to pair the latest in theatrical releases to the worthwhile titles currently available on Netflix Instant Watch.
This week in cinema, there will be plenty of action! For a noble young man named Steve Rogers, “action” means fighting his enemies with plenty of firepower and a shield adorned with red, white and blue! For a hot but gawky magazine editor and his equally gorgeous but geeky gal-pal and a pair of star-crossed lovers, “action” means something a bit more salacious. If you want to take all these brands of action home, we’ve got a list of superhero sagas, raunchy rom-coms and cerebral sci-fi romances for you to enjoy from the comfort of home.
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Captain America: The First Avenger
Chris Evans stars in Marvel’s latest Avengers’ film, which centers on Cap’s origin story, complete with top-secret military experiments to create the ultimate soldier. Hugo Weaving co-stars.
Along with Captain America, Jack Kirby is credited as the co-creator of a number of Marvel icons, including these that should drive fanboys wild:
The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (2010) For more tales of Cap and his cohorts, check out this kid-friendly cartoon, which rides the wave of superhero fandom and also features Iron Man, The Hulk and Thor.
The Incredible Hulk (1978) For more Hulk and a touch of old-school flare, check out this thrilling saga which follows the duel-natured Dr. David Bruce Banner. As he seeks cure to his rage-fuelled Jekyll & Hyde transformations – which turn him from a mild-mannered man to a muscle-bound green beast – he roadtrips across America, helping those in need. The series famously co-starred Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, and has become a cult classic for its ’80s style soap opera antics and campy action sequences. At posting time, the first four (of five) seasons are streaming.
X-Men (1992) Kirby also had a hand in creation another astounding super-powered team of heroes. And if you are a member of Generation Y, then it’s a safe bet you’ll be thrilled that the X-Men are currently streaming in all their brightly colored, lyrca-covered glory! Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Professor X, Rogue, Gambit, Storm and even Jubilee star in this action-packed animated series that has all five seasons streaming.
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Friends With Benefits
Justin Timberlake brings sexy back with co-star Mila Kunis, as a pair of pals who complicate their camaraderie by adding between the sheets tussling to their activities. Woody Harrelson and Patricia Clarkson co-star in this raunchy comedy helmed by Easy A director Will Gluck.
Let’s get serious: Sex can be hilarious. Here are three comedies that revel in that awkward truth:
A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy (1982) One of the more whimsical Woody Allen ventures, this romp centers on the weekend getaway of a group of partner-swapping pals in the early 1900s. Like Friends it manages to be both romantic yet ribald. Allen, Mia Farrow, Jose Ferrer and Mary Steenburgen co-star.
Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) Personally, I feel the first father of American sex-comedies is the ever-cheeky Billy Wilder. In this little known gem, Ray Walston stars as a wannabe songwriter who can’t pass up the chance to peddle his wares when Dean Martin (playing a wonderfully irreverent version of himself referred to as “Dino”) rolls into town (Climax, Nevada) with car trouble. Knowing of Dino’s predilection for sex with beautiful women, and his own wife’s crush on the dashing crooner, Walston gets his wife out of the house and hires a local lady of the night named Polly the Pistol (Kim Novak as I’d never seen her before) to take her place as he hosts a dinner party none of them will ever forget. Bonus fun fact: the film was reviled upon its release for its flippant attitude toward monogamy. Of course, post-Woody Allen, this seems sweetly old-school, yet Kiss Me, Stupid is still undeniably hilarious!
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990) For a sex-comedy with some scintillating Spanish flare, try this early Pedro Almodovar effort. In this wild (and NC-17 rated) tale of boy meets girl, Antonia Banderas stars as an insanely hopeless romantic who decides the best way to win the affections of the sultry actress (Victoria Abril) he adores, is to kidnap her and bind her until she loves him back. Despite it’s incendiary subject matter, Almodovar keeps the tone surprisingly light.
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Another Earth
In this bittersweet sci-fi tale, we on Earth discover a formerly unknown planet that appears to be a duplicate of our own. The possibility of an alternate version of our world haunts a young woman (Brit Marling) tormented by mistakenly causing a brutal car accident that killed a mother and child. She decides to seek out the resulting widower (William Mapother) to apologize before setting out to Earth 2 – but her travel plans and confession are put on hold when the two discover an unspoken attraction.
Sci-fi romance is an underserved subgenre, but thankfully Netflix is streaming some wondrous entries:
TiMER (2009) In this deeply quirky rom-com, Emma Caulfield (of Buffy The Vampire Slayer) lives in a world where the love-starved masses regularly have a timer installed that counts down to the moment until you’ll meet your one true love. Sadly for Caulfield, her timer blinks blankly. So, when she meets a cute young man who is fun – but totally not her type – she decides they can revel in a frivolous relationship – that is until her timer begins ticking down. Beyond being a clever concept, first-time writer/director Jac Shaeffer fleshes out the consequences of a world with set epiphanies, with a string of characters influenced by their timers for better or worse.
The Fountain (2006) Darren Aronofsky’s mind-bending saga centers on a besotted man (Hugh Jackman) who goes on a epic time-traveling quest to uncover the mythic tree of eternal life to save his cancer-stricken wife (Rachel Weisz).
Robot Stories (2004) In this inventive collection of robot-centered vignettes, comic book scribe Greg Pak delves into the theme of love & technology. Low budget yet beautifully shot and organically poetic, Robot Stories is a graceful and poignant delight. Tamlyn Tomita co-stars.
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Wild Card Pick
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Sherlock: Series 1 (2010) Whether you’ve been salivating over every single Hobbit update or not, I suggest this BBC mini-series that re-imagines Sherlock Holmes and his trusty pal Dr. Watson in modern-day London solving some deeply twisted mysteries. Composed of three episodes that are each about an hour and a half long, Sherlock draws inspiration equally from Arthur Conan Doyle’s thrilling detective tales and from Fox’s medical diagnosis drama House, as this Sherlock’s masterful sense of awareness and keen intelligence come at the cost of empathy for others. Though this socially awkward Sherlock is frequently deemed a sociopath, Benedict Cumberbatch (which may well be the most British name on record) infuses his wildly eccentric detective with a demented sense of glee that makes him endlessly entertaining — whether he is pontificating on the meaning of a damp pink overcoat or firing shots into his apartment wall because he’s bored. Lending unmatched support to this potentially careening kook, is Martin Freeman who takes on a darker incarnation of Dr. Watson than I have ever seen. This doctor is a soldier haunted by his combat time in Afghanistan, who joins Holmes in his mad adventures because he now craves the rush of life-risking scenarios. 10 minutes into the first episode, it was easy to see why fans cheered news that The Hobbit’s shooting schedule includes a break to allow Freeman and Cumberbatch to shoot season 2 of Sherlock. Check it out now, so you too can relish the excellence of British television…then bemoan their painfully short season runs.
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Can you think of a connection/suggestion we missed? Share them in comments.