With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we believe it’s our duty to highlight the recent, recommended 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, and shoot over suggestions to @TheFilmStage
Broadway Idiot (Doug Hamilton)
With unfettered access throughout the pitch phase, rehearsals before the band gives their ok, and rehearsals afterwards for a Berkley Repertory Theatre, opening to the whirlwind of emotions that lead to a cast recording of “21 Guns,” a Grammy performance, and a Broadway pick-up at St. James Theatre in New York, we get to witness firsthand all the trials and tribulations that go into the creation of the Broadway Idiot musical. Or at least we would have if any presented themselves because this must have been one of the easiest germination periods for a Tony nominated show in history. Honestly, from Green Day’s stamp of approval to opening curtain, this thing was smooth sailing. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
Her (Spike Jonze)
I expected a lot of things from Spike Jonze’s quirky tale of an emotionally vulnerable man dating his computer, but what I wasn’t prepared for was just how gently accurate it is when dealing with the reality of human relationships, both on small, personal levels and at larger social ones too. Without ever really stopping to explain exactly how this near future operates, or what the parameters of its technology actually are, we are dropped into Theodore’s (Joaquin Phoenix) life and made to feel the loneliness and vulnerability while expressing our own wonder at new wrinkles in this reality. Phoenix gives one of his finest and sure to be most underrated performances as a guy who is trying to recover from a broken heart while learning that he’s not nearly as connected to others as he expected. Awards or no, Scarlett Johansson is astonishing in what she accomplishes with only voice-work. Samantha, the operating system that nabs Theo’s heart, is an original and compelling creation and Jonze does her justice by structuring his film around the various evolving stages of her awareness. This is a brilliant and complex tale about the future of our technology, a spiritual exploration about what makes us tick as humans in the act of being. – Nathan B.
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and 2 (Quentin Tarantino)
Celebrating their 10th anniversary within the last year, Quentin Tarantino‘s double dose of Kill Bill landed on Netflix this week. While we imagine any diehard fan of the director already owns this (or you’re waiting out for the eventual Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair or even Kill Bill Vol. 3), it’s an ideal time to revisit the Uma Thurman-led revenge epic as the helmer figures out exactly what he’ll shoot next.
Where to Stream: Netflix
Metallica Through the Never (Nimrod Antal)
There’s no getting around Metallica‘s status as legends, even if, over the years — after millions upon millions of the group’s albums have sold since they broke out of the heavy metal scene — they’ve garnered an increasing reputation for not being quite what they were in the old days. One thing is certain: these guys can still put on a hell of a show. Enter Metallica Through the Never, a hybrid of the concert film and traditional narrative that utilizes IMAX 3D to be bigger, badder, and louder than ever before. For a loyal fan, this is something of a godsend. – Bill G. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
Muscle Shoals (Greg ‘Freddy’ Camalier)
Matching the passion of the music it covers, this documentary explores a small town in Alabama where much of the great blues/rock ‘n’ roll we still listen to was recorded. The place is run by Rick Hall, a fascinating real-life character with an equal serving of personal tragedy and professional success. Engaging and determined, Hall anchors the doc as the life-force of his studio and the musical collaboration that stems from the space, which is deemed “magical” by more than a few landmark musicians. And while we hear of the greatness of the place from rock stars like Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, The Staples Singers, The Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Simon and Garfunkel and more, it’s the people working at the FAME recording studio we fall in love with. – Dan M.
Where to Stream: Netflix
The Pervet’s Guide to Ideology (Sophie Fiennes)
Few (if any) modern intellectuals have the public profile of Slavoj Žižek, a man whose long-form thoughts on everything from The Wire to modern Marxisim are consumed in equal amounts — and, no less, with as many lengthy responses. Those occasional dips into moving images come to this writer’s attention more strongly than, say, a battle with Noam Chomsky, so what follows, here, is of genuine interest: The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology, a sequel of sorts to 2006′s The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema — i.e., a reunion with director Sophie Fiennes — that, again, brings the philosopher into recreations of famous films. – Nick N.
Where to Stream: Netflix
The Sacrament (Ti West)
It can be said that emerging writer-director Ti West sets a certain expectation, making what some consider to be “anti-horror” films. There’s been the ’80s fetishization of The House of the Deviland sustained work-place malaise of The Innkeepers, the respective Satanists and ghosts of each almost an afterthought, as their protagonists wander around decrepit, vacated places of living. Yet with his newest, The Sacrament — a film inspired by the infamous Jonestown Massacre and its “drink the Kool-Aid” mass-suicide by a cult — its disturbing, grand climax is an utter inevitability. The film thankfully doesn’t completely race to this, but at least gradually reaches the point of true terror, even if one wishes it would delay the process to even greater lengths. – Ethan V. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
The Selfish Giant (Clio Barnard)
A contemporary fable thematically adapted from an Oscar Wilde short story and inspired by the world writer/director Clio Barnard entered while filming her documentary The Arbor in Bradford, Northern England, The Selfish Giant proves a stark drama wherein emotional growth blossoms through the aftermath of tragedy. It’s no surprise, however, considering the lengths poverty and a void of trusting role models drives young Arbor (Conner Chapman) and Swifty (Shaun Thomas) into a life far removed from the schoolboys horsing around and learning that they should be leading. With the former’s mother barely keeping he and his drug-dealing brother Martin (Elliott Tittensor) afloat and the latter’s gypsy parents selling their last couch in a room full of hungry kids to pay for electricity, a taste of steady income leads these thirteen-year olds onto their path towards destruction. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
Thérèse (Claude Miller)
Only a 1927 novel can get away with its titular character yearning for a marriage built on land and stability instead of love for no other reason than to quiet ‘unfeminine’ aspirations beyond domesticity. Dismissed as a silly little thing with too many ideas and not enough religion, Thérèse Despeyreux actually wants to be rid of her thoughts and seek refuge in her best friend Anne’s brother’s simplicity. What she didn’t count on was exactly what this new sister-in-law warned—a life devoid of adventure, dreams, and love isn’t one to wish upon anyone no matter their stress and anxiety in wanting more. A baby leaves her empty; watching Anne fall in love spurs jealousy; and the medicinal arsenic carefully dropped in her husband’s water proves too tempting in its promise of escape. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
Unhung Hero (Brian Spitz)
Taking on a challenging subject useful to all men, gay or straight, Unhung Hero asks, ‘how do we measure up?’ In fact, there is an app for it, The Chubby Checker, and its creators are being sued for the technology which catalogs user-submitted data to create a global ranking. There is one expert, a condom manufacturer, in Unhung Hero who makes it his business to know global differences. So what sets Patrick Moote off on this journey? He proposes to his girlfriend on camera at a UCLA basketball game and she says no. Amongst the reasons cited are his small penis, and so Moote and director Brian Spitz set off on a self-described “cockumentary.” – John F. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
Whitewash (Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais)
The frozen, gray confines of a forest in Quebec become an unstable purgatory for hapless Thomas Haden Church in Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais‘ darkly comic Whitewash. Juxtaposed somewhere between the droll fatalism of the Coen bros and the survival drama of Jack London, Hoss-Desmarais‘ film makes great use of Church, who bolsters and solidifies what is often a one man show. Although it careens precariously from the present to the past, from apathetic, abiding sanity to determined, barking madness, Whitewash is that uncommon small-scale indie that grows larger the deeper it sinks into its hero’s troubled mind. – Nathan B. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Also New to Streaming:
Amazon
Hulu Plus – Criterion
Autumn Sonata
Beyond The Law
…But Film Is My Mistress
Devi
Fall Guy
A Hollis Frampton Odyssey
The Merchant Of Four Seasons
The Thick-Walled Room
Wild 90
Netflix
Adventures in Babysitting
Anatomy of a Murder
Backdraft
Bang the Drum Slowly
The Big Chill
Boys Don’t Cry
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
The City of Lost Children
Encounters at the End of the World
Fido
From Dusk Till Dawn
Gladiator
Ichi the Killer
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Paper Moon
Ravenous
Romancing the Stone
Sneakers
What are you streaming this weekend?