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.
The Angels’ Share (Ken Loach)
Ken Loach is an artist who has boldly refused to compromise his creative vision, and that vision is in proper display here, with The Angel’s Share. These days, Loach usually alternates between ultra-serious and decidedly light-hearted social commentary; this new film sits in the latter group. Starring Paul Brannigan as Robbie, a thug with a heart of gold, Loach digs into the current state of employment in Great Britain (and, for the matter, most of the world), especially for the rising generation of twenty-somethings. Robbie’s got a girl and, as the film opens, a new baby boy he is responsible for. Just given his final get-out-of-jail card by the state, he knows what’s at state but not how to escape what has become a life filled to the brim with violence. – Dan M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, Google
Berberian Sound Studio (Peter Strickland)
Led by Toby Jones, the film from Peter Strickland gives the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy actor his own Blow Out-esque role as he plays a sound engineer working for a horror maestro in the psychological thriller Berberian Sound Studio. Although it has had a healthy festival run and a small theatrical release, we’ve unfortunately managed to miss out on this one, but with its recent addition on Netflix, there’s now no excuses. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: Netflix
Blackfish (Gabriela Cowperthwaite)
A powerful documentary going behind the scenes to expose the truth about SeaWorld’s dirty little secret, Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Blackfish shows the consequence of hubristic action. Centered on the death of Orca trainer Dawn Brancheau, the film delves all the way back to the 70s to explain the extensive history of whale captivity and its horrific conditions leading to Tilikum earning the name Killer Whale. Everyone interviewed has extensive first-hand knowledge of the industry and/or Tilikum himself to paint a picture of just how dangerous mankind’s ego can become when bottom-line is king and the people in its control are too young and naive to realize what’s happening. One of the scariest films of the year, we’re shown the tragic result of our yearning to control nature. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
C.O.G. (Kyle Patrick Alvarez)
Starting off with the cliché story of two recent wealthy college grads setting off into the world to find themselves, we join David (Jonathan Groff) after he graduates Yale. He’s in Oregon and starting to work on a farm picking apples. Pompous but also curious and ignorant, David has no sense of the fact that these people’s lives revolve around what he views as a vacation. He’s supposed to meet his friend, a fellow female graduate, and they were supposed to have a journey together starting at the farm, but those plans fall through. So, he’s left there. Of course, he decides to make the best of it and see what all of this is about. The humor, in all its quirky glory, is what is the lasting impression of C.O.G. If you aren’t quick yourself, you might not catch some of the smaller details that soften the blows. But there’s an undeniable charm to C.O.G. that is part of its honesty in human ugliness. – Bill G. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
Drug War (Johnnie To)
Lines and lines of information weave in and out of each other at a pace far too liminal and frantic for any one person to be on top of any single thing at any given moment — an infrastructure built on the paradoxical give-and-take of data heaps clouding the human judgement of moral superiority. These are not the CIA operations of Zero Dark Thirty, but the day-to-day flow of the Hong Kong police force in Drug War, a crime drama — from Hong Kong auteur Johnnie To — which dares to stick its middle finger directly in the face of a government taking itself to any end in hopes of earning the statistical victory, no matter how body-strewn it all may prove. – Nick N. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
Here Comes the Devil (Adrián García Bogliano)
If ever a horror film begged for multiple viewings, Here Comes the Devil (Ahí va el diablo) makes a good case. In fact, until a little over halfway through I was completely checked out. I saw what writer/director Adrián García Bogliano was doing, but the on-the-nose sexual juxtapositions of womanhood, devil rape, and a lust for violence lost me. Highly carnal, full of allusions to demonic possession, and presented so matter-of-fact that it becomes discomforting, a streak of cruelty without justified reason introduces how evil exists in us all. However, when Sol (Laura Caro) decides to follow her children as they skip school, what she discovers changes the dynamic of the film by adding a concrete chain of events revealing the eccentric Tijuana cast of characters’ true motivations. The Devil isn’t coming; he’s already here. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, Google
The Hunt (Thomas Vinterberg)
After making big waves with his Dogme classic The Celebration in 1998, Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg has made a handful of flawed and underseen films, whether the genre be post-apocalyptic sci-fi (It’s All About Love) or a pseudo-Western about a group of gun-wielding pacifists (Dear Wendy), that have rendered him largely unnoticed as of late. Let it be said that his newest work, The Hunt, will stand to change the tide. Starring Mads Mikkelsen in a decidedly, and impressively, domesticated role. Vinterberg takes his time with his narrative, looking into a very 21st century kind of witch hunt. Lucas (Mikkelsen) is a new teacher at a local kindergarten, recently divorced and at odds with his ex-wife over custody of their teenage son. He’s an engaged educator, interacting with the young children and developing close relationships with all of them. – Dan M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Museum Hours (Jem Cohen)
After a short theatrical run this summer, one of the year’s most touching and relatable films is finally available to stream. Following two strangers who discuss life, art, and love in Vienna, Jem Cohen‘s wonderful Museum Hours is easily one of the more overlooked releases in 2013. Whether it’s an intimate discussion between our two leads (Mary Margaret O’Hara and Anne Bobby Sommer) or an examination of a piece of art at the Kunsthistorisches Art Museum, Cohen continually captivates on a small scale. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: iTunes
Paradise: Faith (Ulrich Seidl)
Ulrich Seidl’s films have attracted controversy for their explicit sex before, but maybe it’s the titles of his new Paradise trilogy, subtitled Love, Faith, and Hope, that make them so shocking. For the most part, they operate in ways completely contradictory to their titles, making a mockery out of both the idea of “paradise” and the sub-titular virtue. Of course, only Love is sexually explicit from start to finish, but the other two films are shocking in their own way. Faith is a twisted portrait of an overzealous fundamentalist complete with self-flagellating, and although it has one lingering orgy scene, the actions of the protagonist, Anna Maria (Maria Hofstätter), are the most disturbing thing about the film. Hope, on the other hand, delivers on its title without ironic intent. It’s a tender portrait of a young girl at diet camp making new friends and experiencing first love (love that is inappropriate, but also gets by without any actual harm). – Forrest C. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix (also: watch the first film in the trilogy on Netflix)
Prince Avalanche (David Gordon Green; 2013)
Despite the hilarious Pineapple Express, there’s no denying David Gordon Green has been on a downward spiral with each new step into the world of studio comedy. So it came as a wonderful surprise last summer when it was revealed he secretly shot an independent road comedy with Emile Hirsch and Paul Rudd. A remake of Iceland’s Either Way, Prince Avalanche was revealed Sundance Film Festival and it’s a welcome return to form for the writer/director. Despite some misgivings, the relaxed, lively Prince Avalanche shines with a strong heart and it’s now available on VOD. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: Netflix
Prisoners (Denis Villeneuve)
Prisoners might be the most shockingly dark studio release since Fight Club, a grim, unsettling, occasionally convoluted, but undeniably gripping thriller. The nightmare America of Denis Villeneuve’s film is sadly believable, and it results in a truly moving experience — one that audiences might not see coming. On paper, after all, this Hugh Jackman-Jake Gyllenhaal-starrer looked like just another procedural, a (possible) turkey jammed full of movie-of-the-week stuffing. The trailers were not particularly memorable, the likable Jackman and Gyllenhaal do not always choose their roles wisely, screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski’s only previously filmed screenplay was for Contraband, and even though Villeneuve directed the Oscar-nominated Incendies, he is still a relatively unproven commodity. – Chris S. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
The Short Game (Josh Greenbaum)
Netflix may have closed Red Envelope Entertainment, its film financing and acquisition arm, in 2008, but the company still has its eye on the indie film market. For their first original release, they picked up the sports documentary The Short Game, another award-winning festival favorite that had plenty of big names behind it (Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel both served as executive producers, and Mark Mothersbaugh composed the music). The doc, which follows a group of talented child athletes as they train for the World Championships of Junior Golf, charmed viewers at SXSW, where it won the Audience Award, and had a short theatrical run in September, but now it’s available on Netflix – Amanda W.
Where to Stream: Netflix
Sightseers (Ben Wheatley)
In Ben Wheatley’s third film Sightseers, the British director, known for taking scenes of normalcy and then spiking them with extreme violence, continues his streak of creating memorable unconventional cinema. The biggest difference compared to his two previous films, Down Terraceand Kill List, is the focus on comedy, in particular the dark kind. It’s a slightly different genre for Wheatley to explore, but he does so admirably, creating a film that is equal parts absurd as it is berserk. Starring a pair of stand up comedians, who also co-wrote the script together, and produced by Edgar Wright, Sightseers is a unusual blend of exquisite cinematography, hilarious ridiculousness and over the top death and gore. – Raffi A. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, Netflix, iTunes
Some Velvet Morning (Neil LaBute)
Since you have arrived at this film review, you do not like to enter the theater cold. Here’s my challenge; Some Velvet Morning is a demanding film to talk about by virtue of the fact it is not what it seems to be. Its reason for existing in this form (verses a stage play) becomes apparent once the clues are revealed and the very fact I have revealed a twist exists in itself is a spoiler. So perhaps this is where you may wish to leave this page. Some Velvet Morning by Neil LaBute stars two actors at the top of their game, Alice Eve as Velvet and Stanley Tucci as Fred. Fred arrives to Velvet’s Brooklyn loft one morning with luggage announcing he’s left his wife. A cat and mouse game transpires; Velvet admits she had feelings for Fred but has a date scheduled with his son, whom she occasionally sees. Velvet is an “escort” who puts herself though school by soliciting the wealthy dads of the undergrad boys she’s dated, slipping a note in their pockets reading “Girl for Sale.” – John F. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
White Reindeer (Zach Clark)
Just in time for the holiday season comes White Reindeer, perhaps the saddest Christmas film ever made. It’s also one of the better Christmas films to come out in some time. Directed by Zach Clark and starring Anna Margaret Hollyman, the film opens on happy couple Jeff (Nathan Williams) and Suzanne (Hollyman) Barrington. They live in the Washington D.C. suburbs in a beautiful starter home. Suzanne sells real estate and Jeff is the local weatherman. It’s a month before Christmas and Jeff’s just got a new job that is sending them to Hawaii. Things are going well. Then Jeff is brutally killed during a home invasion, Suzanne returning home to find him dead on the floor. – Dan M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
What are you streaming this week?