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.
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon (Douglas Tirola)
While the last few decades or so of National Lampoon’s output has been less than stellar, their influence through their humor magazine and films such as the original Vacation and Animal House can still be felt today. For those curious about the formation of the group and their rise to ubiquitous status, a new documentary looks to provide the behind-the-scenes story. Following a release last year, Douglas Tirola‘s Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon is now available to stream.
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
The Fool (Yuri Bykov)
By now, the lengthy following shot to open a film is an art-house approved cliché. But in The Fool, Yuri Bykov complicates the shot in a way that makes it feel fresh again. For one, he begins his shot with characters heard, not seen—not seen at all in the film, that is. There is a man shouting at a woman because her vacuuming makes it hard to watch TV, and then another man walks into the frame, down the hallway toward the camera, and begins interrogating a different woman about money. He leaves while the camera stays with her; we hear the yelling from the first couple again, and then the man we just saw is heard yelling at a third woman about the money. The woman and the camera rush back across the hall as the man’s excessively violent tendencies explode and the women are saved only because of the decrepit conditions of their building. – Forrest C. (full review)
Where to Stream: iTunes
The Foot Fist Way (Jody Hill)
Before Eastbound & Down and Observe & Report, there was The Foot Fist Way. Jody Hill‘s break-out feature, released 10 years ago, finds Danny McBride as an over-confident karate teacher at a local strip mall dealing with his inexperienced pupils of all ages as well as his own rocky marriage. It’s a hilarious, lo-fi start for the director and star and perfect viewing (for free) ahead of Vince Principals this July. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: YouTube
The Lady in the Van (Nicholas Hytner)
Let’s hear it again for Dame Maggie Smith. Although she’s captured audience attention playing all manner of fussy upper-crust elitists, including Downton Abbey’s sniping Lady Grantham, the 81-year-old actress has a sensitivity of range and feeling that can be occasionally overlooked because of how good she is at what she does. Despite the fact that recent years have often given her parts that might read like ‘Michael Caine with ovaries,’ Smith continues to display a knack for character sympathy (even when said characters are not, themselves, sympathetic) that allows her to bring a startling array of fascinating people to life. With Nicholas Hytner’s The Lady in the Van, adapted by Alan Bennett who also wrote the play and lived out the ‘true’ elements of its story, Smith takes a role she’s done on stage and radio and brings her own internal regality to Miss Shepherd, a woman whose life has very few vestiges of anything remotely regal left in it. – Nathan B. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Magical Girl (Carlos Vermut)
We open on a scene that seems ordinary enough. A school teacher (Jose Sacristan) is giving a lecture on the unerring and immutable importance and longevity of the field of mathematics. A few random students laugh slightly, and the lecture is derailed as the teacher pulls a girl to the front of the class. In her hands is a note, which he makes her unfold and read to the class. He then demands that she hands it over. But a funny thing happens. The girl has refolded the note, and when she opens her hand to offer it over, the note is gone, and with it the offense. So begins Magical Girl, a film that will most likely turn off many an audience member, while leaving those who find its wavelength and who can exist within it vibrating from the experience. – Brian R. (full review)
Where to Stream: iTunes
My Big Night (Álex de la Iglesia)
My Big Night tells you what it is right up front: big with a capital “B,” a maximalist extravaganza satirizing the day-to-day life on a show business set that has a dark bite lurking in the colorful madness’s shadows. Directed by the always gonzo Álex de la Iglesia (Witching and Bitching, The Last Circus), My Big Night brings the Spaniard’s wicked edge behind the scenes, letting a flashy, Edgar Wright-esque cartoonishness dominate this pastiche. – Jacob O. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Pawn Sacrifice (Edward Zwick)
I’ve always been fascinated by Bobby Fischer due to his vanishing rather than anything he accomplished at a chessboard. I’ve never been good at the game, yet I respect its complexity. The greats literally memorize past matches and maneuvers, so in-tune with the playing field that they can play out loud with nothing more than words. Fischer was a great—the youngest Grandmaster in history and the first American-born World Champion. Like most geniuses, however, the strain of intellect, pressure, and success brought with it a hefty price. For Bobby it was the deterioration of his mental health. And as it’s told in Edward Zwick‘s Pawn Sacrifice, he may have known this from the beginning. If he were to rise to the top, the time was now. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon Prime
Tale of Tales (Matteo Garrone)
Having the rare distinction of being sold on an image alone (see Salma Hayek gorging on a bloody heart at the top of this feature), Tale of Tales may not fully come together, but it sounds like it’s worth seeing for the caliber of participating talent. As we said in our review from Cannes last year, “A few negligible instances of ghastly CGI notwithstanding, the film is ravishing on every level. Costumes and make-up are lavish and uniformly stunning, the highly ornate indoor settings give each palace its own individually majestic flair, and the exquisite lighting of the exterior scenes, particularly those set in a moss-covered forest, endows the images with a painterly, otherworldly quality, conjuring a pitch-perfect aura of magic and reverie.”
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
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