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 platforms. 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, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
Adaptation (Spike Jonze)
It’s almost depressing to rewatch Adaptation in 2016, because it’s a reminder of how strong an actor Nicolas Cage is when he actually invests himself in good projects. It was soon after this that his career went off the rails, but he’s remarkably impressive here, playing the dual roles of Charlie Kaufman and his fictional twin brother, Donald. As much a mind-fuck as any other Kaufman screenplay, Adaptation blurs the lines between the real and the surreal, being partially an adaptation of Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief and, ultimately, more a story of adapting The Orchid Thief. Spike Jonze perfectly understands Kaufman’s comic rhythms, and Cage captures the scribe’s quirky mannerisms better than most actors could. The first time I saw Adaptation, I was turned off because I could not make heads or tails of it. In the years since, I have seen it countless times, and consider it to be one of the best comedies of the last couple of decades in general. – John U.
Where to Stream: HBO GO
Alien: Covenant (Ridley Scott)
The numerous financial forces that conspired to put Alien: Covenant on thousands and thousands of screens the world over have ensured that their investment will be sold, from the title on down, with more clarity and promise than its predecessor. Whereas 2012’s Prometheus was able to get by plenty well through mysterious marketing, a very rare is-it-or-is-it-not play with decades-old iconography, Covenant is being sold, in posters and trailers and TV spots, as everything you’d expect and just about nothing that would really raise any eyebrow. Except, of course, why the nearly octogenarian Ridley Scott, after having the opportunity to go balls-out weird with his flawed, sometimes majestic sci-fi epic, would commit such time and energy to what is, at first glance, clearly a retread. – Nick N. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Brave New Jersey (Jody Lambert)
Welcome to Lullaby, NJ, population 506, the fictional town at the center of Jody Lambert’s delightful comedy Brave New Jersey “where strangers are friends and no one is a stranger.” Home of the Rotolactor, a robotic milking machine, the central New Jersey town is only a few hours from Grover’s Mills, the “epicenter” of the great October 1938 martian invasion chronicled in Orson Welles’ legendary War of the Worlds broadcast. Depicting this evening of misconstrued alien invasion, Lambert’s comedy is far more modest affair than the Tom Cruise film as Lullaby comes together for the biggest night in its history. – John F. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Cloud Atlas and The Matrix Trilogy (Tom Tykwer, Lana and Lilly Wachowski)
Even a cursory glance at the book’s description will offer a good indication of how difficult a task it would be to adapt David Mitchell‘s Cloud Atlas. Consisting of six nested stories that unfurl across a span of thousands of years with a top-notch ensemble cast each playing several different roles, it’s a story blending mystery, comedy, sci-fi, and action filmmaking into one towering tale. Directed by Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski, and Lilly Wachowski, it’s a project that sounds as if it should be the basis for a Jowdorowsky’s Dune-like documentary about a failure to attain funding. Thankfully, Cloud Atlas was made into a rip-roaring adventure story of the highest caliber, keeping us thrilled and engaged with each plot strand, no matter how bizarre. Tykwer and the Wachowskis may be painting with broad strokes, but they’re immaculately placed, enveloping their audience in the sweeping scope of this grand tale. Also now streaming is the complete The Matrix trilogy. – Tony H.
Where to Stream: Netflix
Dark Night (Tim Sutton)
In many ways, writer-director Tim Sutton‘s third feature, Dark Night, exists in the same world as his first two films, Pavilion and Memphis. As we follow a collection of young men and women drifting through a long day in the American suburbs, many of the themes from his earlier work shine through — boredom as punctuated by anger, lust, and artistic ambition, to name a few. Where the day will end we already know, thanks to the film’s blunt title, a not-so-subtle reference to the 2012 shooting at a showing of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado. – Dan M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
The Event (Sergei Loznitsa)
If the films competing for the Gold Lion so far this year have taken an abstract, decorative or glamorized view of the real world, the ones being shown in the out of competition slots seem determined to show us reality. Perhaps the most serious of these movies is Sobytie (The Event). It’s the work of Sergei Loznitsa, a Ukrainian director with sober things to say about Russia as it is today. Working exclusively with archive footage from Leningrad’s Palace Square, Loznitsa takes a reflective look at the attempted 1991 August Putsch — and the public’s response to it — and offers a eulogy of sorts for a different time. – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream: MUBI (free for 30 days)
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (Peter Yates)
One of the sure-to-be-divisive provocations of Killing Them Softly is the aggression with which it departs from George V. Higgins’ source material, Cogan’s Trade, but for a more straight-arrow cinematic interpretation of the author’s singular literary punch, there’s no better place to turn than this drama. Yates is far from timid in giving Higgins’ novel a cinematic spin — there are a couple of ingeniously detailed bank-heist sequences that heavily foreshadow Ben Affleck’s The Town — but he remains steadfastly focused on the absorbing, faithful wordiness of Paul Monash’s script, which sucks you into the melancholy that underlies these gripping conversations. Most of these guys — wonderfully portrayed by across-the-board character actors — are bum-hoods just trying to make a living, much different from the criminals that tend to get screen treatment these days. And, most surprising of all, Robert Mitchum’s dog-tired, sad-sack embodiment of the title character makes you think that this performance ought to be remembered right alongside his legendarily, terrifying work in Night of the Hunter. – Danny K.
Where to Stream: FilmStruck
Shin Godzilla (Hideaki Anno & Shinji Higuchi)
Neon Genesis Evangelion and its feature follow-up, The End of Evangelion, stand as two of my best discoveries made last year, so I might have just been particularly primed for mastermind Hideaki Anno‘s Shin Godzilla, directed in conjunction with key collaborator Shinji Higuchi. But qualifiers run the risk of diluting this picture’s shocking effect: a Godzilla movie that is genuinely frightening in its monster’s destruction and humans’ authentic-seeming incompetence, all the more so because both areas find Anno and Higuchi working with such precision and assuredness in their staging. I found myself more exhausted by Shin Godzilla than any entry on this list, and only all the more grateful for the properly pulverizing effect. – Nick N.
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes
Slack Bay (Bruno Dumont)
Why You Should See It: Following his epic drama Li’l Quinquin — which he is currently prepping a sequel to — director Bruno Dumont returned to Cannes last year with Slack Bay, a dark period comedy following an investigation into a series of mysterious disappearances on the beaches of northern France. Led by his Camille Claudel star Juliette Binoche, Fabrice Luchini, and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, our review from Cannes last year was mixed, but entering the world of Dumont is an experience to cherish.
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
The Wall (Doug Liman)
As directed by Doug Liman, The Wall works as a taut piece of modern American mythos, sprinkled with hefty helpings of genre and jingoism. Set in 2007 at the “end” of the Iraq War, a duo of American soldiers (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and John Cena) get pinned down by an infamous Iraqi sniper whose legend is outweighed only by his accuracy and purported kill count. – Dan M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Also New to Streaming
Amazon
The Dinner (review)
Fun Mom Dinner (review)
How to Be a Latin Lover
It’s Not Dark Yet
The Student (review)
FilmStruck
Straight Time
Welcome to the Dollhouse
Bullshot
Cold Duck Soup
Checking Out
Five Corners
The Raggedy Rawney
Water
Putney Swope and Chafed Elbows
These Boots and Mystery Train
MUBI (free 30-day trial)
The Testament of Dr. Cordelier
Death and Devil
Rhine River
Sweaty Betty
From Greece
Description of a Struggle
Netflix
The Founder (review)
Funny Games
Icarus (review)
Message from the King