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 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
About Alex (Jesse Zwick)
I feel a bit like François Truffaut diagnosing “A Certain Tendency of French Cinema,” but after In Our Nature, The Big Ask, Lullaby, and now Jesse Zwick’s About Alex, we must acknowledge a certain tendency now made by filmmakers of a certain age with access to resources like vacation homes and emerging B-list talent. They’ve chosen to make everyday films about everyday people — or, as I call them, middle-class white kid problems. This makes me nostalgic for the 90′s when indie films were daring, or at least bi-curious. – John F. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Marc Webb)
Despite being flat, faceless, and altogether perfunctory, one can almost understand The Amazing Spider-Man‘s commitment to set up this superhero universe once again, recounting another origin story and all the tedious components that come with it. When it comes to its follow-up, however, the filmmakers have unlimited potential, free to embark on their own path, exploring whatever they’d like with seemingly little restraints. Despite a few effective scenes on both the action and character side, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 unfortunately fails to captivate with both unremarkable setpieces and a middling narrative, weighed down by its obligations to set up the future of the franchise. – Jordan R. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Coherence (James Ward Byrkit)
If you’ve ever dabbled in theoretical physics–or watched The Big Bang Theory–you’ve probably heard of Schrödinger’s Cat. The cat that’s simultaneously dead and alive while unseen within a closed box also housing a vial of poison? Two realities co-existing with the only certainty being that both are possible until one snaps into place as truth when the flaps are unfolded to reveal an opaque interior newly transparent? Its wild paradox can either baffle you or help in comprehending quantum physics depending how deep down the rabbit hole you’re willing to go; expanding the number of outcomes infinitely only makes it wilder. What if the box is a house, the cat a dinner party with both good and bad people? Predictable and unpredictable people? Sane and insane? Hungry and full? This is writer/director James Ward Byrkit‘s Coherence. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Enemy (Denis Villeneuve)
When one reads a synopsis for the late Nobel Prize-winning author José Saramago’s The Doubleyou’ll find a very straightforward tale of doppelgangers. There’s the alpha, the pushover, and the innocent victims caught between; the insanity of seeing an exact replica in the flesh paired with the infinite possibilities such a discovery could mean. One is married; one has a girlfriend. The latter injects himself into the former’s world through curiosity, the first into the second’s purely for unfounded revenge and sexual desire. They exist together without looking deeper into what they are, pushing forward along a path of self-destruction you can see coming a mile away, and yet still find yourself captivated through the actions of those left from the wreckage. Denis Villeneuve’s Enemy (adapted by Javier Gullón) looks to amplify it further. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon Prime
A Hard Day’s Night (Richard Lester)
Just as the majority of contemporary music will inevitably connect back to The Beatles in one way or another, so, too, does many a current film find at least some influence in A Hard Day’s Night, the Fab Four’s cinematic debut and, since its 1964 release, one of Richard Lester‘s greatest achievements. (As it so happens, one of the only titles in his oeuvre that could be said to supersede it would be their next collaboration, Help!) Though perhaps now known more by reputation than actual content, it still stands as many things: a terrific comedy, a rollicking musical piece (if not actually a “musical”), and deceptively simple document of the social order which its central figures quietly undermined through no more than 80 minutes of gallivanting and performing. – Nick N.
Where to Stream: Hulu+
Locke (Steven Knight)
In Steven Knight’s Locke the whole wide world is reduced to the nighttime interiors of Tom Hardy’s car. For most films, this kind of gimmicky paring-down would signal a limited, specialized experience, an artificial hurdle the drama could never overcome. I’ve seen Colin Farrell trapped in a phone booth, Stephen Dorff locked in a trunk and Ryan Reynolds buried under the dirt in a coffin, but Locke ends up being more riveting and suspenseful than all of them. – Nathan B. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Need for Speed (Scott Waugh)
I suspect you’re going to hear quite a bit about the irresponsible and reckless depictions of street racing in Scott Waugh’s Need for Speed once the movie opens. Criticisms directly related to the glorification of a dangerous and illegal form of car racing weren’t prominent for the likes of Fast and the Furious and its sequels, but in the wake of Furious star Paul Walker’s death, it isn’t surprising that the cultural climate has changed. Despite this, there’s a very different reason Need for Speed will end up holding the punching bag; it’s such an empty, brainless action exercise that there’s nothing to distract from the fact the movie seems to exist expressly for the purpose of amping up teens for their careless drive back from the theater. – Nathan B. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Nymphomaniac (Lars von Trier)
Once the dust has settled, the posturing ceased, and both parts made readily available, those who appreciated Nymphomaniac on an initial go-round can more fully see it as one of Lars von Trier’s great achievements. A breezy four hours might feel to contain the world entire — from Bach to Bond to parallel parking to… well — but it never strays from the writer-director’s well-worn tortured-woman narratives, proving how much ecstasy he can truly harness when at the peak of his powers. It feels like it’s been too long since we received something truly essential from his end — this is at least the man’s best film since Dogville, though I, for comparison’s sake, might be inclined to go back as far as Breaking the Waves — but, no matter where he goes next, there will always be Joe’s sexual odyssey. And Rammstein. – Nick N. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
Rich Hill (Tracy Droz Tragos and Andrew Droz Palermo)
This year we were treated to a handful of great documentaries at Sundance Film Festival, and the one that won the hearts of the jury was Rich Hill, which picked up the U. S. Grand Jury Prize. Coming from Tracy Droz Tragos and Andrew Droz Palermo, the film centers on three teenagers struggling with life in Rich Hill, Missouri, and now the film is available on demand, along with a limited release. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
War Story (Mark Johnson)
Although its title may be generic, War Story provides a refreshingly specific, restrained story of loss and recovery in the boundaries of battle. Following Lee (Catherine Keener), an American photojournalist living in Sicily who is dealing with the aftermath of an undisclosed traumatic event, not many answers are doled out upfront. Considering the reason for Lee’s current, seemingly dire situation isn’t revealed until the last act of the film, one has to give credit to director Mark Johnson for his steady approach, even if oversteps its welcome. – Jordan R. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
What are you streaming this weekend?