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.
The Book of Life (Jorge R. Gutierrez)
When Guillermo Del Toro produces an animated film about traveling into the afterlife and then releases it in time for Halloween, one would be right to expect some family-friendly creepiness. The big surprise, then, is that Del Toro, who cornered the market on nightmares with Pan’s Labyrinth’s Pale Man, has hitched his cart to The Book of Life, a colorful, joyous and buoyant lark that draws more from Mexican tradition and Greek myth than ghoulish Burton-esque kitsch. – Nathan B. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Closed Curtain (Jafar Panahi)
Jafar Panahi, working with co-star Kambuzia Partovi, crafts a spiritual sequel to 2012’s This Is Not a Film that’s deeper, more mysterious, and perhaps even grimmer. What’s initially a close-quarter story of personal redemption grows into a two-headed beast: a documentary on the film you’re seeing and narrative concerning the documentation of said film. But it isn’t traveling down enough rabbit holes so as to eventually be incomprehensible — at least not when the emotional logic guiding one shot to the next is so crystal clear. 2014 offers no better option for fans of meta-textual and political cinema alike. – Nick N.
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
The Congress (Ari Folman)
Trippy, bizarre, surreal and hallucinatory are all excellent adjectives with which to describe Ari Folman‘s The Congress. Adapted from a novel by legendary sci-fi author Stanislaw Lem (Solaris), the film is a hybrid of live-action and mind-bending psychedelic animation; as this is the filmmaker’s follow-up to Waltz with Bashir, those familiar with that title know that Folman is far from a traditional filmmaker. Delightfully surreal and spectacular in its scope, The Congress is a strong testament to the originality and talent behind Folman’s vision of where cinema can take us in the years to come. – Raffi A. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon Prime
Frank (Lenny Abrahamson)
There’s no definitive path on the unwieldy journey that is the creative process. We’ve seen countless films tackle various approaches in an attempt to find an answer, but it’s never quite been done in the vein of Lenny Abrahamson‘s peculiar, occasionally aimless, and ultimately resonant Frank. While the initial draw is perhaps Michael Fassbender in the role of our strange title character, loosely based on the late Chris Sievey, our focal point is that of Jon (Domnhall Gleeson), whom we meet as an aspiring musician who can’t seem to conjure any worthwhile lyrics. – Jordan R. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (Kenneth Branagh)
The closer Kenneth Branagh’s Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit gets to its routine “chase the bomb” conclusion, the less interesting it becomes. The good news here, of course, is that it ends up being interesting at all, and not just one more cold, limp exercise in rebooting a franchise. In the pantheon of espionage films, it’s somewhere in the middle—better than many of the lackluster Bond and Bourne movies and nosing ahead of 2002’s The Sum of All Fears. Anyone bracing themselves for a January bomb can sigh in relief; Tom Clancy’s Ryan is alive and well here, despite being a bit younger and more inexperienced than previous iterations. – Nathan B. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix, Amazon Prime
Jimi: All is By My Side (John Ridley)
On paper, a biopic of Jimi Hendrix without the rights to his music seems like a complete waste of time. Even with John Ridley‘s All Is by My Side detailing the guitarist’s two years prior to the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, the thought of not using an iconic track for the credits is a daunting one to overcome. Thankfully, with a bit of ingenious sound design and multiple sensory collages of images and music, we’re able to experience the tale as though inside Hendrix’s one-of-a-kind mind. It’s an attempt to bring a line from the script—”I want them to see the music like I do”—to life, putting us in his shoes rather than merely positioning us on the outside looking in like so many other biographies are love to do. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Laggies (Lynn Shelton)
Lynn Shelton‘s latest, Laggies, follows twenty-something Megan (Keira Knightley) and her struggle to take the next steps in her life. Those steps include getting a new job committing to her long-time boyfriend Craig (Mark Webber), as well as finding a new set of friends, from whom she’s recent grown apart. At the wedding of her close friend (Ellie Kemper), she gets proposed to by Craig and sees her father (Jeff Garlin) cheat on his wife, which causes her to storm off. After arriving at a local grocery store, she’s greeted by Annika (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her posse of teenage friends, who nominate Megan to purchase them alcohol. Having had the favor done for her at the same age, she pays it back and then decides to hang out with them deep into the night, forgoing her wedding responsibilities as a bridesmaid. – Jordan R. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Love is Strange (Ira Sachs)
A timely New York story for any orientation, Love is Strange is Ira Sachs’ most accessible film, until its frustrating ending. Sachs, despite edging towards the mainstream, even pushing towards sitcom territory, pulls back and provides us, as usual, with no simple answer for its conclusion. If he had been working on this film within the studio system, an executive or test audience would have made him choose. Here, leaving the fate of a supporting character up in the air can either be a very smart, respectful decision or fodder for frustration. – John F. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes
Lucy (Luc Besson)
Luc Besson’s Lucy may be the most daft and blissfully idiotic science-fiction movie you see this year. That, of course, shouldn’t prevent you from seeing it, because the truth is that this odd hodge-podge of the cerebral and sensational is one of the summer’s most purely entertaining experiences. There’s not a bit of the ridiculous science that makes any real-world sense, but Scarlett Johannson, playing the titular drug mule who gets a mental upgrade via synthetic CPH4, forms a demented partnership with Besson’s visceral styling to deliver a B-movie delirium the film’s trailers barely hint at. As much fun as breathlessly devouring a dime-store pulp novel on a lazy Sunday afternoon, Lucy is a delightfully eccentric addition to the crazy French director’s filmography. – Nathan B. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Starred Up (David Mackenzie)
In an opening sequence, as he’s arriving to adult prison, Eric (Jack O’Connell) is given a thorough inspection in a moment that clues us in to the kind of movie Starred Up will be: a no-holds barred, explicit exploration of prison culture. Directed by David Mackenzie (Mister Foe, Perfect Sense), Starred Up is a more extreme and, often, more exciting exploration of themes MacKenzie has previously tackled. Eric, a violent drifter of sorts, grows up without a proper parent, learning to fend for himself — and, in a later scene, we learn the exact consequences of this and how it got him to this present state. Eric, for the first time in his adult life, meets his father, Neville (Ben Mendelsohn), a hardened criminal who encourages his son to play the game. A product of the “system,” he wants Eric to simply go along, keep his head down, and get out. Needless to say, it’s an irritation when his son starts making connections and plans. – John F. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon Prime
Also New to Streaming
Amazon
No Good Deed
Predestination
Preservation
Netflix
The Apartment
Big Fish
Brick Mansions
Copenhagen
Chinatown
Fantasia
Get Shorty
Marathon Man
Marty
Patriot Games
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure
RoboCop
The Running Man
Undertow
What are you streaming this weekend?