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 (or bi-weekly, depending on the worthy selection), 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, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, and more. Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below, and shoot over suggestions to @TheFilmStage.
Best Worst Movie (Michael Stephenson; 2009)
In the world of cult films, few reach the level of surreal absurdity achieved by the 1990 disaster Troll 2. Directed and written by an Italian husband-wife team who barely spoke English, the unlicensed sequel was a terrible experience those involved would rather forget. Two decades after his first unfortunate onscreen gig, the film’s lead child actor Michael Paul Stephenson examines how works like Troll 2 become midnight movie phenomenons worshipped by throngs of adoring horror buffs. Aided by his former co-star George Hardy, a small town orthodontist in love with his newfound fame, the documentary takes them on a journey through the world of festivals and fandom as they seek to reunite the cast and creators behind what’s considered one of the worst films ever made. – Amanda W.
Where to Watch: Netflix Instant
The Birth of a Nation (D.W. Griffith; 1915)
Certainly the oldest film we’ve ever included on this feature, D.W. Griffith‘s historical saga is a towering achievement for silent cinema, despite its racist stereotypes. With Birth of a Nation, Griffith took filmmaking techniques to an unparalleled level, particularly with his use of cross-cutting across, seemingly a necessity in the epics of today. If you’ve taken any basic film history class, you’ve likely had to watch this one more than a number of times, but a remastered edition is now available to stream. – Jordan R
The Great Gatsby (Baz Luhrmann; 2013)
Baz Luhrmann’s spectacle-drunk adaptation of The Great Gatsby is exactly what its pedigree and trailers have suggested; a big hot mess that indulges its director’s penchant for lush, decadent imagery and grand romantic pronouncements. Whether you personally consider that a good thing or a bad thing may directly relate to what you think of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, and how willing you are to let Luhrmann take you on his visually tasty tour of the roaring twenties. As a Luhrmann movie, it’s all the usual giddy glitz with a dash of cinematic maturity. As a worthy distillation of Fitzgerald, it’s mostly, as Daisy Buchanan might say, “a beautiful little fool.” – Nathan B.
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, iTunes
Magic Magic (Sebastián Silva; 2013)
On the outside it may look like Cera is the leading man in Magic Magic, but Silva actually centers his story around Alicia (Juno Temple, in one of the indie darling’s best, most complex roles yet). Playing cousin to Sarah (Emily Browning), she joins the Sucker Punch actress on an adventure through Chile with her boyfriend and the peculiar Brink (Cera), a friend from America. Right off the bat, it’s clear that Alicia is not having a good time on the trip and as reality begins to shift, our perceptions of who is causing her chaotic state becomes less and less clear. Alongside Temple, Cera plays against type as an oblivious, obnoxious teenager and is able to keep us on guard when it comes to what he’ll do next. As the third act takes a wild turn, Magic Magic‘s atmospheric qualities in both surroundings and mental perception can effectively put one into a state of uneasiness and fear, but its faltering, monotonous build-up undercuts what could have been an infinitely more powerful finale. – Jordan R.
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, iTunes
Olympus Has Fallen (Antoine Fuqua; 2013)
Olympus Has Fallen is a TNT movie, but the best of its kind: one that knows exactly what it is. Director Antoine Fuqua seemingly tailored his heavy-duty actioner for that specific crowd. It hits every action beat in the book, and it hits those notes loudly and skillfully. The Training Day director knows that less sometime is more, unlike the bigger-is-better Emmerich with his recent White House Down. The film succeeds because of Fuqua’s efficient filmmaking and a power-house ensemble – all doing what they’re asked of — that elevates an already well-rounded, joyfully derivative, script. – Jack G.
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, iTunes
Pain & Gain (Michael Bay; 2013)
The journey took eighteen years and a number of huge-scale features — many bad ones, no less — but, finally and fully, Michael Bay has become self-aware. There are many who will, understandably so, take Pain & Gain as more of the same from one of American cinema’s most infamous living voices: gratuitous violence, bracing homophobia, the treatment of women that launches past objectification and into something far more dangerous, a sense of humor in tune with that of a 12-year-old, and a meatheaded view of incident, all of which dialed so high that any worthwhile critical discourse has been almost entirely cast off. Pain & Gain “has” all these things, yes, and it certainly embraces what that would be expected to entail; in another sense, the nature of their inclusion, the characters who partake, and the extent to which they’re carried finds these pieces doubling back into a self-reflexive, hugely satirical view packaged inside his most formally accomplished work to date. Somehow, Bay understands. – Nick N.
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, iTunes
To the Wonder (Terrence Malick; 2013)
For any who thought Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life was a divisive piece of cinema, you haven’t seen anything yet. Continuing to strip the very medium of film down to its barest essentials, form once again trumps narrative in his beautiful account of love through memory, To the Wonder. A glimpse into the joy, pain, sacrifice, and compromise of binding oneself to another body and soul, Malick shows us how complicated this concept of physical and emotional connection is. Told through the recollections of its characters, we see the fleeting moments and the decisions made that shaped their lives. It’s a journey through the human psyche, the power of jealousy, and the hope for a happily ever after only achieved when the bumps and bruises of failed relationships heal to make us stronger and less naïve to the infinite struggles lying before us. – Jared M.
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, iTunes
TV Junkie (Michael Cain and Matt Radecki; 2013)
You can’t get a more personal or intimate portrayal of addiction than through the videotaped diary entries of an addict. This is what Michael Cain and Matt Radecki have crafted out of over 3000 hours of footage filmed by former Inside Edition senior correspondent Rick Kirkman. An uncensored glimpse into depression, the cognizance of his own self-destruction, and the unforgivable actions of desperate man, TV Junkie shows the futility of coping until there is literally nothing left besides the next fix. An intriguing documentary sure to help educate and scare kids straight, the lack of artifice provides an authenticity that can be nothing but uncomfortable while also captivating. – Jared M.
Where to Watch: iTunes
What Maisie Knew (Scott McGehee, David Siegel; 2013)
Stories like What Maisie Knew are tough pills to swallow because of their authentic depiction of human selfishness. It’s easy to label the subject matter overwrought and hyperbolic due to the actions of its adults until we realize how prevalent such attitudes are in today’s society. With the safety of the titular grade-schooler’s world crumbling around her, we witness those morally and ethically responsible for her not being so while those who shouldn’t be burdened are. Amidst an ugly divorce between two monsters blinded by ego from understanding how important the concept of humility is when raising a child, Carroll Cartwright and Nancy Doyne’s script takes its audience through the ringer in large part because Maisie is too young to fully experience the pain. There really should be a test one needs to take in order to become a parent. – Jared M.
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, iTunes
What are you streaming this week?