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.
A Walk Among the Tombstones (Scott Frank)
Indicated by the proliferation of his action-oriented films in the last half-decade, simply uttering the name Liam Neeson spurs the specific notion of a certain sort of slick, B-movie thriller. Considering the box-office he can bring in, it’s no surprise that even with the loosest connection to a Taken-esque plot, his features in the genre are marketed as bullet-riddled blow-outs. While his latest film, A Walk Among the Tombstones, may contain impassioned phone calls, kidnappings, and even open with all-out warfare, it is distinctly of its own world: a brooding, sharp and skillfully crafted, character-focused detective story. – Nathan B. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Beyond the Hills (Cristian Mungiu)
It took Cristian Mungiu over five years to release a feature-length follow-up to his Palme d’Or winning masterpiece, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. That film, along with The Death of Mr. Lazerescu before it, launched the Romanian New Wave to international acclaim and recognition, and although the movement is not quite as overtly political as it once was, Beyond the Hills is evidence that social responsibility is still among the top Mungiu’s list of priorities, but the intelligence and emotions of the characters are just as prevalent. Beyond the Hills establishes itself as a more humanistic counterpoint to the concentrated and agenda-driven politics of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days; if that film is Mungiu’s Bicycle Thieves, then this one is his Umberto D. – Forrest C. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
Borgman (Alex van Warmerdam)
When placed amongst perhaps more “serious” work, it’s easy to see why Alex van Warmerdam‘s latest Dutch production, Borgman, might have got lost in the Cannes shuffle last year. Now arriving in theaters this month, there’s no reason one of the most entertaining and bizarre foreign exports of the year should be avoided. Following a mysterious, otherworldly figure invading a bourgeois family, much of the joy lies in the unexpected. Even if one doesn’t walk away with all the answers (and I don’t believe Warmerdam wants you to), you’ll be glad you took the journey. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: Amazon Prime
The Captive (Atom Egoyan)
Aggressively stupid when it’s not downright illogical, it is hard to imagine a film less deserving for a competition slot at this year’s Cannes Film Festival than Atom Egoyan’s The Captive, a subpar Law & Order episode at best. It’s not that Egoyan shows little flair for the film’s ominous locales in snowy Canada; it’s that it takes its thematic heft — addressing issues of pedophilia, vigilantism, victimization, and the Age of the Internet — as profoundly unique when they’re actually blurry ideas within a muddled plot. Egoyan has some cleverness going on — mostly when it’s not exactly clear what’s going on for a while — but it resolves itself to be resolutely generic and silly. – Peter L. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
The Dog (Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren)
The Dog is a lively, epic documentary biography of John Wojtowicz, an anti-hero of sorts in New York’s gay rights movement. A later episode in his life would be immortalized in Sidney Lumet’s 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon and while that remains a masterpiece, The Dog, shot with Wojtowicz from 2002 till his death in 2006 is a complete biography, going beyond Lumet’s film and Pierre Huyghe’s 1999 installation The Third Memory. That project featured, like The Dog, a direct address by Wojitowicz walking us through the details that Hollywood, well, made more “Hollywood” in Dog Day. – John F. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon Prime
The Equalizer (Antoine Fuqua)
It doesn’t really matter whether or not you recall the old CBS TV show on which Antoine Fuqua’s The Equalizer is based, because there’s very little similarity outside of the title and a tough-as-nails hero who will bust heads standing up for the downtrodden ‘little guy.’ In truth, this latest entry in the Denzel Washington grizzled-warrior sweepstakes still feels like reheated leftovers, drawing less from the Ed Woodward-starring series and more from every recent action endeavor released in the last ten-to-fifteen years. In a surprisingly silly turn, the finale resembles a twisted, adult oriented version of Home Alone, as Washington faces off with an army of Russian mobsters in the Home Depot-style DIY store where he works. – Nathan B. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Goodbye to All That (Angus MacLachlan)
Goodbye to All That initially provides us with little context, launching directly into what on the outside seems to be a functional loving marriage between Otto (Paul Schneider) and Annie (Melanie Lynskey), but soon breaks up abruptly before the end of the first act. Following an off-road accident in which Otto’s pal Freddie (Michael Chernus) guns it too fast down hill with Otto and daughter Eddie (Audrey Scott) riding shotgun, Otto’s leg — and soon his heart — will be broken. With Annie employing her “therapist” Joan (played by Celia Weston) to deliver the news of the divorce, Otto moves out on his own, looking for a house with a big back yard in attempt to be “supper dad” to Eddie. – John F. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
The Guest (Adam Wingard)
How blue can human eyes get? The question is answered succinctly in Adam Wingard‘s The Guest, a comfortably diverting riff on most all of the action/thriller elements from the ’80s that made performers like Kurt Russell bigger than life. The Guest opens with a knock on the door. The woman answering the door is Laura (Sheila Kelley), the mother of Caleb, who was killed in Afghanistan. The man at the door is David (Dan Stevens), a too-handsome-to-be-real veteran with a message to deliver to Caleb’s family. Overwhelmed with gratitude by David’s act, Laura invites him into her home and makes him feel like part of the family, which also includes her husband Spencer (Leland Orser), daughter Anna (Maika Monroe) and young son Luke (Brendan Meyer). Before long, David is the man of the house, solving any and all problems with a devil-may-care smile and some extremely violent, extremely entertaining fighting techniques. – Dan M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
In Your Eyes (Brin Hill)
The ubiquity of cell phones and the internet have made long-distance relationships, once an exercise in patience and delayed gratification, into something that seems no different than any other relationship. Most of our communication is done remotely, even with people who live down the street. However, ease of communication doesn’t guarantee a depth of connection, and in truth the sharing of greater amounts of details through video and audio and photographic correspondence makes it even easier for cracks and faults to appear in the flawless facades that we construct to impress those we love. Much of what makes In Your Eyes — the newest film written by Joss Whedon and directed by Brin Hill — work is the way in which the growing romance of the two protagonists reflects this thoroughly modern paradigm of romance. – Brian R. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
Loitering with Intent (Adam Rapp)
In the first moments of Loitering with Intent we learn that Dominic (Michael Godere) and Raphael (Ivan Martin) are struggling actor-writer types, working at a New York City bar to survive and grasping at any straws to gain footing in a world they are clearly infatuated with. A friend in the industry soon reveals the opportunity that $300,000 might be made available to shoot their noir screenplay, from a producer looking to earn some tax credits. The only problem is that they actually haven’t written a page, let alone a single character, so the pair jettison off to upstate New York (seemingly the only available location for an indie of this ilk) in an attempt to conquer the task in the provided 10-day time limit. – Jordan R. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Men, Women, and Children (Jason Reitman)
We are the pale blue dot of Earth? No. We’re the intermittently blinking light on the end of an out-of-touch parent’s device for transparently spying on the electronic path of a daughter she should be proud of for being smart, compassionate, and unlike the messed up teens populating the local high school. Our world is different from what it was when Carl Sagan filled the Voyager spacecraft with records of music, different languages, and the call of whales. Now in a post-9/11 America we must fear strangers, friends, peers, and even family members from causing us the type of excruciating pain we used to reserve for the stuff of nightmare. We have begun to get scared of how small the landscape of life has become and in turn have forgotten just how inconsequential we are to the grand scheme. To your husband, wife, child, confidant: we are everything. That doesn’t mean we aren’t allowed to sometimes fall. This is a good sentiment to have when walking into Jason Reitman‘s Men, Women & Children because it is a definite valley in a career I have effusively praised. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Also New to Streaming
Netflix
Chinese Puzzle
Nick Offerman: American Ham
Ragnarok
Timeline
What are you streaming this weekend?