With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Greenland (Ric Roman Waugh)
At first glance, Ric Roman Waugh’s Greenland appears to be a spiritual sequel to Geostorm. Also starring Gerard Butler, that 2017 film is a silly, diverting disaster-action epic. Greenland is decidedly more nuanced, cerebral, and, frankly, memorable. Butler plays John Garrity, a structural engineer determined to mend his fractured marriage. As he tries to make good with his wife Allison (Morena Baccarin) ahead of a neighborhood barbecue, reports of incoming debris from a nearby comet get more serious. John, unexpectedly, gets a “Presidential Alert” on his phone, informing him, his wife, and their son Nathan (Roger Dale Floyd) have been selected for government-sponsored shelter. It appears the important people know how bad this comet is going to be. – Dan M. (full review)
Where to Stream: HBO Max
In the Earth (Ben Wheatley)
Creating a new film is not the worst way to spend some forced COVID-19 downtime. It is, however, no excuse for making one as tiresome and disappointing as In the Earth. Its sledgehammer allusions to 2020-21 and obviously of-the-moment shooting conditions (from the Deadline piece: “Making a movie outside, in the woods over 15 days, seemed a safe bet”) are distracting. So, too, is Wheatley’s insistence on diving head-first into nonsensical plotting and characterizations. There are no new insights into pandemic mania, and despite strong performances from four well-cast actors, some sharp humor, and a few go-for-broke moments that engage, the majority of In the Earth is an utter slog. – Christopher S. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
The Killing of Two Lovers (Robert Machoian)
Opening with a jarring, heart-stopping scene in which David (Clayne Crawford) points a gun at his sleeping wife, Robert Machoian’s The Killing of Two Lovers is a riveting and restrained autopsy of a marriage in free fall. David and Nikki (Sepideh Moafi) have already separated, with David returning to his parent’s home. Their teenage daughter Jessica (Avery Pizzuto) takes it out on both parents, telling them to be the adults and work it out. The problem with that notion is that David and Nikki never had the chance to grow. Having Jessica young and four boys immediately afterward, they’ve stayed in the same small Utah town and moved only a few doors away from David’s childhood home. – John F. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Little Fish (Chad Hartigan)
Following his breakout film, the affecting character study This is Martin Bonner, and his follow-up, the vibrant fish out of water tale Morris In America, director Chad Hartigan had a prescient, ambitious vision for his next feature. Set during a global pandemic in which a growing portion of the population is affiliated with memory loss, Little Fish tenderly follows the relationship between a couple (Olivia Cooke and Jack O’Connell) as they must face this scary new world and the personal strife they are forced to reckon with. As Hartigan elegantly jumps between the past and the present to show all facets of the bond at the film’s center, he contends with the universal fear of having those closest to you drift away. – Jordan R. (full review)
Where to Stream: Hulu
Oxygen (Alexandre Aja)
Single-location films can be considered something of a game between the creators and audience—beyond the way any bit of narrative could be considered a game between storyteller and audience. Walking into a movie knowing it takes place in one location, especially if that location is the size of a coffin-like cryogenics pod, one almost begins to make a list of questions for the director in their head. How will you justify any scenes that take place outside of the space? How will you build character or introduce new people into the story? How are you going to keep this interesting? If the writer and director and everyone else involved haven’t properly thought these questions through, the audience is out of luck. Happily, that is not the case with Oxygen, the new single-location science fiction mystery thriller from director Alexandre Aja (Crawl, The Hills Have Eyes). – Brian R. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
RK/RKAY (Rajat Kapoor)
The latest movie from prolific Indian filmmaker Rajat Kapoor is a slyly entertaining meta film about a director (played by Kapoor himself) making a film in which the lead (also played by Kapoor, of course) escapes the movie itself after shooting concluded. Told with a light, Purple Rose of Cairo-esque touch, RK/RKAY has a grounded yet whimsical tone as Kapoor glosses over the realities of the admittedly absurd situation to focus on humorous interactions, all taken at face value. From exploring anxieties as a creator to one’s relationship with what they’ve produced to balancing family and work, Kapoor explores many themes with a gentle, amusing eye. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: Virtual Cinemas
Saint Maud (Rose Glass)
Is there such a thing as “A24 horror” now? I had that thought watching Rose Glass’ debut feature Saint Maud. It feels indebted to some of the distributor’s titles, namely First Reformed and The Witch in how it tackles faith, good, and evil. It’s interesting to see a film playing so much into the hand of what’s become trendy as counterprogramming to the overflow of Blumhouse thrill rides and the “Conjuring cinematic universe” (credit where it’s due: A24 hasn’t mastered elevated horror, although they’ve done a good job selling it). On this level, Glass’ film is a rousing success; after its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival A24 picked it up for distribution, their only acquisition at the fest. – C.J. P. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon Prime and Hulu
There Is No Evil (Mohammad Rasoulof)
Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof won Cannes’s Un Certain Regard award in 2017 with his bruising, brilliant drama A Man of Integrity, which explored how an oppressive regime crushes independent thought. On his return to his home nation, he was arrested, thrown in prison for a year, banned from leaving Iran, and forbidden from filmmaking for life. Not that it stopped him. Just three years later, he’s made a major work of recent Iranian cinema. Not since A Short Film About Killing has a filmmaker produced such a thrilling case against capital punishment, an enraging, enthralling, enduring testament to the oppressed. – Ed F. (full review)
Where to Stream: Kino Marquee
Those Who Wish Me Dead (Taylor Sheridan)
Reaffirming Angelina Jolie’s interest in efficient action storytelling, co-writer/director Taylor Sheridan’s Those Who Wish Me Dead, adapted from Michael Koryta’s 2014 novel, is a lean throwback to the type of muscular ’90s and early ’00s films that eschewed world-building and IP in favor of streamlined set-pieces. While the filmstill telegraphs the brand of gruff masculinity that made Sheridan your dad’s favorite screenwriter/showrunner, this time grafted onto Jolie’s hard-drinking smoke jumper Hannah, Those Who Wish Me Dead works mainly because it moves quickly and effectively. Distilling plot and character down to basic archetypes, Sheridan’s film is less concerned with the weighty thematic issues that sometimes bogged down his previous work, and is more than happy to showcase Jolie ridiculously contending with the compounding issue of simultaneously fighting assassins and a raging wildfire. – Christian G. (full review)
Where to Stream: HBO Max
The Underground Railroad (Barry Jenkins)
While we tend not to cover television on the site, an event as major as ten hours of new Barry Jenkins-directed material is well worth highlighting. His adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad has earned much acclaim already, with many noting it should not be binged even if Amazon is offering it up all at once. As we hope the conversation will last throughout the summer and beyond, we look forward to exploring the limited series over the next few months.
Where to Stream: Amazon Prime
Us Kids (Kim A. Snyder)
Emotionally affecting if somewhat unfocused at times, Kim A. Snyder’s US Kids is an often inspirational documentary capturing the energy and personalities behind the March for Our Lives and Vote For Our Lives movements that sprung out of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The film is most effective at chronicling the work and friendships of those in spotlight, including Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg, Cameron Kasky, and shooting survivor Sam Fuentes, all of which have become reluctant advocates in accelerating the conversation. – John F. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Wander Darkly (Tara Miele)
There is a wonderful idea that fuels Wander Darkly, written and directed by Tara Miele. How do we reckon with tragedy? What goes on in our head while we process a life-altering event? This Sundance premiere attempts to convey this visually, relying heavily on the actors on hand to carry the weight. Unfortunately, Miele’s reach exceeds her grasp in trying to examine these elements, resulting in a muddled thriller that gets confusing before it becomes obvious. – Dan M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Hulu
The Woman in the Window (Joe Wright)
Perhaps the most clever idea in this prestigious throwback to potboilers of yore, The Woman in the Window, is how it upends the bourgeois escapism of most thrillers. While following child psychologist Anna Fox (Amy Adams), who suffers from agoraphobia and keeps herself locked inside her home, we get to luxuriate in a spacious New York brownstone, only to have all the fun taken out via Anna’s lonely nights falling asleep in front of the television and wandering around dead, empty rooms. – Ethan V. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
Also New to Streaming
The Criterion Channel
Three Starring George Segal
The House Is Black
MUBI (free for 30 days)
Viva L’Italia!
A Man Called Ove
Letter From Paris
The Story of Sin
A Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji
Jerichow
Four Roads
VOD
Chaos Walking (review)
The Djinn (review)
The Man in the Hat