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.
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (Jonathan Levine; 2006)
In October of 2006, at a disastrous multiplex test screening in suburban New Jersey, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane left a mainstream audience shaken. The film had this misfortune of screening the day following a shooting that left six dead at an Amish school outside of Lancaster, PA and the audience apparently wasn’t in the mood for this brand of an intense horror. In the six years since, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane has become a heavily anticipated urban legend. I can report the film delivers what it sets out to and over half-a-decade later, I still remember it. (That that’s more than I can say for Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.) Director Jonathan Levine has since had a very diverse career including directing several notable comedies with The Wackness, 50/50 andWarm Bodies. With a hard edge including lots of blood and gore, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane is a stylish exercise, at times putting style above substance. The film has now finally arrived on VOD ahead of a theatrical release, so you will have time to get in the proper mindset for what the film delivers — and it delivers in a big way. – John F.
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, iTunes
The Bling Ring (Sofia Coppola; 2013)
Arriving after her most abstract work, Somewhere, Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring is a darkly comedic send-up of reality TV and the culture of Twitter (which creates the illusion you can be BFFs with Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan). Starring Emma Watson as the ringleader’s co-hort and Leslie Mann as her mom (who eggs them on with “vision boards”), The Bling Ring perfectly captures (to a literal extent, figuring in the late Harris Savides‘ gorgeous, final work) an American subculture gone too far. – John F.
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, iTunes
The Brass Teapot (Ramaa Mosley; 2012)
A few years ago a professor of mine once cautioned that when times get tough, young people are more likely to sell their soul for cash, allowing themselves to be exploited. The Brass Teapot is a film that mixes allegories so much it refuses to be read as one thing or another; perhaps we should just consider it on the grounds that its a dark comedy presented as a fable. John (Michael Angarano) is a telemarketer with a college degree in an office of GEDs, while Alice (Juno Temple) just received a BA in Art History and submits for management positions she’s not qualified for. They live in a small, economically-divided Indiana town (where everyone gets married it would seem, at some point during college) and struggle to pay the bills. Although The Brass Teapot is about human nature, greed, and ultimately faithfulness, a story about struggling and the willingness to engage in self-exploitation could be made with a good deal of fun and social commentary. But like the couples in the film, the film itself has a fear of commitment. – John F.
Where to Watch: Netflix Instant
The East (Zal Batmanglij; 2013)
Serving as an engaging antithesis to last year’s Sound of My Voice (a cryptic piece of filmmaking that left a myriad of questions unanswered), Zal Batmanglij’s second feature The East leaves little left to the imagination. That sort of straightforward approach, while coherent and sensical, consistently hinders the film from excelling into anything more than a well-crafted and cogent thriller (which, admittedly, we’re in short supply of these days). Immediately upon getting hired by a private intelligence firm, the young, highly-skilled, and determined Sarah Moss (Brit Marling) is hired to infiltrate an environmentally motivated anarchist group called “The East.” This reckless organization, led by Izzy (a cold and calculating Ellen Page) and Benji (a reserved and persuasive Alexander Skarsgard) serve a some sort of twisted public crusaders (hidden ones at that). – Sam F.
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, iTunes
Electrick Children (Rebecca Thomas; 2012)
Electrick Children, written and directed by a Mormon filmmaker, is an extraordinarily compelling feature film debut with a star-making performance by Julia Garner. The film is more a narrative of self-discovery than the religious parallel it defaults to in passages, including areas that are more vague than others, leading to hidden implications spoken only by the skaters. Perhaps this is the film’s largest barrier of entry, unlike other narratives where we can trust and potentially verify what we see. An immaculate conception requires a leap of faith, and this will not be the last leap of faith this narrative requires. – John F.
Where to Watch: Netflix Instant
Empire State (Dito Montiel; 2013)
Let’s get this out of the way first: Empire State is by no stretch of the imagination a good film. If the straight-to-DVD death knell — technically, the film played under the radar in one New York City this past week –wasn’t already an indication, Dito Montiel‘s latest crime drama comes on the heels of another failure, The Son of No One. Marking an odd blip in Dwayne Johnson‘s otherwise strong year (notably delivering a career-best performance in Pain & Gain), he only shows up for a few scenes here, as we focus the story of two friends (Liam Hemsworth and Michael Angarano) who plan a heist. It’s not that anything contained within is flat-out terrible, but from its style and script to overall execution, it all feels like a retread of a million other entries in the genre we’ve already seen. However, if you get some enjoyment out of seeing why exactly such a film was outright shelved, it’s worth a watch. – Jordan R.
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, iTunes
Iron Man 3 (Shane Black; 2013)
Phase Two of Marvel’s cinematic universe begins with the character that started their astronomically successful multi-narrative platform—Iron Man. And while a line of text following the always-assured post-credits sequence states that “Tony Stark will be back,” the question remains whether or not actor Robert Downey Jr. will be under the helmet. It’s therefore no surprise to see the studio looking to end this trilogy with a bit of arc closure just in case as the progression from a once billionaire playboy to the monogamous boyfriend slowly accepting the new title of “world hero” he’s become is a wide chasm to span. Following closely after the events of The Avengers where Stark nearly died falling back to Earth through a wormhole in space, Iron Man 3 gets the job done. – Jared M.
Where to Watch: iTunes
Now You See Me (Louis Leterrier; 2013)
The closer you look, the less you see. Is it surprising that a slick heist movie like Now You See Me is as dedicated to sleight of hand behind the camera as in front of it? Arriving at a brief but pivotal lull in the summer movie stampede, Louis Leterrier’s tale of street magicians turned subversive thieves has all the earmarks of a flashy illusion designed to dazzle the audience but dissolve like smoke once it’s over. Any magician worth their salt knows the key is distraction, and Now You See Me moves careful and critical viewers away from its structural flaws and crafty twists with a cast who’s having great fun with the premise. – Nathan B.
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, iTunes
The Purple Rose of Cairo (Woody Allen; 1985)
Considered by Woody Allen as one of his own greatest works, The Purple Rose of Cairo is a fantastical tale of romance and cinematic passion. Under other direction this could have been an overblown adventure, but instead, Allen injects the perfect amount of humanity, wit, and charm for one of his enrapturing masterpieces, following a movie star (Jeff Daniels) who leaves the screen and enters the life of a woman (Mia Farrow) in need of some escapism. – Jordan R.
Where to Watch: Netflix Instant
Saturday Night Fever (John Badham; 1977)
Deceived by decades of parodies and pop culture references, many post-baby boomers believe that director John Badham’s 1977 hit is a feel-good artifact of the disco era. That assumption couldn’t be more wrong. With a best-selling soundtrack from The Bee Gees, and John Travolta as its star, the film captured a lost generation in the story of a Brooklyn boy struggling to escape his dead end, working class life through dance. Beneath the soft-lit choreography are themes of familial tension, racism, and male chauvinism, which makes this provocative selection more aligned with Mean Streets than Xanadu. – Amanda W.
Where to Watch: Netflix Instant
Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley; 2013)
Sarah Polley’s third film as a director is many things, all of them brilliant. It is a moving study of an atypical (to say the least) father-daughter relationship, a detective story, a treatise on the power of family secrecy, and an audacious commentary on “non-fiction” cinema. But above all else, it is a wildly entertaining quasi-soap opera. Watching Polley interview her siblings, share old films and photographs, and, ultimately, discover where she came from, is one of the most insightful cinematic experiences in recent memory. There is a specific moment near the film’s end that leaves the viewer confused, breathless, and exhilarated. That’s the power of Sarah Polley, and Stories We Tell. – Christopher S.
Where to Watch: Amazon Video
There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson; 2007)
There’s really no excuse to not have Paul Thomas Anderson‘s 2007 drama on Blu-ray at this point, but if you are a late adopter, or simply too lazy to pop in that disc in your player, Netflix has your answer. As PTA toils away in the editing room on Inherent Vice, Netflix has gone and done us the favor of adding this Daniel Day-Lewis-led period drama to their streaming service. At the very least, it now comes with an easy recommendation for those who, somehow, haven’t seen it yet. – Jordan R.
Where to Watch: Netflix Instant
Tai Chi Hero (Stephen Fung; 2012)
Stephen Fung returns to the zany world of steam-punk martial arts fantasy he created in last year’s Tai Chi Zero , dropping some of the hyperactive pop references and upping the action ante along the way. If the original film felt like watching Kung-Fu Theater on cable while chugging a Red Bull and binging on Pixy Stix, then Tai Chi Hero’s first hour is the mellow sugar-rush aftermath, slowing down just enough to let us in on the story, which was rather scarce last go-round. The playful performances of the returning cast and some impressive battle scenes in the second half make this installment a reasonable improvement, even if it’s still unclear where all of this is headed for the third picture. – Nathan B.
Where to Watch: Netflix Instant
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: Netflix Instant
What are you streaming this week?