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, and shoot over suggestions to @TheFilmStage
The Double (Richard Ayoade)
Comically dry like director Richard Ayoade‘s debut, Submarine, his sophomore effort takes more than a few steps towards an even more arid realm of complete existentialist surrealism. As adapted by the helmer and Avi Korine, The Double brings Fyodor Dostoyevsky‘s novella to the big screen with a surefire confidence in its visual form and an eccentric comedy that should go a long way towards securing the IT Crowd star as a permanent, unique voice in contemporary cinema. There is a definite stylistic kinship to his first film, pairing it well with this one’s descent into a psychological conflict of identity: every waking second of Simon James’ (Jesse Eisenberg) entire existence shatters with the introduction of a confidently superior doppelgänger named James Simon. – Jared M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
Life After Beth (Jeff Baena)
In 2013 we got a romance-tinged take on the zombie genre with Warm Bodies and this year brings a smaller-scale, independent effort also attempting to explore the horrors of love with Life After Beth. Following our title character (Aubrey Plaza) who unexpectedly dies, her boyfriend Zach (Dane DeHaan) is considerably freaked out when he learns that she has risen from the dead. While her condition is slowly revealed, a few amusing jokes on the zombie myth are crafted, but unfortunately it’s an undercooked, blandly directed film that doesn’t use its premise to its full potential. – Jordan R. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Obvious Child (Gillian Robespierre)
Obvious Child does well in tackling big issues that all women face without a wink or a shrug. And while writer/director Gillian Robespierre offers some political views throughout, she thankfully avoids the soapbox. Small in stature but big in laughs, this film announces comedian leading lady Jenny Slate, a talent we will hopefully see much more of in the near future. – Dan M. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
X-Men: Days of Future Past (Bryan Singer)
The world that opens X-Men: Days of Future Past is a dismal, barren wasteland, stacked tall with the bones and corpses of extinguished super-beings while chameleon-like robotic warriors steal their impressive powers. This is the future segment of Bryan Singer’s new X-Men adventure, and if you’ve achieved comic-book movie fatigue, as I have, it’s hard not to see it as a kind of metaphor for the current blockbuster landscape. Into this, come Dr. Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellan), those patriarchal mutant warhorses, who plan to send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back to the 1970’s via the powers of Kitty Pride (Ellen Page) to stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing Dr. Boliver Trask (Peter Dinklage), which will start a chain reaction unleashing an army of Sentinels equipped with the blue-skinned shape-shifter’s abilities. – Nathan B. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
White Bird in a Blizzard (Gregg Araki)
During White Bird in a Blizzard, our lead Kat Connors (Shailene Woodley), is browsing records with a friend (Gabourey Sidibe) and a poster for David Lynch‘s debut Eraserhead lines the wall. A clear nod to the auteur that director Gregg Araki (Mysterious Skin, Kaboom) is inspired by, his latest feature could have used a bit more of that brand of strange in this surprisingly standard, but engaging coming-of-age story. – Jordan R. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Also New to Streaming
Amazon
Netflix
The Firm
Grigris
Vic + Flo Saw a Bear
What are you streaming this weekend?