Newish Viewing: Concussion, Hateful 8, and Reader Poll
Tuesday, March 29, 2016 at 8:30AM 
Here's what's new or newish for home viewing over the past two weeks for DVDs, BluRays, or Streaming. Now you can...
• see if the Pinkett-Smiths had any reason to be upset about the lack of Oscar interest in Concussion (hint: no)
• stab your eyes out while watching Daddy's Home
• find out if The Hateful Eight is Tarantino's worst (hint: yes)
• discover the stuff they left out of Pt 1 in order to make another billion with Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt 2
• watch Juliet Stevenson be Mother Teresa in The Letters
• endure yet another Paranormal Activity movie because they will never stop making those
• use Point Break (2015) discs for coasters because who needs a remake when Point Break (1991) is still such a knockout?!
READER'S CHOICE STREAMING
We kicked off the biweekly reader's choice series with Gattaca (1997) and Cruel Intentions (1999). Time for another on Wednesday April 6th only I'm forcing a move away from the 1990s this time via these options, all new to streaming.
Also New To Streaming
AMAZON PRIME: Amistad, Bananas, Batman, The Big Lebowski, The Dead Zone, Death Wish, Dr T & The Women, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Lars and the Real Girl, Men in Black II, Payback, The Peacemaker, Rescue Dawn, Ronin, You've Got Mail; NETFLIX: Best in Show, Boogie Nights, Chaplin, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, Cujo, Deep Impact, Explorers, Finders Keepers, The Holiday, The Hunting Ground, Looking for Richard, My Girl, Mystic River, The Next Best Thing, The Perfect Storm, The Phantom, The Promised Land, Rising Sun, The Running Man, Say It Isn't So, Shawshank Redemption, Scrooged, Shelter, Something's Gotta Give, Sunset Blvd, Under the Same Moon, V For Vendetta
DVD, Netflix, polls, reader requests, streaming
Reader Comments (22)
I voted for Crimes & Misdemeanors because a) I've never seen it and it might make me get off my butt and finally watch it, b) it's less discussed among Allen's films, c) most of the others are already spoken of plenty, and d) nobody's first experience with The Right Stuff should be on the small screen. I know we can't all expect to see it in a cinema (and on 70mm no less which is how I saw it), but if you've never seen it before I can't imagine it having quite the scope on the small screen as it does otherwise. Unless you have seen it already then, well, there's no problem.
I voted for The Right Stuff, which is a terrific movie, but it's a Hit me with your best shot material. ASTONISHING cinematography. I love Nykvist, but he didn't deserve that year.
Hateful 8 > Django. Apologies if this starts yet another Tarantino rankoff.
But anyway, I voted Princess Bride for no real reason.
I voted Crimes and MIsdemeanors - I watched it for the first time last year in a law school seminar on morality and the law in film, and I really loved it.
Also add me to the Hateful 8 > Django camp. It totally falls apart at the end but the stage play tension of the first half is excellent.
Hateful > Django x3.
I actually enjoyed it, though I'm not at all surprised that it's courted some very negative responses. Django was just a big old nothingburger.
Would have to watch H8-8 to make that assessment. And since I won't be on a long flight until July, nothing doing.
I voted for Bananas, arguably minor Allen from the Bronze Age but I'd be curious to read Nat's take on it.
Jonny - that sounds like an amazing course.
I voted for Crimes and Misdemeanors, though I love The Right Stuff, too.
Bananas! I haven't seen that in such a long time, but it is hilarious, and so 70's.
Suzanne - it was! definitely a nice change of pace from the more typically dry and text-heavy law school courses that filled the rest of my schedule. The lineup was excellent: Crimes and Misdemeanors, Do the Right Thing, The Tree of Life, The Battle for Algiers, Ida, A Separation, Antonia's Line, Secrets and Lies, Lone Star - and a few others that I can't remember right now.
Glenn -- i thought about THE RIGHT STUFF for Best Shot. It is beautiful but worried people wouldn't watch it due to the length. but maybe.
Film length is only an issue for boring movies.
Django is the worst Tarantino movie.
I voted for Gremlins despite preferring its sequel.
I voted for Crimes and Misdemeanors just over The Right Stuff.
I think it's his most morally complex drama that doesn't feel like such a Bergmen knockoff.
Gremlins is one of the only horror films I've ever seen that caused me not to sleep the rest of the night. One of my all time favorites. Funny, adorable, and terrifying in equal measure. It features some of the best practical effects in all of cinema with the animatronic mogwai and gremlins. That closing narration messed me up good for a long time. Also, one of my favorite Christmas movies, right up there with Christmas Evil and Tangerine.
I saw The Hateful Eight twice.
The first time was in 70mm in a sold out urban theatre, hot with body heat, where the raucous crowd guffawed at every violent act and swear word.
The second time was in a tiny theatre in the snowy mountains, where half the quiet audience of 20 people were First Nations. This time, it looked like a mournful elegy, similar in tone to The Iceman Cometh. No matter how hard good people like Minnie try to make positive places, violent idiots come along and ruin it.
A little bit of trivia about Bananas: it was partially filmed in Puerto Rico and one of the actors (Jacobo Morales as Esposito) was later on nominated for an Oscar, best foreign language film for "What Happened to Santiago".
I voted for Crimes and Misdemeanors too. But would have voted for Bananas otherwise. It's a hoot! Paul Outlaw, I call it major Allen, rather than minor.
cal roth: I agree about Nykvist - but my choice in 1983 would have been Gordon Willis for Zelig. The Right Stuff is beautifully done, but Zelig is on another level, I feel.
Having not much enjoyed The Hateful Eight the first time, I'm now, oddly, looking forward to seeing it again - for its three Oscar-nominated elements, I think: the gorgeous cinematography, Morricone's Oscar-winning music, and Jennifer Jason Leigh's performance. I do remember that I felt the film went on far too long, but it's the opposite of Django Unchained, in that whereas Django starts strongly and by the end is really quite dull, Hateful starts weakly (well, after the opening credits!) but gets better as it proceeds.
I voted for The Right Stuff over Crimes and Misdemeanours mainly because Nathaniel has an issue with long films in general and I worry that might mean he misses this one.
Arkaan -- i saw The Right Stuff years ago and loved it. :)
Okay, than Crimes and Misdemeanours (which is leading anyway, so it didn't need my vote).
Though really, what you should do, is assign the team a Woody Allen oscar month, where the team creates a full slate of nominees but only from Woody Allen film and write about The Right Stuff now.
Pedro, cool bit of trivia! Have you seen that foreign film nominee?
Also out on Blu-Ray though doesn't contain any extras :(, the European cut of Michael Cimino's The Sicilian. Flawed film but certainly one of the most engaging and gripping films of the 1980s as well as being very underrated despite its flaws.
Aarkan: Yes, I saw it a long time ago. I liked it at the time but do not know how it holds up.
Under The Same Moon is available on Netflix! Don't miss a legitimately jaw-dropping performance by Kate Del Castillo!