Streaming Roulette, April 2018

Can you believe it's April already! If only the weather here in NYC would commit to springtime (Sigh). A new month means new availabilty of streaming titles which means it's time for our streaming roulette. We spin (figuratively... it's really scrolling) and wherever the cursor lands we share that moment of the film. Do any of these screengrabs make you want to see the picture (or see it again)?

Drugstore Cowboy (1989) on Amazon Prime

Holy shit!

Holy shit is right. This is the first moment of a quadruple dissolve with a really strange comic tone. Gus Van Sant just can't help his inner cinema geek sometimes (See also Psycho, 1998). I don't remember this well (only saw it once) but was absolutely convinced at the time that Matt Dillon should have landed his first Oscar-nomination with ease. He had to make do with that year's Best Actor prize at the Independent Spirit Awards and wait another 17 years for the Oscar nomination (via Crash). Kelly Lynch is also excellent as his girlfriend (she had a brief heyday in the late 80s and early 90s but was never properly appreciated despite more than one strong performance).

Six more films after the jump starting with  Little Women (1994) on Netflix...

What happened between you and John?

Little Kiki as Amy is such a gossip-in-training. Look at how Eric Stoltz is giving you Too Cocky in the background despite being completely out-of-focus. ACTING!

Mortal Kombat (1995) on Netflix

[back cracking sound]

This masked dude is about to be beheaded with a "special move" before he's even had a chance to land a punch or kick. Video games turned movies have such a bad history.

The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000) on Netflix

This is my new best friend, Betty. She's been very good to me.

um...uh... (awkward pause) what is happening, here? No, forget I asked. I don't want to know. I had totally forgotten that they made a sequel to The Flintstones only changed the entire cast -- that's my beloved Jane Krakowski as Betty post Ally McBeal but before TV and Broadway figured out what to do with her!

Cold Mountain (2003) on Netflix

IT'S A MAN! RIGHT IN OUR CORN CRIB. Got 'im in a trap. THAT'S HIM YELPIN'!!!

Good lord, Renée Zellweger even overdoes it in long shots. She can be seen ACTING from several states away, let alone within the confines of Ada's humble farm in North Carolina.  

Speed Racer (2008) on Netflix

[Blur of colors and movement that went on for ages until I was able to capture something legible]

This movie about finishing races first is somehow nearly two and a half hours long! No wonder the Wachowski sisters ended up at Netflix series where they can stretch their narratives out for hours. (Not that we're complaining about Sense8 which is maybe the best thing they ever did barring Bound in 1996)

Ice Mother (2017) on Amazon Prime

-Why didn't you heat it up? Everything was ready!
-Eat without you? Have we gone that far?

You guys this movie is worth a watch. It was the Czech Republic's Oscar submission this past season. It's about a widowed grandmother who spontaneously takes up ice swimming as a hobby with a local senior citizen group and her hateful family suddenly resents her for having an actual life outside of catering to their every need and whim. Very good performances, especially from the oldest and youngest cast member (the grandmother and grandson pictured here). In this scene she's being chastised for not being home for dinner despite making them dinner even though she wasn't going to be there to eat.

Also on NETFLIX in April

• A Sort of Family
• Along Came Polly
• Bad Boys
• Battlefield Earth
• Beethoven’s Christmas Adventure
• Big Time
• Body of Lies
• Cabin Fever
• Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever
• Cats & Dogs
• Dare to Be Wild
• Deep Blue Sea
• Despicable Me 3 (on April 5th)
• Fish People
• Friday Night Lights
• Jackass 2.5
• Life Is Beautiful
• Looney Tunes: Back in Action
• Nancy Drew
• La Piloto, season 1
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
• Scarface (which we just wrote about!)
• Seven
• Sin City
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
• The Duchess
• The Family Man
• The Flintstones
• The Iron Giant
• The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale (streams every Sunday)
• The Lost Boys
• The Queen of the Damned
• The Spy Next Door
• Wakfu, season 3

Also on AMAZON PRIME in April

• 30 Beats
• 52 Pick-Up
• A Simple Plan
• A Suitable Girl
• Basic Instinct
• Brooklyn’s Finest
• Danny Roane: First Time Director
• Desperately Seeking Susan
• Escape from New York
• Eye for An Eye
• Flashback
• For a Few Dollars More
• Fred 3: Camp Fred
• Fred: Night of the Living Fred
• Fred: The Movie
• Friday the 13th (1980)
• Funny About Love
• Gamer
• Hellbenders 3D
• Hitler’s Bodyguard, season 1
• Internal Affairs
• Kickboxer
• Ladybugs
• Life Stinks
• Man in the Moon
• Married to the Mob
• Meatballs
• Merlin, seasons 1-5
• Miami Blues
• My Art
• Mystery Team
• Mystic River
• Paranormal Activity
• Philadelphia
• Prancer
• Project Nim
• Quigley Down Under
• Red State
• Salsa
• Shanghai Surprise
• She’s Having a Baby
• Sleepers
• Small Soldiers
• Snake Eyes
• Spaceballs
• Stand Up Guys
• Standing in the Shadows of Motown
• Steel Magnolias
• Storage Wars Northern Treasures, season 1
• Superstar
• Tenderness
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre II
• The Big Wedding
• The Conspirator
• The Departure
• The Dogs of War
• The Foot Fist Way
• The Karate Kid
• The King of Comedy
• The Marc Pease Experience
• The Phantom
• The Rage: Carrie 2
• The Replacements
• The Thomas Crown Affair
• The Winning Season
• Thirst Street
• Throw Momma from the Train
• Trading Mom
• Troy
• Up in Smoke
• Warpath
• Wayne’s World 2
• Wishmaster
• Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies
• Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell
• Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled
• World’s Craziest Foods, season 1

Which, if any, of these titles would you love us to write about? 

Comments

[markgordonuk]

It's a real shame Renee won for CM,it is a bad performance in my eyes and one of those wins that nearly everyone thinks was undeserved but Harvey used his power on the campaigns and his ladies won,once she won people felt the need to turn on her,here's hoping that Judy biopic works out for her.

[cal roth]

Natalie Portman should have been the supporting nominee from Cold Mountain. She's terrific in it.

[DJDeeJay]

Maybe compare the two Thomas Crown Affairs? Both are so good and I miss Rene Russo. Also, I feel like we don't talk about Steve McQueen nearly enough around here.

Also, maybe Throw Momma From the Train can spark a Tuesday Top Ten of WORST supporting actress nominations? I know that's kinda negative but it might be interesting.

[NATHANIEL R]

Mark -- as loathsome as Harvey Weinstein is I kind of shudder when people blame him for oscar nom/win atrocities. Nobody can force people to vote any particular way in a secret ballot and the public and precursor groups were often also rallying around whatever he was aggrressively pushing and which (in most cases) at the time of their wins had broad support (with detractors being in the minority)

In other words, if the public / critics / awards voters are all hoodwinked by the same thing isn't it really their problem of bad taste / being easily manipulated and less the fault of whoever is promoting those things?

[mikenewq]

I'm so glad this site finally posted something on Mortal Kombat, haha. The perfect "quote" for that picture. Fun Fact Cameron Diaz was originally cast as Sonya Blade until she dropped out and was replaced by Bridgett Wilson. God, I love this movie.

[Suzanne]

I wish Winona had won Best Actress for Little Women. She had Reality Bites that year, too, which was a great performance but they never would have gone for it.

[markgordonuk]

Nat,I didn't mean to commend him,it's more about his power and the voters going with the flock and not nominating the people who they thought were really the greatest/best that year,this is the reason we have too many Meryl nominations and too many Dench nominations and now Octavia Spencer seems to be joining that group.

[NATHANIEL R]

Suzanne -- she was so much better in Reality Bites!

[Morgan]

I hope one day to love someone as much as you detest Renée in Cold Mountain :D

[Rob]

oh gawd yes, the whole time Renee Zellweger was steamrollering her way to her inevitable Oscar win I kept thinking, "Isn't there someone who can stop this insanity?Doesn't the collective academy understand how embarrassed they will be within 2 years over this hammy win?" And no one did stop it. And look where we are today: still shuddering in disbelief.

[NathanielR]

Morgan - LOL. I hope that for you, too! Actually i hope that for me, too. Being single is gross.

[jakey]

Renee's win for "Cold Mountain" will always be, in my opinion, because the academy felt they couldn't give her an Oscar for "Bridget Jones' Diary" (it's a comedy! And she was up against Halle Berry AND Nicole Kidman AND Sissy Spacek in a very strong year) or for "Chicago" (because Renee's performance was still more comedic, and now it was Nicole Kidman's turn).

MORTALLL KOMBATTTT reminds me that Johnny Cage was one of my first young crushes (such a douche with his muscular shirtlessness but yet he always wore sunglasses) and how irrationally angry I was at Jeopardy last week when "Street Fighter" was a triple stumper.

[chasm301]

My heart melted all over again at the frame from Little Women. One of my favorite movies and I'm due a rewatch. (It's only been 3 months oops)

[Ulrich]

Drugstore Cowboy is a bonafide masterpiece - you should rewatch it sometime, Nathaniel.
Van Sant is one of my all-time favorite filmmakers -
too bad about the slump he's been in since 2011, having made 3 bad movies in a row.
I haven't seen Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot - is it any good?

[Claran]

Zellweger's win is a consolation prize for losing two previous yrs in a row, esp Chicago when she was a close runner up to Kidman! She won the SAG! Too bad both roles were not dramatic enuff to win, so u kno she has no choice but to crank it up several notches to win for CM 😂