Streaming Roulette, August: Serenity, Red Sea Diving Resort, and two major 1981 classics
Thursday, August 1, 2019 at 2:18PM
NATHANIEL R in Andie MacDowell, Best Actress, Body Heat, Das Boot, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Germany, Kathleen Turner, MIchiel Huisman, Oscars (80s), Serenity, Simon Callow, streaming

As is our practice we've selected a handful of titles and frozen the films at utterly random moments without cheating (whatever comes up comes up!). It's our way of previewing new titles streaming each month. So what should you queue up for AUGUST 2019 ?(★ means we recommend catching them.) Please do let us know if you're dying to discuss any of the films and maybe we'll write about one or two of 'em  You rarely tell us but we'll try if you do.

[COUGHING]

Jackie Brown (1997) ★  on Netflix
Is De Niro coughing to distract you from Once Upon a Time ...  in Hollywood for a minute? He's got a new trailer out and that would like a little attention, too. On the couch is Bridget Fonda giving what is easily one of her top two performances (the other one is in a little seen 80s movie called Scandal). We should probably see this particular Quentin Tarantino flick again. Beyond Fonda's perpetually baked surfer girl I don't personally remember much about it except for that  Rashomon inspired scene in the mall, and Pam Grier and Robert Forster being a fine match in the two central roles.

[HEAVY BREATHING]

Body Heat (1981) ★  on HBO
Nice wedding ring shot. That ain't her husband...

We're about to pan up on Kathleen Turner orgasming while William Hurt takes her from behind. What's more it's not even remotely the hottest sex scene in the movie. Maybe third or fourth? Seconds after climax Hurt complains that his dick is "red and sore...look at it, it's about to fall off". This movie is so dirty. And so excellent. It's one of those rare loose remakes of an indisputable classic (Double Indemnity) that is also a total classic.

It remains one of the most embarrassing Oscar blunders of all time that Turner wasn't nominated for her astonishing film debut. Very few film stars have ever arrived with this much force. You could even argue that she should've won for it. Sorry Katharine Hepburn's fourth Oscar, Meryl Streep's "french lieutenants... whore!", Marsha Mason's alcoholic actress, and Susan Sarandon's lemon-scented waitress! The only Best Actress nominee that year that's an actual threat to Turner's mesmerizingly amoral seductress is Diane Keaton's commie journalist in Reds. 

-What do people speak in Malta?
-Maltanese? 

The Red Sea Diving Resort (2019) on Netflix
A fake hotel serves as a cover for undercover agents to help smuggle refugees to safety. We're just hearing about this for the first time today and solely via the context of its man-candy...

 

I know not many of us have had the chance to watch RED SEA DIVING RESORT yet because it just dropped, but this gif of NAKED MICHIEL HUISMAN HUGGING CHRIS EVANS isn't a spoiler, just a reminder -- GOT ON THAT SHIT, YO #RedSeaDivingResort pic.twitter.com/OIfvFo6m5U

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) July 31, 2019

 

I wish we could just go away and live on a desert island together, but we can't."

Pennyworth (2019) season 1 on Amazon Prime
Oh dear. And, yes that's actual dialogue. Yet another Batman universe prequel spin-off. Batman is like a cancer. He keeps spreading. All I ask is for like a ten year time-out. I don't think it's too much to ask. Other characters get breaks from time to time. Also Alfred Pennyworth looks like he's about 20 years old. Even when they give an iconic elderly character a series, they make it a prequel so they can cast for the youth audience. 

[EXPLOSION NOISES RECEDING]

Das Boot (1981) ★  on Hulu
This German submarine classic made $11 million in its US release in 1982. $11 million !!! That makes it the size of a hit of something like The Favourite (2018) today which grossed $34 in the US. It was clearly not far from a Best Picture nomination in 1982 since it received six Oscar nominations including Director and Screenplay. We're unsure why Germany didn't submit it to represent them at the Oscars as clearly it would have won Best Foreign Film in either 1981 or 1982, whichever year it would have been eligible to represent them; Germany missed both shortlists in those years -- submitting Fassbinder's Lili Marleeen and Herzog's Fitzcarraldo in those years --  and the Oscars went to Hungary's Mephisto (1981) and Spain's To Begin Again (1982) respectively. Anyone know the story? 

Doesn't anyone around here do any work that they're paid to do?

Serenity (2019) ★  on Amazon Prime
We've tried to tell you several times that this is an absolute must-see. You will not believe your eyes from the dialogue to the camerawork through the plotting and around the archetype heavy "characters" and McConaughey Exhibitionism. The scene screencapped above is absolutely nuts despite the lack of McConaughey's nuts. He's about to "take a shower" (which doesn't mean what you think it means) after discussing tuna (no, really) with the lonely perpetually horny Diane Lane whose pussycat keeps running away (no, really).

[INAPPROPRIATELY LOUD LAUGHTER]

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) ★  on Netflix
Cheeky of Netflix to add this on the same day that Hulu premieres their new series loosely based on this property. Oh, and since Andie MacDowell and Simon Callow are the two actors pictured clearly here, let's discuss.  Remember how ubiquitous and delightful Simon Callow was in 80s and 90s films? He'll always be The Reverent Mr Beebe in A Room with a View to us. We haven't seen much of him lately but he was in Victoria & Abdul (2017) and had a recurring role on Outlander a few years back. As for Andie MacDowell, she's never stopped working but the big MacDowell related news recently is that her daughter is currently in the midst of a formidable breakout year. I had to post this to Twitter...

 

PSA because I keep surprising people with this but I legit thought this was common knowledge: Margaret Qualley (Fosse/Verdon, The Leftovers, OUATIH) is Andie MacDowell’s daughter. A weird thing about genetics is that beautiful parents often make beautiful kids. pic.twitter.com/uQqc9FUe40

— Nathaniel Rogers (@nathanielr) July 28, 2019

 

ALSO STREAMING RIGHT NOW...

 

 

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We've found from months of doing this that the Amazon Prime listings provided are the least accurate in terms of what's actually available for free with a membership so take some of the titles with a grain of salt. 

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Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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