Streaming Roulette, Jan: Gremlins, Fairy Tales, and Brothers from Another Planet
Saturday, January 2, 2021 at 5:39PM
NATHANIEL R in Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, streaming

After the jump you'll find a listing of everything that's new to streaming this month (January 2021). But first we pick two handfuls of titles and randomly freeze them with the scroll bar. Whatever comes up is what we share. Do these images make you want to see (or rewatch) the movie?

[Voice offscreen]: All right, let's go.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISS JANE PITTMAN (1974) on HBOMax
People don't really talk about this in the days of the common false proclamation "everything is available online" but TV from previous decades is much harder to get a hold of than feature films (which have it bad enough). So it's always cool when a streaming service plays one. This telefilm was a big deal in the 1970s winning 9 Emmy awards including Best Actress for Cicely Tyson. In the UK it was released as a feature film and Tyson received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress (losing to Joanne Woodward in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams)

These are the keys to perfect posture.

SYLVIE'S LOVE (2020) on Amazon Prime
That's Erica Gimpel who we 80s kids grew up on (she played Coco on Fame  and Semiramis in the popular North & South miniseries teaching posture to Tessa Thompson for some reason?  Matt reviewed it here. 


Come in my dearie 

INTO THE WOODS (2014) on Disney Plus
Uff we'd forgotten that Johnny Depp, who can't sing, got cast in not one but two major Sondheim musicals (why can't Hollywood learn how to cast musicals? It is *not* difficult. There are so many name actors who have song and dance training). He plays the wolf here and this version of the fairy tale subverting classic was not grown-up enough to deal with that storyline, whoever was cast as the wolf. 3 OSCAR NOMINATIONS.

You can do this!

COBRA KAI (Season 3, 2021) on Netflix
We should have written about this show last year since it's so movie-related... a really fun, at times schmaltzy and repetitive but also thoughtful and unexpected sequel to the 1980s Karate Kid films. It's daring that they risk shifting your allegiances so immediately towards the villain/bully of the original films and also risk confusing your love of the original hero (Ralph Macchio) since he's had life kind of easy since being bullied in high school and hasn't self-reflected much on his own behavior. The constant Elisabeth Shue references in Season 2 had us convinced they were buttering her up to beg her to make a cameo in Season 3.

Who let you in here?!

YOUR NAME ENGRAVED HEREIN (2020) on Netflix
Taiwanese gay film. It won Best Cinematography and Best Original Song at the Golden Horse Awards this year and was also up for Best New Peformer (Edward Chen, pictured above), Best Score, and Best Supporting Actor (Leon Dai).

There weren't any black people in my town. At least I don't think there were.

BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET (1984) on the Criterion Channel
Have you ever seen this John Sayles sci-fi picture? We have a vague memory of it being good (rented it years after the fact) and future Emmy winner Joe Morton being wonderful in the leading role of an alien whose spaceship crash-lands in Harlem. SPECIAL JURY PRIZE, SUNDANCE 1985 (and no, we don't understand how that January 1985 Sundance  prize happened since the movie was released in US theaters in September 1984.)

[stumbling around]: Sorry I'm late

WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN (1994) on Amazon Prime
Cláudio just wrote about Meg Ryan's most beloved performance in When Harry Met Sally but this is the other time she was in the Oscar discussion, nabbing SAG and MTV nominations for her performance as an messy alcoholic wife and mother. 

Dad you fought your whole life never for yourself but always for other people. The poor, the exiled, the refugees...

DNA (2020) on Netflix
This was one of the five finalists for the French Oscar submission this year (losing to the lesbian drama Two of Us). It's from director/actress/writer Maïwenn who has Algerian roots and "a meditation on cultural identity". We expect all five of those finalists will score some César nominations later this month. 

I'm sorry. I'm just a little tired and cranky.

Now that's what we need here. People who produce.

GREMLINS (1984) and GREMLINS: THE NEW BATCH (1990) on HBOMax
Isn't it weird for HBO to play these right after Christmas when at least the first one is such a Christmas movie? P.S. Strange confession: we've never seen the second one.

Why I'm beginning to feel like a criminal.

42ND STREET (1933) on HBOMax
You know what's odd? When people talk about the actors in the classic musical 42nd Street they're almost always talking about Ruby Keeler's coming out ball as the young understudy who becomes the star of the show -- it's right there in the narrative that it's her picture. But we've never felt that way. The takeaway in the picture is Bebe Daniels (pictured) who is fantastic as the jaded star whose downfall gives Keeler her big break. 2 OSCAR NOMINATIONS INCLUDING BEST PICTURE.

It's a long way

THE MIDNIGHT SKY (2020) on Netflix
Reviews have been less than inspiring. Have you watched yet? George Clooney directs and stars in this post -apocalyptic drama. The visual effects look cool, don't they? 

[serious music]

COOL HAND LUKE (1967) on Netflix
Two movies in a single month is not a trend but the fact that Netflix is actually showing not one but two classics from 1967 in a single month (the other being all-time great Bonnie & Clyde) is basically a miracle. Netflix has been anti films made before 2000 for several years now (though a handful of mainstream famous 80s and 90s films show up on occassion) ... maybe the streaming wars have thrown usual behavior out of whack or maybe this is a fluke but it's a happy event, regardless, so watch both of those this month so Netflix realizes people do actually like movies made before their lifetimes. 4 OSCAR NOMINATIONS AND ONE WIN (BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR)

 

 

ALSO STREAMING  RIGHT NOW (recommended pictures have a star)

newly streaming

later this month (a selection) 

 

 

newly streaming

Later in the month - a selection

 

newly streaming

later in the month (a selection)

newly streaming for September - a selection. They usually offer (most) of the same films as Hulu listed above... so they'll have the bulk of those. But they also have...  

 

later in the month (a selection)

also newly streaming

later this month - a selection

also newly streaming

later this month - a selection 

 

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