Streaming Roulette (April Pt 1): Clive Owen's breakthrough, a Marvel dud, and the Rocky franchise
Sunday, April 4, 2021 at 9:00AM
NATHANIEL R in Clive Owen, Concrete Cowboy, Croupier, Dolph Lundgren, Rocky, Streaming Roulette, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Unhinged, sequels, streaming, superheroes

And the state didn't even think to verify it just once? To check on this madman who got into every hospital. Just once to check this stuff used by all the hospitals!

Reminder: Collective, which is up for Best Documentary Feature AND Best International Feature is now streaming on Hulu.

Yes it's time for another round of streaming roulette where we point out titles that are new(ish) to streaming or about to leave and just for fun, freeze frame them at totally random places in the scroll bar and whatever comes up we share. Let's go...

He was Jack. And he was Jake. And he had discovered their was a price to pay for this double life of his...

CROUPIER (1998)
Have you ever seen this casino noir with Clive Owen? It was his seventh picture but the breakthrough role at 34 (his second feature, Close My Eyes, from 1991 is also quite good and has the added bonus of him being very naked in it). After this sleeper success he started getting prestige pics like Gosford Park and mainstream action flicks like The Bourne Identity.  Seems like ages since he's had a real movie success though right. Next up: Playing Bill Clinton in season 3 of American Crime Story

Well, you not gonna sleep in my stables.

CONCRETE COWBOY (2021)
This is a modest but charming urban western about a young boy (Stranger Things) sent to live his estranged father (a very good Idris Elba) who is a member of a tight knit community of horse-tending city-dwellers. Lorraine Toussaint pictured above, who always makes everything better, has a supporting role.

also streaming

 

Polly put the kettle on. And you shall have a cup of tea the minute I can get it to boil.

Cast a Dark Shadow (1955)
So eager to dig into this "Starring Dirk Bogarde" series on Criterion Channel. I've already watched Victim. Which more on which soon (hopefully). In this one he's "a charming psychopath" 

also streaming on Criterion Channel

 

 

 

 

 

[LAUGHTER]

 Genius: Aretha (2021)
Have any of you watched this new miniseries with Cynthia Erivo aiming for an Emmy to go with her Tony.

also streaming

 

[CARS HONKING]

What's he doing?

UNHINGED (2020)
The Russell Crowe thriller -- i guess he's on a vehicular rampage? -- was the 6th biggest hit among films that opened during the pandemic last year, grossing $20 million at the US box office. A bit more than the action flick Monster Hunster but a bit less than the comedy The War with Grandpa. If you've seen it do tell: what did you think? 

also streaming most of what Hulu has plus...

 

 

[FIGHT NOISES]

The Falcon and the Winter Soldiers S1 (2021)
The first three episodes are out. We'd planned a full review celebration after realizing we should have done just that with the fascinating if uneven WandaVision but this series turns out to be... exceptionally dull. There's a bit of action in each episode but of the least inspired variety and the pacing is deadly. Three episodes in we're betting there was enough here to make exactly one movie but the powers that be opted for a six hour TV season. Only the episode 1 aerial rescue and this trucktop sequence from episode 2 manage to budge the needle towards excitement. And that's being generous. It's not Marvel's first dud exactly (the movies have been uneven and thus overpraised the whole time) but it's the first to be ungood AND no fun at all. The heavy angst marginally works especially Winter Soldier's guilt over his past crimes (Sebastian Stan is far above his material but the material isn't great) but the attempts at banter comedy are uniformly cringeworthy.


I know nothing of the Citadel. It's an evil mountain, a killer mountain. It's been left alone now for 16 years and it's best to be left alone forever. 

Third Man on the Mountain (1959)
Something tells us the kid in the feathered cap isn't going to take this advice and is going to climb that mountain, damnit! (Excuse me, darnit. This is a Disney family adventure film). James MacArthur plays the kid here (the leading role). Turns out he was nominated for a BAFTA two years earlier for "Most Promising Newcomer" for a film called The Young Stranger about a troubled youth (Oscar winner Kim Hunter played his mom). He was apparently a minor film star of the 1960s and later a series regular on the original Hawaii Five-O (1968-1979)

also streaming

 

The master of disaster. The one and only Apollo Creed.

Rocky (1975-2006)
HBOMax is showing all six Sly Stallone boxing movies now. The image above is from Rocky IV with Dolph Lundgren as the new adversary "Ivan Drago". No Creed or Creed II at the moment though.

But boys will be boys, right?

Genera+ion, S1 (2021)
A week after watching this still thinking about the characters and giggling about certain scenes, especially this one where twin siblings (fighting over a boy they both fooled around with) are pretending to be cheerful while welcoming guests to their sisters wedding rehearsal. Martha Plimpton plays there mom and since I just said the words "Martha Plimpton" you know their mom is an excellent character. And a real character if you know what I mean.

I was becoming stagnant. I knew that there was something else.

Tina (2021)
Glenn recently reviewed this new doc. 

also streaming

 

 

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