Streaming Roulette April '22: Sweet Birds, Edgy Postcards, and Moon Knights
Saturday, April 2, 2022 at 5:26PM
NATHANIEL R in Bridgerton, Moon Knight, Oscars (60s), Postcards from the Edge, Shirley Maclaine, Streaming Roulette, Sweet Bird of Youth, Terri Garr, The Devils, The Last Dragon, The Last Picture Show, streaming

Bridgerton Season 2.

Are you watching Bridgerton Season 2? I'm trying to pace myself but I'm watching it too fast because I am eager for the extremely beautiful pair of Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley to consummate their love instead of just staring angrily at each other. I will never get over how widely accepted the trope of 'people who hate each other are obviously in love!' is in movies and television since it has no parallel in real life. I've never met a couple in real life who discovered their love because they aggravated and hated each other so much. Have any of you? 

Okay, time for this month's streaming roulette. You know the rules. We highlight new-to-streaming movies and an occasional TV series by freezing them on the scroll bar at entirely random places and just sharing what pops up. No cheating*!

Suzanne: I'm gonna kill myself

Doris: Don't say, that even in jest, Suzanne. You've just come out of a drug clinic. People might take it the wrong way.

Postcards from the Edge (1990) on Hulu
To our dying day the lack of awards for Shirley Maclaine and screenwriter Carrie Fisher for this perfect mother-daughter showbiz comedy will be mystifying. It was excellent in 1990 and hasn't lost an ounce of its comic punch, musical surprise, or dramatic throughline. One of Meryl Streep's best performances and films, too.

no dialogue

The Last Picture Show (1971) on Criterion Channel
21 year-old Cybill Shepherd feeding 22 year old Jeff Bridges french fries -- you know you wanna watch. We'll be looking at Peter Bogdanovich's incredible debut film for Hit Me With your Best Shot on April 21st (here's the schedule) so watch it before then. It's ridiculously good. Nominated for 8 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Cinematography (it deservedly won Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress) 

He's learning... from her.

The Bubble (2022) on Netflix
That's the voice of David Duchovny dimly stating the obvious when some kind of dinosaur mimics human behavior. Judd Apatow's new comedy is about actors stuck inside a pandemic bubble completing an action sequel.

No no no no no no no no

Moon Knight (Season 1) on Disney+
My thoughts exactly, Oscar. They made four episodes available to press (though they'll air weekly on Disney+) and I regret to say that this one is tedious. The first episode is all a tease as Steven Grant, a wimpy museum gift shop worker, fears he's losing his mind. Turns out he is maybe also sharing a body with a much braver man named Mark Spectre and he's also an avatar of an Egyptian god... with healing armor that makes him basically unkillable. But you dont get any details on what Moon Knight is (if you dont know the comics) for awhile. It's all very silly and the action, like a sadly increasingly amount of Marvel Studios output, leaves a lot to be desired. The tone is aiming for absurdist metaphysical comedy (I think) but given that and maybe because it has the misfortune to have come out at the same time as Everything Everywhere All At Once, it's sorely lacking.

Every time there's a so-called nationalist revival it means one thing: somebody is trying to seize control of the entire country.

THE DEVILS (1971) on Shudder
This oft-banned, perverse, but frankly amazing Ken Russell film about religious hypocrisy in which a horny hunchback nun (Vanessa Redgrave in a genius star turn) and her convent accuse a charismatic priest (Oliver Reed, also excellent) of witchcraft. 

-Where did you get that?
-You bought it for me!

Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) on HBOMax
Geraldine Page at her haughtiest. Paul Newman at his hottest (in color). Both superlatives are saying a lot given their careers. Based on the Tennessee Williams play aboiut a gigolo and the movie star who become entangled. Page earned that nomination in one of the all time greatest Best Actress shortlists:

Wow that lineup. Seriously. If only the acting branch chose that well every year!

- Cmon Leroy, teach me something.
- I do not wish to fight you.

The Last Dragon (1986) on HBOMax
Do any of you remember this camp  supernatural comedy / martial arts / musical curiousity from the 1980s? I remember it being popular at video stores. One of the many Prince-adjacent music acts of the 80s, Vanity sings "Seventh Heaven" in the movie which I was really into as a kid because, you know, musical numbers! What happened to this films handsome star Taimak? 

...Gomer Pyle, Batman, Gilligan, Flipper, Petticoat Junction, Andy Griffith, I Dream of Jeannie, The Addams Family, Dick Van Dyke, The Green Hornet...

Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood (2022) on Netflix
Richard Linklater's latest rotoscoped film, the animation process wherein people (or one assumes a computer programs) traces over live-action images. This one is about a boy in Houston in the summer of 1969. Linklater himself was turned 9 in the summer of '69 so for some reason he made his protagonist a year and a half older than him :) 

Put. The. Candle. Back. 

Young Frankenstein (1974) on Amazon Prime
So delightful. Everyone is hilarious in it. We miss Terri Garr. This Mel Brooks classic is an 'over & over'

 

So what (else) is streaming in April? 
MORE STREAMING TITLES FOLLOW... ★ indicates movies or series of note though sometimes hidden gems have no buzz until you see them. ANY REQUESTS FOR COVERAGE?

 

also streaming on Netflix

Later this Month (a sampling)

 

 

★  COLLECTIONS streaming on Criterion Channel

★ INDIVIDUAL FILMS

★ Later this Month a Sampling

 

 

 

also streaming 

 

later this month - a sampling

 

also streaming on Prime...

 

 

also streaming on Disney+

 

also streaming on Apple TV+

later this month - a sampling

 

also streaming

later this month - a sampling

 

also streaming 

later this month - a sampling

* People never believe this but it's (mostly) true. The only exceptions are when the image is too fast to look good in still frame (we usually use a gif in those cases) or if it's too transitional (dissolves, fadeouts, etcetera) or an establishing shot of a building or something... the other secret to why the images are often good is that we just dont use that particular film if we land on something that's too dull. 

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