Streaming Roulette Aug '22: Akeelah, Belle, Ingrid, and other wonders

Okay, time for this month's streaming roulette. You know the rules. We highlight new-to-streaming titles by freezing them on the scroll bar at entirely random places and sharing what pops up! Any requests?

-Did you hear the word?
-I'm not sure if you're saying 'imminent' or 'eminent'.

Akeelah and the Bee (2005) on Hulu
Whichever word they meant, we can use it in a sentence! (In 2006) "Keke Palmer's stardom is imminent" (In 2022) "Keke Palmer is an eminent celebrity". Have you seen Nope (2022) yet? Read our review. Don't remember much about this debut other than that Keke was charming as a child actor and that the great Angela Bassett played her mom... which makes Keke's much-shared imitation of Angela Bassett even funnier... 

[no dialogue]

Gaslight (1944) on HBOMax
If you've never seen this brilliant George Cukor movie which was nominated for 7 Oscars including Best Picture, winning two statues (Best Actress and Best Production Design), you absolutely must. Ingrid Bergman is magnificent as the woman at the center who is being gaslit by her new husband; Yes the term originated here... or here adjacent since this hit movie was based on a 1938 stage play of the same name. We discussed this movie on a lively Smackdown since Angela Lansbury was also nominated in Supporting Actress. 

In related news we're really worried about HBOMax. It's BY FAR the best mainstream steeaming service in existence since they show major classics from all eras on the regular (which no other mainstream service does). But with everything going on with Warner Brothers / Discovery... who knows how long this will last? The Criterion Channel is great but it would be terrible if it was the only option for classic movie lovers (since they're selections lean towards the esoteric, highbrow, international, and auteur niches. All great niches, don't misunderstand, but still niches and there should be something for everyone out there.

Hey, get out of here!

Belle (2021) on HBOMax *streaming premiere*
If you haven't yet seen this visual and sonic wonder from Mirai's Mamoru Hosoda, you should. The story is convoluted and it's probably too long by 15 minutes but the Academy really should have been bopped on the head last season for neglecting it in the Best Animated Feature race. (Raya and the Last Dragon really didn't need that honor!). Not that the film did itself any favors with that extremely typical high risk strategy of not really showing up until a couple of months until the following year.

It's got nothing to do with Satan, mama. 

CARRIE (1976) on Shudder
Shudder is featuring a "Stephen King Collection" this month of which the crown jewel is most definitely Carrie, Brian de Palma's menstruating masterpiece of telekinetic massacres. As for this moment we landed on in Streaming Roulette, don't you miss when fundamentalist religious types were most definitely *not* part of the mainstream but something to be feared / ridiculed given all the trauma they enthusiastically disperse in every direction ? 

[Dramatic music playing]

THE GRAY MAN (2022) on Netflix
Reviewish: This new action film took quite a critical drubbing. Did it deserve it? Not really but the Russo brothers are hard-to-miss targets at the moment due to the pervasive not entirely incorrect feeling that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (which made them famous) has decimated adult film culture. Is this is a misunderstood action flick then? Nope! Listen, The Gray Man is no masterpiece but neither is it terribly inept filmmaking (like say, Jurassic World Dominion). There are a couple of really fun setpieces and at 122 minutes it is unexpectedly concise (in terms of this era's more-is-more running time practices). Ryan Gosling, Ana De Armas, and Chris Evans all seem remarkably invested, too, which counts for something in disposable genre pieces and Aflre Woodard and Kollywood star Danush are both lively and extremely watchable in small roles. Yet everytime I want to argue that "no, this is actually good!" some extremely stupid bit (character beats, gaping plotholes, dumb backstory, sloppy choice)  rears up in memory and the defense collapses. C+?

[Dramatic music playing]

FACE/OFF (1997) on Amazon Prime
John Travolta and Nicolas Cage are  both such uneven actors but when they're on as movie stars... they're on! True story: I haven't seen this movie since the tail end of the 90s but I remember it being great camp fun which Nick's recent celebration convincingly confirms. 

🎵 A eux deux ils forment | Le gang Barrow | Leurs noms
Bonnie Parker et Clyde Barrow

Bonnie and Clyde

NOT OKAY (2022) on Hulu
Matt just reviewed this here  but thought it paled in comparison to the similarly themed Ingrid Goes West. But I really liked writer/director Quinn Shepard's debut feature Blame (2017) which I wrote about when it played Tribeca so I should definitely watch this. Fun trivia: Shepard and her co-star in Blame Nadia Alexander (who also appears in Not Okay) started dating after that first film and are now engaged!. Personal trivia note: The song that's playing where our scrollbar stopped in Not Okay above is a French pop song my Francophone ex-boyfriend used to obsess over and I hadn't heard it in years; what a memory jolt when I hit play. 

Freeze! We've got the place surrounded.

SPIDERMAN TRILOGY (2002-2007) on Netflix
It's always a shock when Netflix has a curation moment (maybe happens once a year?) and delivers a whole set of movies, in this case Sam Raimi's mostly still beloved trilogy about the webslinger. They hold up via their simplicity of purpose and stakes, strong direction (Sam Raimi), and earnest performances. They also accidentally illuminate what we've lost in the modern superhero genre wherein the stories all got needlessly complex, less and less visually interesting, and are now mandated to involve several movies, franchises, and easter eggs, within each picture. We recently discussed Spider-Man 2 right here. 

ADOPTION (1975) on Criterion Channel
This seminal Hungarian film by Márta Mészáros became the first film from a female director to win the Golden Bear at Berlinale after which Hungary submitted it as their annual Oscar play (it was not nominated). It's recently been restored which is how we managed to see it last year. It's a hard-eyed but involving look at a childless woman in 1970s Hungary who wants to adopt and a willful teenager she meets who lives nearby in an orphanage with other wards of the states. And it's under 90 minutes, the best kind of lost classic!

What is streaming in August? 

★ indicates movies or series of note though sometimes hidden gems have no buzz until you see them.
🔸 Indicates that the movie was Oscar-nominated in some category or another

also new on Netflix in AUGUST

• 28 Days
• 🔸 ★ 8 Miles
• Above the Rim
• The Age of Adaline
• Battle: Los Angeles
• Bridget Jones's Baby
• Constantine
• Dinner for Schmucks
• ★ Eyes Wide Shut
• Ferris Bueller's Day Off
• 🔸 ★ Flight
• Footloose (2011)
• Hardcore Henry
• 🔸 ★ Legends of the Fall
• Love & Basketball
• Made of Honor
• Men in Black (all three movies)
• Miss Congeniality
• Monster-in-Law
• No Strings Attached
• Pawn Stars (S13)
• Polly Pocket (S4pt2)
• She's Funny That Way
• Space Jam (1996) 
• 🔸 ★ Spider-Man (first 3 movies)
• Top Gear (S29/30)
• 🔸 ★ The Town (2010)
• Umma (2022)
• Woman in Gold

Later this Month (a sampling)

• Wedding Season (2022) - romantic comedy starring Pallavi Sharda & Suraj Sharma (8/4)
• Carter (2022) - Soaction thriller starring Joo Won (8/5)
• The Sandman (S1) - new series based on the Neil Gaiman comic (8/5)
• Locke & Key (S3) - final season for the magical family and their demonic foes (8/10)
• 13: The Musical (2022) - a middle schooler throws a bar mitzvah (8/12)
• Day Shift (2022) - Jamie Foxx is a vampire hunter in this new film (8/12)
• Never Have I Ever (S3) - the misadventures of Devi and her friends continue (8/12)
• Royalteen (2022) - Norwegian romance between a teenage girl and the Crown Prince (8/17)
• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (S3) - (8/18) 

 

★🔸COLLECTIONS now streaming on Criterion Channel

• STARRING MYRNA LOY - 14 films with the Old Hollywoood treasure including The Thin Man, Manhattan Melodrama, and Libeled Lady
• STARRING DAVID GULPILIL - 14 films featuring Australia's most famous aboroginal actor including Charlie's Country, Ten Canoes, Walkabout, and Rabbit-Proof Fence
• STARRING YAPHET KOTTO -7 films featuring the 70s star including Across 110th Street  and Bone
• SOUNDTRACKS OF HENRY MANCINI - 13 films including Charade, Two for the Road, Touch of Evil
• HOLLYWOOD CHINESE - 25 films including the titular documentary, Flower Drum Song, The Good Earth, The World of Suzie Wong, The Wedding Banquet, and more

Other individual films streaming

• ★🔸 The Asphalt Jungle  (1950) noir classic from John Huston 
• Damnation (1988) -Bela Tarr
• Donbass (2018) Sergei Loznitsa documentary
• The Earth is as Blue as an Orange (2020) -Iryna Tsilyk's documentary
• Husbands (1970) - John Cassavettes
• I've Heard the Mermaid's Singing (1988) Canadian classic
• ★  Mississippi Masala (1991) - Mira Nair's romantic drama with Denzel and Sarita Choudhury
• Rouge (1987) - starring Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung
• ★  Sweet Smell of Success (1957) starring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis

Later this Month - a Sampling

• Valley Girl -80s classic (8/10)
• DIRECTED BY GURINDER CHADHA - 4 short films (8/17)
• STARRING ANNA MAY WONG - 3 films including Piccadilly (8/11)

also streaming in AUGUST

• Akeelah and the Bee (2006) - Keke Palmer when she was a child star
• ★🔸 Black Swan (2010) 
• ★ The Blair Witch Project (1999)
• Blast from the Past (1999)
• ★🔸 Blazing Saddles (1974)
• ★🔸 Bugsy (1991)
• 🔸 Cast Away (2000)
• Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
• ★ The Cursed (2022) -werewolf movie REVIEW
• Dan in Real Life (2007)
• Despicable Me  (2010-2013) -first two movies
• Detroit (2017)
• ★🔸 Devil Wears Prada (2006) 
• ★🔸 Fantastic Mr Fox (2009)
• ★🔸 Gandhi (1982)
• 🔸 Ghostbusters (1984-1989) - first two movies
• Good Luck Chuck (2007)
• Groundhog Day (1993)
• Gullivers Travels (2010)
• ★ Hatching (2022) - horror REVIEW
• The Hate U Give (2018)
• Hotel Transylvania (2012)
• ★ I Feel Pretty (2018)
• In Time (2011)
• Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)
• Just Go With It (2011)
• Kindergarten cop (1990)
• Leisure Seeker (2018)
• Man on Fire (2004)
• Men of Honor (2000)
• Miles Ahead (2016)
• ★🔸 Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)
• Ninja Asassin (2009)
• Not Okay (2022) - REVIEW 
• Nurse 3D (2014)
• ★ Object of My Affection (1998)
• Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)
• ★🔸 Pretty Woman (1990)
• See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989)
• ★ Shame (2011)
• Simply Irresistible (1999)
• The Sixth Man (1997)
• ★ So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)
• ★ Source Code (2011)
• ★🔸 Spider-Man (2002-2007) - Sam Raimi trilogy
• Step Up Revolution (2012)
• Surf's Up (2007)
• Swimfan (2002)
• Synecdoche, New York (2008)
• Tower Heist (2011)
• Vantage Point (2008)
• ★Viva (2015) Oscar finalist in its year. Drama about a young would be drag queen
• Wanderlust (2012)
• 🔸 War Horse (2011)
• ★ The Wedding Singer (1998)
• What a Girl Wants (2003)
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
• You've Got Mail (1998)

later this month - a sampling

• Reservation Dogs SEASON 2 - (8/3)
• Prey (2022) - New movie in Predator franchise (8/5)
• This Fool SEASON 1 - reformed gangsters comedy (8/12)
• Nymphomaniac (2013) - both volumes, directors cut (8/15)
• Red Cliff (2008) - (8/15)
• On the Count of Three (2022) - movie (8/17)
• ★ Disobedience (2017) - (8/25)
• Little Demon SEASON 1 -animated horror comedy with Aubrey Plaza (8/26)

Caution: Prime tends to be the least accurate service in terms of what internet listings report as available and what is actually available. So consider this "supposedly streaming on Prime" in our experience many of them will be rentals rather than Prime offerings or require an "add-on" to view but we haven't yet determined how to find an accurate listing...

• ★ (500) Days Of Summer (2009)
• 1 Buck (2017)
• 16 To Life (2015)
• 3000 Miles To Graceland (2001)
• 5 Star Day (2011)
• 59 Seconds (2016)
• A Dark Place (2019)
• ★🔸 A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
• A Night At The Roxbury (1998)
• 🔸 A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
• Aaron’s Blood (2017)
• Absolution (2015)
• Acid Horizon (2018)
• Already Gone (2019)
• Alright Now (2018)
• Anguish (2015)
• Annapolis (2006)
• Any Day (2015)
• Assimilate (2019)
• The Atoning (2017)
• ★ Baby Boom (1987)
• Backstage (2021)
• Backwoods (2020)
• Bad Frank (2017)
• Bad Therapy (2020)
• Basic (2003)
• Battle Scars (2020)
• ★🔸 Before Midnight (2013)
• ★ Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012)
• Big Brother Volcano (2017)
• ★🔸 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
• 🔸Cinderella Man (2005) 
• Clockstoppers (2002)
• ★ Courage Under Fire (1996)
• Crossed the Line (2014)
• Dating My Mother (2017)
• Derek’s Dead (2020)
• ★🔸 Devil Wears Prada (2006)
• Disappearance (2019)
• Don’t Click (2012)
• Downhill Racer (1969)
• Drive Me Crazy (1999)
• Eadweard (2015)
• Escape From Alcatraz (1979)
• Everybody Loves Somebody (2017)
• Evil Dead (2013)
• Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
• ★ Face/Off (1997)
• The Feels (2018)
• Filth (2014)
• Firewalker (1986)
• Follow the Prophet (2010)
• ★ Fright Night (2011)
• Un Gallo Con Muchos Huevos (2015)
• Getting to Know You (2020)
• Gonzo (2008)
• Goodbye Butterfly (2021)
• Grand Cru (2018)
• Happy Yummy Chicken (2017)
• Hardball (2001)
• The Haunting (1999)
• Here On Out (2019)
• He’s Way More Famous Than You (2012)
• The Hornet's Nest (2014)
• I Am A Ghost (2014)
• I Like Me (2019)
• I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009)
• Iceland Is Best (2020)
• I’m Still Here (2010)
• Impossible Monsters (2019)
• International Falls (2019)
• I’ve Got Issues (2020)
• Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero (2016)
• The Killer Elite (1975)
• King Arthur (2004)
• King Kong (1976)
• King Of Knives (2020)
• Kingpin (1996)
• ★🔸 Leaving Las Vegas (1996)
• Letter from Masanjia (2018)
• Line of Descent (2019)
• Lost Bayou (2020)
• The Machinist (2004)
• Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound (2019)
• Man from Reno (2015)
• McLintock (1963)
• ★ Mermaids (1990)
• Middle of Ex (2018)
• Misma Luna (Under The Same Moon) (2008)
• Missouri Breaks (1976)
• Mr. 3000 (2004)
• Neil Young Heart of Gold (2006)
• Never Heard (2018)
• New Money (2018)
• Obey (2018)
• ★🔸 Once (2007)
• ★ Once Upon a Time in the West (1969)
• One and the Same (2021)
• Paradox Lost (2021)
• Paper Girls SEASON 1
• Perfect Sisters (2014)
• Pet Sematary (1989)
• Prophecy (1979)
• ★ River’s Edge (1987)
• Rockaway (2019)
• ★ Romy And Michele’s High School Reunion (1997)
• Ronin (1998)
• Safe Inside (2021)
• The Saint (1997)
• Scary Movie 5 (2013)
• ★🔸 Serpico (1973)
• The Shootist (1976)
• ★ Single White Female (1992)
• Soldiers of Fortune (2012)
• Star Trek (1982-1998)- 7 of the movies starting with Wrath of Khan
• Step Up Revolution (2012)
• Still Today (2020)
• Surrogate Valentine (2011)
• ★ Thief (1981)
• Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie (2012)
• To Tokyo (2018)
• Trail of Ashes (2020)
• Trickster (2019)
• Trigger (2020
• Two Ways Home (2019)
• Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005)
• Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail (2009)
• Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
• Undertow (2004)
• Vampires Suck (2010)
• Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)
• Wayne’s World II (1993)
• We Were Soldiers (2002)
• Weepah Way for Now (2015)
• White on Rice (2009)
• Wild Honey Pie! (2018)
• Writer’s Block (2019)
• The Wrong Todd (2014)
• Wuthering Heights (1970)
• The Yards (2000)
• Yinz (2019)
• Yours, Mine & Ours (2005)

later this month - a sampling 

• 🔸 Licorice Pizza (2021) -Paul Thomas Anderson (8/5)
• Thirteen Lives (2022) - Ron Howard's latest about the Thai cave flooding rescue (8/5)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) -(8/10)
• ★ The Lost City (2022) - (8/10)
• A League of their Own SEASON 1 - (8/12)
• 1900 (1977) - (8/31)

later this month - a sampling

• Lightyear (2022) - Pixar's box office troubled spinoff of Toy Story (8/3)
• Making of Ms Marvel - (8/3)
• Old Dogs - (8/5)
• I Am Groot (short films) - (8/10)
• Father of the Bride (two movies) - (8/12)
• She Hulk Attoney At Law SEASON 1 (8/17)

streaming in August

• For All Mankind SEASON 3 -  final episodes of season
• Physical SEASON 2 - final episodes of season
• Surface (2022) - psychological thriller miniseries starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw

later this month - a sampling

• Luck (2022) - first feature from Skydance animation (8/5)
• See SEASON 3 - (8/26)

 

• Allegoria (2022) -directorial debut of musician/singer Spider One
• Moloch (2022) -Dutch horror film
• Santa Sangre (1989) -from Alejandro Jodorowsky
• This is Gwar (2021) -Shudder Original documentary about a heavy metal art-collective
• ★🔸 STEPHEN KING COLLECTION - including Creepshow, Carrie, Misery, and more...
• TETSURO YOSHIA TRILOGY (1968-1969) - 100 Monsters, Spook Warfare, Along with Ghosts

later this month -a sampling 

• Freeway (1996)- Reese Witherspoon and Kiefer Sutherland star in this thriller (8/8)
• Glorious (2022) - Ryan Kwanted and JK Simmons  star in this thriller (8/18)
• ★ The Innocents (2022) Norwegian horror from the very talented Oscar nominated screenwriter Eskil Vogt (Thelma, Worst Person in the World, Blind) who also directs this time (8/18)
• So Vam (2022) - Australian drag queen / vampire picture. The directorial debut of a young trans filmmaker (8/23)
• Watcher (2022) - REVIEW  a serial killer stalks a young actress. (8/26)

also streaming 

• The Adderal Diaries (2016)
• 🔸Amy (2015)
• Barely Lethal (2015)
• ★ Belle (2013)
• Biker Boyz (2003)
• ★ The Blood of the Poet (1932)
• ★ Blow Out (1981)
• ★🔸 Blue Velvet (1986)
• ★ Bug (2007)
• Cadillac Man (1990)
• The Captive (2014)
• ★ Charlie’s Angels (2000-2003) - both movies
• Chasing Papi (2003)
• 🔸Children of a Lesser God (1986)
• Chocolate City (2015)
• Colors (1988)
• Damien Omen II (1978)
• Dark Places (2015)
• ★ Days of Being Wild (1990)
• The Devil's Backbone (2001)
• The End of the Tour (2015)
• ★ Enemy (2014)
• ★ Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask (1972)
• ★🔸 Ex Machina (2015)
• ★🔸 Fantastic Voyage (1966)
• The Fault of the Stars (2014)
• The Field Guide to Evil (2018)
• Fighting (2009)
• From Hell (2001)
• Garfield (2004-2006) -both movies
• Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
• A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charlie Swan III (2013)
• ★ Ginger and Rosa (2012)
• How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (2008)
• ★ How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017)
• Industry SEASON 2
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
• Ivanhoe (1952)
• Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2011)
• Laggies (2014)
• The Last Word (2017)
• ★ Late August, Early September (1988)
• Lean on Pete (2017)
• Life After Beth (2014)
• Lions for Lambs (2007)
• ★ Little Men (2016)
• ★🔸 Little Women (1994)
• Locke (2013)
• Love & Basketball (2000)
• Man of the Year (2006)
• Miles Ahead (2016)
• Mississippi Grind (2015)
• Mojave (2015)
• ★A Most Violent Year (2014)
• My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016)
• ★ Mystic Pizza (1988)
• The Notebook (2014)
• 🔸Objective, Burma! (1945)
• ★ Obvious Child (2014)
• The One (2001)
• ★ Original Cast Album: Company (1970)
• ★ Out of the Past (1947)
• The Possession (2012)
• Remember (2016)
• Revenge of the Green Dragons (2014)
• The Rover (2014)
• Slow West (2015)
• ★ The Spectacular Now (2013)
• The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
• Son of a Gun (2014)
• ★ Source Code (2011)
• ★ Stardust (2007)
• Teen Titans Go, Season 7C
• ★ The Testament of Orpheus (1960)
• The Transporter Refueled (2015)
• Thunderstruck (2012)
• Transcendence (2014)
• Trouble With the Curve (2012)
• Tusk (2014)
• ★ Under the Skin (2014)
• 🔸Whiplash (2014)

later this month - a sampling

• ★🔸 Belfast (2021) -Branagh's memoir drama (8/5)
• House of Dragon - SEASON 1 - premiere (8/21)
• Wolf (2021) - (8/26)

also streaming in August

• 1 Buck (2017)
• 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)
• 5 Star Day (2010)
• ★🔸A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
• 🔸A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
• Aaron's Blood
• Acid Horizon
• Already Gone
• Alright Now
• Anguish
• Any Day
• Assimilate
• Awakened
• ★ Baby Boom
• Bad Frank
• Bad Therapy
• Basic
• Battle Scars
• ★ Beautiful Girls
• Before Midnight
• Big Brother Volcano
• Bridget Jones's Baby
• ★🔸 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
• Cake
• Clockstoppers
• Derek's Dead
• Dimland
• Dinner For Schmucks
• Don't Click
• Dora and the Lost City of Gold
• Downhill Racer
• Escape From Alcatraz
• Evil Dead
• The Exorcism of Emily Rose
• ★ Face/Off
• The Feels
• Follow the Prophet
• Friday The 13th – Part II
• Friday the 13th – Part III
• Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
• Getting to Know You
• Goodbye, Butterfly
• Grand Cru
• ★🔸 The Graduate
• ★ Grease
• ★ Grease Live!
• Happy Yummy Chicken
• Hardball
• Here On Out
• I Am A Ghost
• I Like Me
• I've Got Issues
• Iceland is Best (2020)
• Insight
• International Falls
• Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back
• Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero
• Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain
• The Killer Elite (1975) - James Caan movie
• King of Knives
• Kingpin
• Letter from Masanjia
• Lost and Found
• Lost Bayou
• Making Waves
• Man From Reno
• McLintock! (Producer's Cut) - John Wayne & Maureen O'Hara western
• The Middle of X
• Neil Young: Heart Of Gold
• Never Heard
• New Money
• Obey
• ★🔸Once
• ★ Once Upon A Time In The West
• One and the Same
• Paradox Lost
• Perfect Sisters
• ★ Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Prophecy
• Respite
• ★ River's Edge
• Rockaway
• ★ Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
• Scrapper
• Shooter
• 🔸 The Shootist (1976)
• ★ Single White Female
• Still Today
• Surrogate Valentine
• The Wrong Todd
• The Yards
• ★🔸 There Will Be Blood
• To Tokyo
• Trail of Ashes
• Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
• Trickster
• Trigger
• Two Ways Home
• Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
• Urban Cowboy
• Varsity Blues
• Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
• Weepah Way for Now
• Wild Honey Pie!
• ★ Win A Date With Tad Hamilton!
• Writer's Block

later this month

• Beavis and Butthead REBOOT - (8/4)
• Respect (8/10)
• Candyman (but which one) (8/11)
• Secret Headquarters (2022) - superhero family movie starring Owen Wilson (8/12)
• Orphan: First Kill (2022) - horror prequel
• Star Trek: Lower Decks SEASON 3 (8/25)

FINAL FOREVER NOTE You may notice that there are several films repeating across platforms. We're never sure exactly why this is except for that perhaps studios lazily bundle various movies from their catalogues for streaming rights and everyone buys the same bundles? Or perhaps it's due to so many streaming services being part of conglomerates. It's a pity there's not more variety and no curation outside of the purposefully servicing a niche audience like Criterion Channel and Shudder.

* People never believe this but it's 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... 

Comments

[Finbar McBride]

Long before his 1987 Oscar success with The Last Emperor, a younger Bernardo Bertolucci began the 1970s with two profound critical successes The Conformist and Last Tango in Paris. The filmmaker was widely touted as the next Fellini.

Four years later Bertolucci presented his next film, a 517 minute epic exploring the impact of Italian politics. The film 1900 starred Robert De Niro, Gerard Depardieu, Donald Sutherland, and Burt Lancaster. Celebrated cinematographer Vittorio Storaro shot the rich images. Despite the prestigious men associated with the movie, it was not a success. The producer took the film from Bertolucci and cut it to three hours. Bertolucci then agreed to edit the picture to four hours and seven minutes. Different markets received one of the two shortened versions.

The next battle was at the ratings board. The shortened version was rated R, but the original cut received an NC-17 for its full frontal nudity (which included its leads De Niro and Depardieu). I have seen butchered versions of 1900 but never the full film as Bertolucci envisioned. I am hopeful Amazon Prime will stream the little seen uncensored movie.

[Pam]

Really worried about HBO Max too. At least they've kept Casey Bloys on as chief content officer, because he has made some excellent choices. David Zaslav sounds like a real dick, with basically trying to undo everything Jason Kilar put in motion.

Anyhoo, watched Gaslight about 5 times recently in preparation of a radio play adaptation I was in. It certainly holds up and reminds me that George Cukor was one of the best directors of actresses.

Why hasn't anyone on this site been talking about The Last Movie Stars on HBO Max? Where are my old Hollywood peeps?

[Ryan T.]

I actually ended up liking THE GRAY MAN. Perhaps it was the lowered expectations after the "critical drubbing" but Gosling in Jason Bourne-form is apparently my catnip. And the Vienna action sequence is INSANE. And you're right, at 122 minutes, I was shocked that there wasn't a point where I went "geez, why is this movie still not done?" unlike so many other films.

Very worried about HBOMax as well. So good and this whole whatever is happening is just so dispiriting.

[Marsha Mason]

Lucky to have caught "Blue Collar," part of the Yaphet Kotto collection on Criterion, based on a recommendation from somewhere, but where exactly, I'm not sure. Anyway, a charismatic performance from an actor who should have been given more chances to shine. It's a shame Paul Schrader isn't more appreciated; even with not much of a time distance, I think it's clear "First Reformed" and "The Card Counter" will be among the films that speak to our times in a few decades.

[Marcos Celesia]

@Finbar McBride. You forgot to mention the film's title: NOVECENTO.

[Ben Barton]

I'd raise Grey Man to a B+, I actually enjoyed it a hell of a lot. Evans was a hoot.
Carrie is a classic, of course. So is Face/Off, of a different, Woo extravaganza sort.
Pair it w/ Blow Out, one of Travolta and DePalma's best films, great double feature.
Something currently on Prime, that I haven't seen anything about is The Wolf of Snow Hollow-definitely worth your time.

[jules]

I agree with everyone about HBOMax. In addition to their streaming catalogs, their original programming is often terrific. (And relatedly, I would like to see coverage of The Last Movie Stars here.)

Every month, Criterion includes a number of films that I've long wanted to watch but have been unable to find. Blue Collar was on my list, so I'm glad to see it streaming this month - I definitely agree with Marsha Mason that Paul Schrader is underrated. Stanley Donen is another favorite of mine, so I'm excited to finally see Arabesque as well (in the Mancini collection). And while Rouge would have been available from the library, since it's a recent Criterion release, I'm glad it's streaming on the Channel.