What’s Streaming This Week (12/24 - 12/31)
December 26th, 2023
SOUND OF FREEDOM - Prime Video
Angel Studio’s summer ‘pay it forward’ blockbuster arrives on Prime Video this week, and there’s no denying the film is the biggest indie success story of the year. On a reported budget of $14.5M, it grossed $184M domestically and $250M worldwide. The film became a lightening rod in the culture wars, with Mel Gibson, Ben Shapiro, Elon Musk, Tim Tebow, and the Family Research Council all giving it their endorsement. Donald Trump hosted a screening of the film at his Bedminster country club. But it’s worth noting that it did receive some positive reviews when it first launched, including from Variety’s Owen Gleiberman. His thoughtful review is worth a read, even if you disagree with him. Anyway...if you’re a film fan who likes to take in the entire breadth of the movie year, here’s your chance to watch a film that, like it or not, was one of the defining titles of 2023.
December 29th, 2023
THE HOLDOVERS - Peacock
Alexander Payne’s crowd-pleaser arrives on Peacock not quite in time for Christmas. No matter though. It’s likely to become a perennial holiday re-watch for many. Much has been said about about the terrific performances of Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and newcomer Dominic Sessa, and they’re all deservedly getting Oscar buzz. But we’d like to focus on something that, to us, is an underrated virtue of a successful holiday film: The cold. To us, holiday movies need to feel cold (temperature-wise, not in tone). The Holdovers looks convincingly cold. The snow looks real. One of our core definitions of cozy is ‘going from cold to warm.’ And a film can’t give you cozy if it can’t convince you it’s cold. The Holdovers is more than cozy, of course. It’s funny, prickly, melancholy and sometimes sad. And to us, it’s one of the best of the year.
IT LIVES INSIDE - Hulu
We’re excited to catch up with Bishal Dutta’s supernatural horror film, which didn’t make much noise when NEON released it in theaters in September. The film’s story is influenced by Indian demonic mythology as Dutta explains, his own experience as an Indian immigrant in America:
“After I moved to North America from India at the age of four, a lot of my social education came from watching American horror films. I always wondered, what were families like mine doing while Bruce the shark tore through Amity’s waters, while Freddy Krueger slashed teenagers in the dreamscape, and while Jack Torrance chased his son through the maze-like halls of the Overlook? As it developed, It Lives Inside formed its own dual identity much like mine. On one hand, it is a love letter to the community and culture that raised me while on the other, it is a visceral experience that is designed to instill the same raw terror in its viewers that my favorite horror films instilled in me.”
That’s it! A quiet week for new releases. Happy Streaming Everyone!
