What’s Streaming This Week (1/7 - 1/14)
January 8th, 2024
GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT - Max
Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s 2023 documentary premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize for the US documentary competition. The film covers American poet Nikki Giovanni's life and the historical periods she lived through, from the civil rights movement and Black Arts Movement to Black Lives Matter. It is narrated by actress Taraji P. Henson, and will begin streaming on Max concurrently with its linear television premiere on HBO at 9p ET. Worth noting that it’s nominated for Best Documentary at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, and has also been short listed for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar.
January 9th, 2024
BEYOND UTOPIA - Hulu
Another acclaimed doc that premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, this one received the Audience Award in the US Documentary Competition. And like Going to Mars, it’s also been short listed for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar. Madeleine Gavin’s film centers around Pastor Seungeun Kim, a South Korean human rights activist and director of the Caleb Mission, which has rescued over 1,000 North Korean defectors since 2000. The film uses first-hand account handheld footage to illustrate the harrowing nature of these escapes. If you don’t have a Hulu subscription, the film will also be airing at 9p ET on most PBS stations via their Independent Lens program.
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SHERE HITE - $14.99 Sale / TBD Rental
Big week for doc lovers! Nicole Newnham’s acclaimed film follows the life of American-born German sex educator and feminist Shere Hite, whose work built upon biological studies of sex by Masters and Johnson and by Alfred Kinsey and was the author of The Hite Report on Female Sexuality. It remains one of the best selling non-fiction books of all time, but has virtually no present day cultural awareness. Newnham’s previous film, which she co-directed with James LeBrecht, was the Oscar-nominated doc Crip Camp. Dakota Johnson both narrates and executive produces Shere Hite, and we imagine she has her sights set on a juicy biopic. We can’t wait to catch up with this one.
NAPOLEON - $24.99 Sale / $19.99 Rental
Ridley’s Scott’s historical epic performed decently at the US box-office (~$61M), but it really killed internationally, where it’s approaching $150M. That’s all cushion change for Apple, of course, but it demonstrates how much money companies like Netflix are leaving on the table by cutting out theatrical. Napoleon hits PVOD after a 48-day exclusive theatrical window, which is in line with what they did with Killers of the Flower Moon. No word yet on a director’s cut release. Apple will likely exhaust all revenue streams for the theatrical cut before they put out any other versions. Look for this Napoleon to hit Apple TV+ in February (our prediction is February 9th).
WAITRESS: THE MUSICAL - $14.99 Sale Only
Bleecker Street’s biggest hit of the year is another example of a non-traditional release hitting a bullseye with its target audience. Originally planned as a one-week theatrical release through Fathom Events, the film extended its run after sell-outs across the country. The film is a live stage recording of Sara Bareilles and Jessie Nelson's 2015 musical of the same name, based on the 2007 film written by Adrienne Shelly. Shelly was an actress/director who was tragically murdered in 2006, before the release of Waitress. Her story was told in the 2021 documentary Adrienne, which can be streamed on Max.
January 11th, 2024
AFTER EVERYTHING - Netflix
The success of the ‘After’ movie series kind of fascinates us, mostly because the titles are so hilariously banal. It started with ‘After’ in 2019, then ‘After We Collided’ in 2020, then ‘After We Fell’ in 2021, then ‘After Ever Happy’ in 2022, and now ‘After Everything.’ The whole series feels AI-generated. Still…we don’t want to yuck anybody’s yum. They clearly have their fans. And there are two prequels in the works, the first of which is reportedly titled…of course….’Before.’ Perfect. No notes.
January 12th, 2024
FREMONT - MUBI US
Fremont co-writer Carolina Cavalli is having quite a year. Her directorial debut AMANDA was released in the States last summer, and now her collaboration with Iranian filmmaker Babak Jalali is poised to find an audience on streaming. The film is the story of Donya, an Afghan refugee and former translator adjusting to life in Fremont, California. It’s a terrific film, one whose profile should be raised by red-hot co-star Jeremy Allen White. Get him on the poster Music Box Films! He loves to be photographed!
HE WENT THAT WAY - $14.99 Sale / TBD Rental
There’s no doubt Jacob Elordi’s star is on the rise. His performances in Priscilla and Saltburn have raised his profile to make him one of Hollywood’s most sought-after leading men. But it’s always interesting to see what films pop up after someone becomes red-hot. We see it as a kind of filmography throat-clearing. He Went That Way premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival (often a red-flag), and was savaged by critics. Still…we can’t help but intrigued by the plot description: The film follows Jim Goodwin, an animal trainer accompanied by his pet chimpanzee, who picks up a hitchhiker later revealed to be a serial killer. It is inspired by real life events involving serial killer Larry Lee Ranes. Tragically, the film’s director was killed in a surfing accident in 2022.
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON - Apple TV+
Martin Scorsese’s latest arrives on Apple TV+ a few weeks before Oscar nominations are announced. The film is expected to be one of the nomination leaders, but it will be interesting to see how it does in the acting categories. Lily Gladstone is a Best Actress shoo-in (we think she’ll win in March), but Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro are looking a little shaky. Apple’s timing on the SVOD release couldn’t be better, as the Academy voting period begins on January 11th. The film will likely see a big jump in online chatter. Cultural relevance matters to many Oscar voters, and Barbenheimer has been dominating the cultural conversation. Here’s hoping this next phase of the Killers of the Flower Moon release helps remind the Academy what a landmark film it is.
LIFT - Netflix
Director F. Gary Gray deserves respect. Gray made his feature film directorial debut with the 1995 comedy Friday (a classic), and has directed the films Set It Off (a classic), The Negotiator (great), The Italian Job (great), Be Cool (fine), Law Abiding Citizen (underrated), and Straight Outta Compton (great). He also directed The Fate of the Furious (fine), which is the 23rd-highest-grossing film of all time! Seriously…the man has a kick-ass filmography. So we’re going to watch Lift with open hearts and open minds. And we’re rooting for F. Gary Gray to get the respect he deserves.
ROLE PLAY - Prime Video
Role Play features a murderer’s row of actors we’d watch in anything: Kaley Cuoco, David Oyelowo, Bill Nighy, Connie Nielsen. But..if we’re being honest…Role Play might test that statement. It looks…pretty forgettable. The plot is described by Amazon MGM Studios as follows: ‘Emma has a wonderful husband and two kids in the suburbs of New Jersey—she also has a secret life as an assassin for hire, a secret that her husband David discovers when the couple decide to spice up their marriage with a little role play.’ We just successfully avoided The Family Plan (though it looks like we were in the minority), and now we have another secret assassin story? Please Hollywood. Let’s move on from this trope.
SELF RELIANCE - Hulu
This is more like it. Written, directed by and starring Jake Johnson in his feature length directorial debut, Self Reliance stars Anna Kendrick, Natalie Morales, Mary Holland, Emily Hampshire, Christopher Lloyd, and Wayne Brady. Johnson plays a disillusioned man who receives an invitation to win $1 million by taking part in a reality television game on the dark web. For 30 days, he must outwit hunters attempting to kill him. He realizes there's a loophole to the game – the hunters can only attack him when he's alone – so he attempts to convince friends, family and total strangers that the game is real, and that they must stay with him 24/7. Is this technically a secret assassin plot? Maybe! But it sure sounds a hell of a lot better.
Happy Streaming Everyone!
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