What’s Streaming This Week (5/5 - 5/12)
Tuesday, May 7th, 2024
ABIGAIL - $24.99 Sale / $19.99 Rental
Universal’s Abigail has sparked a couple of online debates. Issue #1: Did they studio kneecap the effectiveness of the film by revealing a key plot twist in the trailer? Well…we would argue that most trailers overshare. Studios don’t seem to trust moviegoers to be adventurous and take a chance on the unknown. So a film like Abigail, whose major plot twist happens about an hour in to the story, is left with audiences who are way ahead of the characters. Why not use the trailer to tease, not spell out? Issue #2: Does the box-office disappointment of Abigail prove that horror as a genre has peaked? No. Dumb take. Horror is probably the only category that’s still consistently profitable and also producing innovative variations on the genre. Some of the most exciting filmmaking is coming from horror, and while Abigail might not be at the forefront of that innovation, the genre is alive and well (and thriving).
FOUNDERS DAY - $12.99 Sale / TBD Rental
In this satirical political slasher, a small town is shaken by a series of ominous killings in the days leading up to a heated mayoral election. As accusations fly and the threat of a masked killer darkens every street corner, the residents must race to uncover the truth before fear consumes the town. Founders Day got mostly negative reviews from critics, though it does have its defenders. All credit to writer/director brothers Erik and Carsen Bloomquist for getting this low-budget horror film in over 700 theaters earlier this year. We’ll be checking it out.
KIM’S VIDEO - $9.99 Sale / TBD Rental
Physical media reigns supreme in documentary Kim’s Video, an elegiac tribute to the iconic video store in New York City that inspired a generation of cinephiles before it mysteriously closed its doors and sent its legendary film archive to a small and slightly dubious Sicilian village for “safekeeping.” Playing with the forms and tropes of various cinema genres, filmmakers David Redmon and Ashley Sabin set off on a quest to find the lost video collection. Spoiler alert: Kim’s Video is back!
LA CHIMERA - $14.99 Sale / TBD Rental
Filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera was very well-received at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, and later in the year was named one of the top 5 international films of the year by the National Board of Review. The film centers on a young British archaeologist (Josh O’Connor) who gets involved in an international network of stolen Etruscan artifacts during the 1980s. O’Connor’s star is on the rise, having won a Best Lead Actor Emmy for his work on Netflix’s The Crown, and currently burning up the screen in Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers. And while the churro scene in that film has gone viral, we tip our cap to the La Chimera/Josh O’Connor fan edit:
Thursday, May 9th, 2024
MOTHER OF THE BRIDE - Netflix
This looks like a perfectly pleasant Netflix rom-com! It’s got Brooke Shields (pleasant!). It’s got Miranda Cosgrove (pleasant!). It’s got Benjamin Bratt (pleasant!). It was directed by Mark Waters (WHAT??!!!). Mark Waters…the director of Mean Girls, Freaky Friday, The House of Yes. Iconic films. Sure, he’s delivered some stinkers: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Bad Santa 2. But, in our eyes, if you’ve directed some classics, we’ll always be rooting for you. We hope you got a nice paycheck, Mark Waters. And we hope it was fun filming in Phuket, Thailand, where this film takes place.
Friday, May 10th, 2024
EILEEN - Hulu
Eileen made a splash when it premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, but then never really caught on in theaters last December. The film’s director, William Oldroyd, memorably introduced Florence Pugh to the world in his terrific 2016 film Lady Macbeth. Seven years later, he’s back with another showcase for a trio of talented actresses: Thomasin McKenzie, Anne Hathaway, and Marin Ireland. The latter two were nominated at the Independent Spirit Awards in the Best Supporting Performance category. Eileen is a noir set in 1960s Massachusetts, and trails the parasitic relationship between two women working at a juvenile detention facility. We hope it gets some attention when it hits Hulu this week.
FORCE OF NATURE: THE DRY 2 - $14.99 Sale / TBD Rental
A sequel to the 2020 film The Dry, and based on the 2017 novel Force of Nature by Jane Harper, this IFC Films release stars Eric Bana, reprising his role as Aaron Falk, and co-stars Anna Torv, Deborra-Lee Furness, Robin McLeavy, Sisi Stringer, Lucy Ansell, Jacqueline McKenzie, Tony Briggs, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor and Richard Roxburgh. Fantastic cast! We love a good Aussie mystery, even if we’ll probably need to fire up the subtitles. And great to see ex-Mrs. Hugh Jackman Deborra-Lee Furness, who hasn’t acted in a film since voicing a character in 2010’s Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, which always reminds us of Jeff Hiller’s line reading on 30 Rock:
THE IRON CLAW - Max
Director Sean Durkin broke out in a big way in 2011 with his debut feature Martha Marcy May Marlene, which won him the US Director’s Award at that year’s Sundance Film Festival. It took a while for his follow-up, 2020’s The Nest, which was released in the middle of the pandemic, but has slowly built a cult following. Now he’s come back in a big way with The Iron Claw, which has become his biggest commercial success by far. The story of the wrestling Von Erich family, the film features a break-out performance from Zac Efron, who transforms himself as heavyweight champion Kevin Von Erich. He really should have gotten Oscar consideration, and we have a feeling this film will only grow in estimation as more people discover it on Max.
THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE - $24.99 Sale / $19.99 Rental
Guy Ritchie has become the Nicholas Cage of directors. The man is prolific! The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is Ritchie’s sixth film in five years. Some have been hits (2019’s Aladdin, unfortunately), most have been box-office underachievers. Still, he’s been cranking out some fun genre films, and Ministry looks to be one his better received efforts. Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding and Alex Pettyfer star, and it looks like the men have been styled by Tom of Finland. Based on the 2014 book Churchill's Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII by Damien Lewis, the film portrays a heavily fictionalized version of Operation Postmaster. We’re excited to catch up with it.
THE TASTE OF THINGS - AMC+
Vietnamese filmmaker Tran Anh Hung burst on to the world film stage in 1993 with The Scent of Green Papaya, which was Oscar-nominated for Best Foreign Language Film (as it was still called then), losing the prize to Fernando Trueba’s Belle Époque. When France made the controversial decision to submit The Taste of Things as their International Feature entry over Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall, the knives came out for the film. How could they pass up such a sure-thing nominee? As it turned out, the criticism was warranted. The Taste of Things failed to received a nomination, and Justine Triet’s drama became an Oscar darling. But The Taste of Things is no Oscar villain. It’s an immensely charming and satisfying love story, and one of the all-time great food movies. Not to be missed.
Saturday, May 11th, 2024
THE BOOK OF CLARENCE - Netflix
Look at this cast: LaKeith Stanfield, Omar Sy, RJ Cyler, Anna Diop, David Oyelowo, Micheal Ward, Alfre Woodard, Teyana Taylor, Caleb McLaughlin, Eric Kofi-Abrefa, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, James McAvoy, Benedict Cumberbatch. LOOK AT THAT CAST! And this reported $40M production couldn’t get anyone to bite. Not even with Jay-Z as a producer. The film earned only $6M worldwide, and now gets another chance to find an audience on Netflix. And this film deserves another look.
Happy Streaming Everyone!
*We are an Amazon affiliate, and do receive a very small commission for any purchases made from this website. If you’d like to support our work, and you’re looking to buy through Amazon, we’d appreciate it if you’d click through.
