What’s Streaming This Week (6/2 - 6/9)
Monday, June 3rd, 2024
I.S.S. - Paramount+ w/Showtime
What we like:
Great premise: Tensions flare in the near future aboard the International Space Station as a worldwide conflict breaks out on Earth. Reeling, the US and Russian astronauts aboard each receive orders from the ground: take control of the station by any means necessary.
Low-budget (~$13M) sci-fi thrillers. Not everything needs to cost $100M, and we’d rather have 8 or 9 more of these kinds of genre films than just a handful of bloated blockbusters every year.
What we don’t like:
Critics were split on this one, with some calling it tense and effective, and others calling it a bore.
Tuesday, June 4th, 2024
BACK TO BLACK - $24.99 Sale / $19.99 Rental
What we like:
Lead Marisa Abela gamely takes on the role of Amy Winehouse, and even does her own singing. That’s ballsy. She’s a terrific actress who we love on HBO’s extremely entertaining series Industry.
It’s always great to see Lesley Manville, who plays the singer’s beloved grandmother.
What we don’t like:
Hoo boy…where do we start? Well, the film certainly seems to whitewash the role both Winehouse’s parents and husband Blake Fielder-Civil played in her struggles with addiction. Not surprising considering Winehouse’s father is an executive producer on the film.
While competently made and well-acted, this feels like a very rote music biopic that’s not worthy of its talented subject.
EXHUMA - $14.99 Sale Only
What we like:
Director Jang Jae-hyun announces himself as a major talent with this creepy supernatural horror film, which was a big hit in its native South Korea.
Folk horror, which we usually associate with European-based stories of isolated communities and terrifying rituals. But Exhuma can be viewed as Korean folk horror, with issues of cultural identity and intergenerational curses brimming under the surface.
What we don’t like:
Many of the cultural and historical references might go over viewers’ heads. It may require a little homework to get the full experience, but it’s worth it.
THE OLD OAK - $12.99 Sale / TBD Rental
What we like:
Legendary filmmaker Ken Loach returns with another humanist, empathetic film. This one tells the story of a landlord in a previously thriving mining community who struggles to hold onto his pub. At the same time, tensions rise in the town when Syrian refugees are placed in the empty houses in the community.
Loach’s last two films, 2016’s I, Daniel Blake and 2019’s Sorry We Missed You, were both filled with more despair than most of his previous films. It almost seemed as if the filmmaker had lost faith in humanity (who can blame him?). The Old Oak is more hopeful.
What we don’t like:
Loach has said that this will be his last film. We’ll see if the 87-year old director really is finished, but his compassionate sensibility will be sorely missed.
Wednesday, June 5th, 2024
UNDER PARIS - Netflix
What we like:
A shark movie. Like pizza: even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.
Director Xavier Gens proved he could handle action in Mayhem!, his pulpy, gory flick from earlier this year. We have high hopes the underwater kills in this one will be just as thrilling.
We love that this is set against the backdrop of the upcoming Paris Olympics. A true time capsule!
What we don’t like:
It sounds like the film could be pulled from the platform due to legal proceedings brought by a writer-director, who claims it was developed without his knowledge from an original idea he registered with France’s rights management body. Mon dieu.
Thursday, June 6th, 2024
AM I OK? - Max
What we like:
Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne’s comedy/drama finally makes it’s way to Max. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival all the way back in January of 2022.
A real acting showcase for lead Dakota Johnson, who needs to remind audiences what a good actress she can be after the disastrous Madame Web.
Co-lead Sonoya Mizuno is a star in the making. And she’ll be all over Max in June, as she’s a pivotal character on the Game of Thrones spin-off House of Dragons.
What we don’t like:
Warner Bros shenanigans. It really shouldn’t take this long for a film to premiere after its festival launch. Still, we suppose we should be happy they didn’t use it as a tax write-off.
PERFECT DAYS - Hulu
What we like:
Wim Wenders. The German director received his fourth Oscar nomination for this Japanese production. But it was his first nomination for a narrative feature, as his previous three nominations were for documentary features.
Lead Koji Yakusho won the Best Actor prize at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, which was incredibly well-deserved. He carries this deeply affecting movie on his shoulders.
Japanese public toilets! They look incredible!
What we don’t like:
Yakusho really should have gotten an Oscar nomination.
Friday, June 7th, 2024
HIT MAN - Netflix
What we like:
Richard Linklater is back in peak form after a couple of underwhelming (though not disastrous) misfires. Last Flag Flying was a miss. Where’d You Go, Bernadette? never quite got there for us.
Glen Powell continues to burnish his A-list status. After the surprising smash success of Anyone But You, and the likely upcoming blockbuster Twisters, the man is on a roll. Plus, he’s a co-screenwriter on this one. He really can do it all!
What we don’t like:
We hate, hate, hate that this is a Netflix release. Yes, the streamer gave it a perfunctory theatrical release over Memorial Day weekend. But this would have been a fantastic theatrical summer movie. It’s made to be seen with an audience. What a missed opportunity. Glad the investors got paid, at least.
HOUSEKEEPING FOR BEGINNERS - Peacock
What we like:
Macedonian Australian director Goran Stolevski’s third film with Focus Features, after 2022’s You Won’t Be Alone and Of An Age. Nice to see a studio get behind a talented filmmaker.
It’s great to see Romanian actress Anamaria Marinca again. She was unforgettable in the 2007 abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days.
What we don’t like:
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: We’re worried about our beloved Focus Features. They’ve had flop after flop this year. But we appreciate their commitment to releasing challenging movies like these in theaters.
MONSTER - MUBI US
What we like:
We’ve been fans of director Hirokazu Kore-eda since his 1995 debut Mabarosi. His latest was honored with the Queer Palm at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, where it also won the Best Screenplay prize for writer Yuji Sakamoto.
Kore-eda’s mastery of directing child performances. The two child leads, Sōya Kurokawa and Hinata Hiiragi, are unforgettable in the film.
What we don’t like:
The film was the last scoring project by Ryuichi Sakamoto (no relation to writer Yuji Sakamoto), who died two months before its release; the film is dedicated to his memory.
NO WAY UP - AMC+
What we like:
As we mention before, we love a shark movie. This on finds characters from different backgrounds thrown together when the plane they're travelling on crashes into the Pacific Ocean. A nightmare fight for survival ensues with the air supply running out and dangers creeping in from all sides.
What we don’t like:
The film rips off the plot of one of favorite disaster camp classics from the 70’s, Airport ‘77. That film’s characters didn’t have to contend with sharks, but they did have to deal with a hysterical Lee Grant, whose performance is just perfect. We just don’t get scenes like this anymore:
THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1 - $24.99 Sale / $19.99 Rental
What we like:
Director Renny Harlin has delivered some quality action films that have stood the test of time. Die Hard 2: Die Harder is a worthy sequel. The Long Kiss Goodnight is deeply underrated. And Deep Blue Sea is an actually great shark movie (yes, we’re in the bag for shark movies).
The original 2008 film The Strangers is honestly terrifying. We have an irrational fear of home invasions, so it hit a nerve.
What we don’t like:
From the buzz online, it sounds like this prequel is truly terrible. Like…inept terrible.
What made the original 2008 film so effective was that it didn’t over-explain. Liv Tyler’s character asks: ‘Why are you doing this to us?’ The killer responds: ‘Because you were home.’ HORRIFYING! But guess what this prequel (and subsequent chapters, we assume) does? It gives context! Way to remove what makes it so terrifying! Dumb.
Two more of these are on the way.
Happy Streaming Everyone!
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