What’s Streaming This Week (6/9 - 6/16)
Monday, June 10th, 2024
ORIGIN - Hulu
What we like:
Director Ava Duvernay continues to choose challenging projects with fascinating subject matter. Origin is based on the life of Isabel Wilkerson as she writes the book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Over the course of the film, Wilkerson travels throughout Germany, India, and the United States to research the caste systems in each country's history.
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor gets a meaty lead role after her Oscar nomination for King Richard, and she delivers.
What we don’t like:
It sounds like there was some tension between the filmmaker and the distributor.
Tuesday, June 11th, 2024
UNSUNG HERO - $14.99 Sale / TBD Rental
What we like:
We love a rags to riches story! This one follows follows Rebecca, Joel, and Luke Smallbone of the group For King & Country, and their life journey to become Christian recording artists.
Donny Most, better known to us as Ralph Malph from the television series Happy Days, has a small role in the film. He’s billed as Don Most, which is understandable. Much like Debbie Gibson transitioned to Deborah Gibson, artists must sometimes shed their adolescent nicknames to be taken seriously.
What we don’t like:
We’re not huge fans of Candace Cameron-Bure, who has a supporting role in the film. Her brand of soft bigotry cloaked in Christian morality sucks.
Thursday, June 13th, 2024
BRATS - Hulu
What we like:
A deep dive in to the Brat Pack, and the impact that branding had on their lives and careers? And it’s directed by Brat Pack-er Andrew McCarthy? Inject this directly in to our veins, please!
McCarthy gets interviews with most of the major players: Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore, and some Brat Pack-adjacent actors like Lea Thompson, Timothy Hutton, and Jon Cryer.
What we don’t like:
Two crucial members of the Brat Pack are absent. Both Molly Ringwald and Judd Nelson declined to participate.
REMEMBERING GENE WILDER - Netflix
What we like:
Gene Wilder. His filmography is littered with stone cold classics like Bonnie & Clyde, The Producers, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silver Streak, and Stir Crazy.
We love a documentary that serves up tons of film clips and gives due to one of the most underrated film stars of the 20th century.
Who else could sell this bit from Woody Allen’s Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask):
What we don’t like:
Well…if we’re being honest, Wilder had his share of duds. Haunted Honeymoon. Hanky Panky. The Woman in Red. They can’t all be Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles.
Friday, June 14th, 2024
EXHUMA - Shudder, AMC+
What we like:
We wrote about this film last week, and we love that it’s hitting Shudder so soon after its digital release.
A quick shout-out to Shudder. The service continues to be the gold standard in horror curation.
What we don’t like:
I SAW THE TV GLOW - $24.99 Sale / $19.99 Rental
What we like:
Director Jane Schoenbrun’s follow up to 2021’s We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is a knockout. The film follows two troubled young friends whose connection to their favorite TV show drives them to question their reality and identities.
The stellar cast includes Justice Smith, Brigitte Lundy-Paine, Danielle Deadwyler, and Fred Durst (!).
Lots of discussion about how the film is an allegory for the trans experience. We love writer Emily St. James’s perspective at Vulture.
What we don’t like:
We wish this had performed better at the box-office. A24 definitely gave it a proper theatrical release, but the film failed to crack $5M in the US. Still, it should have a healthy post-theatrical life.
MONKEY MAN - Peacock
What we like:
Dev Patel, director. It’s great to see this talented actor get a shot behind the camera. Here’s hoping the (relative) success of this film gets him more opportunities.
Jordan Peele, producer. Peele rescued the film from a straight-to-streaming fate (it was originally at Netflix) and helped convince Universal to give it a proper theatrical release.
Universal, studio. We’ll keep singing their praises: Universal is keeping a steady stream of films (we refuse to call it ‘product’) in theaters. Yes, their windows are short. But they have more than 20 features on their schedule in 2024, significantly more than all other studios.
What we don’t like:
Peacock is getting more expensive. Beginning July 18, new customers will pay more for subscriptions: $8 per month for Peacock Premium and $14 a month for Peacock Premium Plus -- both are $2 increases. Annual plans will see a significant bump from $60 per year to $80 for Premium, while Premium Plus will go up from $120 to $140 a year.
ULTRAMAN: RISING - Netflix
What we like:
This animated Netflix superhero film follows Ken Sato, a famous but egotistical baseball player living a secret life as the giant superhero Ultraman. He’s forced to balance his career and hero duties while reluctantly adopting a baby kaiju after defeating her mother.
The film’s voice cast includes Christopher Sean as Ken Sato/Ultraman, along with Tamlyn Tomita, Keone Young, Julia Harriman, and the legendary Gedde Watanabe!
What we don’t like:
The animation looks cool, and Ultraman is an iconic superhero, but the kaiju stuff makes it seem very young-skewing. Maybe not for us (and that’s ok!).
Happy Streaming Everyone!
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