What’s Streaming This Week (8/13 - 8/20)
August 15th, 2023
ELEMENTAL - $19.99 (Sale Only)
The comeback story of the summer! When Elemental closed this year’s Cannes Film Festival, it was greeted with a less than rapturous response. The buzz going in to its June 16th launch was underwhelming. But whether it was a lack of kids films, or people connected with it, Elemental hung in there and went from ‘Disaster’ to ‘Not so bad, actually.’ And while it didn’t exactly reach the lofty heights of Pixar’s box-office golden age, the stench of failure was lifted. We expect it to hit Disney+ in September.
KOKOMO CITY - $16.99 Sale/ TBD Rental
Magnolia’s acclaimed documentary Kokomo City arrives on digital Tuesday, 18 days after its theatrical launch. Directed, produced, and edited by D. Smith, it explores the lives of four transgender sex workers in New York and Georgia. The film received the Panorama Audience Award at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival and also won the NEXT Audience & Innovator awards at the 2023 Sundance festival. Well worth checking out.
THE LESSON - $12.99 Sale/ TBD Rental
Stacked with a talented cast (Richard E. Grant, Julie Delpy, Daryl McCormack), this British thriller is bound to play very on home screens. Alice Troughton’s The Lesson didn’t break out in theaters, but Caryn James’s Hollywood Reporter review nicely sums up its appeal, citing "a clever script that keeps us off guard, the setting of a gracious country estate whose sumptuous visuals mask a dark undercurrent, and a score that entices us into an increasingly unsettling world..."
NO HARD FEELINGS - $19.99 (Sale Only)
When No Hard Feelings debuted in theaters in June, there were a lot of questions around whether comedy was still a viable genre for the summer movie season. Could JLaw prove that star-driven comedies still attract audiences? Well…the answer was yes…kinda. Certainly no slouch at $50M domestic and $84M worldwide, the film was well received, but felt like a missed opportunity. Funny, but not funny enough. Should do well on PVOD, then kill when it arrives on Netflix in October.
August 16th, 2023
THE POPE’S EXORCIST - Netflix
Russell Crowe’s glorious schlock era continues. The Pope’s Exorcist is no masterpiece, but will do gangbusters when it arrives on Netflix Wednesday. And for those who can’t get enough of Crowe’s Italian accent, a sequel is reportedly in the works.
August 18th, 2023
BAD THINGS - Shudder, AMC+
Arriving on Shudder and AMC+ Friday, Bad Things follows a group of friends on a weekend getaway at a snowy resort. But peace doesn’t last long as the ghosts of guests past and relationships long buried come to light. Soon enough, their trip transforms into a psychological tailspin and bloody nightmare, as both long-deceased guests and the space itself come to life, and the group turn on each other in a race to stay alive. Hari Nef, recently featured in both Barbie and The Idol, co-stars.
EVERY BODY - Peacock
It never fails. Whenever we post any sort of LGBTQ+ themed films on Twitter, the trolls come out to troll. Every Body brought out the trolls. But it’s a handy way to weed out the assholes. They get blocked. This doc is a fascinating look at the lives of intersex people, and will never be seen by the people who need to see it most. Give it a chance. We learned a lot.
THE MONKEY KING - Netflix
Arriving on Netflix Friday, The Monkey King is an animated fantasy action comedy directed by Anthony Stacchi. The film, inspired by the epic Ming Dynasty classic Journey to the West, features the titular trickster, played by Jimmy O. Yang, who battles the Dragon King (Bowen Yang).
August 19th, 2023
TO CATCH A KILLER - Hulu
What looks like a standard straight-to-streaming thriller actually has a bit of pedigree. Its director, Damián Szifron, was previously Oscar-nominated for the terrific 2014 Spanish-language black comedy Wild Tales. The reviews on this one are pretty mixed, with most agreeing: good direction, good performances, mediocre script. Shailene Woodley and Ben Mendelsohn co-star.
Happy Streaming Everyone!