Streaming TV picks: Highlighting seven films, including V for Vendetta and A Face in the Crowd
Curating a mix of streaming movies worth exploring, including the first social media influencer going all the way back to 1957. Also: do you “Remember, remember the Fifth of November”?
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Inspired by the list of films watched by Movierob.com in this article, let’s take a closer look at some of these movies, and where to find them.
Wedding Crashers: The towering talents of Vincent Vaughn are on full display here, and it was surprising if not outright shocking to discover the abundance of laughs found in this 2005 critical and commercial success.
Available for rent at these streaming services.
(Please note that all similar links throughout this article are courtesy of Reelgood.com.)
Coherence: A top ten personal all-time favorite, it’s nice finding other sites discovering this 2014 gem. At a cost of only $50,000, filmed at the director’s house with a group of unknown actors who were given virtually no script and only the most basic information on their characters, this is a captivating 90 minute film that today feels like an extended, brain-teasing Black Mirror inspired story of a dinner party that goes very wrong.
Click play, turn down the lights, and enjoy.
Readily available now for subscriber’s of Amazon Prime and Hulu. It’s truly impossible to give this a higher recommendation. Here is the complete list of streaming TV options for Coherence.
A Face in the Crowd: Period pieces like the Netflix series “Hollywood”, and the always great “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” are fun to watch. But let’s go back in time to see what it was really like living in 1950’s America with this 1957 film by one of Hollywood’s greatest directors, Elia Kazan. Check out the cast lead: It’s Andy Griffith making his film debut. A story about the dangers of social media long before the concept of social media existed. A spell-binding performance by one of our American icons.
Synopsis: A radio and TV host drunk with power aspires to sway and control the masses for a Senator running for the President of the US. His long time producer finally sees the problem with the personality she has created.
Good news…For the small percentage of you able to access HBO MAX, it is available right now. Here’s the complete list of streaming TV options.
That Thing You Do!: Tom Hanks may have become this generation’s Jimmy Stewart, but in 1996 he put on a director’s hat for the first time, and of course because it’s Tom Hanks, he succeeded.
From Movierob’s review:
The cast of young actors are great and they really help personify the feeling that these are real friends and real musicians who want to cheer for as they begin their rise to stardom and coast-to-coast recognition. I’m glad that Hanks only gives himself a small part here so that he doesn’t in any way overshadow the story or the young actors.
V for Vendetta: Another film near and dear to my heart, and a tremendously important movie to watch in the year 2020. This is a dystopian presentation of what a true authoritarian government looks like, a morally ambiguous battle between anarchy and fascism.
The film is an adaptation of the stunning work of art created by writer Alan Moore, his “V for Vendetta” comic series was originally published in the early 1980’s as an unfinished series in the U.K. magazine “Warrior”, it would later be completed and released in a 10 issue limited series by D.C. Comics in 1989.
This is the same Alan Moore famous for one of the most important and impactful works of 20th-century literature, his graphic novel Watchmen, which in turn would inspire 2019’s Emmy award winning HBO series, a show that would receive 26 Emmy nominations and 11 wins, including Outstanding Limited Series.
“People shouldn’t be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.” — V
Here’s a page from the source material, as well as the original trailer from 2013.
The Candidate: In case the last few months of election coverage isn’t enough for you, there’s always this option. An Oscar winner for Best Original Screenplay, 1972’s The Candidate stars Robert Redford as the inexperienced Democratic candidate plucked from obscurity, trying to win an unwinnable campaign against the highly favored GOP opponent.
A witty comedy only partially disguised as a serious political drama, Redford was brilliantly cast for this role as a fish out of water, the candidate with no chance to win suddenly realizing he just may have a knack for this election thing. Add in Peter Boyle, plus ‘real life’ appearances of classic 1970 personalities such as George McGovern, Hubert Humphrey and Natalie Wood, and you have a winner, with no recount required.
Readily available now on HBO Max; here’s the complete list of streaming options.
The Way, Way Back: A 2013 indie-comedy, this coming of age summer flick is packed with quite a cast: Sam Rockwell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, Maya Rudolph and Steve Carell.
Salon.com also enjoyed this fun, smart, and entertaining movie, describing it as:
….beautifully executed, loaded with sharp observational moments, and never cheats either its characters or its audience by descending into raunchy teen-movie cliché. This is a delicately balanced and often very funny holiday alternative suitable for pretty much the entire family; there’s some adult-oriented humor, but nothing that would pose a problem for kids older than 11 or 12.
You can rent this on all of these streaming television options.
Thank you for reading. I’ll have plenty of more streaming TV offerings to follow.
This article was originally presented as part of our weekly Streaming TV recommendations newsletter. Here’s the article, published October 17, 2020.
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