Now Stream This: 'Mother!', 'Unsane', 'Excalibur', 'Miami Vice', 'Outland', 'Enemy' And More

Release Date: 2017Genre: Weirdo What-The-FuckeryDirector: Darren AronofskyCast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffermother! is, without question, a polarizing film. You'll either love how absolutely batshit it is, or you'll despise every second of it. I'm in the former category. Darren Aronofsky's horror movie meditation on tortured artists and their toxic self-importance isn't for everyone, but I know it's for me. Jennifer Lawrence is a young woman who just wants to live in peace with her much older husband, a writer played by Javier Bardem. Things go to hell very quickly when a stranger, played by Ed Harris, shows up at their door. Rather than turn this strange man away, Bardem invites him to spend the night. Then, the next day, Harris' wife, played by a wonderfully boozy Michelle Pfeiffer, stops by as well. Thing escalate quickly from there. For its first hour, mother! seems like your standard thriller. Then, at some point, the film goes completely off the rails, turning into a nightmarish tale of biblical proportions. Things descend into absolute chaos, as Lawrence is put through the wringer. A blend of brutality and extremely black humor, mother! is designed to appall as much as is it is to entertain. Is Aronofsky screwing with his audience? Maybe. That doesn't make the film any less special.For fans of: Black Swan, Noah, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, unbraced sinks.

Release Date: 2018Genre: ThrillerDirector: Steven SoderberghCast: Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard, Jay Pharoah, Juno Temple, Aimee MullinsSteven Soderbergh's Unsane came and went with little attention, which is a damn shame! This isn't high-art, nor is it Soderbergh's best, but it's a delightful B-movie throw-back. The type of flick William Castle might have produced back in the day. Shot on iPhones, Unsane follows a woman (Claire Foy, frantic and fantastic, even though her American accent keeps slipping) who accidentally commits herself to a mental hospital. That's bad enough to begin with, but to make matters worse, a man who has been stalking Foy – played with creepy bland menace by The Blair Witch Project's Joshua Leonard – just happens to work at this particular mental hospital. Foy desperately tries to tell everyone about this development, but the staff all think she's crazy – why else would she be in a mental hospital? Scary and unrelenting, Unsane builds toward a delightfully cheeky climax, complete with a freeze-frame final shot for the ages.For fans of: A Cure for Wellness, Side Effects, Strait-Jacket, the name Sawyer Valentini.

Release Date: 1998Genre: Sexy Crime Thriller ComedyDirector: Steven SoderberghCast: George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Dennis Farina, Albert Brooks

What the!? Two Steven Soderbergh movies back-to-back on this list? Have I gone crazy (or Unsane)? I normally like to keep this column diverse, and offer films from different filmmakers. But as both Unsane and Out of Sight are currently available to stream right now, I thought it would be a fascinating contrast to suggest both to you, dear reader. Because these films, while from the same filmmaker, couldn't be more dissimilar. Unsane is unpolished, unsettling and raw, while Out of Sight is stylish, sexy and fun. Adapting Elmore Leonard's novel of the same name, Soderbergh and editor Anne V. Coates create an unconventional crime caper about a crook (George Clooney) and an officer of the law (Jennifer Lopez) who are attracted to each other despite their very different fields. There's a lot more going on here, but it's secondary to the performances from Clooney and Lopez. The two have dynamite chemistry together, and it's kind of a tragedy that no one has reunited them for another film since.

For fans of: Jackie Brown, Get Shorty, The Limey, cameo appearances from Michael Keaton.

Release Date: 1981Genre: Fantasy EpicDirector: John BoormanCast: Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren, Nicholas Clay, Cherie Lunghi, Paul Geoffrey, Nicol Williamson, Liam Neeson, Patrick StewartJohn Boorman takes the legend of King Arthur and molds it into this broad, trippy fantasy epic loaded with sex, swords and swagger. Boorman had previously been trying to mount a film adaptation of Lord of the Rings. When that didn't happen, he went off and made this, a re-telling of the Arthurian legend shot through hazy filters and loaded with booming music from Trevor Jones. If Excalibur has a flaw, it's that Nigel Terry, playing Arthur, is a bit forgettable. Thankfully, everyone around him is very memorable, particularly Nicol Williamson, playing the sorcerer Merlin. Excalibur is so ambitious, so over-loaded, that it's somewhat of a mess. But what a beautiful mess it is. This movie will sweep you off your feet.For fans of: The Lord of the Rings franchise, Conan the Barbarian, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Helen Freakin' Mirren.

Release Date: 2013Genre: DramaDirector: David Gordon GreenCast: Nicolas Cage, Tye Sheridan, Gary PoulterNicolas Cage gets a lot of guff for his over-the-top performances, but every now and then, he delivers something subtle as well. The best most recent example of this is Joe, a film featuring some of Cage's best work. Here, the actor plays a gruff, stand-offish boss of a lumber crew. Cage's hard exterior chisels a bit as he takes a new, very young team member (Tye Sheridan) under his wing. Sheridan comes from a very broken home, and Cage tries his best to look out for the kid. Joe hails from David Gordon Green, a filmmaker who somehow balances quiet, thoughtful indie films like this with broad, stoner comedies like Pineapple Express (and also high-profile reboots like the upcoming Halloween). Green has a light touch here, presenting Joe is a very matter-of-fact, no-frills way. He's content to let his actors do the heavy lifting, which they do, and then some. Cage's performance is sad and weary, and a huge contrast to his usual craziness.For fans of: Mud, Undertow, George Washington, Nicolas Cage with a real beard that somehow looks fake.

Release Date: 2006Genre: Crime DramaDirector: Michael MannCast: Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Justin Theroux, Gong Li, Naomie Harris, Ciarán HindsMichael Mann turns the '80s pastel hues of Miami Vice – a show he was an executive producer on – into a melancholy, often brutal crime drama. Some audiences had trouble separating the TV show from the film, and I get that. But once you move beyond the jarring juxtaposition, you find Mann firing on all cylinders. Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx are two detectives who go undercover to try to stop a drug lord. Along the way, neo-Nazis and other bad people enter the mix. In the midst of it all, Farrell's character finds himself falling for the drug lord's financial advisor and possible lover, played by Gong Li. Amidst all the shootouts and occasionally distracting digital photography, the real draw here is the romance between Colin Farrell and Gong Li. There's something sorrowful about their love affair – the unmistakable reality that their budding relationship is doomed, even when they boat off to get some mojitos. The finale of the film has Gong Li's character running through a hail of bullets, screaming "Who are you!?" at Farrell, and it's romantic and tragic and wonderful. Miami Vice isn't often hailed as one of Mann's best, but I urge you to check it out, or give it another chance. You might be surprised at how good it is.For fans of: Collateral, Blackhat, Thief, mojitos.

Release Date: 2013Genre: I don't even know. Mystery? Horror? Just watch it!Director: Denis VilleneuveCast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mélanie Laurent, Sarah Gadon, Isabella Rossellini

What's better than Jake Gyllenhaal? How about two Jake Gyllenhaals? The actor, resplendent in a finely groomed beard, plays a college professor who makes a shocking discovery: he has an exact double. And the double just happens to be living near him. Gyllenhaal 1 tracks Gyllenhaal 2 down, and then things start to get really, really weird. What's going on here? Is any of this really happening? Is Gyllenhaal playing someone with a multiple personality? And what's the deal with all the terrifying spider imagery? Enemy doesn't provide easy answers, but it's so brilliantly crafted – full of jarring camera angles and bathed in a sickly yellow light – that it doesn't matter. Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 filmmaker Denis Villeneuve helms this nightmare, and he has a knack for creating scenes laced with crushing dread. You may come away from Enemy confused, but I guarantee you won't forget the film anytime soon.

For fans of: The Double, Arrival, spiders.

Release Date: 1981Genre: Sci-fi Western ThrillerDirector: Peter HyamsCast: Sean Connery, Peter Boyle, and Frances Sternhagen

A unique blend of Alien-like sci-fi and High Noon-like Western (with a little gritty cop thriller action thrown in for good measure), Outland stars Sean Connery as a cop stationed on a lonely, dreary mining colony on one of Jupiter's moons. His wife has left him and taken their son with her, unable to put up with the isolation of space-living. In the midst of all this, workers at the colony suddenly begin killing themselves in extremely gruesome ways (the opening scene of the movie involves some guy's head exploding). Are these accidents, or is there foul play afoot? Connery begins to investigate, coming up against bureaucratic push-back and all manner of violence. Inventive, bleak and wildly entertaining, Outland isn't what I'd call a "smart" movie, but it sure makes for one heck of a film. The world building here is deftly handled, and Connery turns in a surprisingly melancholy, wounded performance.

For fans of: Alien, High Noon, Moon, Sean Connery kicking everyone's ass.

Release Date: 2013Genre: HorrorDirector:  Ivan KavanaghCast: Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Rupert Evans, Steve Oram

In The Canal, a film archivist suspects his wife of having an affair. That's only the start – there's also the prospect of a ghostly presence in the couple's house, due to a murder that happened there long ago. Ivan Kavanagh's spooky ghost story works its way under your skin and directly into your bones. Using a highly impressive sound design, created through a complex multi-layered soundtrack, The Canal is a shock to the senses. There aren't really jump-scares here, but every sound in the film is so tensely applied that it manages to invoke a feeling of unease. You might end up guessing the film's big twist before it happens, but that doesn't matter. Everything before it is so effectively scary that you'll be hooked, and might consider sleeping with the lights on.

For fans of: Angel Heart, Jacob's Ladder, The Babadook, extremely spooky stuff.

Release Date: 2011Genre: Found Footage HorrorDirector: The Vicious BrothersCast: Sean Rogerson, Ashleigh Gryzko, Mackenzie Gray, Juan Riedinger, Merwin Mondesir, Matthew K McBride

Found footage has lost its edge, but you should never write a sub-genre off completely. Every now and then, a title will come along that proves there's still some gas left in the tank. Grave Encounters is found footage done right – a scary, effective tale of TV ghost hunters who run afoul of some truly pissed-off spirits. Locked-down in an abandoned mental asylum (what a great idea!), several ghost hunters think they're about to engage in a routine, uneventful excursion. Instead, the dead come calling, and then some. Blending found footage tricks with creative, believable special effects, Grave Encounters does a great job making its premise work. And best of all: the found footage angle actually makes sense. Most horror found footage has trouble justifying why the characters keep filming while all the scary stuff is going down. Here, the characters are ghost hunters with a TV show, so of course they'd keep filming when the supernatural ramps up.

For fans of: Session 9, The Innkeepers, Rec, ghosts with warped faces.