(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching, why it’s worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)
The Movie: Safe
Where You Can Stream It: Hulu
The Pitch: Jason Statham is a disgraced cop turned cage fighter (see, this is cool already) who seeks some sort of redemption by protecting a child genius (Catherine Chan) who acts as a human computer for the Chinese Triads.
Why It’s Essential Viewing: Jason Statham has made a lot of movies where he essentially plays the same character: a brooding, angry, scowling guy who punches people. And while there’s nothing wrong with that, a lot of his movies tend to blend together as a result. But Safe is a standout, primarily because it’s stylish as hell and features fight scenes coordinated by Chad Stahelski, the stuntman turned filmmaker who would go on to helm the John Wick franchise. Read More »
(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching, why it’s worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)
The Movie: Singin’ in the Rain
Where You Can Stream It: HBO Max
The Pitch: Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) is a silent film star who finds his career threatened by the transition to “talkies.” When his new film with his frequent movie partner and arrogant diva Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) bombs at the test screening, they decide to rework it as a musical, but there’s only one problem: Lina can’t sing. They hire Kathy (Debbie Reynolds), a beautiful young aspiring actress and Don’s new beau, to record over her voice, but the ruse can only be kept up for so long.
Why It’s Essential Viewing: No one’s doing it like Gene Kelly, and maybe no one ever will.
Read More »
(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching, why it’s worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)
The Movie: Enter the Dragon
Where You Can Stream It: Netflix
The Pitch: In his final completed role before his premature death, Bruce Lee plays a spy who visits an island where a martial arts tournament is taking place. He’s been tasked with gathering proof that the island’s owner, Han – a former member of Lee’s Shaolin temple, who disgraced the temple’s legacy by using its lessons purely for his own benefit – is running drugs and a prostitution ring.
Why It’s Essential Viewing: This is one of the best martial arts movies of all time. It’s been on my list of things to see for probably 20 years now, but since it’s leaving Netflix at the end of this month, I finally sat down to check it out – and I was not disappointed. Read More »
(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching, why it’s worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)
The Movie: Wayne’s World 2
Where You Can Stream It: Netflix
The Pitch: After Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers) has a dream in which Jim Morrison tells him to put on a rock concert, he and fellow late-night TV star Garth Algar (Dana Carvey) try to make it happen. Several musical acts show little interest, leaving the pair uncertain about their ability to put on a successful show. Meanwhile, Cassandra (Tia Carrere), Wayne’s rockstar girlfriend, has a new manager (Christopher Walken) who is trying to steal her away, and Wayne’s antics only make things worse. But Garth has a love interest and finally got pubes, so maybe it’s not all bad.
Why It’s Essential Viewing: The movies inspired by Saturday Night Live sketches can be hit or miss. Actually, sometimes they can miss but still be stupidly hilarious. Thankfully, in the case of Wayne’s World 2, what we have is not only a hit by the standards of SNL movies, but it’s also one of the best comedy sequels ever made, the rare follow-up that actually matches wits and potentially rivals the original. Read More »
(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching, why it’s worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)
The Movie: Angels & Demons
Where You Can Stream It: Netflix
The Pitch: In this sequel to The Da Vinci Code, Tom Hanks must once again solve highly implausible historical mysteries. This time, though, he has a ticking clock: a terrorist is threatening to unleash a vial of antimatter (don’t ask) somewhere in Rome.
Why It’s Essential Viewing: Sometimes you want a fine meal, and sometimes you want to eat absolute junk that’s bad for you. Angels & Demons is the latter.
Read More »
(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching, why it’s worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)
The Movie: Song Lang
Where You Can Stream It: Amazon Prime
The Pitch: In 1980s Saigon, tough and brooding debt collector Dung (Liên Binh Phát) meets Linh Phung (popular V-pop singer Isaac), a young singer for a struggling opera troupe that performs cai luong, the dying art of traditional Vietnamese folk opera. When Dung comes to collect from the opera troupe, he and Linh strike up a tender friendship that gradually transforms into something more.
Why It’s Essential Viewing: It would be easy to write Song Lang off as a grimy Southeast Asian version of Call Me By Your Name — they’re both slow-burning gay romances set in the 1980s — but that would be a disservice to both films. While inevitably reminiscent of Luca Guadagnino’s 2017 film, Song Lang, which is the feature directorial debut of Leon Le, is as much a delicate romance as it is an ode to the dying art form of cai luong and its place in a disappearing corner of Vietnamese history.
Read More »
(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching, why it’s worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)
The Movie: Bo Burnham: Inside
Where You Can Stream It: Netflix
The Pitch: When the pandemic hit last year, comedian Bo Burnham decided to film a comedy special in his living room, all by himself. As a way to distract from the chaos of the real world, he fully threw himself into creating this special…and as the months dragged on, the final product ended up serving as a time capsule for the insanity of the last year.
Why It’s Essential Viewing: There are three distinct aspects of Bo Burnham: Inside that make it notable. Read More »
(Welcome to The Quarantine Stream, a new series where the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.)
The Movie: Orange County
Where You Can Stream It: HBO Max
The Pitch: Shaun Brumder (Colin Hanks) is a former surf-bro turned aspiring writer who is hellbent on getting out of the vapid, artificial confines of Orange County, California so he can go to Stanford University and study under his favorite writer. But when his guidance counselor accidentally sends the wrong transcript and he’s rejected from the school, he’s willing to try almost anything to get accepted, prompting a series of misadventures and mishaps.
Why It’s Essential Viewing: When Orange County arrived in 2002, it didn’t make much of a splash, disregarded as another average high school teen comedy among the likes American Pie. It was a box office success, largely thanks to the promotion by MTV, but with a critical score on Rotten Tomatoes that stands at 46%, it’s clear that it wasn’t received very well. But I’m here to put Orange County on the pedestal that it deserves, because if this movie had played the Sundance Film Festival, it would have been an indie sensation, and that vibe along with a fantastic ensemble cast makes it a movie that deserves much more respect. Read More »
(Welcome to The Quarantine Stream, a series where the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.)
The Movie: The Conjuring
Where You Can Stream It: HBO Max and Netflix
The Pitch: Meet Ed and Lorraine Warren, ghost hunters who agree to help the very large Perron family after they move into a haunted house.
Why It’s Essential Quarantine Viewing: The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It arrives this week, so why not go back to where it all started?
Read More »
Cool Posts From Around the Web:
(Welcome to The Quarantine Stream, a new series where the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.)
The Series: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series
Where You Can Stream It: Disney+
The Pitch: The students at East High School, where Disney filmed the wildly popular High School Musical movies, prepare to stage a production of High School Musical: The Musical for their winter theater show at the urging of their ambitious new drama teacher Miss Jenn (Kate Reinders), who had appeared in the original movie as a background dancer. In this mockumentary-style series, the drama club members navigate teenage love and drama, most of which centers around Olivia Rodrigo‘s protagonist, Nini Salazar-Roberts, who is cast as Gabrielle in the stage play.
Why It’s Essential Viewing: On May 21, Olivia Rodrigo released her debut album Sour, and I was one of the many geriatric millennials who listened and related far too deeply to it. How did this 18-year-old baby feel so much? And who was the white boy who broke Rodrigo’s heart? As someone who was now far too invested in this Disney teenybopper’s career (I just want good things for her!) and has fallen down the rabbit hole of previous Disney love triangles before, I had to find out. So I switched on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series to see where it all started.
Read More »
