What’s Streaming This Week (10/6 - 10/13)
Tuesday, October 8th, 2024
BAD ACTOR: A HOLLYWOOD PONZI SCHEME - TBD Sale / TBD Rental
What we like:
Director Joslyn Jensen’s documentary chronicles the shocking story of D-list action ‘star’ Zachary Horwitz, who facilitated a massive Hollywood ponzi scheme.
Horowitz was ordered to pay $230,361,884 in restitution to his victims. He pleaded guilty in October 2021 to one count of securities fraud connected to his Ponzi scheme, which at its height had raised $650,000 million dollars, prosecutors said.
What we don’t like:
On the eve of the film’s premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, Amazon MGM announced they had acquired the doc Hollywood Ending, which also examines Horwitz’s rise and fall. It’s the Armageddon/Deep Impact of Hollywood ponzi scheme docs!
BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE - Netflix
What we like:
Slap? What slap? Will Smith is back with a major blockbuster, his first theatrical release since his Oscar win/kerfuffle. It seems the audience has forgiven (or forgotten).
Michael Bay, the director of Bad Boys (1995) and Bad Boys II (2003), appears as an irked driver in the film.
At 1 hour 55 minutes, this is the shortest Bad Boys film in the franchise. We applaud the brevity!
What we don’t like:
What’s Will Smith got against alligators? This is the second film in a row, after 2022’s Emancipation, that he fights with one.
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE - $24.99 Sale / $19.99 Rental
What we like:
Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara are back for Tim Burton’s sequel, and they’re joined by Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, and Willem Dafoe. Great cast!
Burton insisted on cutting back on CGI and instead used as many practical effects as possible. Practical effects are what made the original so memorable and durable.
It’s our rule: Anytime Monica Bellucci has a new movie, we must post the video of her intensely listing directors at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival (it’s our ASMR):
What we don’t like:
Burton and Keaton are said to have opted to keep the Beetlejuice character as politically incorrect as he was in the original film in spite of the political correctness in modern films because "he doesn't evolve." But c’mon…was anyone really complaining about the character being ‘politically incorrect?’ Can we please retire that phrase forever?
HELLBOY: THE CROOKED MAN - $19.99 Sale / TBD Rental
What we like:
The fourth live-action Hellboy film is the first that includes Hellboy creator Mike Mignola as a credited co-screenwriter. He did receive story credit for 2008’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army despite not having any involvement in the actual screenplay.
Jack Kesy, who was great last year in David Fincher’s The Killer, takes over for David Harbour in the titular role.
What we don’t like:
After receiving a limited theatrical release in some international markets, including Belgium and the UK, distributor Ketchup Entertainment decided to take this one directly to streaming. Did any of our Belgian or UK readers catch it in theaters?
Thursday, October 10th, 2024
CADDO LAKE - Max
What we like:
Set around the mysterious Caddo Lake in Texas, the film revolves around the disappearance of an 8-year-old girl, which triggers a series of revelations linking her case to past deaths and disappearances in the area.
It has a promising cast: Dylan O’Brien, Eliza Scanlan, Lauren Ambrose, Eric Lange, Sam Hemmings, and Diana Hopper. And M. Night Shyamalan is a producer.
What we don’t like:
No reviews yet, which makes us a bit nervous. Max’s straight-to-streaming titles are hit-or-miss (mostly miss, tbh).
Friday, October 11, 2024
DADDY’S HEAD - Shudder, AMC+
What we like:
Benjamin Barfoot’s creepy second feature debuted at Fantastic Fest last month, and the reviews were very positive. It sounds like another terrific under-the-radar winner from Shudder.
We’ve been complaining about generic titles the last few weeks, many of which were dumbed-down from more interesting titles. Here’s one that’s unusual and intriguing. Keep titles weird!
What we don’t like:
According to doesthedogdie.com, there is a dog that does indeed die.
THE LAST OF THE SEA WOMEN - Apple TV+
What we like:
A deep dive into the culture of the Haenyeo, the South Korean fisherwomen who have been harvesting seafood for their communities for centuries.
Produced by A24 and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai's company, the documentary not only showcases their daily lives but also delves into their fight to preserve the sea, which they see as both a livelihood and a source of strength.
What we don’t like:
This looks to be Apple TV+ and A24’s big push for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, and we’ll see if it’s able to gain traction. It’s doesn’t have the star power or flashy subject matter that often helps docs get attention. But we’re excited to catch up with it.
LONELY PLANET - Netflix
What we like:
Laura Dern plays a reclusive novelist who attends a writer’s retreat in Morocco, where she meets Owen (Liam Hemsworth), a younger man who is struggling in his relationship. Two mega attractive leads in a beautiful location? We’re sold.
Writer-director Susannah Grant has delivered some terrific scripts over the years, including 1998’s Ever After: A Cinderella Story (it’s good!), 2005’s In Her Shoes (Cameron Diaz’s best performance), and was nominated for Best Original Screenplay for 2000’s Erin Brockovich.
What we don’t like:
No reviews yet is kind of a red flag, and Grant’s previous effort as a director, the 2007 Jennifer Garner tearjerker Catch and Release, was kind of a dud. Still, Dern usually elevates everything she’s in, so we’re hoping for the best.
MR. CROCKET - Hulu
What we like:
Director Brandon Espy expands his original short film created for Hulu’s Bite Size Halloween. The story is set in 1993 and revolves around a sinister children's show host, Mr. Crocket, who mysteriously emerges from TV sets to kidnap children and murder their parents.
Veteran actor Elvis Nolasco gets to front his very own horror thriller in the titular role, which we think is very cool. The prolific actor has appeared in a number of Spike Lee’s films, including Clockers, Oldboy, and Da Sweet Blood of Jesus.
What we don’t like:
Expanding a short film in to a full feature is a tough task. The concept is definitely promising, and we’re interested to see if Espy can pull it off.
NEVER LET GO - $24.99 Sale / $19.99 Rental
What we like:
Halle Berry stars as a mother fiercely protective of her twin sons as they confront supernatural forces in a post-apocalyptic world. It’s great to have Berry back in a lead role in a studio film, even if that studio is Lionsgate (we kid!).
We’re always curious to see what French filmmaker Alexandre Aja delivers. We skipped his last film, which was a Netflix thriller called Oxygen, but loved his 2019 alligators-in-a-flood thriller Crawl. That movie rocked, and we’re so happy a sequel is coming.
What we don’t like:
We don’t mean to drag Lionsgate. At least they’re putting films in to theaters at a time when many studios are cutting back. But what a terrible streak they’re having at the box-office. Borderlands, The Crow, 1992, The Killer’s Game, and Never Let Go has to be one of the all-time worst run of bombs.
STING - Hulu
What we like:
Spider movies! Even when they’re not great, they’re still a lot of fun.
This was a nice little hit for indie distributor Well Go USA, proving once again that horror gets audiences to theaters.
What we don’t like:
This one was not great. And it had the bad fortune of coming out around the same time another (much better) spider chiller: Shudder’s Infested.
The spider is an alien? They’re already scary enough!
TUESDAY - Max
What we like:
Julia Louis-Dreyfus stretches beyond comedy in this fantasy drama, where she plays a mother, who with her daughter, must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird.
This is Croatian filmmaker Daina O. Pusić’s feature debut, and it’s an ambitious big swing that got positive reviews out of the 2023 Telluride Film Festival.
What we don’t like:
Unfortunately, even with A24’s seal-of-approval, this big swing failed to attract much of an audience in theaters. The film didn’t crack $1M at the box-office. Here’s hoping it finds an audience on streaming.
Happy Streaming Everyone!
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