You Should Be Watching: October 4-10

Posted on by Jacob Neff.

Welcome to You Should Be Watching, my weekly opportunity to introduce you to a variety of great films, gems of the past and present, available for you to stream from Netflix, Amazon Prime, FilmStruck, and anywhere else streams are found.

STREAMING PICKS OF THE WEEK

The Conjuring

Year: 2013

Director: James Wan

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Cast: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston, Mackenzie Foy, Joey King, Shanley Caswell, Kyla Deaver, Hayley McFarland, Shannon Kook, John Brotherton, Sterling Jerins, Joseph Bishara, Marion Guyot, Morganna Bridgers, Amy Tipton, Zach Pappas, Rose Bachtel, James D. Nelson

What’s October without a horror recommendation? James Wan’s The Conjuring, which launched a whole new horror-verse, is like a big budget version of the wildly popular Paranormal Activity, which set off its own series. Wan draws out a similar trepidation, tension, and terror but with a more fully fleshed out world and mythology. The central characters, Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) are paranormal investigators and demonologists based loosely on a real life couple and case. They are invited to investigate the paranormal events haunting the Perron family. Ron Livingston plays the father Roger and Lili Taylor his wife Carolyn. They have recently moved into an old farmhouse along with their 5 daughters. They each see, hear, and experience an unexplainable presence, at times seemingly innocent and others expressing frightening malevolence.

In addition to the Warrens’ character development both as individuals and as a couple, this film’s strength builds through its underlying dread, lightened only by the many cuts from night to daytime, representing the passing of another night and a hopeful return to safety until night falls again. There’s an inescapable sense of entrapment as plausible reasons why the family doesn’t move away enhance the dread even more. In a world that wants to pretend nothing exists beyond the physical, The Conjuring exists to remind us that there might just be more to the supernatural world than we realize.

Polytechnique

        

Year: 2009

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Genre: Crime, Drama, History

Cast: Maxim Gaudette, Sébastien Huberdeau, Karine Vanasse, Evelyne Brochu, Martin Watier, Johanne-Marie Tremblay, Natalie Hamel-Roy, Pierre-Yves Cardinal, Pierre Leblanc, Francesca Barcenas, Ève Duranceau

Following a nine-year gap after his sophomore effort, the yet unknown Denis Villeneuve directed this masterful and terrifying dramatization of the Montreal Massacre, a 1989 school shooting that based on the emotional weight of this film seems to have had a profound effect on him. It bleeds pain, terror, and sadness. Even at this early stage of his career, the fingerprints of his trademark style are evident–gorgeous, slow-paced cinematography, matching ominous music, mysterious characters, and brooding drama punctuated by intense, realistic violence.

Minimal dialogue means the actors have to show not tell the nightmare they are experiencing or in the case of the killer, enacting. Villeneuve’s tight focus on individual characters in the moment enables the viewer to intimately feel the experience. We are sickened by the evil heart of the shooter, saddened at the hurtful comments one of the female victims receives, and shocked at the sudden cold, brutal, Terminator-like violence of the killer as we reel in disbelief that there is no one to stop him.

Ball of Fire

Year: 1941

Director: Howard Hawks

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Cast: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, S.Z. Sakall, Henry Travers, Oskar Homolka, Tully Marshall, Leonid Kinskey, Richard Haydn, Aubrey Mather, Dana Andrews, Allen Jenkins, Elisha Cook Jr., Aldrich Bowker, Dan Duryea, Ralph Peters, Kathleen Howard, Mary Field, Charles Lane, Charles Arnt 

Not just screwball comedy. Howard Hawks creatively infuses romance and borderline noir drama with major chemistry between Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck who play Professor Bertram Potts and nightclub performer Katherine “Sugarpuss” O’Shea. Stanwyck practically takes the lead as she plays Sugarpuss with cool confidence, largely in control. An air of tension is established with never knowing for sure if her demonstrated feelings for Professor Potts are genuine. She is very convincing no matter what her intentions are. Cooper, while obviously intelligent, is delightfully awkward as Potts, trying to resist Sugarpuss’ advances.

Hawks uses many unique & memorable ideas & visuals, such as Sugarpuss stepping up on the books for some yum-yum, a wet washcloth bit, crazy amounts of obscure slang, Potts talking to Sugarpuss’ “Daddy”, and the whole initial setup of 8 professors living together for a multi-year project to create a definitive encyclopedia. The ending is also really clever as it makes use of the unique characteristics of each of the professors.

COMING AND GOING

LAST CHANCE (last date to watch)

NETFLIX

October 5
The Beauty Inside (2015)
The BFG (2016)

October 7
Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

October 13
The Babadook (2014)

October 14
Seven Pounds (2008)

October 16
Donnie Darko (2001)

October 21
The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

October 24
Big Eyes (2014)
Queen of Katwe (2016)

October 27
Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016)

AMAZON PRIME

October 15
The Fits (2016)

October 16
Louder Than Bombs (2016)

FILMSTRUCK

October 5
Infernal Affairs (2002)
The Narrow Margin (1952)
The Thing from Another World (1951)
White Heat (1949)

October 12
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)

October 19
Casa de Lava (1994)
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

October 26
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Ace in the Hole (1951)
Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)
Footlight Parade (1933)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
Guys and Dolls (1955)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Stalag 17 (1953)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Tabu (2012)
What’s Up, Doc? (1972)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

October 31
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

HULU

October 31
13 Going on 30 (2004)
28 Weeks Later (2007)
Babe (1995)
Barfly (1987)
Bull Durham (1988)
Eight Men Out (1988)
The Elephant Man (1980)
High Noon (1952)
Jackie Brown (1997)
Point Break (1991)
Rabbit Hole (2010)
Rescue Dawn (2006)
The Rock (1996)
Sixteen Candles (1984)
Sleepers (1996)
Spaceballs (1987)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Unbreakable (2000)
Witness (1985)

JUST ARRIVED

NETFLIX

The Green Mile (1999)
Life of Brian (1979)
Black Dynamite (2009)
Blade (1998)
Blade II (2002)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Empire Records (1995)
Hold the Dark (2018)
Mystic River (2003)
The NeverEnding Story (1984)
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
The Shining (1980)
V for Vendetta (2005)

AMAZON PRIME

Bitter Moon (1992)
Carrie (1976)
Election (1999)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
For a Few Dollars More (1965)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
The General (1998)
Galaxy Quest (1999)
Gods and Monsters (1998)
House of Usher (1960)
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)
The Illusionist (2006)
Let Me In (2010)
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Raging Bull (1980)
The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
RoboCop (1987)
Saving Face (2004)
Starship Troopers (1997)
The Strangers (2008)
To Sleep with Anger (1990)
Trees Lounge (1996)
The Untouchables (1987)
Wild Bill (2011)

FILMSTRUCK

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

HULU

American Psycho (2000)
Bitter Moon (1992)
Cinderella Man (2005)
Closer (2004)
Dheepan (2015)
Election (1999)
Frida (2002)
Galaxy Quest (1999)
Gods and Monsters (1998)
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)
Insomnia (2002)
Mulholland Drive (2001)
The Music Never Stopped (2011)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
The Others (2001)
Platoon (1986)
[REC] (2007)
Raging Bull (1980)
RBG (2018)
RoboCop (1987)
Starship Troopers (1997)
Trees Lounge (1996)
Wild Bill (2011)

COMING THIS WEEK

NETFLIX

October 5
Malevolent – NETFLIX FILM (2018)
Private Life – NETFLIX FILM (2018)

October 10
22 July – NETFLIX FILM (2018)

AMAZON PRIME

October 6
A Prayer Before Dawn (2017)

October 11
Monster’s Ball (2001)
The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018)

HULU

October 6
Lowlife (2017)
Pyewacket (2018)

Jacob Neff is a film enthusiast living east of Sacramento. In addition to his contributions as an admin of the Feelin’ Film Facebook group and website, he is an active participant in the Letterboxd community, where his film reviews can be found. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with his latest thoughts and shared content.

You Should Be Watching: May 24-30

Posted on by Jacob Neff.

Welcome to You Should Be Watching, my weekly opportunity to introduce you to a variety of great films, gems of the past and present, available for you to stream from Netflix, Amazon Prime, FilmStruck, and anywhere else streams are found. This week, I’m recommending one of the most classic of Westerns, a film about the love of cinema, and Don Bluth’s magical animated directorial debut about mice and rats. Also, among the films coming and going Coco arrives on Netflix this week and I, Tonya on Hulu.

 

STREAMING PICKS OF THE WEEK

High Noon

Year: 1952

Director: Fred Zinnemann

Genre: Western

Cast: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado, Otto Kruger, Lon Chaney Jr., Harry Morgan, Ian MacDonald, Eve McVeagh, Morgan Farley, Harry Shannon, Lee Van Cleef, Robert J. Wilke, Sheb Wooley, Jack Elam, John Doucette, Ted Stanhope, Lee Aaker, Guy Beach, Larry J. Blake, John Breen, Tex Driscoll, Herschel Graham, Paul Kruger, William H. O’Brien, Roy Bucko, Russell Custer, Nora Bush

 

<i>High Noon</i> is the epitome of the classic Western, featuring a small Old West town with a virtuous good guy lawman named Will Kane (Gary Cooper) and a formidable bad guy outlaw (and his gang) named Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald), who is headed for town to get revenge against Kane for sending him to prison. To complicate matters even more, our hero, Marshal Kane, has just turned in his badge so he could marry his love, a pacifist Quaker named Amy (Grace Kelly), and with the news of Miller’s gang having arrived with Miller soon to follow, the newly married couple are rushed out of town in hopes of avoiding bloodshed. But Kane is torn between the love he has for his new bride and his duty to the unprotected town he was to leave behind, even though he struggles to find anyone willing to help him defend it.

This film is tightly scripted and tension-filled with the ever-present clock serving as a ongoing countdown towards the likely demise of both Kane’s life and his young marriage. And Amy’s discovery of “another woman” only makes matter worse. With each minute that passes, and with each request for help that’s refused, the desperation grows. Gary Cooper is a perfect fit for the Marshal role, stoic but heartfelt. Grace Kelly, in only her second film, delivers a wonderfully complex performance as the bride who loves her husband dearly but also has her own values to which she is fiercely loyal and refuses to sit around waiting for him to get killed.

EXPIRING: Last day to watch is 5/31

 

Cinema Paradiso

Year: 1988

Director: Giuseppe Tornatore

Genre: Romance, Drama

Cast: Philippe Noiret, Jacques Perrin, Marco Leonardi, Salvatore Cascio, Agnese Nano, Antonella Attili, Enzo Cannavale, Isa Danieli, Leo Gullotta, Pupella Maggio, Leopoldo Trieste, Tano Cimarosa, Nicola Di Pinto, Roberta Lena, Nino Terzo, Brigitte Fossey, Mariella Lo Giudice, Beatrice Palme, Franco Catalano, Giuseppe Tornatore, Giorgio Libassi, Mimmo Mignemi

 

If you love movies, if you love the cinema, if seeing the magical images flicker through the darkness on the screen in front of you fills you with the greatest of joys, <i>Cinema Paradiso</i> is for you. The film opens by introducing us to famous fictional film director Salvatore Di Vita receiving the news that Alfredo has died. Who is Alfredo, and what was his relationship with Salvatore? Flashing back to Salvatore at age 6, shortly after World War II, that story begins. Even at that young age, Salvatore, played with the utmost of precociousness by Salvatore Cascio, develops an intense love for the movies by practically living at his village’s local theater, the Cinema Paradiso, where we first meet Alfredo. But as the seasons of Salvatore’s young life go on, we learn he is no stranger to tragedy and must learn how to overcome. All the while, he continues to explore the world of film and develop the skills and experience that would turn him into the the master filmmaker he ultimately becomes. Over the course of the story, we experience various seasons of his young life and ultimately discover the positive and lasting impact one can have on a child’s life simply by taking the time to invest in him.

 

The Secret of N.I.M.H.

  

Year: 1982

Director: Don Bluth

Genre: Animation, Drama, Family, Fantasy

Cast: Derek Jacobi, Elizabeth Hartman, Arthur Malet, Dom DeLuise, Hermione Baddeley, Shannen Doherty, Wil Wheaton, Jodi Hicks, Ian Fried, John Carradine, Peter Strauss, Paul Shenar

 

Don Bluth, the animation director perhaps most famous for the prehistoric classic <i>The Land Before Time</i> came out of the gate swinging with his directorial debut <i>The Secret of N.I.M.H.</i>, a brisk adaptation of the novel <i>Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.M.H.</i>. Creatively combining science and dark fantasy with surprisingly mature themes such as the imminence of death and the ethics of animal experimentation, Bluth created a magical, vibrant, world rich in mythology and full of stunning hand-drawn animation that rivals most Disney features and will appeal to young and old alike. It’s inspiring to see the lone mother and widow Mrs. Brisby, voiced by Elizabeth Hartman, doing everything within her power to care for her children and save her sick son. While there is a tone of mystery and wonder throughout, unlike in many animated films, the audience is not spoon-fed information. Viewers are expected to pay attention, and they will be rewarded for doing so. Just for fun, listen for a very young Shannen Doherty and Wil Wheaton as Mrs. Brisby’s firstborn daughter Teresa and son Martin.

EXPIRING: Last day to watch is 5/31

COMING AND GOING

LAST CHANCE (last date to watch)

NETFLIX

May 27
Black Coal, Thin Ice (2014)
Middle of Nowhere (2012)

May 29
The Jungle Book (2016)

May 31
Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015)
Men In Black (1997)
My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown (1989)
Oldboy (2003)
Scarface (1983)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
The Resurrection of Jake the Snake (2015)
Training Day (2001)

 

AMAZON PRIME

May 30
1984 (1984)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Breakdown (1997)
Chaplin (1992)
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Manhattan (1979)
Regarding Henry (1991)
The Secret of N.I.M.H. (1982)

May 31
From the Rocky Collection:

Rocky (1976)
Rocky II (1979)

From the James Bond Collection:

Dr. No (1962)
From Russia with Love (1963)
Goldfinger (1964)
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

 

FILMSTRUCK

May 25
Brighton Rock (1948)
Carol Reed:

The Fallen Idol (1948)
The Third Man (1949)

May 31
High Noon (1952)

June 1
House of Flying Daggers (2004)
A Night At The Opera (1935)

June 8
Christopher Guest:

Best in Show (2000)
Waiting for Guffman (1996)

Elia Kazan:

On the Waterfront (1954)
A Face in the Crowd (1957)

 

HULU

May 31
1984 (1984)
Breakdown (1997)
Manhattan (1979)
The Secret of N.I.M.H. (1982)

 

JUST ARRIVED

NETFLIX

Cargo — NETFLIX FILM (2017)
Bridge to Terabithia (2007)
Small Town Crime (2017)
The Survivor’s Guide to Prison (2018)

 

AMAZON PRIME

Beatriz at Dinner (2017)
The Black Stallion (1979)
Death at a Funeral (2007)

 

FILMSTRUCK

The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

 

HULU

Beatriz at Dinner (2017)
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013)

 

COMING THIS WEEK

NETFLIX

May 29
Coco (2017)

May 31
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (2017)

 

HULU

May 31
I, Tonya (2017)
Rain Man (1988)

 

Jacob Neff is a film enthusiast living east of Sacramento. In addition to his contributions as an admin of the Feelin’ Film Facebook group and website, he is an active participant in the Letterboxd community, where his film reviews can be found. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with his latest thoughts and shared content.