Watching: The best things to stream
The weekend is here! If you're looking for something to watch, we can help. We've dug through Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Max and Disney+ to find some of the best titles on each service. STREAMING ON NETFLIX 'Heat'
Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, twin titans of their acting generation, had never shared the screen before the writer and director Michael Mann put them on opposite sides of the law in this moody, thrilling cops-and-robbers story from 1995 (they appeared in separate sequences of "The Godfather Part II"). And he gives that matchup the proper weight: By the time it arrives, halfway into this expansive, three-hour movie, we're expecting fireworks, and we get them. But the best surprise is that there's so much more to "Heat" than The Big Scene — it features a cool-as-a-cucumber heist scene, a heart-stopping shootout on the streets of Los Angeles, multiple meditations on the nature of obsession, stylish cinematography, and a deep bench of jaw-dropping supporting players. That scene, though. It's really something. These are the 50 best movies on Netflix.STREAMING ON NETFLIX 'Running Point'
Kate Hudson stars in this lively sports sitcom, based loosely on the life of the Los Angeles Lakers president Jeanie Buss. When a family scandal leaves a basketball-savvy woman in charge of the pro team that her father and brothers ran for decades, she has to overcome sexism, infighting and intense public scrutiny to put the floundering franchise back into playoff contention. The writer-producer team of Mindy Kaling, Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen position this show as the story of an underdog, proving she can handle the big personalities in the world of athletics. Our critic said "Running Point" has "an affable, sunny ease." Here are 30 great TV shows on Netflix.STREAMING ON HULU 'The End'
This narrative feature from the documentary director Joshua Oppenheimer ("The Act of Killing") is a combination of social commentary, apocalyptic fantasy and big-screen musical — an ambitious proposition, and one made up of so many seemingly mismatched parts that it's a miracle it works at all. But it does. The satire is pointed, the world building is compelling, and the performers are all fully committed. Tilda Swinton is properly Swinton-esque, but the real showcase performer is Michael Shannon, whose warbling is so open and vulnerable that he manages to bring a human dimension to his monstrous character. Here are Hulu's best movies and TV shows.STREAMING ON AMAZON PRIME VIDEO 'Her'
The idea of falling in love with a virtual assistant might have seemed like science fiction when Spike Jonze wrote and directed this comedy-drama over a decade ago; today, the growing sophistication of Siri, Alexa and ChatGPT are making it possible. The assistant here is voiced by Scarlett Johansson; her "user" is Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix), who is particularly wounded because of a pending divorce. Jonze's touching script bypasses the easy, cheap jokes for an exploration of loneliness and companionship, and Phoenix's performance is an astonishing symphony of vulnerability and pain. Here are a bunch of great movies on Amazon.STREAMING ON MAX 'High and Low'
While rarely mentioned in the same breath as cinema studies standards like "Rashomon" and "The Seven Samurai," Akira Kurosawa's ingenious noir thriller "High and Low" deserves a place alongside them, turning an Ed McBain novel into twisty, stylized play on police procedurals. The Kurosawa favorite Toshiro Mifune stars as a shoe company executive whose plans to buy out the business unravel when kidnappers demand ransom money for abducting his son. The one hitch? They took his chauffeur's son instead. It usually takes years for a film to earn the superlatives the critic Howard Thompson offered in his original review: "One of the best detective thrillers ever filmed." See more great movies streaming on Max.STREAMING ON DISNEY+ 'Summer of Soul'
As Woodstock became a generational event in the summer of 1969, with an estimated 400,000 attendees and a feature film, the six-week Harlem Cultural Festival unfolded in Mount Morris Park to much less media fanfare. But "Summer of Soul," from Ahmir Thompson, better known as Questlove, makes the case for its significance as a musical and political revelation. The documentary unearths stirring footage of Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson, Sly and the Family Stone and others performing at an anxious time for Black people in America. Our critic Wesley Morris called it "a mind-blowing moment of American history." The 50 best things to watch on Disney+ right now.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment