Explore where to stream the best films of 2023.
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Amerikatsi (Michael A. Goorjian)
If “Rear Window meets Life Is Beautiful” sounds like an all-timer of a cursed elevator pitch, then there’s nothing Michael A. Goorjian’s well-intentioned crowd-pleaser Amerikatsi will be able to do to win you over. A stubbornly unfashionable blend of broad comedy and highly sentimental prisoner-of-war drama, it’s paint-by-numbers middlebrow cinema of the kind the Weinstein Company would release regularly, albeit on a much more contained budget. While there is some brief novelty factor that movies of this distinctively Weinsteinian vintage are still getting made outside Hollywood, even as the broader cinematic landscape has moved past emulating that studio’s tried-and-tested formula in the hopes of awards success,...
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Amerikatsi (Michael A. Goorjian)
If “Rear Window meets Life Is Beautiful” sounds like an all-timer of a cursed elevator pitch, then there’s nothing Michael A. Goorjian’s well-intentioned crowd-pleaser Amerikatsi will be able to do to win you over. A stubbornly unfashionable blend of broad comedy and highly sentimental prisoner-of-war drama, it’s paint-by-numbers middlebrow cinema of the kind the Weinstein Company would release regularly, albeit on a much more contained budget. While there is some brief novelty factor that movies of this distinctively Weinsteinian vintage are still getting made outside Hollywood, even as the broader cinematic landscape has moved past emulating that studio’s tried-and-tested formula in the hopes of awards success,...
- 10/27/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Among the myriad reasons we could call the Criterion Channel the single greatest streaming service is its leveling of cinematic snobbery. Where a new World Cinema Project restoration plays, so too does Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight. I think about this looking at November’s lineup and being happiest about two new additions: a nine-film Robert Bresson retro including L’argent and The Devil, Probably; and a one-film Hype Williams retro including Belly and only Belly, but bringing as a bonus the direct-to-video Belly 2: Millionaire Boyz Club. Until recently such curation seemed impossible.
November will also feature a 20-film noir series boasting the obvious and the not. Maybe the single tightest collection is “Women of the West,” with Johnny Guitar and The Beguiled and Rancho Notorious and The Furies only half of it. Lynch/Oz, Irradiated, and My Two Voices make streaming premieres; Drylongso gets a Criterion Edition; and joining...
November will also feature a 20-film noir series boasting the obvious and the not. Maybe the single tightest collection is “Women of the West,” with Johnny Guitar and The Beguiled and Rancho Notorious and The Furies only half of it. Lynch/Oz, Irradiated, and My Two Voices make streaming premieres; Drylongso gets a Criterion Edition; and joining...
- 10/24/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Afire (Christian Petzold)
Writing recently about the introduction of video umpires in baseball, of all things, Zach Helfand was skeptical: “accuracy is not the same as enjoyment,” he wrote, “baseball is meant to kill time, not maximize it.” The best films of German director Christian Petzold do both, though you sense his heart might belong to the latter. Petzold’s latest, Afire, unfurls with all the page-turning seduction of a gripping novella. It stars Thomas Schubert as a struggling writer who travels with a friend to a secluded house near the Baltic Sea. Their car breaks down. They encounter a beautiful woman. Somewhere in the distance, a forest fire rages. Soon, inevitably, another burns inside. – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream:...
Afire (Christian Petzold)
Writing recently about the introduction of video umpires in baseball, of all things, Zach Helfand was skeptical: “accuracy is not the same as enjoyment,” he wrote, “baseball is meant to kill time, not maximize it.” The best films of German director Christian Petzold do both, though you sense his heart might belong to the latter. Petzold’s latest, Afire, unfurls with all the page-turning seduction of a gripping novella. It stars Thomas Schubert as a struggling writer who travels with a friend to a secluded house near the Baltic Sea. Their car breaks down. They encounter a beautiful woman. Somewhere in the distance, a forest fire rages. Soon, inevitably, another burns inside. – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream:...
- 10/20/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
On the final weekend of a bustling 18-day event, the in-person edition of this year’s Melbourne Film Festival has drawn to a close with an awards ceremony that saw a whopping $300,000 Aud in prize money handed out across six categories. The biggest individual award of $140,000 Aud was presented to the winner of the fest’s international Bright Horizons competition: “Banel & Adama,” an arresting debut feature by Franco-Senegalese filmmaker Ramata-Toulaye Sy.
It’s a notable coup for a small-scale rural love story that turned heads — but won no prizes — when it premiered in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May, and is still seeking distribution in the U.S. and other major territories. Reviewing the film out of Cannes, Variety critic Jessica Kiang commended the “subtly seductive power” of a “striking debut [that] revolves with graceful poetry around the inner experiences of a curious, unknowable woman.”
Its win came...
It’s a notable coup for a small-scale rural love story that turned heads — but won no prizes — when it premiered in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May, and is still seeking distribution in the U.S. and other major territories. Reviewing the film out of Cannes, Variety critic Jessica Kiang commended the “subtly seductive power” of a “striking debut [that] revolves with graceful poetry around the inner experiences of a curious, unknowable woman.”
Its win came...
- 8/19/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
It’s no surprise that filmmaker David Lynch’s fanbase has, for four decades, continually renewed itself among each new generation of cineastes. Something about the strange alchemy of the multidisciplinary Eagle Scout’s sensuous images, earnest perspective and intuitive storytelling perspective is intoxicating, buoyed onscreen by the talents of great creative collaborators like Mary Sweeney, Alan Splet and Angelo Badalamenti.
The films themselves are often dark but always honest, their perversions expressive and earned rather than bluntly hammered. As we follow the cosmic tendrils of Lynch’s brain backwards toward their origin, it’s only natural to ask: why does this guy see the world the way he sees it?
One answer may lay in Victor Fleming 1939 MGM classic, whose enchantments reach even further back, to its position as an early television staple for impressional baby boomers developing their imaginations and material predilections in the glow of the family’s suburban RCA console.
The films themselves are often dark but always honest, their perversions expressive and earned rather than bluntly hammered. As we follow the cosmic tendrils of Lynch’s brain backwards toward their origin, it’s only natural to ask: why does this guy see the world the way he sees it?
One answer may lay in Victor Fleming 1939 MGM classic, whose enchantments reach even further back, to its position as an early television staple for impressional baby boomers developing their imaginations and material predilections in the glow of the family’s suburban RCA console.
- 6/13/2023
- by Matt Warren
- Film Independent News & More
David Lynch does not like talking about his movies. He’d prefer the work speak for itself, thank you very much. But in bending over backwards to avoid discussing what something might “mean,” or deflecting questions with humor and/or cryptic pronunciations, the Blue Velvet filmmaker occasionally drops a breadcrumb hint about what makes him creatively tick. An audience member at a Q&a once asked Lynch whether there was a connection between The Wizard of Oz and the movie he’d just screened, Mullholland Drive. His reply: “There’s...
- 6/3/2023
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
After exploring Alfred Hitchcock, Alien, George Lucas, William Friedkin, and more, filmmaker Alexandre O. Philippe is gearing up for a major summer. Before Lynch/Oz arrives in June, his documentary The Taking will arrive in cinemas on May 5 courtesy of Dekanalog and we’re pleased to debut the exclusive trailer.
A selection at Fantastic Fest and BFI London Film Festival, the film finds Philippe analyzing the myth of Arizona’s Monument Valley, its symbolism in westerns (including numerous legendary titles from John Ford), and its significance during the conquest of the West and in American history.
“Even though I have a little fun with John Ford, this intent is also not to trash John Ford. The intent is not to trash the function of myth. Myth is important, and the idea, as false as it may be, of this false narrative about the American west, still carries a lot of values that I can relate to,...
A selection at Fantastic Fest and BFI London Film Festival, the film finds Philippe analyzing the myth of Arizona’s Monument Valley, its symbolism in westerns (including numerous legendary titles from John Ford), and its significance during the conquest of the West and in American history.
“Even though I have a little fun with John Ford, this intent is also not to trash John Ford. The intent is not to trash the function of myth. Myth is important, and the idea, as false as it may be, of this false narrative about the American west, still carries a lot of values that I can relate to,...
- 4/27/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
After having explored George Lucas, David Lynch, Hitchcock, and even William Friedkin in previous documentaries, Alexandre O. Phillippe turns his attention towards an unlikely subject, William Shatner, in his newest film, “You Can Call Me Bill.” Framed around a free-associative conversation with the famed actor, Phillipe’s new documentary might be catnip for any Trekkie but also represents something of a regression after the filmmaker’s probing “Lynch/Oz” last year.
Continue reading ‘You Can Call Me Bill’ Review: Alexandre O. Phillippe’s Can’t Really Unpack The Complicated Enigma Of William Shatner In New Doc [SXSW] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘You Can Call Me Bill’ Review: Alexandre O. Phillippe’s Can’t Really Unpack The Complicated Enigma Of William Shatner In New Doc [SXSW] at The Playlist.
- 3/17/2023
- by Christian Gallichio
- The Playlist
William Shatner on ‘Star Trek’ Feuds, Jeff Bezos’ Space Agenda, and Why He Won’t Cameo in New Movies
In October 2021, a few days after he became the oldest person in history to travel to space, William Shatner blocked me on Twitter. To be fair, it may have been an inauspicious moment to publicly ask the 90-year-old, who had spent around three minutes floating around Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket before returning to Earth, whether he had actually traveled high enough to reach the official definition of space. Needless to say, Shatner had a lot on his mind at the moment, as the ensuing year and a half made clear.
While the “Star Trek” O.G. had spent many years contemplating his sci-fi legacy from that show, the cosmic experience of witnessing the planet from above made him far more concerned about the fragility of the Earth. In tandem with various other multimedia projects, the now 91-year-old Shatner has become a bonafide climate change activist, and that cause has...
While the “Star Trek” O.G. had spent many years contemplating his sci-fi legacy from that show, the cosmic experience of witnessing the planet from above made him far more concerned about the fragility of the Earth. In tandem with various other multimedia projects, the now 91-year-old Shatner has become a bonafide climate change activist, and that cause has...
- 3/9/2023
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
The documentarian Alexandre O. Philippe, who was born in Switzerland and is based in Denver, has carved out a neat niche for himself. He makes movies about movies — that is, movies about our obsession with movies. He shares the obsession, and as a filmmaker that allows him to overlap the role of superfan, critic, and historian in a way that’s candy for a certain breed of film freak. In “Document of the Dead,” Philippe made a grounded but heady exploration of “Night of the Living Dead” and what the rise of the zombie movie in the late ’60s was all about. In “78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene” (his best film), he penetrated the metaphysics of “Psycho,” starting with the shower scene but extending to the entire film, taking a movie that’s famous for its fear and showing you how its true pleasure and mystique lies in the intricacy with which we watch it.
- 7/17/2022
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
U.K.-based sales agent Dogwoof has revealed the world sales acquisition of “Lynch/Oz,” Alexandre O. Philippe’s feature documentary about the enduring influence of Victor Fleming’s 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz” on David Lynch’s cinema.
The film is premiering at the Tribeca Festival in June.
This is the third collaboration between Dogwoof and Philippe, Kerry Deignan Roy and Robert Muratore’s Exhibit A Pictures. “78/52” was released in the U.K. and represented for international sales while “Memory: The Origins of Alien was a U.K. distribution agreement. The deal for “Lynch/Oz” was negotiated by Dogwoof’s head of acquisitions and distribution, Oli Harbottle, with the filmmakers.
In “Lynch/Oz,” Philippe has invited six American film critics and filmmakers and has given them free reign to explore their own theory about the relationship between Lynch and Oz. Participants include Karyn Kusama, John Waters, and Amy Nicholson...
The film is premiering at the Tribeca Festival in June.
This is the third collaboration between Dogwoof and Philippe, Kerry Deignan Roy and Robert Muratore’s Exhibit A Pictures. “78/52” was released in the U.K. and represented for international sales while “Memory: The Origins of Alien was a U.K. distribution agreement. The deal for “Lynch/Oz” was negotiated by Dogwoof’s head of acquisitions and distribution, Oli Harbottle, with the filmmakers.
In “Lynch/Oz,” Philippe has invited six American film critics and filmmakers and has given them free reign to explore their own theory about the relationship between Lynch and Oz. Participants include Karyn Kusama, John Waters, and Amy Nicholson...
- 4/20/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.