Staying tucked in at home over the New Year’s Eve weekend? Don’t blame you.
Homebodies can celebrate by checking out 15 of the hidden movie gems that were released this year. All are available to stream.
“Margrete — Queen of the North”: Let’s see a show of hands from those who can’t get enough of historical period pieces built around power struggles and political and personal chicanery. In this well-made epic from Denmark, Trine Dyrholm stars as 15th-century Queen Margrete, who was instrumental in getting Denmark, Norway and Sweden to partner up and settle their differences. As she brokers a new deal with England to have her adopted son Erik (Morten Hee Andersen) marry royalty — a conspiracy launches that could tear all her plans apart. It makes for a juicy premise and co-screenwriter and director Charlotte Sieling handles it with Masterpiece Theater-like professionalism. It’s gorgeously shot and well-acted too. Don’t miss it. Details: Available to stream now on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.
“Riders of Justice”: While the debate rages on over whether this violent, hilarious and unexpectedly meaningful Danish import with Mads Mikkelsen qualifies as a “holiday” movie along the lines of “Die Hard,” there’s no doubt this is one of the year’s most exciting thrillers. Mikkelsen plays a grieving ex-military man who settles a score with the help of his teen-aged daughter (Andrea Heick Gadeberg). Not for the squeamish. Details: Available on Amazon Prime, Hulu and other streaming platforms.
“The Boy Behind the Door”: Horror newcomers David Charbonier and Justin Powell’s suspenseful debut found us whittling our fingernails to the nubbies. Their shot-on-the-cheap freak-out throws two young chums (Lonnie Chavis and Ezra Dewey) into a hillbilly house of horrors. Effective in every way, it grabs you by the throat and never lets you breathe until its final seconds. Details: Available on Shudder.
“Little Fish”: Maybe this sensitive, heartfelt romantic drama hit a little too close for comfort this year. Written beautifully by Mattson Tomlin and performed to the hilt by Jack O’Connell and Olivia Cooke, it’s about two lovers caught in a pandemic in which the afflicted lose their memories. It’s a heartbreaker told well. Details: Available on Hulu and Amazon Prime.
“Werewolves Within”: Whereas director Josh Ruben’s talky 2020 debut “Scare Me” was more annoying than satisfying, this satirical whodunnit/horror mashup is a twisted and funny delight. Sam Richardson is a standout as a forest ranger snooping out a killer amid a snowstorm. Details: Available on multiple streaming platforms.
“Rose Plays Julie”: Steely, moody and oh-so unpredictable, this sophisticated psychological thriller aims a bullet at toxic masculinity and mirrors Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman.” A morose veterinary student roots around until she finds her estranged birth mother (Orla Brady) and her charismatic but terrible birth father (Aidan Gillen). Beautifully shot and acted, it sticks with you forever. Details: Available on numerous streaming platforms.
“Kuessipan ”: It’s hard to imagine that this complex and sensational drama about the friendship between two Innu on a Quebec Innu reservation is director Myriam Verreault’s directorial debut. Not one step gets misplaced in her adaptation of Naomi Fontaine’s novel about two friends who follow different paths but still feel a tight bond between them. Details: Available on Amazon Prime.
“Test Pattern”: A celebratory evening out for drinks with a friend spirals into a harrowing experience for Renesha (Brittany S. Hall) after she is drugged and raped by a guy she meets at the bar. Shatara Michelle Ford’s angry film makes for uncomfortable viewing but never gets gratuitous as Renesha, who is Black, navigates with her boyfriend, who is white, an inept health-care system that can’t even provide her with a rape kit. This is one of the year’s most powerful, certainly pertinent films of 2021, and an auspicious debut for Ford. Details: Available on numerous streaming platforms.
“Undine”: In this quirky, mystical film about the romance that takes hold between a mermaid (Paula Beer) and an industrial diver (Fran Rogowski, exceptional per usual), a filmmaker’s adoration for Berlin and mythology comes through vividly. The urban fantasy was one of the strangest films I saw all year; it’s affecting in unexpected ways. Details: Available on numerous streaming platforms.
“Drunk Bus”: This raunchy college-set comedy finds sad sack Michael (Charlie Tahan) pulling the night shift to drive drunk students home safely. Enter a new love interest, a former girlfriend and a sweetheart of a security guard (Pineapple Tangaroa, and it all adds up quite the joy ride from John Carlucci and Brandon LaGanke. Details: Available on numerous streaming platforms.
“Paper Spiders”: Few films deal with mental health issues with the compassion, sensitivity and realism shown in Inon Shampanier’s mother-daughter drama. Lili Taylor is marvelous as the caring but emotionally unstable Dawn, a single mom who will do anything for her teen-aged daughter Melanie (Stefania LaVie Owen). Dawn’s spiral into mental illness is painful to behold, particularly with Melanie valiantly trying to help, which tables her own dreams. Details: Available to numerous streaming platforms.
“The Hating Game”: It follows a predictable enemies-to-lovers path, but this workplace romance provides an element that’s lacking in most such stories: sizzle. As the sparring but attracted-to-each-other deskmates, Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell steam up the screen, and have terrific comedic timing. Details: Available on Apple TV.
“The Lost Leonardo”: More jaw dropping than anything novelist Dan Brown could have cooked up, this documentary plunges us into the dicey and pretentious art world where a “lost” painting that might have been from da Vinci prompts a bidding and selling war of obscene proportions. Andreas Koefoed’s feature is a shocker, exposing the corrupt side of art collecting. It’s highly entertaining. Details: Available on numerous streaming platforms.
“About Endlessness”: Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson — he of the wide, static screen shot — is an acquired taste, certain to flummox and disappoint film fans who prefer more meat-and-potatoes fare. His latest is another metaphysical journey in which townsfolk grapple with the absurd, the bureaucratic and the spiritual. It’s a perfect feature for a film club, one that will inspire lively conversation about its true meaning. Details: Available on numerous streaming platforms.
“Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy”: Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s second great feature of the year – the first being “Drive My Car,” 2021’s best film – is a triptych on heartache, desire and unexpected relationships. Each story is as unpredictable and nuanced as a Raymond Carver story and says about our gnawing desire to experience passion and love. Available to stream via the Smith Rafael Film Center.
"Movies" - Google News
December 30, 2021 at 06:53AM
https://ift.tt/32NFzR6
Here are 15 great movies to stream New Year’s Eve weekend - The Mercury News
"Movies" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2xuBIZW
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Here are 15 great movies to stream New Year’s Eve weekend - The Mercury News"
Post a Comment