by Patrick Bromley
The summer is winding down, but these streaming recs are heating up! (I'm sorry and I promise never to write again.)
Cloud Atlas (2012, dir. Lana & Lilly Wachowski, Tom Tykwer) Still one of the my favorite movies of the 2000s. I know it's an investment at three hours, and I know it's not going to be for everyone because it requires some pretty big leaps in optimism and accepting the big choices the directors make, but it's so ambitious and so beautiful that I think it's more than worth it. Jan B. and I did a podcast on it a few years back, so you should listen to that if you want to hear someone much smarter than me make a case for why this movie is a masterpiece. (Watch on Netflix)
The Nines (2007, dir. John August) Another movie I'm sure I've written about in this space (or in its previous incarnation), but every time I'm able to turn another person on to this one, I feel like I'm doing good work. Ryan Reynolds wasn't yet a big superstar thanks to Deadpool and was still known for frat comedies like Van Wilder, but here gives three different performances in a movie about three different men who are much more closely connected than they realize. Melissa McCarthy co-stars, also before her big Oscar-nominated breakout in Bridesmaids. I love where this movie goes. It's super underseen and super underrated. (Watch on Amazon Prime Video)
The Road Movie (2018, dir. Dmitrii Kalashnikov) What is going on in Russia? No, seriously. I'm not talking about Putin or politics or our own compromised President. I'm talking about the shit going on in The Road Movie, a "documentary" that consists of nothing but dashboard cam footage from cars in Russia. There are terrible accidents and crazy people in the road and things on fire and people pulling guns and all kinds of stuff. The genius of this movie is that every time a new clip starts, you immediately begin to wonder just what kind of crazy or terrible thing is going to happen. The running commentary from the passengers makes it all especially funny, too, like when two guys crash into a river and one just says "Fuck! We've arrived." It's hard to pick a favorite moment because the whole thing is nuts (Watch on Shudder)
Fortress (1991, dir. Stuart Gordon) Oh, the early '90s, when a brainless, hyper-violent futuristic prison movie like this could get a theatrical release. And directed by Stuart Gordon, no less! Christopher Lambert leads an amazing "that guy" cast (which also includes Jeffrey Combs, Vernon Wells, Kurtwood Smith, Clifton Collins Jr., and Tom Towles) about an inescapable prison in the distant future of 2017. It's probably the biggest movie Gordon ever got to make, and he doesn't shy away from making it as splashy and goofy and bloody as possible. So entertaining. (Watch free with ads on Tubi TV)
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