“Get on Up” (March 16)
Stream it here.
The current craze for jukebox biopics shows no signs of slowing down, thanks to the phenomenal box office success of films like Bob Marley. Even though most of these dramas still traffic in tropes that should have been countered by perfect satire. “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” was released ten and a half years ago. But what’s commendable is that Tate Taylor’s biopic about the hardest-working man in show business, the one and only James Brown, the “Godfather of Soul,” is the best film that most of these films have been. It’s a zig-zig map of where you’re going. The inventive screenplay by Jez Butterworth and John Henry Butterworth hopscotches through his life, avoiding the cradle-to-grave march of many biopics and taking a stream-of-consciousness approach. Brown frequently breaks the fourth wall to address the audience (and comment directly on the action). There are some obvious deletions, both personal and political, but the film moves quickly and is full of great songs (Mick Jagger serves as both film and music producer). The ensemble cast, including Dan Aykroyd, Nelsan Ellis, Craig Robinson, Jill Scott, and Tate’s “The Help” stars Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, is also top-notch, with Chadwick Boseman convincingly He plays the role of Brown (large and tall).
“Savages” (March 16)
Stream it here.
After a rough patch in the early 2000s, director Oliver Stone set out to recapture his “natural born killer” charm with this 2012 film adaptation of Don Winslow’s crime novel. did. It’s not entirely successful – largely due to the serious lack of charisma and riskiness of stars Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Taylor-Johnson – but Stone keeps things moving at a fast pace. Continuing, there are great performances in the later stages from three of the main supporting characters: John Travolta as a hilariously corrupt Drug Enforcement Administration agent; Benicio Del Toro: A completely amoral enforcer of a Mexican drug cartel. Best of all, Salma Hayek plays the cartel head, turning her usual purring sexiness into a show-stopping menace.
“John Wick” (Chapters 1-3) (March 30)
stream Click here for “John Wick”, “John Wick: Chapter 2” here “John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum” here.
When John Wick quietly hit theaters in the fall of 2014, no one could have predicted that it would become a world-building, big-budget, four-movie (and growing) series. It is no exaggeration to say that they did not. The film feels like a B-movie at best, and only the appearance of Keanu Reeves in the title role distinguishes it from your average VOD action movie. A story of violence and revenge directed by Chad Stahelski, one of the best-known first-time directors at the time. Reeves stuntman. But in the first film and its sequel, the action scenes are amazing, the pathos is real, and the wit is real. Set for Wick, a former master assassin who returns to that world for revenge, the world-building fleshed out in each episode is astonishingly clever, deftly combining complex logistics and an excellent cast of first-rate character actors. It is located in
“Birds of Prey” (March 31)
Stream it here.
A number of films from the ill-fated DC Extended Universe will be removed from Netflix at the end of March, but few are worth your time. (“Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” for example, boasts a level of obnoxiousness and incompetence that is hardly matched by recent mainstream filmmaking.) -Quinn’s Fantastic Awakening Birds of Prey is fun. In “Suicide Squad,” he gathers his crew of tough girls, including Rosie Perez, Jurnee Smollett, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, to take on a sleazy underworld boss played to slimy perfection by Ewan McGregor. Embark on a candy-colored standalone adventure to defeat them.
“Community”: Seasons 1-6 (March 31)
Stream it here.
Writer Dan Harmon turned his experiences as a community college student into one of the weirdest, funniest, and smartest sitcoms of its time, at least during its run. Joel McHale plays a hot-shot, immoral lawyer whose disbarment (for lying about his academic background) sends him back to school, where he forms a study group and makes friends (so to speak) with eccentrics and burnouts. and will live a memorable life with Alison. Brie, Yvette Nicole Brown, Chevy Chase, Donald Glover, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi. With a clever mix of character comedy, surrealism, and pop culture satire, his first three seasons fire on all cylinders. Skip season 4, where the show struggled mightily after Harmon was dumped. Harmon’s return in season 5 improved, but he never quite returned to his previous heights due to changes made to his original ensemble.
