The Downstream: May 2025
10 great movies to watch before they leave streaming this month.
Happy Memorial Day Weekend and unofficial start of summer! My grand plans for a staycation with lots of park time are not looking great, so maybe it’s time to revisit the Sad Girl Summer list I curated back in 2022…
If your long weekend includes some downtime, I recommend curling up with one of these 10 films before they leave their current streaming home! This is The Downstream.
The Assassin, Criterion Channel
I would be lying if I said I could explain all any of Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Assassin, and yet … I still recommend it. (And reading the Wikipedia page for the wuxia genre if you aren’t familiar with this style of Chinese martial arts story.) I can only compare the experience to walking through an art gallery, in particular a curated collection. The film’s emphasis is not necessarily to barrel through plot points but simply to achieve a delicate forward motion that propels constantly forward. The cumulative effect is entrancing and beguiling, if not altogether breathtaking. Hou’s painterly compositions rarely depict violence in a literal or graphic way. The film’s stunning fight sequences manage to thrill and excite by letting us simply hear the slash of the sword and observe its human impact, not just relish in bloodshed.
The Disaster Artist, Max
The only thing better than experiencing cult hit The Room with a big group of people, it would appear, is making The Room with a big group of people. The Disaster Artist provides an endearing behind-the-curtain look at the most notorious flop of the new millennium and how it went off the rails from creator Tommy Wiseau’s ambition and ego alike. It’s movies like this that remind you that a tremendous amount of heart goes into every piece of art, and it’s always good to remember that when bringing out the pitchfork for something that seems to miss its mark. (I think the film tries to get away with some retconning of the real intentions of Wiseau, and it does make me raise an eyebrow or two.)
The First Omen, Hulu (through 5/29)
I was as skeptical as anyone that a legacy prequel to a 50-year-old horror film bankrolled by the Mouse House could be good, and I didn’t even believe trusted critical colleagues who vouched for it. And yet! Arkasha Stevenson launches her directorial career with a major calling card in The First Omen, an austere and visually striking tale of the American nun who uncovers a conspiracy to birth the Antichrist at a Catholic orphanage in Italy. A movie like this has absolutely no business looking as good as it does. It’s nice to have something other than a jumpscare take your breath away in a genre film!
Garden State, Hulu
I’m ready for the cultural pendulum to swing back on Zach Braff’s Garden State, which currently has assumed the status of millennial punching bag because it comes about its irony earnestly. Sure, the indie is filled with its own set of quirks that we come to associate with the genre, but the movie is equally remarkable for its contrastingly somber side. As Braff’s failed actor Andrew Largeman (Braff) comes home to New Jersey to attend his mother’s funeral, he goes off the antidepressants that he has been taking since his troubled teenage years, only to open his eyes to all the great things happening around him. He falls for compulsive liar Sam (Natalie Portman), a fiery chick with a bubbling personality. He begins to smile again. He confronts the issues that have forced him into depression. He rediscovers the joy of living.
Hamlet 2, Max
Hamlet 2 is not really a “culture wars” movie, per se, but it sure does get a lot of good laughs out of a situation that feels far more familiar than this 2008 setting. High school drama teacher Dana Marschz (Steve Coogan), both poking fun at his delusions of grandeur while also indulging him. After striking out with his latest wooden stage adaptation of a popular film, Dana falls victim to the latest round of arts cuts to the Tuscon school system — and faces the potential suspension of the drama program altogether. This period of intense stress finally pushes Dana to write his masterpiece: “Hamlet 2.” Dana reasons that there’s no reason for Shakespeare to end a tragedy on such a bummer note, so he introduces time travel into the story to avoid their deaths. And while he’s at it, Dana throws in an attractive Jesus (complete with ode “Rock Me Sexy Jesus,” which still slaps) and makes one of the original characters bi-curious. This, of course, subjects him to the only force bigger than budget cuts: CANCEL CULTURE!!! Whether you want to laugh with Dana or at him is up to you. But either way, Hamlet 2 should have you laughing.
Jerry Maguire, Amazon Prime Video
It’s hard to remember now that he’s so dialed into his self-serious action star act, but Tom Cruise had a storied career as a viable romantic lead in his heyday. The apex is easily Jerry Maguire, where his raw and jagged performance as a sports agent undergoing a crisis of conscience perfectly meets the borderline corny script by Cameron Crowe. It’s a film that requires you to believe that the extraordinary can exist inside the ordinary, and boy, does Cruise commit. Crowe somehow gets away with TWO all-timer romantic lines in the same scene AND coined “show me the money.” I mean, come on now!
A Mighty Heart, Paramount+
On his last day on assignment in Pakistan, journalist Daniel Pearl (Dan Futterman ventures into some sketchy areas to interview a very mysterious but powerful figure. When he doesn’t come home that night, Mariane (Angelina Jolie) instantly fears that his disappearance was a kidnapping. A Mighty Heart, a post-9/11 drama ripped from the headlines, follows her brutal search for answers and futile hunt for justice. While Daniel’s end is known, how Mariane responds to each development remains riveting thanks to the quietly simmering intensity building in Jolie’s masterful performance. I’ll be careful what I wish for in pleading for her to do more dramatic roles (*stares in Maria*), but she’s gut-wrenching here without being too obvious in her grief.
Pride and Prejudice, Netflix
If you missed the Pride & Prejudice theatrical revival like me, there’s still time to catch it on Netflix! I probably owe this one a rewatch myself, as it’s been long enough that I suspect I’ll have an entirely different read on the film now. My PowerPoint of movies in 2005 (yes, I’ve kept these since the age of 12 because Letterboxd wasn’t always a thing) indicates I gave this a contemporaneous grade of “B” back in middle/high school. That’s probably good for an “A-” now, given how little I probably understood of the more complex adult emotions at play in Austen’s timeless tale. But even then, I knew Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen had something good going between them!
Sausage Party, Amazon Prime Video
Using a supermarket as a microcosmic playground for the world, the sly writing/producing team of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg continues their thematic exploration of pressing social and existential issues in Sausage Party. I have to presume the film now plays a bit like “Obamacore” entertainment with its mixture of boundary-pushing comedy with trenchant, socially attuned subject matter. The elaborate ritual laid out in the opening musical number deludes the grocery items into thinking “the gods” have destined them for some kind of heaven once placed in the grocery cart. But once a returned jar of honey mustard offers a chilling vision of what lies beyond the automatic doors, hot dog Frank (Rogen) and his sweetheart bun Brenda (Kristen Wiig) bring it upon themselves to discover the truth. Neither realizes the answer will shake up everything they thought they knew about life after purchase, provided such a thing even exists. Oh, and all the food eventually comes together in a raucous orgy. Don’t take any of this too seriously, the film seems to cry out, because the authors themselves don’t.
Trap, Netflix (through June 10)
Serious critics would have me believe that M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap was robbed by not being named the best film of 2024 by the likes of a highfalutin group like Cahiers du Cinema. (It only placed a lowly #9.) I’m not immune to the charms of Shyamalan, who has found a second wind in his career by firing off these high-concept neo-Hitchcockian trifles in rapid succession. “What if a killer was being set up for a sting operation inside a concert?” is a great idea for a movie, and it mostly sustains itself due to Josh Hartnett’s deliriously unhinged performance. This is a deeply silly movie, and if you let yourself absorb it along those lines, I think it would make for an exceptional at-home watch.
For The Playlist, I reviewed Bring Her Back ahead of its release on May 30. As a big fan of the Philippous’ Talk to Me, I found this a big disappointment.
You can keep track of all the freelance writing I’ve done this year through this list on Letterboxd.
You can always keep up with my film-watching in real-time on the app Letterboxd. I’ve also compiled every movie I’ve ever recommended through this newsletter via a list on the platform as well.
I felt some dark compulsion to listen to this unplugged Nirvana album when recovering from a hangover last month, and only this — it’s just worked its way into my normal rotation now. (Perfect for this long stretch of NYC rainy days, too.)
I’ve been disappointed that the personality and humor of comedians Benito Skinner and Mary Beth Barone isn’t shining through in the new Amazon Prime Video series Overcompensating, and I think this review by Jackson McHenry at Vulture gets at why: “When Is Overcompensating?”
Variety’s cover story from Cannes gives a great peek behind the curtain at MUBI, which is starting to build a brand on par with A24 and NEON following their success with last year’s The Substance.
If you are like much of my Letterboxd feed and resisting the Final Destination series with Bloodlines burning up the box office, read Hanna Flint’s BBC overview of the franchise’s origin and Jake Kring-Schreifels’ Ringer oral history of the second film’s notorious logger sequence.
Back this weekend with some MDW programming!
Yours in service and cinema,
Marshall