Only about a week left in October, which feels like some kind of trick … but don’t let these treats go to waste before they expire! (Can you tell I wrote a lot of canned copy for social media in the mid-’10s from a line like that?) Here are ten movies set to expire from streaming services that you should prioritize before the end of the month.
Birds of Passage, HBO Max
One of my favorite parts about film festivals (sorry, here I go again!) is how strange scheduling dynamics often lead me to see movies I’d probably lose in the fray if and when they get released in theaters. Back in 2018, there was simply nothing else playing in a key schedule block at TIFF opposite Birds of Passage — and I’m sure glad to have seen this movie. If you’re a fan of Narcos, you owe it to yourself to see this look at the Colombian drug trade from the vantage point of the country’s native inhabitants as well as its indigenous population.
Clockwatchers, Amazon Prime/Criterion Channel
One of the greatest joys of 2021 in both viewing and writing for me was the comedian John Early turning me onto Jill Sprecher’s Clockwatchers, a feminine counterweight to Office Space that deserves to be just as well known. I was so curious as to how this movie could have disappeared that I had to do an entire investigative (using that word very generously) feature on the film and how it emblematizes the ephemerality of Hollywood’s priorities. Watch this fascinating movie if for no other reason than to read my piece on Decider!
An Elephant Sitting Still, Criterion Channel
Don’t suppose you’ve got a big block of four hours coming up in the next few days? If so, might I suggest you watch Hu Bo’s An Elephant Sitting Still? This arresting work of contemporary Chinese cinema is remarkable given that it is fated to serve as both the director’s debut feature — and his final due to his tragic death by suicide shortly before the film’s release. I won’t pretend like this is a happy or particularly enjoyable thing to sit through; there’s a reason I tied myself to the mast and forced myself to see it theatrically back in 2019. But if you think you can stomach a sprawling yet intimate epic with a distinctively grim outlook on humanity and society, then have I got the movie for you!
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Netflix
Everyone should believe in at least one harmless conspiracy theory. Mine? The entire plot of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is an elaborate plan by Ferris to get Cameron out of his shell. I’ve only written about this twice — in this newsletter as well as in my previous one, The Distancer. At the very least, it’s worth a watch through this lens to see if you agree!
The Final Destination, HBO Max
The closest I come to having a TED Talk is my conviction that there are no such things as “guilty pleasures” — you should simply like what you like and not feel bad about it! But if there’s anything I enjoy full well knowing I shouldn’t, it’s the Final Destination series. All five of these campy horror delights envisioning increasingly detailed and deranged ways to doom young people to untimely death are expiring from HBO Max after Halloween. You can’t really go wrong with any of them, but know that they get increasingly ludicrous and less self-serious as the franchise progresses. The sweet spot for me is the fourth installment known as The Final Destination, which goes above and beyond to envision some wild sequences for the then-popular 3D format (but does not give in to pure gimmickry).
Enjoying this halfway through? Why not share with friends, family, or your social network so this newsletter can keep growing?!
In Bruges, Amazon Prime
Prefer your hitmen mordant, morose, and quippy? Put down the 007 films and fall into In Bruges, a dark comedy about two hired guns hiding out in boring Bruges following a hit job gone wrong. It’s got all the genre trappings you want to see from a story about assassins with a really exciting look at the oft-neglected consciences of these trained killers. It’s been a minute since I’ve seen this one, but I could stand to give this movie another watch! This is a movie that tends to turn viewers into superfans, so maybe the next viewing will move me into the converted column once and for all.
Legally Blonde, Netflix
I was having a conversation with some friends recently about movies from the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, many of which have aged surprisingly well (and that’s beyond just being formative titles for us non-Geriatric Millennials). While not entirely perfect twenty years later, I’d argue few movies from the era hold up as well as Legally Blonde. The movie’s understanding of what feminism can and should mean is lightyears ahead of other films of the time. Elle Woods is never a punchline, nor does her success come at the expense of other women. What, like it’s hard?!
The Thin Red Line, Hulu
Director and film theorist François Truffaut famously said “there’s not such thing as anti-war film” — meaning, the very act of portraying it on screen cannot help but glorify it. If anyone comes close to transcending the form, it’s Terrence Malick with The Thin Red Line. His poetic take on the genre stages the battle on Guadalcanal as not between opposing sides of WWII but as men battling against nature itself. The juxtaposition of the cruelty of armed conflict with the simple harmony of natives in the South Pacific stirs the soul as well as shocks the senses.
Volver, HBO Max
There’s a whole lot of Pedro Almodóvar leaving HBO Max at the end of the month, so if you want to catch some great movies by the greatest living director of Spanish cinema, now’s the time! (Some are very hard to rent on streaming.) If you want a spooky season pick, I might recommend the eerie The Skin I Live In. But if you want a classic Almodóvar female-driven melodrama, you can’t go wrong with Volver. More to come on this in December, but the film has some interesting parallels to the director’s latest film, Parallel Mothers. This intergenerational tale of the secrets kept by mothers and daughters, anchored in Penélope Cruz’s fiercely maternal performance as Raimunda, wins me over more and more with each viewing.
When Harry Met Sally…, HBO Max
Don’t be mad at me if you didn’t get to live your Meg Ryan Fall dreams with a rewatch (or first-time viewing!) of the seasonal classic by Rob Reiner/Nora Ephron. While I think I’d probably rank other rom-coms higher than When Harry Met Sally… for personal reasons, it’s hard to deny this is pretty much the ur-text of the genre’s modern iteration. Can two people with romantic inklings for one another just … be friends? You can quibble with the conclusion, but you can’t say the film doesn’t show its work.
WHAT I WATCHED
That post-fall festival life! I can rewatch movies, what a concept!
Finally regaining some control over my viewing again, although my viewing is still largely dominated by assignments. You’ll catch a lot of Coen Brothers and Kristen Stewart here … stay tuned.
I also rewatched all the Daniel Craig outings as James Bond so I could finally see No Time to Die. The first half: great! The second half … has Rami Malek.
Also brushing up on some Wes Anderson flicks for reasons. Watch this space, as they say.
WHAT I HEARD
I blame/thank the Meghan Trainor-Daryl Sabara toilets story (don’t ask if you don’t know) on me rediscovering the joys of the closing track from Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams.
Admittedly, though, I’ve spent most of the last two weeks blasting the music from David Byrne’s American Utopia. If you’re in New York anytime soon, I cannot stress enough what a wonderful and unique stage experience this was. I so loved Spike Lee’s filmed version on HBO Max that I knew this was the show I wanted to be my first back on Broadway — and I was grateful to drag along some friends to join me on my birthday!
WHAT I WROTE
Two new interviews are live from my mad sprint of NYFF chats!
The first is with Japanese director Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, whose film Drive My Car will represent the country as their Best International Feature submission this year. But the main film I talked to him about was Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, the *second* film that this overachiever had at the festival this year. You don’t have to know much (or anything) about the movies to appreciate what he has to say about the wise way he approaches the idea of coincidence in fiction. You can read this over at Slant.
Another chat on Slant is with Bergman Island star Vicky Krieps, who you probably know as Alma from Phantom Thread. I will admit that I’m a bit mixed on the film, though I do want to give it another watch now that I know the winding road it travels, but WOW was this a phenomenal conversation. I so appreciated the honesty and vulnerability she brought to her answers, and I really do think she’s quite revelatory about how sudden fame can warp one’s artistic compass. (This film is now available to rent on VOD, for anyone who might be curious to check it out for themselves.)
WHAT I READ
I thought this was an interesting question to pose, even if I wish the piece made more of an attempt to take a stance on the idea: “Do the Memes Help the Movies?” As our veep would say, I think we should have that conversation.
Make those last few watches of October good ones!
Yours in service and cinema,
Marshall