Stream Machine!
With Cinemas practically closed throughout the entire world, the release of new movies has practically dried up for the avid cinema-goer, yet that does not mean that 2020 has not seen its fair share of amazing movies. Fortunately, streaming services like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu have been releasing a steady flow of movies throughout the year, from crazy stupid comedies to heart-wrenching dramas. Here are some of the movies you should stream right now.
Bad Education
Director Cory Finley’s biographical dramedy stars Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Geraldine Viswanathan, and Ray Romano. The charismatic superintendent and the business administrator of the high-flying Roslyn school district in Long Island attempt to salvage their legacy and reputation when a student journalist begins to uncover their scandalous $11-million embezzlement scheme.
The Trip to Greece
Director Michael Winterbottom’s dramedy sees Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play fictionalized versions of themselves in the final installment of the popular British TV/film series. Commissioned by The Observer, the duo travel from the city of Troy in Turkey to the mythical Greek island of Ithaca in a quest to retrace the steps of Odysseus. As they visit various restaurants, hotels, and ancient landmarks, they share jokes and reflections on life.
Lost Girls
When Mari Gilbert finds out that her eldest daughter, Shannan, is missing, she immediately calls the authorities to seek help. When they fail to show up, she takes it upon herself to investigate what happened and find her daughter. The start of her search coincides with the discovery of four dead girls. But as she retraces Shannan’s steps, she discovers more murders. Her story reaches the police and the media, and from there, other mysterious cases are identified.
The Whistlers
An aging police officer and mafia double-agent Cristi venture to Gomera, a remote territory in the Canary Islands, on an assignment to liberate a shady businessman from prison. However, he must first learn a dialect comprised entirely of whistles, used by mafia agents to covertly communicate, in order to be successful on his mission. He also crosses paths with Gilda, a former one night stand who turns out to be his mission partner.
Da 5 Bloods
Years after the Vietnam War, four veterans, Eddie, Otis, Paul, and Melvin decide to come back to Vietnam to fulfill one mission: find the remains of their deceased squad leader named Norman and, hopefully, buried treasure. As they make their return, however, they are confronted with challenges both human and natural, as well as the lasting harm the violence of the war has unleashed to the country.
Driveways
Director Andrew Ahn’s intimate drama revolves around the unlikely friendship formed between a lonely young boy and his new octogenarian neighbor. As his mother looks on, he provides the widowed veteran with a youthful outlook and begins to discover a newfound maturity within himself.
The Way Back
Directed by Gavin O’Connor and starring Ben Affleck, this sports drama is about an alcoholic widower struggling to redeem himself by turning his life around through coaching the basketball team of his high school alma mater. The experience brings him back to his glory days as a former promising athlete, in the process making him confront the old demons that derailed his life during his younger years.
The Wolf House
Maria (voiced by Amalia Kassai) tries to flee a sect of German religious fanatics in Patagonia after she lets three pigs escape the settlement. Despite the knowledge that there is a wolf living in the woods, she bravely heads there. Soon enough, she comes upon a building that houses two of the pigs she let escape. She makes the place her home in no time, with the two pigs becoming her children. She enforces on them the parenting she has received while growing up as the house evolves into something from a nightmare.
Shirley
Director Josephine Decker’s literary-minded thriller is based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Susan Scarf Merrell. Elisabeth Moss plays celebrated American horror writer Shirley Jackson, Michael Stuhlbarg plays her husband, Bennington College professor Stanley Edgar Hyman. A young graduate student and his wife move into the home of the darkly magnetic couple and eventually become literary inspiration for Jackson’s next novel.
Beanpole
Set in Leningrad, Russia (now known as Saint Petersburg), the worst of World War II is over. The city is in ruins and those that survived are shadows of their former selves. Iya and Masha are among the lucky few to make it, but surviving in the tatters of this once great city will take grit, determination and a hope that disappeared long ago.
Capone
After serving 10 years in prison, 47-year-old Al Capone, once a powerful businessman and feared gangster who controlled Chicago ruthlessly, finds himself being incapacitated by dementia. Slowly, his violent memories of the past alter his present, morphing them into a reality only he knows and experiences. In his final year, as his family surrounds him and the authorities wait on standby, he is faced with the challenge of remembering the place where he hid his millions of dollars.
Sorry We Missed You
In contemporary Britain, a delivery truck driver and his wife struggle to make ends meet for their family while both working on-call contract jobs. As they strive to work out a viable solution to their increasing debts and employment demands, they end up causing more harm than good both to their finances and to their clients.
Crip Camp
Just minutes away from the revolution of peace and love unfolding at the infamous Woodstock, a different kind of social movement takes place at a rundown summer camp in rural Vermont. Teenagers with a variety of mental and physical diagnosis congregate at the camp from across the country to explore new possibilities and discover who they truly are, regardless of their diagnosis.
The Invisible Man
Writer-director Leigh Whannell’s science fiction horror film is a contemporary female-centric adaptation of H. G. Wells’ 1897 novel of the same name. It stars Elisabeth Moss as a domestic abuse survivor who is convinced that her abusive scientist ex-boyfriend has discovered a way to make himself invisible and that he’s stalking her after faking his own death and leaving her a sizable part of his fortune.
Relic
When Kay receives word that her aging and widowed mother, Edna is nowhere to be found, she recruits her daughter Sam to accompany her to her mother’s home in a remote area to find out the truth. When they arrive at Edna’s home, the women soon sense an unsettling presence lurking in the house possessing Edna and threatening to wreak havoc on the lives of Kay’s family.
Gretel & Hansel
Deep in the country, a starving young girl recruits her younger brother to comb the unsettling nearby forest for food. The siblings hope to find new opportunities in the forest yet only encounter a dark, sinister force lying in wait amongst the trees. Based on the fairytale of the same name, the film is directed by Oz Perkins and co-stars Alice Krige.
Saint Maud
Writer-director Rose Glass’ psychological horror film stars Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle, and Lily Knight. Maud, a young hospice nurse who recently experienced an intense religious conversion, becomes singularly obsessed with the idea of securing her dying patient’s salvation. The latter, a once-famed dancer and choreographer, now bedridden by disability and illness, underestimates her caretaker’s ideological fervor to her detriment.
The Vast of Night
Director Andrew Patterson’s science fiction mystery film stars Sierra McCormick, Jake Horowitz, and Gail Cronauer. As the 1950s draw to an end, a young switchboard operator and a radio DJ encounter an uncanny audio frequency that dramatically alters the trajectory of their New Mexican small town. The dynamic duo embarks on a suspenseful scavenger hunt after parsing through numerous phone calls, AM radio signals, crossed patchlines, and classified reels of tape.
The Assistant
A young woman named Jane spends her days working as the assistant to an authoritative business executive. Amidst the routine of her daily tasks, she comes to recognize the sinister mistreatment underscoring her role in the office. Soon, she discovers that both her career and her welfare may be vulnerable to significant harm.
The Wild Goose Lake
Fleeing from the law, gangster Zenong Zhou crosses paths with an innocent-looking woman named Aiai Liu. Unbeknownst to Zhou, she holds a significant secret. Zhou must then confront the limits of what he is willing to sacrifice both for this stranger and for the family he left behind.
First Cow
Director/co-writer Kelly Reichardt’s American frontier drama is an adaptation of Jonathan Raymond’s 2004 novel “The Half-Life.” Starring John Magaro, Orion Lee, and Rene Auberjonois, it revolves around an unlikely friendship between a hired cook and a mysterious Chinese man in the 1820s Oregon Territory. The two of them develop a lucrative enterprise that revolves around the first cow in the territory.
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
Lars Erickssong and Sigrit Ericksdottir make up Fire Saga, a duo from Iceland that is yet to find fame locally or internationally. Despite people mocking their artistry, they somehow get chosen to represent their country in Europe’s largest and most important song competition: Eurovision. At first, their antics do not reel in the audience, but being finally given a chance to prove themselves, they will stop at nothing until they get what they came for.
Palm Springs
At a mutual friend’s wedding in Palm Springs, the lighthearted Nyles crosses paths with Sarah, the bride’s maid-of-honor. Despite their chemistry, things take a turn in the after-hours of the wedding, forcing the pair into an unusual situation with unexpected results.
Vivarium
Director and co-writer Lorcan Finnegan’s dystopian, sci-fi parable features Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots in leading roles. They play a young couple who become trapped in a Kafkaesque and labyrinthine suburb filled with endless identical houses. Unable to leave, they are forced to raise the baby that mysteriously appears on their doorstep.