This is my third week using Mondays to highlight movies that have just come out on streaming services, and it’s gotten a great response so far. Hopefully, this will help you find something that you really want to watch, not just what’s at the top of your streaming service’s home page. If you’ve seen something great that you think people ought to know about, drop it in the comments!
“Normal” (HBO MAX) – “John Wick” meets “Fargo” in this deliciously over-the-top action-comedy about a temporary sheriff (Bob Odenkirk) who finds that his small Minnesota town is full of secrets, and most of the townsfolk are willing to kill to protect them. Great action with an emphasis on laughs over brutality (although some of it is brutal), and Odenkirk continues to make for an ass-kicking everyman. My full review is here, and my interview with writer and Madison native Derek Kolstad is over at my day job at City Cast Madison!
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” (Netflix) – David Fincher did a terrific job with the American adaptation of the Stieg Larsson novel that everybody was reading a decade ago. In the middle of his 007 run, Daniel Craig is surprisingly vulnerable as a journalist investigating a decades-old murder among a twisted wealthy family, and Rooney Mara gives Noomi Rapace a run for her money as avenging hacker Lisbeth Salander. You’ll never hear Enya the same way again. My full review is here, but paywalled.
“Our Hero, Balthazar” (VOD) – I wrote last week about this pitch-black incel buddy comedy, in which a pampered New York City influencer (Jaedan Martell) collides with a Texas gun nut (Asa Butterfield) with disastrous results. A disturbingly funny look at a society where everybody is trying to scam everybody. My full review is here.
“Wildcat” (Criterion) – I didn’t love the structure of Ethan Hawke’s biopic of author Flannery O’Connor, which embeds several dramatizations of her Southern Gothic short stories into the narrative. But Maya Hawke is utterly convincing as conveying O’Connor’s genius as well as her physical and emotional struggles. Maybe nepotism isn’t always bad? My full review is here.
“The Wizard of the Kremlin” (Hulu) – Oliver Assayas’ new political thriller didn’t get great reviews, but I thought it was a fascinating look inside the corridors of power in Russia and a primer on how fascism can take over. Paul Dano stars as a fictional Russian playwright who becomes an adviser to Vladimir Putin (a surprisingly effective Jude Law), masterminding his brutal takeover of the country’s institutions. My full review is here.
“The Boy and the Beast” (HBO MAX) – Japanese writer-director Mamoru Hosoda (“Summer Wars”) crafted a dazzling anime with emotional depth in this 2015 film, about a boy grieving the loss of his mother who befriends a wolfman-like warrior from another realm. My full review is here (check out my old WordPress blog from a decade ago!).
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