(Welcome to Now Stream This, a column dedicated to the best movies streaming on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and every other streaming service out there.)
Another edition of Now Stream This is here to offer you a smorgasbord of streaming options! Be honest – you don’t want to leave your house. You want to stay inside and watch movies without getting up off the couch. If you find yourself in this situation, but remain uncertain about just what to watch, this column is here to help. In this edition, we have an anti-Western from Robert Altman, a brutal revenge flick, a Shakespeare adaptation that runs over 4 hours, a rom-com parody, and more.
These are the best movies streaming right now. Let’s get streaming.
The Best Movies Streaming Right Now
1. McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Now Streaming on FilmStruck
Release Date: 1971
Genre: Anti-Western
Director: Robert Altman
Cast: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Shelley Duvall, Keith Carradine
Robert Altman‘s anti-Western stars Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and a whole lot of mud and snow. Set in 1902, the film follows a gambler (Beatty) who opens a brothel in a mining town. He teams with a prostitute (played by Christie) to make this idea a reality, and the two enjoy a partnership with a certain sexual attraction. All goes well for a while, but problems arise, and the successful sex work business McCabe and Mrs. Miller have built is in danger of crumbling. Like most Altman films, McCabe and Mrs. Miller features overlapping dialogue and a shaggy-dog atmosphere. With moody songs by Leonard Cohen and hazy yet gorgeous cinematography from Vilmos Zsigmond, this is unlike any Western you’ve seen before.
For fans of: The Long Goodbye, Heaven’s Gate, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Warren Beatty wearing a giant fur coat.
2. Revenge
Now Streaming on Shudder
Release Date: 2018
Genre: Nasty Thriller
Director: Coralie Fargeat
Cast: Matilda Lutz, Kevin Janssens, Vincent Colombe, Guillaume Bouchède
Coralie Fargeat‘s Revenge is one of the most unrelentingly violent films you’ll ever see. It’s also incredible – a stylish pop culture nightmare; a Roy Lichtenstein print with a body count. Visually stunning and narratively nasty, Revenge finds a young woman (Matilda Lutz, incredible here) in the fight for her life after her lover and his two brutish friends leave her for dead. Suffering horrific injuries, Lutz’s character seemingly rises from the dead to enact bloody, brutal revenge on the horrible men who’ve done her wrong. Revenge isn’t going to be for everyone – it’s constant, over-the-top bloodshed might be too much to handle. But make no mistake: this is a major work from a filmmaker worth paying attention to.
For fans of: I Spit On Your Grave, Ms. 45, The Last House on the Left, an alarming amount of spilled blood.
3. Hamlet
Now Streaming on FilmStruck
Release Date: 1996
Genre: Shakespeare!
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Julie Christie, Kate Winslet
Kenneth Branagh‘s glorious, swooning, over-the-top adaptation of Hamlet is the only film version to use Shakespeare’s complete text. As a result, the film runs just over four hours, which might seem a bit overwhelming, but trust me: this movie is wonderful. Some of Branagh’s casting borders on ludicrous (Billy Crystal plays the gravedigger!), but the director finds such a unique visual style for the film, coupled with an apologetically theatrical atmosphere. Shot in beautiful 70mm, Hamlet looks incredible, and that visual splendor is aided by fantastic performances, particularly Kate Winslet as poor, doomed Ophelia. Is this the best film version of Hamlet? I think it just might be.
For fans of: Dead Again, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, anything written by that Shakespeare fellow – you might have heard of him.
4. Gattaca
Now Streaming on Shudder
Release Date: 1997
Genre: Sci-Fi
Director: Andrew Niccol
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law, Loren Dean, Ernest Borgnine, Gore Vidal, and Alan Arkin
Andrew Niccol‘s somber, romantic sci-fi film Gattaca is set in a future where eugenics has made most of society genetically perfect. There are a handful of folks who remain “impure”, and find themselves ostracized by society. One such person is Vincent, played by great actor and self-proclaimed Logan hater Ethan Hawke. Despite his “in-valid” status, Vincent dreams of working at the illustrious Gattaca Aerospace Corporation and finding a way off the planet. To do so, he decides to impersonate Jerome (Jude Law, right before his career really blew up), a perfect specimen who just happens to be confined to a wheelchair. Things are going well for Vincent, until a murder at Gattaca threatens to expose his secrets. Featuring a unique, abstract design and a hauntingly lovely score by Michael Nyman, Gattaca isn’t your typical science fiction film.
For fans of: Arrival, Equals, The Truman Show, special cameo appearances from Gore Vidal.
5. They Came Together
Now Streaming on Hulu
Release Date: 2014
Genre: Comedy
Director: David Wain
Cast: Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Cobie Smulders, Christopher Meloni, Max Greenfield, Bill Hader, Ellie Kemper, Jason Mantzoukas, Melanie Lynskey, Ed Helms
An absolutely ridiculous parody of romantic comedies, They Came Together tells the story of two New Yorkers – Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler – who fall for each other. It sounds like your standard rom-com, and that’s the point. Director David Wain and cowriter Michael Showalter take the familiar set-up and turns it upside down, creating a surreal, absurd film with a ton of laugh-out-loud funny moments. You already know that Rudd and Poehler are funny people, and they work exceptionally well together here.
For fans of: Wet Hot American Summer, Stella, The Ten, fiction books.
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