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SlipStreams Vol. 16 (Patreon exclusive)
Three random-ish streaming recommendations from FILM FREAK CENTRAL editor Bill Chambers for the week of March 22, 2024. PICK OF THE WEEK Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007, d. Sidney Lumet (U.S.: Fubo, Peacock, Roku, Vudu, Tubi, Kanopy, Crackle, Pluto, Shout!, Plex; Canada: Prime, Tubi, CTV))Sidney Lumet's swan song brought the prolific director's career to a sudden stop; he lived another four years, making Before the Devil Knows You're Dead feel like a purposeful valediction with surprisingly little positive to say about his time on Earth. He was an old lib in the throes of Bush II, and this…
SlipStreams Vol. 15 (Patreon exclusive)
Three streaming recommendations from Walter Chaw for the week of March 8, 2024.
SlipStreams Vol. 14
Three random-ish streaming recommendations from FILM FREAK CENTRAL editor Bill Chambers for the week of February 23, 2024.PICK OF THE WEEKWaking the Dead (2000, d. Keith Gordon (U.S./Canada: Criterion))Criterion Channel's "Interdimensional Romance" slate is a treasure trove of bittersweet love stories, but I want to single out this underseen gem from director Keith Gordon, which has only grown more poignant in the 24 years since its release. Fielding Pierce (Billy Crudup) is a clean-cut, all-American kid putting himself through law school with a stint in the Coast Guard. Visiting his brother Danny's publishing outfit, he meets the magnetic Sarah Williams…
SlipStreams Vol. 13
Three random-ish streaming recommendations from FILM FREAK CENTRAL's Walter Chaw for the week of February 16, 2024. PICK OF THE WEEK Cujo (1983, d. Lewis Teague (U.S.: Max, DirecTV; Canada: Paramount+)) It's time for a serious reconsideration of Lewis Teague's Cujo, which was arguably buried in the steady stream of Stephen King adaptations from this period. Find in this middle-American noir a career-defining performance from Dee Wallace as Donna, a mother doing her best to shield her young son Tad (Danny Pintauro) from the ugliness of their shared reality. When a St. Bernard, after poking his head in a hole…
SlipStreams Vol. 12
Three random-ish streaming recommendations from FILM FREAK CENTRAL editor Bill Chambers for the week of February 9, 2024. PICK OF THE WEEK The Bedroom Window (1987, d. Curtis Hanson (U.S.: Criterion, Kanopy; Canada: Criterion, Hollywood Suite)) Curtis Hanson wrote and directed this page-turner of a movie, which fleshes out the plot of Anne Holden's slim pulp novel The Witnesses. Married Sylvia (Isabelle Huppert) is having a fling with yuppie Terry (Steve Guttenberg). When she sees an assault from Terry's bedroom window he thinks might be linked to a nearby murder, Terry urges her to go to the police. But because…
SlipStreams Vol. 11
Three random-ish streaming recommendations from FILM FREAK CENTRAL's Walter Chaw for the week of February 2, 2024.PICK OF THE WEEKKin-dza-dza! (Кин-дза-дза!) (1986, d. Georgiy Daneliya (U.S./Canada: YouTube))Since discovering that Mosfilm is restoring portions of their archive and posting the results on YouTube with English subtitles, I've been trying like mad to fill a few thousand gaps in my film education. For me, a child of the Reagan era and its hugely successful propaganda campaign against the "Evil Empire," the Soviet Union was always this austere wasteland peopled by mindless automatons bent on my atomic destruction. No matter how many examples…
SlipStreams Vol. 10
Three random-ish streaming recommendations from FILM FREAK CENTRAL editor Bill Chambers for the week of January 26, 2024. PICK OF THE WEEK Out of the Blue (1982, d. Dennis Hopper (U.S./Canada: Tubi, Plex)) Nominated for the Palme d'Or in 1980, Out of the Blue was Dennis Hopper's triumphant return to filmmaking after the sabotaged release of 1971's The Last Movie and various addictions imposed a lengthy hiatus on his directing career. Initially, he was only supposed to act in it, but the producers were unhappy with hyphenate Leonard Yakir's vision for the film and asked Hopper to take over. And…
SlipStreams Vol. 9
Three random-ish streaming recommendations from FILM FREAK CENTRAL's Walter Chaw for the week of October 7, 2022.PICK OF THE WEEKEnemy Mine (1985, d. Wolfgang Petersen (U.S.: Starz, DirecTV; Canada: Disney+))One of the films that fired my imagination in the matinee of my moviegoing youth, the late Wolfgang Petersen's Enemy Mine shipwrecks intergalactic archenemies Davidge (Dennis Quaid) and Drac (Louis Gossett, Jr.) together on a savage planet. Part Robinson Crusoe on Mars, part The Defiant Ones, all ludicrous, it's one of the rare films to deliver with full-throated glee everything the premise promises. It's got space battles, monster fights, broad politics,…
SlipStreams Vol. 8
Four random-ish streaming recommendations from FILM FREAK CENTRAL's Walter Chaw for the week of July 29, 2022.PICK OF THE WEEKPatterns (1956, d. Fielder Cook (U.S.: Paramount+, Epix, Roku, Hoopla, Kanopy, DirecTV, Fandor, Pure Flix; Canada: Hoopla, Fandor))Sixty-six years on, the Rod Serling-scripted Patterns remains the sharpest autopsy of corporate mind-think and groupspeak ever created. In it, a ruthless executive (Everett Sloane) seeks to pass over a loyal and decent career employee (Ed Begley) for a hotshot up-and-comer (Van Heflin) just recruited from another company. The executive is not, however, willing to be forthright in his intentions and so conspires to…
SlipStreams Vol. 7
Three random-ish streaming recommendations from FILM FREAK CENTRAL editor Bill Chambers for the week of July 22, 2022.PICK OF THE WEEKThe Way of the Gun (2000, d. Christopher McQuarrie (U.S.: Roku, Vudu, Tubi, Kanopy, Redbox, Pluto TV, Plex; Canada: Tubi, Plex))I didn't catch up with this until recently, after James Caan passed away. The directorial debut of Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie, best known these days as the architect of the Mission: Impossible franchise from Rogue Nation on, The Way of the Gun is a bracingly vulgar film about two off-the-grid crooks (Ryan Philippe and Benicio Del Toro) who kidnap the…
SlipStreams Vol. 6
Four random-ish streaming recommendations from FILM FREAK CENTRAL's Walter Chaw for the week of July 15, 2022.PICK OF THE WEEKSamurai Marathon (2019, d. Bernard Rose (U.S.: Hoopla, Tubi, Pluto TV, Hi-Yah!; Canada: Hoopla, Tubi))Retaining most of the same production team from Takashi Miike's propulsive 13 Assassins, ace producer Jeremy Thomas decided to go with a foreign director for his next jidaigeki and chose, of all people, iconoclastic Bernard Rose. Best known for the original Candyman, Rose is a man of refined tastes, having directed a series of Tolstoy adaptations and engaged in an ongoing project covering the lives of great…
Life During Wartime #28: UNDER THE SKIN (Patreon exclusive)
by Walter ChawUnder the Skin (2014)U.S.: Fubo TV, Showtime, Kanopy, DirecTV, Spectrum On DemandCanada: Tubi, Shudder, AMC+The first thing my daughter said after the credits rolled on Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin was, "I can't believe Scarlett Johansson wanted to do this. It makes me think of her differently." I've argued for a long time now that ScarJo is among our very best actors. She takes chances. She chooses roles that play with her appearance and challenge how she's perceived--more than challenge it. My daughter said, "Her. She doesn't even appear and she's like the most beautiful woman in Hollywood right…
SlipStreams Vol. 5
Four random-ish streaming recommendations from FILM FREAK CENTRAL editor Bill Chambers for the week of July 8, 2022.PICK OF THE WEEKIntruder (1989, d. Scott Spiegel (U.S.: AMC+, Vudu, Tubi, Shudder, Pluto TV, Spectrum On Demand, Arrow; Canada: Tubi, Shudder, Arrow, AMC+))Evil Dead II co-writer Scott Spiegel made his feature debut with this semi-autobiographical (very semi) slasher flick set within the quaint confines of the Walnut Lake grocery store. Owners Bill (Dan Hicks) and Danny (Eugene Robert Glazer) have just sold the place and tasked the night crew with staying after hours to mark down the prices for clearance--and wouldn't you…
SlipStreams Vol. 4
Four random-ish streaming recommendations from FILM FREAK CENTRAL's Walter Chaw for the week of July 1, 2022.PICK OF THE WEEKBright Lights, Big City (1988, d. James Bridges (U.S.: Roku, Tubi, Redbox, Pluto TV; Canada: Tubi))I loved Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerny's preternaturally cocksure, first-person pomo updating of The Great Gatsby, when I read it in the months before the release of this big-screen adaptation starring Michael J. Fox. The diminutive sitcom megastar spent the years between the first two Back to the Futures mostly eschewing big-money grabs in favour of working on interesting projects with interesting directors, jumping full-body…
SlipStreams Vol. 3
Four random-ish streaming recommendations from FILM FREAK CENTRAL editor Bill Chambers for the week of June 24, 2022.PICK OF THE WEEKWhat Lies Beneath (2000 (U.S.: rental only; Canada: Tubi))A film that was something to occupy director Robert Zemeckis while he waited for Tom Hanks to shed pounds during the making of Cast Away, What Lies Beneath was unfairly dismissed as a coldly technical exercise when it opened to tepid reviews in July of 2000. Michelle Pfeiffer plays Claire, a recent empty-nester who's just moved to a picture-perfect house by the lake that husband Norman (Harrison Ford) inherited from his father.…
Life During Wartime #27: DON’T LOOK NOW (Patreon exclusive)
by Walter Chaw Don't Look Now (1973) U.S.: Kanopy, Pluto TV Canada: rental only My daughter remembers seeing the first minute of this film years ago when she was a kid, walking by just as I was starting it. She remembers a little girl in a red rain slicker, and a white horse galloping past in the background. She remembers how this alone made her feel uneasy enough, after asking a couple of questions, to tap out. As I've said many times before, our philosophy with our kids was that they could watch anything they want, but there was a price:…
SlipStreams Vol. 2
Four random-ish streaming recommendations from FILM FREAK CENTRAL's Walter Chaw for the week of June 17, 2022.PICK OF THE WEEKThe Chocolate War (1988 (U.S.: Prime, Paramount+, Epix, Hoopla, Tubi, DirecTV; Canada: Hoopla, Tubi, MGM))An adaptation of Robert Cormier's YA classic from that pre-Harry Potter period when YA wasn't nearly so fulsome or populated, Keith Gordon's pitch-black The Chocolate War covers a fundraising drive at a private Catholic school that, more than a decade before Alexander Payne's Election, takes vicious satirical aim at the thin skin of civilization stretched over our animal natures. In meanness, the film falls somewhere between Williams…
SlipStreams Vol. 1
Four random-ish streaming recommendations from FILM FREAK CENTRAL editor Bill Chambers for the week of June 10, 2022.PICK OF THE WEEKThe Clock (1945 (U.S., Canada: The Criterion Channel))For my money, the peak of Judy Garland's collaborations with Vincente Minnelli, not counting Liza. Replacing director Fred Zinnemann a few weeks into production (at Garland's behest), Minnelli scrapped most of Zinnemann's footage and started fresh with an eye towards shooting more of the picture on location in New York, making The Clock one of Minnelli's rare excursions into something resembling realism. The precursor to truncated romances like Richard Linklater's Before trilogy, The Clock's…
Life During Wartime #27: SE7EN (Patreon exclusive)
by Walter Chaw Se7en (1995) U.S.: Peacock, Peacock Premium Canada: Starz (Crave, Amazon) My son is very protective of his experience. He's come to some horror films late. My daughter, who's now 18, is much more adventurous. Still, she's stayed away from Se7en until now. There are a few films like this that her mother and I have strongly discouraged her from watching. I have a long list of red flags, stuff like the Italian animal-cruelty/found-footage flicks, which I don't think offer anything of value beyond shock and dismay, as well as great world masterpieces like Salò, The Glass Cage, and…
“The 50 Best Witch Movies” by Walter Chaw
I'm terrified of witches. I'm afraid of mermaids, too, but I stay off the ocean generally because of the whole shark thing. Sirens, same. And banshees--I think they're in Scotland mostly, right? But living in Colorado makes wilderness difficult to avoid. No doubt the way I associate witches with the wild has something to do with a fear of female sexuality. More specifically, witches are what men accuse women of being when women pose a danger to them--when women get a little too close to coming fully into their power as disruptors of systemic masculine order. Accused of rape, adultery,…
Life During Wartime #26: APOCALYPSE NOW (Patreon exclusive)
by Walter Chaw Apocalypse Now (1979) U.S.: Purchase only Canada: Purchase only My 18-year-old daughter, Mia, is graduating college this year. She's always been adventurous in her movie-watching tastes, but being in a competitive program at school means her time during the school year for watching things is limited by hours of coursework. When she was younger, she used to go with me to seminars I was teaching as part of continuing-education courses at the local college. Through them, she's seen about 40 of Hitchcock's 54 or so films and, I would say, the bulk of The Archers' output. We…
Life During Wartime #25: THE GODFATHER (Patreon exclusive)
by Walter Chaw The Godfather (1972) U.S.: Fubo, Showtime, DirecTV, Spectrum Canada: Paramount+ My daughter turned 18 last month and my son just got his driver's permit, so I've never felt more mortal--not even when my dad died. (When that happened, my daughter was a month away from being born.) Not even when my in-laws died, because the labour of supporting my wife and kids through their grief mitigated the arc of my own. Not even when I got a few scary medical diagnoses, causing me to change my diet and habits, or when my mom was diagnosed with stage-4…
Life During Wartime #24: AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (Patreon exclusive)
by Walter Chaw An American Werewolf in London (1981) U.S.: Prime, Fubo, AMC, DirecTV, Shudder, Sling Canada: Hollywood Suite My daughter is 17 and my son is 15, and it was time--past time, if you ask me--for them to see John Landis's An American Werewolf in London. I didn't provide much preamble for the presentation, just that it was one of the "big ones" of the horror genre, a classic that sits in there next to stuff like The Exorcist, Halloween, Psycho, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Jaws, The Thing (1982), A Nightmare on Elm Street, and, for me, The…
Life During Wartime #23: THE MUPPET MOVIE (Patreon exclusive)
by Walter Chaw The Muppet Movie (1979) U.S./Canada: Disney+ We started quarantine with the best-laid plans and nine months later--the duration of human gestation--find ourselves not somewhere we intended or could have predicted. We had a regular game night, but adding tension to tension proved unwise; we were ready for a couple of months of this, but as it became clear that no help was on the way, I was forced to take a job in the "essential" sector of our nightmare. The toll on my mental health has been extreme--lapping over into home, where I barely had the energy…