Clash of the Titans
Due to the relative stability of the moment this is coming together, this week’s Primal Stream is a bit different from most. There’s no horror to be found this week. Here are action, comedy and fantasy offerings, including two entire film series to binge if you get the inclination. There are 33 whole weeks of previous recommendations if you’re interested in digging a little deeper, and I hope you’re staying as safe as possible in these weird times. Here are our past installments: March 26, April 2, April 9, April 16, April 23, April 30, May 7, May 14, May 21, May 28, June 4, June 11, June 18, June 25, July 2, July 9, July 16, July 23, July 30, Aug. 6, Aug. 13, Aug. 20, Aug. 27, Sept. 3, Sept. 10, Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1, Oct. 15, Oct. 29, Nov. 5, Nov. 11, Nov. 26.
Clash of the Titans (1981) on Netflix
The last hurrah for the golden age of stop-motion animation, this swords-and-sandals epic was a grand achievement for special-effects master Ray Harryhausen and the delight of anyone looking to get a crash course in the imagination of classical mythology on a grand budget. Also, the Greek and Roman gods are a great way to teach the youth about the vicissitudes of human beings. Abrahamic religion is not ideal for understanding the weird and venal twists and turns that human behavior thrives on, and Clash of the Titans’ pantheon of gods is a who’s-who of pop culture that draws from classical theater, art cinema and Love Boat guest-star casting calls. Plus it’s got Maggie Smith with all the venomous asides and magical chaos one could want. Add in the kraken (making its debut in mass consciousness), giant scorpions, the best Medusa ever put on film, so very many oiled-up nipples and that beloved robot owl Bubo.
Cloud Atlas
Cloud Atlas on Netflix
Letting their cosmic freak flag fly, Lana and Lilly Wachowski and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) adapted David Mitchell’s time-spanning novel Cloud Atlas with a dynamite cast who trade genders, races and species across its six stories. It’s an uneven collection that nonetheless displays more ambition, hope and creativity than anything else in the intervening eight years. Far from a block that fits neatly into any sort of structured agenda, Cloud Atlas is a symphony of emotion that plays the synapses and the spine, a film that absorbs into the nervous system and shocks the viewer out of the normal for three brisk, visceral hours.
The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter on Amazon Prime Video
A kung fu classic that also deals with PTSD and the double-edged sword of family obligations, The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter is a work of imaginative joy. If you’ve never seen any of the classics of martial arts cinema, this is a great place to start. Imaginatively staged by director Lau Kar-leung and filled with the distinctive energy of early-’80s Shaw Brothers films, this is one of those movies that you can put on in any context and it will win people over regardless of whatever else may be happening. It brought the house down at its 2016 late-night Belcourt screening.
Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle
Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle on Hulu
The joyful power of a Wilson Phillips sing-along. Battleshits. “Let’s burn this motherfucker down, Pookie.” Kumar’s montage of life with the giant bag of weed. Neil Patrick Harris changing the entire trajectory of his career. Rose Royce’s “I Wanna Get Next to You.” There are so many amazing and enduring moments in the 2004 stoner epic Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle that it’s easy to lose sight of how innovative this film was in terms of representation and perspective. Kal Penn and John Cho are, well, iconic, in their titular roles, with more than enough good will to sustain the somewhat lesser sequel Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay — they rebounded with the utterly delightful A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas. (It’s sad how difficult it is to see the latter in 3D these days, as it is one of the best 3D films of the past decade.) Getcha some of your favorite greasy comfort food and spend some time with Harold and Kumar — the time is right for some socially optimistic comedy.
Hard Ticket to Hawaii on Tubi
Action cinema packed to the gills with labyrinthine conspiracies, wild gadgets, lush location photography, sex-having/gun-wielding secret agents and so many bosoms — these are the works of Andy Sidaris. An innovator in the technology of sportscasting who believed wholeheartedly in tacky humor, explosions and a Russ Meyer-level devotion to statuesque and busty women, Sidaris understood the emerging value of the home-video market. He made 19 films with interconnected characters, organizations, plots and mysteries. Though Malibu Express is the first, chronologically, you’re best starting off with 1987’s Hard Ticket to Hawaii. It’s got exploding skateboarders, a radioactive snake, an unexpected treatise on gender, and that razor-frisbee sequence immortalized at countless Belcourt preshows. All 19 of the films in Sidaris’ L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies series are on Tubi now. Enjoy!
