The Assignment
Here we are, still locked into this stressful and terrifying ongoing experience that we’re all sort of blindly careening through. As we all continue social distancing to avoid the spread of COVID-19, perhaps you’re trying to find something to watch to get through the day. Maybe I can help. There are heaps of streaming services out there, and I’m happy to find all sorts of interesting options and evaluate them as need be. See more recommendations in last week’s issue of the Scene, and read on for this week’s picks. Click each title to watch its trailer.
The Assignment on Netflix
This down-and-dirty 2016 flick from Walter Hill (The Warriors, Streets of Fire) has been trending on Netflix in recent weeks. The Assignment finds mad scientist Sigourney Weaver forcibly transitioning (literal) swinging-dick assassin Michelle Rodriguez to a female body. As you can imagine, this film is fraught and deeply problematic, graphically violent and irredeemably stupid. Rodriguez is fine, but the reason this film sticks with you is Weaver, who has never been meaner or funnier; her deposition scene is one of the greatest line deliveries in cinema history.
BMX Bandits on Amazon Prime
It can be hard to know exactly when it’s the right time to introduce your children to the cinema of Nicole Kidman. Paddington is a delightful film, but do you want to start a new generation out on their cinematic journey with Kidman as a villain? The same goes for the tragically underrated film version of The Golden Compass. But fear not, because Aussie exploitation master and friend of the Belcourt Brian Trenchard-Smith (Frog Dreaming, Dead End Drive-In, Megiddo: Omega Code 2) made this excellent kids’ action movie featuring La Nicole in her first film, in which she plays a BMX biker having adventures and stopping crime with her friends. Way less yell-y than The Goonies and with a lot of great bike sequences, BMX Bandits also has a theme song you won’t be able to get out of your head.
Fury of the Demon on Amazon Prime and Kanopy
What would you say about a film that caused riots every time it was shown in public? How do you address a “cursed film” without immediately getting shunted off to the land of found-footage horror? The 2016 French project Fury of the Demon addresses a lost silent film that may even have been directed by the legendary Georges Méliès — a film that may in fact be infused with something ... unearthly. As close as we may ever get to a film version of Steven Boyett’s short story “The Answer Tree,” this hourlong documentary aims for the impact of 2008’s Lake Mungo. And if it doesn’t quite land that goal, it’s unique and essential for lovers of French film and horror cinema.
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot on Amazon Prime
Hardcore Kevin Smith fans have already seen this. Haters won’t go near it. But if you’ve ever had any affection for the View Askewniverse, you should certainly check out Jay and Silent Bob Reboot — it’s Smith’s Big Fish. Now, this isn’t quite the kind of rip-it-up-and-start-over movie that Tim Burton’s film was in comparison to previous work; Smith has always had a vein of sentimentality running through his films, and he finds a way to reconcile it all. Rather, this is a movie about all the dick and weed jokes, but also about what happens when the past becomes a prison. Worth a look to be sure, though I missed Hooper X.
Lady of Burlesque on Amazon Prime
“What’s that?” you say. “A movie from 1943 on one of the major streaming services?” Indeed, your eyes do not deceive you. Anyone who’s missing their classic Hollywood programmers should check out Lady of Burlesque, a Barbara Stanwyck musical-mystery (based on a novel by Gypsy Rose Lee) about murder backstage at a vaudeville/burlesque house. It’s got singing and dancing and murder and drama (and way too casual an attitude about partner violence toward women), and Stanwyck is always iconic (in Edith Head outfits).
The Platform
The Platform on Netflix
One of the big new releases on Netflix, this Spanish film has a great allegorical hook at its center and something of an inspirational message. But it’s very enamored of its own cruelty and violence, and the central hook goes only so far. It’s what you could call edgelord-y optimism, if that’s a subgenre that you’re into. (As noted in last week’s Critics’ Picks, Snowpiercer is also on Netflix; it has a similar structure, and Bong Joon-ho does it better.) Regardless, director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia is one to watch.
Shakma on PopcornFlix
In this corner, we have a baboon whose brain has been messed with by scientists. In the other corner, we have several LARPer college students — including Amanda Wyss (A Nightmare on Elm Street, To Die For), Christopher Atkins (The Blue Lagoon) and Ari Meyers (Kate & Allie) — taking over a school building after hours to play their game on a grand scale. Beloved icon Roddy McDowall is their professor. Before the night is over, they will all understand why Shakma means terror. If you enjoy films in which teen ignorance and arrogance collide with furry rage, this 1990 film is the one for you. It’s also for you if you enjoy movies like Roar, where it seems like real-life horror could have happened at any moment on set.
Bill Hader and John Mulaney on Amazon Prime
A discussion between two longtime friends, ostensibly focusing on Hader’s HBO series Barry but way more free-form and jazzy than that may sound, this special — recorded at New York’s 92nd Street Y — is essential for anyone who likes either or both of these performers. It’s also essential, honestly, for anyone who digs good storytelling. Lots of big, cathartic laughs.
