The best in streaming entertainment, from the experts.
Though it’s often confused with Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day is when we take time to remember those brave souls that died for their country. It’s not an easy thing, and perhaps a little painful, but by acknowledging those who gave of themselves, gave everything they had, it makes our own lives a little more worth appreciating. Here are 15 movies that offer a meaningful way to commemorate these heroes and their sacrifice.
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Like Netflix, Amazon has begun acting as distributor of its own entertainment, picking up quite a few risky movies and giving them theatrical releases before debuting them as streaming titles, presumably available forever—or at least as long as the service lasts. Perhaps because of their big-screen clout, however, Amazon’s titles seem a little more ambitious than those of Netflix, a little more artistic, and less like titles one might find in a 1980s video store.
There’s a focus on strong directors (Richard Linklater, Jim Jarmusch, Spike Lee, Todd Haynes, et al), and on talent, who turn up in multiple titles (Michael Shannon and Samuel L. Jackson are each represented twice in this top 10). Amazon still does not offer the sheer number of titles that Netflix has, and they don’t seem to come out quite so frequently, but the quality is higher overall. The best Amazon original movie is better than anything on Netflix so far.
This is my personal list of the 10 best and three runners-up; plus, the rest categorized for easy picking.
Author: The JT LeRoy Story is a troubled, but still fascinating documentary about writer Laura Albert, who created a fake persona that went too far. City of Ghosts is excellent, a tough, powerful documentary about journalists in Syria who are under constant threat by ISIS. Crown Heights tells the true story of a man wrongly imprisoned and the attempts to set his situation right, with a fine performance by Lakeith Stanfield. Gleason is a grueling documentary about New Orleans Saints star Steve Gleason after he is diagnosed with ALS. Human Flow is a downbeat documentary about refugees all over the world, directed by artist Ai Weiwei.
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Valentine’s Day is eagerly awaited by some, and dreaded by others. You could go the conventional route and celebrate the day with a romantic dinner, but a recent article in the Washington Post warned that Valentine’s Day is the absolute worst time to visit a restaurant. Our recommendation: Watch movies. It’s great fun for couples, friends, and yes, those who cherish their alone time.
This list includes 20 of our top recommendations and where you can find them online. They all have a touch a romance, even if some have very different moods. Whether you’re celebrating or avoiding the topic of love, these films will help.
(Netflix)
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The holiday season brings with it many traditions, including the tradition of Christmas-themed movies. We love to watch our favorites again and again (like those on this Best Christmas movies list) to try and recapture what we love about the holidays.
But what if you’ve just seen those classics too many times? What if you can’t stand another feelgood moment in a movie? Sometimes you just need something a bit edgier, and outside the box. Here are 20 streaming movies that promise a little bit of Christmas, but also a bit of horror, comedy, tragedy, darkness, or other forms of subversive expression.
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Christmas is largely about tradition, and sometimes it’s nice to watch the same old stuff: movies that celebrate Christmas for all its good qualities, its ability to bring people together and to get some people to be a little bit nicer to one another. The movies here are sure to get the cheer flowing. Happy Holidays to you all!
If you’d rather skip the Christmas carols and good cheer, come back tomorrow when we’ll offer our favorite twisted holiday fare.
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It's Thanksgiving time once again, and most of us will be assembling with our families for a great feast. That means quite a lot of downtime stuck talking to weird relatives about what they've been up to lately, or worse, politics. A great solution is to stream one of these classic, much-loved classic, or should-be-classic holiday movies, more or less guaranteed to please most everyone in the room.
Perhaps some feel-good magic will rub off and make the holiday feel a little more special. Come back tomorrow for our top picks in oddball holiday movies.
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Halloween is almost here. Last week we brought you some of the most recent horror films to watch in celebration of the pagan holiday. Now we present the classics, the flicks that have been lying in wait, infinitely patient from the dawn of time to the 1980s. There are monsters here, vampires and werewolves and zombies, in black-and-white and in color. Some are gory, some are funny, and some of them are outright spooky.
Choose wisely, and beware. Happy Halloween!
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