Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Every week, we’re going to recommend the latest movies available to purchase or rent on-demand. More and more, movies are being made available both in theaters and at home on VOD, and we’re here to make sure that those don’t slip through the cracks. We’ll also be alerting you to the week’s major releases on second-run VOD. All so you can have a better weekend!
VOD Picks of the Week
It has been a VERY good year for horror so far — I’ve already recommended The Invitation and Hush around these parts; you very likely have already seen Ten Cloverfield Lane — but it all kicked off with The Witch. Probably because buzz had been building for it for a whole year. After rustling up the leaves at Sundance 2015, The Witch slowly levitated its way through the film festival circuit, before reaching the full height of deliciousness with its theatrical debut this winter. It was one of those expectation-confounding horror movies that proved to be decently divisive with audiences. Does the payoff live up to the deliberate build-up? That’s between you and your black-horned goat god. For my money, The Witch mines the unbearable tension of its surroundings with great skill. The great abyss of the woods staring back at our characters; the isolation of those pre-settled areas of America; the unspoken cultural significance of Puritans and the shadows of Salem that get cast over the movie; those creepy twins. They all add up, stacked upon each other, until the tension becomes unbearable. And then the unthinkable happens. It’s fantastic. Watch it this weekend.
[You can buy The Witch on Amazon Video or iTunes.]
With Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party, writer/director Stephen Cone mines similar territory to his previous film, The Wise Kids. It’s the territory of middle-class, Midwestern families, devoted to their religion and their values, trying to negotiate their way through a world that is changing and evolving and taking their kids with it. It is territory that gives Cone a LOT of elbow room, because nobody is telling these kinds of stories right now. The Wise Kids was such an eye-opening delight because it told its story of a gay kid coming out to his very religious community with an uncommon empathy towards all its characters. Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party continues with that same degree of curiosity and empathy into the the lives of its characters. Cone also allows the events of the film — it takes place over the course of one day, at the titular celebration — to gradually enlighten the audiences about his characters and their situations without a whole lot of over-the-top dramatics. We get to know these people through conversations and gestures and a look across a yard or the way a teenager will tense up around someone who makes him realize too much about himself. I’m not quite sure how a film manages to deal this directly with things like teenage bodies and desire and confusion without feeling the least bit salacious. It’s quite the accomplishment. We need more movies like this.
[You can rent or buy Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party on Amazon Video or iTunes.]
