Five Movies You MUST Stream Before They Expire At The End Of January

Directed by: Spike Jonze
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton, Brian Cox, Judy Greer
Streaming on: HBO GO / HBO NOW

In the early 2000s, Charlie Kaufman wrote a trio of movies that completely knocked Hollywood on its ass for their intelligence, dark humor, and incredible creative spirit. Being John Malkovich was the breakthrough in 1999, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind won Kaufman the Oscar in 2004. In between them was Adaptation, which feels like a blend of the meta-commentary mind-bending of Malkovich and the melancholy of spirit in Eternal Sunshine.

The plot goes like this: Nicolas Cage plays a struggling screenwriter named Charlie Kaufman (okay?), who is having trouble adapting a nonfiction book about flowers called The Orchid Thief, written by Susan Orlean (Streep) and focusing on an eccentric orchid poacher named John Laroche (Cooper). Orlean, Laroche, and The Orchid Thief are all real. Everything else, including Cage playing the fictional role of Charlie Kaufman’s twin brother Donald, is not. Adaptation sometimes plays like an intellectual exercise. How does one adapt an un-adaptable non-fiction book into a narrative screenplay? Well, you’d need to invent a love story, some life-or-death stakes, drugs, guns, and on top of all that, a meta storyline about the writer himself. The concept of the movie is a moibus strip, but the story itself is straightforward, even as it begins to comment on itself; Charlie doesn’t want to write a typical Hollywood movie full of bombast and narrative shortcuts. He just wants to write a movie that reflects the beauty of an ordinary, unremarkable story. Which then leads to the phenomenal Brian Cox cameo as legendary screenwriting guru Robert McKee.

Stream Adaptation on HBO GO until January 31st

Directed by: Lilly and Lana Wachowski
Starring: Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, Joe Pantaliano
Streaming on: Hulu

The Wachowskis got themselves on the map before The Matrix with this sext, dangerous noir thriller that is still a favorite for its narrative daring and the way it balances a potentially exploitative concept with taut, rigorous filmmaking. Gina Gershon plays a tough-chick ex-con who gets mixed up with a gangster’s moll (Tilly) and end up on the run with a bag of money and a whole bunch of men looking to take it from them. From stylish bondage to noir callbacks, the Wachowskis proved that it wasn’t just the special effects that made The Matrix sing, it was the storytelling. If you haven’t seen this one yet, you must.

Stream Bound on Hulu until January 31st

Directed by: Mark Rydell
Starring: Bette Midler, Frederic Forrest, Alan Bates, Harry Dean Stanton
Streaming on: HBO GO / HBO NOW

Okay, first of all, what about the phrase “Bette Midler in her film debut playing an exceedingly Janis Joplin-esque country-rock singer steadily drinking herself to death and sabotaging her romantic relationships as she hope from tour stop to tour stop” do you not understand. Midler got a Best Actress nomination for the role, which works far better than you think “Bette Midler playing Janis Joplin” ever would. And, no, the title song “The Rose” is not at all a stylistic fit with either Joplin nor anything that happens in the movie, but you know what? It’s a beautiful expression of the challenges of love, and if you don’t feel something in you surge at the key change before the final verse, you better fix whatever it is inside you that needs fixing.

Stream The Rose on HBO GO until January 31st

Directed by: Alain Guiraudie
Starring: Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick d’Assumçao
Streaming on: Netflix

This wildly sexy French thriller jolted through the Cannes Film Festival in 2013, winning the Queer Palm award. Frustratingly, it didn’t make a dent when it was released into the States in 2014, which is a shame, because it is a rather brilliant blend of sex, danger, and social commentary.

Franck (Deladonchamps) comes every day to an isolated nude beach along a lakeshore. It’s a quietly pristine place, but it’s also a cruising spot, where the devastating Euro beauties pair off (or sometimes more than a pair) and sneak into the tall grass to make sex on each other. Aside from the fact that that’s a great way to get a Lyme tick in some really tricky-to-handle places, there’s also an element of anonymity and danger to the practice. Gay cruising, that winsome, analog artifact of a more homophobic era, still holds a lot of nostalgic appeal for gays who miss the old days. The danger, yes, but the tactile sensuality and transgressive turn-on of it all. Rather than simply indulge in the nostalgia or wag a finger at the sex practices of old, Guiraudie gives a nod to a whole bunch of perspectives, and even allows some talk of intra-community body-policing along the way. This all makes it sound like a gender studies term paper; bottom line: the explicit sex is hot as hell, and the noir-ish thrills are pretty thrilling too.

Stream Stranger By the Lake on Netflix until January 31st.

Directed by: Bryan Bertino
Starring: Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Glenn Howerton
Streaming on: HBO GO and HBO NOW

Hands down, one of the scariest movies you will ever see. Featuring a fantastically simple premise: Tyler and Speedman play a couple at the crossroads of their relationship, who are spending the night at an isolated country home, where they are preyed upon by a trio of masked, knife-wielding intruders for no reason. The dread is palpable, the story is solid enough that you really care about the main characters beyond as simple kill-bait (a trap too many horror movies fall into), and the character design on those masked intruders will haunt your nightmares. Is Tamra home? Only until the end of the month.

Stream The Strangers on HBO GO until January 31st