Seven movies to stream this weekend
Bruce Springsteen’s acclaimed one-man Broadway show in your loungeroom — what better way to avoid relatives who have outstayed their welcome this festive season. Here are seven movies to stream right now.
Leigh Paatsch
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Bruce Springsteen brings his acclaimed one-man Broadway show straight to your loungeroom — what better way to avoid relatives who have outstayed their welcome this festive season. Here are seven movies to stream right now.
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SPRINGSTEEN ON BROADWAY (M) *****
NETFLIX
For much of the past year, the legendary American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen has been performing an acclaimed one-man show on Broadway. For five nights every week, The Boss has taken to the stage with a few guitars and a single spotlight, and simply started telling the audience some stories. Of course, Springsteen has also prised open his classic songbook and played the compositions that have meant so much to so many for so long.
However, it is Springsteen the raconteur — in a more rueful and reflective mode than his usual brand of stage banter — that is the principal focus of the Tony Award-winning show. Now that Springsteen’s sell-out season on Broadway is over (the final performance was on Saturday), the rest of the world can now witness to its brilliance from the comfort of their own home. In keeping with the stark, no-frills aesthetic of the stage production, the filmed version just lets the cameras roll while Springsteen crafts one compelling (and often, soul-baring) anecdote after another.
THE ONE WHERE BRAVERY INSPIRES
ONLY THE BRAVE (M) ***1/2
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A gripping true story of one of the deadliest wildfires in US history: the Yarnell Hill blaze that hit in Western Arizona in July 2013. Unlike most conventional tales of heroism on the big screen, Only the Brave will not be rushed getting to the cataclysm that spawned several sobering instances of genuine bravery and great sacrifice. Unusually, the filmmakers go out of their way to humbly humanise not just the celebrated members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots — the first rural firefighting crew ever licensed to tackle major-category blazes — but also their family and friends. By the time the natural disaster of Yarnell Hill is ramping up, both the risks facing these men and the fears eating away at their loved ones have been gracefully brought to the fore. While this means the pacing can be overly sluggish at times, the final impact courses deeper than this type of movie usually can. A superb ensemble cast is led by Josh Brolin, Jeff Bridges, Miles Teller and Jennifer Connelly.
THE ONE WHERE A MOMENT OF TRUTH AWAITS
THE WIFE (M) ***1/2
GOOGLE, iTUNES
In a steadily involving drama, Glenn Close plays Joan, the devoted spouse of Joseph (Jonathan Pryce), a renowned novelist about to win the Nobel prize for Literature. Could her husband’s crowning achievement also trigger that necessary moment of truth Joan has always backed away from? An aggressively inquisitive fellow named Nathaniel (Christian Slater) reckons he might know the answer, even if Joan does not. While always a classy production in its own right, Close’s acting lifts The Wife up a level here. Keep your eyes trained on those moments where her performance pivots ever so slightly to offer glimpses of the woman Joan might have been. Or is that might still be?
THE ONE THAT PUTS A NEW SPIN ON AN OLD WEB
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (M) ***
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As the third Peter Parker in the past 15 years, young British rising star Tom Holland doesn’t possess the crafty crime-fighting charisma usually associated with the character, but it doesn’t really matter here. For this movie is all about sending a Spider-Boy to do a Spider-Man’s job. Mercifully, we are spared Peter’s origin story all over again. Instead, the focus is on how this easily distracted high-schooler will finally get off his Avengers L-plates. Having Tony ‘Iron Man’ Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) as his driving instructor is not the advantage one might think. So Peter is going to have skill up from within if he is to be any match for The Vulture (Michael Keaton), a mature-age supervillain with mechanised wings, enhanced weapons and unpredictable mood swings. Perhaps middling stuff for a Marvel brand movie, but that won’t bother the core fanbase much.
THE ONE WHERE PIGS MIGHT FLY
OKJA (M) ***1/2
NETFLIX
A freaky, yet family-friendly fable about a young girl, Mija (An Seo Hyun) whose best friend is her pet pig. Okja is his name, and as a result of some dubious modifications to his DNA by a multinational food company — key operatives of which are played by Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal — this perceptive and playful porker is the size of an overweight hippo. The time has come for the corporation to reclaim the fatty treasure yielded by their experiment, and quite rightly, Mija is having none of that thank you very much. Strangely delightful gives way to downright disturbing as the movie wears on, but there is no way you can resist or forget the wilful, winning weirdness of it all.
THE ONE THAT’S AN AUSTRALIAN LOVE STORY WORTH HEARING
ALI’S WEDDING (M) ***
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This appealing Australian romantic comedy was one of the few bright lights in a bleak year for homemade product in 2017. Osamah Sami stars as Ali, the Iraq-born Aussie son of a Muslim cleric (Don Hany). Against all odds (and advice), Ali has his sights set on Dianne (Helana Sawires), a not-so-traditional woman of Egyptian heritage. The two inexperienced leads make a modest, yet irresistible screen couple: you really do want them to get together once they have navigated all the rom-com roadblocks put in their way. Better still, the film doesn’t sell out its multicultural authenticity for cheap laughs.
THE ONE WITH THE OLD-SCHOOL CHRISTMAS SPIRIT
THE STAR (G) **1/2
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There’s about to be a major Nativity scene in a back alley of downtown Bethlehem, and every talking animal in the Middle East wants in on the act. So begins a cute and corny cartoon take on the birth of Jesus Christ. It will be best enjoyed by toddlers who have yet to see a Shrek movie, or prise open a Holy Bible. The central critter in proceedings in Bo the donkey (voiced by Steven Yeun), a hardworking farm animal destined to bear witness to the most famous birth in history. There are some very fruity casting choices here, the second fruitiest of which is Oprah Winfrey as Deborah the sassy camel. The fruitiest of all? Gina Rodriguez of TV’s Jane the Virgin as — what else? — the Virgin Mary.
Originally published as Seven movies to stream this weekend
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