Best movies to stream this weekend during lockdown
With Victorians now nearing one month in lockdown streaming has become a constant companion for many. Here are the best movies available to stream in Australia this weekend — regardless of how much escapism is needed.
Entertainment
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The one that finishes in thirst place
THE WAY BACK (M)
***1/2
Rent via Google, iTunes, YouTube Movies
While not, as many have assumed, a true story, The Way Back is definitely true to life. No-one would know that more than this fine movie’s lead actor, Ben Affleck. In playing a high school basketball coach fighting a daily battle against chronic alcoholism, Affleck was clearly able to connect with his own well-chronicled personal troubles to craft an unerringly convincing performance. He plays Jack Cunningham, a former junior basketball star whose path to the big time was ended by a complex suite of addictive behaviours. Decades later, Jack is drinking around the clock – even while on the job as a high-rise construction worker – when his old school throws him a lifeline. Would he like to take a shot at reviving the flagging fortunes of his former team? While the movie does trace a familiar storytelling arc, it never quite conforms to the predictable. Jack’s winding journey in, around and out of the bottle is not the stuff of entertainment, but its does promise a measure of enlightenment many will sincerely appreciate.
The one with twists, turns … and tourism!
THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY (M)
***1/2
SBS ON DEMAND
The year is 1962. While on an idyllic summer holiday in Greece, a wealthy married couple (Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst) experience a spot of bother with the local police. Their only way out of the tangle is a wily young American tour guide (Oscar Isaac). This expertly executed adaptation of a second-tier novel from esteemed author Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr Ripley) is all about making a little niggle go a long way. Though there is unmistakeable unease in the air from the outset, first-time filmmaker Hossein Amini very skilfully keeps tension levels rising steadily throughout. Before you know it, The Two Faces of January has got you in its grip, and won’t be letting go in a hurry.
The one where the sequel proves equal
BAD BOYS FOR LIFE (MA15+)
***
Rent via Google, iTunes, YouTube Movies
Twenty-five years may have passed since their first assignment, but Bad Boys will always be Bad Boys. So if you expect headliners Will Smith and Martin Lawrence to have suddenly become the most mature cops in Miami, you have definitely come to the wrong movie. Lawrence remains the more panicky and punchline-prone of the two as Marcus, now on the verge of grandparenthood and (hopefully) a cruisy retirement. Of course, Will Smith is the debonair and daring one. His character, Mike, thinks he can keep on culling crooks until he croaks. Each should know by now not to make too many plans for the future. Especially since a former Mexican drug baroness (Kate del Castillo) and her psycho son (Jacob Scipio) have Mike in their sights, and will not be caring if Marcus gets in the way. The action sequences (a long-time strength of the Bad Boys franchise) trade in the right combo of spectacularly combustive and conspicuously ridiculous.
The one taking a final trip to a better place
THE LEISURE SEEKER (M)
***
FOXTEL, NETFLIX
A sincere, if cloying comedy-drama. It will either touch you, or torment you. Anyone who knows good casting when they see it will give the movie the benefit of the doubt, largely because Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland are simply wonderful together here. They play Ella and John Spencer, an ageing married couple who have taken off in their beloved family campervan without informing their snooty grown-up kids of their motivation or destination. Though designed to be a feel-good trip down the highway to Florida, there is an air of finality hanging over the journey: John is living with a state of dementia that is beginning to erase the last of his cherished memories.
The one where the Russians attack Washington
THE EQUALIZER (MA15+)
***
FOXTEL, AMAZON, NETFLIX
Denzel Washington dispenses the same kind of punishing pulp Liam Neeson has been pounding out since the surprise blockbuster success of Taken in 2008. Some bonkers badsters (Russians!) have irked our worldly, weary hero (Washington’s character works in the US equivalent of a Bunnings Warehouse!). So this old campaigner is quite within his rights to kill his way up the enemy’s chain of command until the movie ends. Very violent and very long, so best seen by hard line action fans, and best avoided by those who are not.
The one calling out a quiet achiever
WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOUR? (PG)
****
NETFLIX
This movie was the inspiration for the recent Tom Hanks movie hit A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood. So settle in for a quiet and unassuming documentary about a nice man whose simple good intentions made a small but positive difference to the lives of millions of American children. The subject is the late Fred Rogers, the warm, genial and softly-spoken host of a long-running afternoon TV program titled Mister Rogers’ Neighbourhood. In a broadcast career spanning four decades, Rogers worked to no agenda other than to communicate the virtues of kindness, acceptance and understanding to youngsters. Even by pre-internet standards, Rogers’ show was regarded as slow, sub-quaint. Nevertheless, kids loved him and cherished his message. A beautiful tribute to a force of friendliness we could do with more of today.
The one for hopeless romantics everywhere
AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (PG)
****
FOXTEL
A screen romance that never fails to melt the hardest hearts. Nickie (Cary Grant), a playboy painter, and Terry (Deborah Kerr), a beautiful nightclub singer, fall in love while on a cruise, despite both being engaged to other people. Fate has no respect whatsoever for the ways of love. Having arranged to meet at the Empire State Building in six months’ time, Nickie is devastated when Terry fails to front up. Little does he know there is a very particular, very poignant reason for the no show. Heartbreak descends, but all hope is not lost. Irresistible.