Instant Picks of the Week 9/16/16
Gone are the days of scrolling mindlessly through your queue! No longer will you have to sift through the vastness of what’s coming to the instant viewing wastelands this month! Whether you’re looking for a stellar film or an exciting new show to binge, Instant Picks of the Week brings you the hottest releases in film and television on instant viewing platforms that we know you’ll love, or at the very least not despise.
KNOCK KNOCK (Hulu)
What do you get when you cross THE CAT IN THE HAT with HARD CANDY? A willfully ridiculous, squirm-worthy, and altogether wonderful thriller, also known as KNOCK KNOCK. Keanu Reeves plays a dopey husband and father who messes up royally by giving shelter to two sexy vixens on a rainy night while his family is away. I can’t pinpoint the real highlight of this film. Is it Reeves’ overly sincere performance? Is it the way KNOCK KNOCK embraces absurdity? Is it the fingernail biting tension of every man’s deepest, darkest fear put to screen? Honestly, it’s probably all three. Pop some popcorn, pour some drinks, and buckle up for what’s sure to be a favorite late-night feature. [Kate Brogden]
POD (Netflix)
Mickey Keating’s best by far! A taut, economical thriller, POD soars thanks to the stellar acting chops of its three leads and its masterful escalation of tension. Telling the story of two siblings who go to stage an intervention for their mentally unstable brother, things quickly turn dark as talk of government experiments and a dangerous creature in the basement abound. What is most successful about POD is the fact that for all intents and purposes, the entire second act is a nail-biting stage play, with good ol’ fashioned internal conflict propelling the narrative forward. Building up to an exciting creature feature finale that’s heavily reminiscent of THE TWILIGHT ZONE and THE X-FILES, POD argues Mickey Keating’s case for horror wunderkind more than DARLING or CARNAGE PARK can hope to. [Thomas Seraydarian]
