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.
RUBBER (Netflix)
A staple of Netflix for time immemorial, you’ve probably passed over RUBBER multiple times during your late-night browsing sessions. Well friends, I recommend that you finally bite the bullet. RUBBER is one of those films that is inherently polarizing, and it’s almost impossible to walk away from it with ambivalence. Telling the “story” (and that word truly is used loosely) of a group of people watching a “film” in the desert about a psychic killer tire named ROBERT, the film is endlessly meta- and self-referential, but in a way that feels more experimental than aggrandizing. Dealing heavily with philosophical themes of nihilism, diegesis and the multiple layers of spectatorship present are regularly refuted, yielding one of the few midnight movies that may necessitate some poring over. I say “might” because it just as easily could be a fuck-all film to watch drunk with your friends, but that in itself proves that there’s something to be said for the duality of the film’s message and intent. What it lacks for in terms of in-depth characters and story it makes up for in sheer, balls-to-the-wall bizarreness. [Thomas Seraydarian]
TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL (Netflix)
Another one I can assure you you’ve stumbled across on Netflix, I once again recommend that you finally put a ring on it and commit. Much more enjoyable in the standard sense of the word than RUBBER, TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL is less of a obnoxious “hipster horror” film than its cover might suggest. The key to this type of genre pseudo-parody lays within the respective film’s ability to keep their “bit” fresh, and TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL succeeds in spades. The film tells the story of the eponymous Tucker and Dale, two good-natured hillbillies who are continually placed in scenarios of darkly humorous misunderstandings that end in deadly consequences for the college kids. As the kids grow more and more terrified of Tucker and Dale, despite the fact that our dynamic duo is actively trying to keep them safe, we cringe in delight as the groundwork is set for the next lethal set piece. Although it loses itself in the third act (what a surprise) and the actual main antagonist is a bit of a let down, the first two acts are gleefully morbid and resolutely hilarious. In addition, the audience will genuinely feel for Dale and his ruthless inferiority complex, making this the rare “horror” film with fully fleshed-out characters and relationships. [Thomas Seraydarian]
Thomas Seraydarian
Crossfader is the brainchild of Thomas Seraydarian, and he acts as Editor-in-Chief.