Instant Picks of the Week 5/5/17
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.
DON’T THINK TWICE (Netflix)
I’ve been hearing great things about this film for months. Having come out on Netflix this week, I finally got to see it, and it surely did not disappoint. Following six improvisors as their familial friendship crumbles, DON’T THINK TWICE is genuine and unpredictable. By glorifying the world of improv dreamers, this 2016 film hits base on selling out, breaking up, and moving on. The characters are realistic and empathetic, with the acting holding up across the board. Keegan Michael Key especially rocks it as his character is in a position that Key, as a comedian, has probably found himself in many times. Gillian Jacobs similarly turns in a performance of note, reaching a uniquely catastrophic moment of desperation and acceptance. Supporting characters Mike Birbiglia, Kate Micucci, Chris Gethard, and Tami Sagher round out the pack. I always find it fascinating when a film can have six main characters and get me to love them all within five minutes of watching. Funny, emotional, relatable, and with a great payoff, DON’T THINK TWICE thoroughly satisfies. [Lynnzee Highland]
HOMEWARD BOUND: THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY (Netflix)
Walt Disney Pictures presents . . . an adventure of the decade . . . an adventure for all ages . . . HOMEWARD BOUND: THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY [now streaming on Netflix]. A remake of the 1963 film THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY, which was based on the Sheila Burnford novel, HOMEWARD BOUND follows three unlikely heroes: Chance, a rabble-rousing Bulldog, Shadow, a wise and prudent Golden Retriever, and Sally, a cute but caustic Himalayan cat. Our triad separate from their family—Jamie, who’s best friends with Chance, Peter, with Shadow, and Hope, Sally—by misfortune! As the family moves ever closer to their final destination, San Francisco, beset Chance, Shadow, and Sally must congeal their partnership and conjure up the bravery necessary to survive in the Californian Wild! Oh, mornin’ Sam! Will our heroes find their family? Will their friendship splinter? Will they even make it out alive? “The film is a tour de force,” Crossfader Magazine Contributor Leeroy “The Smudge” Slothrop writes, “it is a revival of the American Cinema.” Cheryl Cherrycoke, critic-at-large for the New Yorker, writes, “Never before have I witnessed such unfettered, unalloyed cinematic Capital—Purity.” “It’s a real date night movie,” Tommy Bahama writes in his Post Sunday Review, “something you can toss on for good old R & R.” [John Loftus]
