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What to stream: Start readying for awards seasons with these movies

Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service on

Published in Entertainment News

While November is typically a month for going out to the movies, with new releases and awards season movies filling theater screens, there are also plenty of opportunities now to catch up with awards season movies at home. Here are several high-profile titles now available to stream or purchase that are worth your time.

Clint Bentley’s “Train Dreams” hits Netflix on Friday, and it’s well worth your time. The film, based on a novella by Denis Johnson, is co-written by Bentley and Greg Kwedar. The pair have previously collaborated on the films “Sing Sing” and “Jockey,” trading off directing duties. Joel Edgerton stars in this portrait of a life of an Oregon logger in the early 20th century that is, by turns, devastating, poignant and life-affirming. Stream it on Netflix starting Friday, Nov. 21.

Also on Netflix, if you haven’t yet caught up with Guillermo del Toro’s ravishing adaptation of “Frankenstein,” it’s worth the watch just for the costumes, sets and cinematography, but Jacob Elordi’s emotional performance as the Creature really is the beating heart of the film. Del Toro has always had a thing for monsters, so it’s no surprise that this book would be the perfect property for him to adapt.

On Prime Video, take in Nia DaCosta’s “Hedda,” an update of the Ibsen play, starring Tessa Thompson in the title role. Set in Jazz Age England, Thompson plays Hedda as a chaotic bisexual brat, manipulating everyone around her at a wild party she throws at her home with her husband. Nina Hoss and Imogen Poots co-star. Stream it on Prime Video.

Arriving on Prime Video on Thursday, Nov. 20, is the thorny, academia-set ethical thriller “After the Hunt,” starring Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri and Andrew Garfield. Roberts plays a philosophy professor at Yale who gets caught in-between sexual assault allegations between two proteges. Luca Guadagnino directs with his usual verve. The film is a conversation starter for sure. Stream it on Prime Video starting Nov. 20.

Two A24 films are also available to watch at home on premium VOD for a purchase price of $19.99. Dwayne Johnson stars as pioneering MMA fighter Mark Kerr in "The Smashing Machine, with Emily Blunt playing his girlfriend Dawn. The film follows Kerr’s career at the turn of the century (around 1999-2001) as he was competing in Japan, and navigating his turbulent relationship. The film is directed by Benny Safdie, and it’s a fascinatingly weird take on a sports movie.

 

Also available this week for purchase is Mary Bronstein’s searing motherhood anxiety attack on film, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.” Rose Byrne stars as a woman having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad couple of weeks, trying to care for her medically fragile child while a ceiling in her house has caved in, her husband is out of town, and everything else seems to be falling down around her. Byrne is riveting, and while the film is not for the faint of heart, it has just enough levity and relatability to really work. Purchase it for $19.99 to watch at home.

Finally, two urgent and harrowing documentaries are worth your attention. “The Perfect Neighbor” on Netflix, uses primarily police bodycam footage to map a dispute between neighbors in Florida that takes devastating turns. While deeply upsetting at times, it is a crucial and important film to watch. Stream it on Netflix.

On HBO Max, “The Alabama Solution” depicts the horrifying human rights violations happening in Alabama prisons right now, using cellphone footage from inside the prisons to depict the conditions, violence and drug issues plaguing prisons — the responsibility of which is laid directly at the government’s feet. No matter where you live, this is an important piece of investigative journalism and depiction of America’s prison problem. Stream it on HBO Max.

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