SEE: Netflix’s new sci-fi thriller ‘Outside the Wire’ starts streaming this weekend.
Also worth seeing; ‘One Night in Miami,’ ‘MLK/FBI’
Anthony Mackie returns to showcase his action/acting chops in the dystopian Netflix thriller “Outside the Wire,” which tops our mustwatch list this week, along with two fantastic femaledirected dramas and four remarkable documentaries.
Here’s a rundown of your top streaming options.
“OUTSIDE THE WIRE” >> If you want to cruise through a dumbed-down sci-fi flick this weekend, look elsewhere. Mikael Hafstrom’s futuristic military thriller is a super-smart film that’s hot-wired with debate-worthy observations on the nature of warfare. It’s also acted, directed and edited with skill. Mackie, best known for portraying Sam Wilson/Falcon in the Marvel Universe, gives a commanding performance as a high-ranking American android officer in 2036 Eastern Europe. His joint mission with a cocky and demoted subordinate (Damson Idris of “Snowfall”) is to deliver vaccine to a Ukrainian hospital located in the middle of a danger zone. The mission, though, is merely a cover for something much more dangerous. “Outside the Wire” is an efficient, fastpaced roller-coaster ride that’s smart and buoyed by a razor-sharp screenplay and two magnetic performances.
DETAILS >> available
Friday on Netflix.
“ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI” >> Oscarand Emmy-winning actress Regina King does a fine job in her directorial debut staging Kemp Powers’ 2013 play about a fictitious ’60s motel meetup between boxer Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), activist Malcolm X (Kingsley BenAdir), crooner Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and football player Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge). Like the play, the action is mostly set in one hotel room and the story essentially focuses on the words being spoken and the personalities speaking them. That’s fine since the dialogue is rich and the acting is strong. King proves to be a generous director, giving each character time to shine. And the soundtrack is awesome.
DETAILS >> available Friday on Amazon Prime.
“HERSELF” >> Phyllida Lloyd’s portrait of a courageous battered mother — a sensational Clare Dunne, who co-wrote the screenplay — and her efforts to escape an abuser who finds ways of controlling her, even from far away, is shattering. Abuse survivors should be careful of triggering effects here. But the film isn’t just a portrait of bleakness. It’s filled with touching scenes that reflect a mother’s resilient devotion to her children as she strives to shape a better life. DETAILS >> available on Amazon Prime. \*\*\*;
“PIECES OF A WOMAN” >> Like “Herself,” this is a hard watch. It also features a searing lead performance built around trauma — in this case, the aftermath of a tragic birth. Be warned, the extended labor and birth sequence is tortuous to sit through. That said, Vanessa Kirby deserves an Oscar nomination for her performance as a devastated Boston mother-tobe who copes the best she can while those around her crumble. Her unstable blue-collar husband (Shia LaBeouf) relapses while her icy mom (Ellen Burstyn) is a barrage of criticism. Director Kornél Mundruczó doesn’t go easy on his actors or on us, making this an ordeal. LaBeouf is indeed remarkable, but his horrendous off-camera behavior is still a distraction. DETAILS >> available on Netflix. “MLK/FBI” >> This is likely one of the most important documentaries you’ll see this year. Director Sam D. Pollard painstakingly uncovers how the FBI hounded Martin Luther King Jr. to the breaking point. Archival video, photos and declassified audio tapes offer staggering proof that J. Edgar Hoover and his minions sought to bring down King by spying on him and cataloguing his extramarital activities. Pollard doesn’t just rely on talking heads; instead he shrewdly overlays the words on damning evidence of a campaign to destroy a Black activist. DETAILS >> ; available on video on demand services beginning Friday.
“SOME KIND OF HEAVEN” >>
For a person of a certain age, Florida’s The Villages has it all: a swanky golf course, sun-soaked tennis courts, pristine pools, charming old-school shops
and almost anything a retiree could desire. No wonder 130,000 people flock to live there. But Lance Oppenheimer’s fascinating documentary introduces us to some residents who aren’t at ease: a widow putting herself out there in a singles group, a way-outthere husband and his longsuffering wife, a lothario freeloader with a shady past, among others. Oppenheimer snoops around and finds a fount of cinematic gold, without once resorting to ageist tropes. “Heaven” is about how, even in twilight years, many of us still haven’t found what we’re looking for. DETAILS >> streams Friday via Virtual Cinema series at the Vogue and Balboa theaters (www.cinemasf.com), the Rialto Cinemas (www.rialtocinemas. com) and Smith Rafael Film Center (rafaelfilm. cafilm.org).
“FATALE” >> Let’s hear it for overheated thrillers that fully embrace their twisty tomfoolery. Here’s one you have to admire for its go-for-broke goofiness. A wealthy sports agent (Michael Ealy) hooks up with an unstable police detective (Hilary Swank) in Las Vegas, which serves as a launching pad for preposterous plotting and twotiming. Everyone in the cast looks startled (perhaps because they can’t believe they’re actually in this thing) and at wits’ end. Characters couple and uncouple, with Mike Colter in a small role flexing his fine form and upstaging everyone else. There’s even a kitchen sink sex scene a la “Fatal Attraction.” Thank heaven, no rabbits were boiled in the process. Is it a good movie? No. Did I have fun watching it? Hell, yes. DETAILS >> playing at select drive-ins (check www.westwinddi.com for screenings), and streaming on various platforms.
“THE REASON I JUMP” >> Filmmaker Jerry Rothwell pulls off a remarkable feat in this documentary, illustrating how five young adults with autism experience the world. Parents do pop in, but Rothwell isn’t focused on them. Through artful cinematography and voiceover passages from Naoki Higashia’s bestselling memoir, which he wrote when he was 13, “Jump” reveals the reality of life for those on the autism spectrum and debunks a lot of preconceptions. What a lovely film. DETAILS >> streaming as part of the Virtual Cinema series via the Roxie Theatre (www.roxie.com) and Smith Rafael Film Center (rafaelfilm.cafilm.org). “THE DISSIDENT” >> As verbal and physical attacks directed at legitimate journalists rage on, filmmaker Bryan Fogel’s incendiary documentary on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian dissident, author and Washington Post correspondent, becomes ever more urgent. Fogel’s film crackles with the electricity of a thriller as it reviews what happened Oct. 2, 2018, the day Kashoggi entered a Saudi consulate in Turkey and never came out. Told from various perspectives, including the journalist’s fiancee Hatice Cengiz, it’s another winner from the director of the Oscar-winning “Icarus.”
DETAILS >> available on multiple streaming platforms.
“YOUR NAME ENGRAVED
HEREIN” >> In 1987, after the the lifting of the 38year period of martial law in Taiwan, Catholic high school students Jia-Han (Edward Chen) and Birdy (Jing-Hua Tseng) discover a mutual connection and growing sexual attraction, which until that point was considered taboo. Director Patrick Liu based his sensitive drama — the highestgrossing LGBTQ feature in Taiwan — on his experiences growing up in the shadows of an unaccepting time. The result is an intimate story with heartfelt performances and sensual cinematography.
DETAILS >> available on Netflix.
“HAPPY FACE” >> This hidden gem from from Canadian director-co-writer Alexandre Franchi tells the complex story of a strikingly handsome young man (Robin L’Houmeau) who disguises his face in bandages so he can join a support group for disfigured people. What brought him there — a mother dying of cancer — and what he learns from the others in the group (and what they learn from him) makes for transformative entertainment. It’s an uncompromising feature that doesn’t shy away from hard conversations.
DETAILS >> streaming on various platforms.