Also streaming
As always there is a broad selection of movies on offer online. Netflix has its first collaboration with Spike Lee, Da 5 Bloods, landing on June 12, the same day as the world’s first VR premiere, Tom Paton’s horror The Ascent (AltspaceVR/Birdbox film). John Carpenter’s 1976 thriller Assault
on Precinct 13 is also streaming (BFI). This week offers the chance to catch up on some recent cinema biggies. Parasite (BFI and others), Bong Joon-ho’s best film Oscar winner, is far more accessible than its South Korean origin suggests; it’s clever, funny and food for thought.
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (Now TV, Sky Cinema, Disney+) stars Angelina Jolie in the second part of Disney’s retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Disney also has Downton Abbey: The Movie and Gemini Man,
not Will Smith’s best day out but a visual treat for action fans. Emma,
Autumn de Wilde’s sparkling take on the Jane Austen classic, lands on VOD tomorrow, and available now is Just Mercy, an even more timely than on release take on justice for black Americans featuring a wonderful performance by Jamie Foxx (iTunes).
Some slightly older films now available include The Great Gatsby
(Leo DiCaprio, not Robert Redford) and No Country for Old Men, the
Coen Brothers classic (both Now TV/ Sky Cinema); and if you’re in the mood for a modern Western, there’s The Ballad of Lefty Brown (Amazon Prime), with Bill Pullman giving it socks in the title role.
Little gems include Shem the Penman Sings Again, the experimental, often lovely story of the friendship between James Joyce and John McCormack, VOD on the Triskel Arts site from tomorrow. Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire,
which won deserved praise is already streaming and the DVD lands June 8, the same day her first film, the also excellent Girlhood, goes VOD (BFI).
Tarantino fans might enjoy QT8,
(Amazon Prime), with the likes of Sam Jackson and Jamie Foxx talking about the director’s life and films. And should you wish to see a documentary about just how bad all this screen time is for us, you can catch Jon Hyatt’s timely but untimely Screened Out on the usual platforms.