I’ll make it quick because time’s short: Here are four solid films leaving their respective streaming platforms at midnight on Tuesday. You’ll still be able to rent them on Amazon and other platforms, but why not grab one (or more) while they’re “free”?
Amazon Prime: “Hard Eight” (1996, ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2) – The first feature film by Paul Thomas Anderson, it’s a highly promising indie neo-noir that gives a rare lead to Philip Baker Hall as a weary old Vegas gambler and showcases a young John C. Reilly and Gwyneth Paltrow, plus Samuel L. Jackson flush from “Pulp Fiction.” And who’s the craps-table punk taunting Hall in one scene? Anderson’s soon-to-be regular, Philip Seymour Hoffman.
HBO Max: “Blood On The Moon” (1948, ⭐⭐⭐) – Speaking of noir, if you put Robert Mitchum in a cowboy hat and sit him on a horse, does that make it a noir western? Yes, it does, and a pretty decent one at that. Directed by Robert Wise and co-starring Robert Preston, respectively far from “The Sound of Music” and “The Music Man.”
Hulu: “White God” (2014, ⭐⭐⭐) – Dazzling and disturbing Hungarian fable of a girl and her dog – and the cruelties of human society that lead to a surrealistic (and brilliantly filmed) canine uprising. As I wrote in my original Globe review, “Think ‘The Incredible Journey’ crossed with ‘The Birds’ crossed with ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes.’”
Netflix: “Margin Call” (2011, ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2) – The 2008 financial meltdown as seen by the Wall Street machers who caused it –- 24 hours of white-knuckle markers getting called in and chickens coming home to roost. The cast makes it: Stanley Tucci, Jeremy Irons, Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Demi Moore, and Zachary Quinto.
Thoughts? Don’t hesitate to weigh in.
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