The lineup of digital previews tends towards suspense and action this weekend, but there’s no shortage of award-winning options for viewers. Check out the list of the top 10 releases on online streaming and rental (VOD) platforms.
| TO DEATH – SURVIVING IS THE BEST REVENGE | * VOD
Megan Fox’s above average thriller (“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”) begins with the actress’s character waking up handcuffed to her husband’s dead body, as two assassins travel to her location to kill her. The impactful premise is just the starting point for a sick revenge, which leads to many twists and turns and moments of tension. Without exaggerating, director Scott Dale’s first-time film is the actress’s best in a decade, since she starred in the comedy “Welcome to 40” in 2012.
The production is by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, screenwriter of the “Conjuring” franchise, and the cast also includes Eoin Macken (“Game of Thrones”), Aml Ameen (“Sense8”), Callan Mulvey (“300: Ascension” ) of the Empire “) and Jack Roth (” Bohemian Rhapsody “).
| DOUBLE TRIP | NETFLIX
Specializing in generic and expensive thrillers, Netflix brings Jamie Foxx (“The Amazing Spider-Man: Electro Menace”) into a production that aspires to be both a children’s comedy and visceral action film, somewhere in between. Foxx is a Los Angeles-based pool cleaner who has a week to raise $ 10,000 to stop his ex-wife from moving to Florida with her daughter, and the only way to get that money is to go back to the union. The Vampire Killers Syndicate, his real job, which had expelled him for multiple violations. To be reinstated, he agrees to be monitored by a bureaucrat (Dave Franco, from “A Master’s Trick”), who has a secret mission to ensure his failure.
The film marks the directorial debut of JJ Perry, known for his work as coordinator of stunt franchises such as “Fast & Furious” and “John Wick”, and is produced by Chad Stahelski, another former stuntman who is now better known. as director of the “John Wick” saga. And the intense stunt fighting sequences are the culmination of the production.
On the other hand, the story is very weak and its holes border on the ridiculous, with vampiric rules that start out clear, but suddenly stop being valid and without further explanation. The script is by newcomers Tyler Tice and Shay Hatten, also from the “John Wick” franchise and the zombie movie “Army of the Dead”. The cast also includes Meagan Good (“Monster Hunter”), Karla Souza (“How To Get Away With Murder”), Natasha Liu Bordizzo (“The Society”), Steve Howey (“Shameless”), Scott Adkins (“Hercules” )) and Tetiana Gaidar (“Resident Evil: The Series”).
| GEORGETOWN | AMAZON VIDEO FIRST
Winner of two Oscars for Best Supporting Actor (for “Inglourious Basterds” and “Django Unchained”), Christoph Waltz makes his directorial debut in this detective film, in which lives an ambitious social climber.
In the plot, he seduces a widow 30 years his senior, played by veteran British actress Vanessa Redgrave (“Foxcatcher”), who marries and begins to dominate the conversations of Washington social circles by throwing big parties. However, after a glamorous dinner, she is found dead and her husband becomes the prime suspect in the crime, especially after parallel investigations into the victim’s daughter, a federal judge played by Annette Bening (“Captain Marvel”).
The screenplay was written by award-winning playwright David Auburn (“The Proof”) and is inspired by real events that took place in the American capital in 2011.
| EMPEROR CODE | NETFLIX
The Spanish thriller sees Luis Tosar (“Cela 211”) in the role of an intelligence agent who specializes in making problems disappear, but also in creating them, who finds himself in a moral dilemma when he receives the mission to incriminate a politician, putting in act a false act involving a call girl. The dark theme creates an agile and tense plot, written by Jorge Guerricaechevarría (a partner of several cults of Álex de La Iglesia, including “800 Bullets” and “The Witches of Zugarramurdi”) and directed by Jorge Coira (“18 Foods” ).
| DANGER imminent | * VOD
The film by Kriv Stenders, director of the award-winning “Red Dog” (2011), recreates one of the most arduous battles of the Vietnam War fought without Americans, when, in 1966, 100 inexperienced soldiers from Australia and New Zealand must fight for their life against an army of over 3,000 Vietcong, using a strategy based solely on friendship and trust. The cast features Travis Fimmel (Ragnar from “Vikings”), but the production draws more attention for his technical perfection, which has earned him nine trophies from Australian critics and film syndicates.
| @ ARTHUR.RAMBO – HATE IN THE NETWORKS | * VOD
The new drama by French director Laurent Cantet, winner of the Palme d’Or for “Between the Walls of School”, addresses the culture of cancellation. The production stars Rabah Nait Oufella (revealed by Cantet in his 2008 award-winning film) as Karim D., a young writer who is the buzz of the moment. Until it comes to light that he was once Arthur Rambo, a pseudonym he used as a teenager to troll on social media, spreading hateful messages that now come back to haunt him.
The premise is absolutely topical and commanded by a director accustomed to provocative themes. But like the polarization of social media, the result divides opinion.
| HOLY EMIIO | MUBI
The award-winning debut by Greek director Araceli Lemos combines mysticism and Cronenbergian horror to tell the story of a “holy” girl. When her mother is forced to return to the Philippines, sisters Emy and Teresa lead a peaceful life in the close-knit Filipino Catholic community in the port of Athens. However, when Teresa becomes pregnant with her, Emy finds herself increasingly drawn to the mysterious forces that live within her. With its biological vocation for transformation, the female body is portrayed as a place of beauty and monstrosity.
The work has won nine international awards, including the trophy for the best director of the Greek Academy of cinema and the best first film at the Locarno Film Festival.
| THE CHICKEN MAKEUP | VOD *
Omar’s fantasy comedy El Zohairy won 22 international awards, including the Critics’ Week trophy at the Cannes Film Festival a year ago. The title refers to a magic trick that goes wrong at a child’s birthday party and turns the bullying family man into a chicken. From there, the mother has to take on the role of breadwinner and find a job to support the house and the children, while she goes to great lengths to bring her husband back, before he becomes lunch.
| EXTRAORDINARY MINDS | VOD *
The French dramatic comedy written, directed and performed by Bernard Campan (“Les Trois Frères”) shows how a chance encounter with a young man with physical and intellectual disabilities changes the life of an undertaker. After nearly running over the rejected disabled man, Campan’s character tries to help him. But she soon forms a bond and ends up taking him on a trip to a funeral, starting an unexpected friendship.
| HUMANS | MUBI
Played by Steven Yeun (“Minari”) and Beanie Feldstein (“Outstanding”), “The Humans” revolves around a couple who have just moved into a duplex in Chinatown and, before they have a chance to settle down, are visited. of dysfunctional family to celebrate Thanksgiving.
The staging in a few scenarios, the small cast and the rich dialogue narrative provide the theatrical origin of the story. The original version won the Tony (Theater Oscar) for Best Theatrical Work in 2016, and the adaptation is by the author himself, Stephen Karam, who writes and directs. The cast includes June Squibb (“Nebraska”), Jayne Houdyshell (“Little Women”), Amy Schumer (“Breakfast”) and Richard Jenkins (“The Shape of Water”).
* VOD (video on demand) versions can be rented individually on platforms such as Apple TV, Claro TV +, Google Play, Prime Store, Microsoft Store, Vivo Play and YouTube, among others, without the need for a monthly subscription.
Source: Terra
Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.
