Welcome to our ninth installment of Sunday Streaming Suggestions!
Writers Ralph James, Evan Linden, Jack Martin, and Evan Northrup have delivered another round of classics to stream on your lazy Sunday:
Run (2020) - Hulu
Unfortunately, I have to withhold the most enticing points of this movie’s story to avoid spoilers. But for anyone who’s on the fence about this new Hulu exclusive film, it surpassed my personal expectations by a long shot. Run is one of the most uniquely intense movies I’ve seen this year.
After my girlfriend and I watched Run, we were impressed yet again by the range of Sarah Paulson. This time around, she delivered one of her most unsettlingly maniacal roles to-date as Diane Sherman—the gaslighting, helicopter mother of Chloe Sherman (Kiera Allen). Chloe was born with asthma, heart arrhythmia, hemochromatosis, and diabetes, and she has spent her whole life in a wheelchair. However, Chloe comes to discover that she is trapped in a world of lies.
The cast is practically just Sarah Paulson and Kiera Allen; there are only two other characters with significant screen time. However, both actresses provided stellar performances; Kiera Allen made sure to shine in her breakout role. For his second major film, director Aneesh Chaganty wrote a riveting story with the help of Sev Ohanian. Run’s cinematography features some strong highlights, as well.
-Evan Linden
Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017) - Amazon Prime Video
Former boxer Bradley Thomas (Vince Vaughn) is down bad. He just lost his job as a mechanic and his marriage is crumbling. In an effort to support him and his wife (Jennifer Carpenter), Bradley becomes a drug runner until a deal-gone-wrong turns into a deadly standoff with police, leaving Bradley behind bars.
When he's informed that his now pregnant wife has been kidnapped by his former boss, Bradley is instructed to find and kill an inmate in cell block 99, a high-security section of the prison ran by an unforgiving warden (Don Johnson). How does one get into this cell block, you ask? Kick a lot of ass.
Vince Vaughn is a certified badass in this movie, which is a sentence I never thought I'd type. While he's had serious roles before (True Detective, Hacksaw Ridge), this was the first time I was able to separate V-Squared from his normal schtick. He snaps arms with ease, always holding his own and keeping calm. It's not necessarily "fun," but it's a great late night watch after a bowl and some taquitos. It's an incredibly solid thriller that will make you wince and get your heart beating.
- Jack Martian
Dazed and Confused (1993) - Amazon Prime Video
It’s all about livin, man, l-i-v-i-n. - Wooderson
Dazed and Confused, a movie that follows groups of high schoolers as they get high, cruise around, and look for a good time on their first night of summer, is pretty well summed up by its own title. Full of 70s style, music, and pop culture references, these kids aren’t worried about a destination; they’re just trying to have a good time on the journey. The only major plot point is that Randy “Pink” Floyd, quarterback of the football team, is deciding whether to sign a pledge to his coach to not do drugs over the summer. This underlines the movie with relatable questions every teenager has asked themselves: "Am I doing what I want to do, or what everyone else wants me to do?"
Being the first major success of Richard Linklater, Mathew McConaughey, and Ben Affleck, Dazed and Confused isn’t just noteworthy for being one of the greatest high school movies of all time, but also because it was the springboard that launched these names to fame. Whether it's your first time watching or 50th, Dazed and Confused has something to offer every viewer, and is a great nostalgic and relaxing watch for a Sunday afternoon.
-Evan Northrup
Sexy Beast (2000) - HBO Max
Quality British gangster movies are a rarity in the infamous genre dominated by the Scorseses and Coppolas of the world. Guy Ritchie has had the most overall success when it comes to the British crime scene in cinema, but Jonathan Glazer’s Sexy Beast blows any of Ritchie’s comic-book impressions turned crew-heists out of the water. The protagonist, Gal, is a retired safebreaker who escaped the UK for brighter pastures, literally and figuratively, as he found solitude in Spain with his beloved wife DeeDee. He’s in no hurry to be anywhere or do anything. He isn’t lazy; he’s merely content with his situation. Their house is equal to a Columbian drug lord’s and is often the hosting site to their coupled friends, Aitche and Jackie, as well as a young Spanish pool-boy. The story begins with a sunbathed portrait of Gal relaxing next to his pool, where a natural disaster nearly ends his reign as the ultimate chillaxer. From there on, Sir Ben Kingsley comes into the picture as Don, Gal’s former boss and crime partner. Kingsley absolutely wreaks havoc for the rest of the picture and the storyline is propelled to another stratosphere from there. The cool, calm, and collected atmosphere at the beginning of the picture is turned on its head once Don comes into the picture and never ceases its escalation.
-Ralph James
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