Welcome to Flavorwire’s streaming movie guide, in which we help you sift through the scores of movies streaming on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and other services to find the best of the recently available, freshly relevant, or soon to expire. This week, there’s great stuff from Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Denzel Washington, Matthew McConaughey, Michelle Williams, Reese Witherspoon, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Claire Danes, Catherine Keener, Susan Sarandon, Emma Thompson, Kate Beckinsale, Kenneth Branagh, Samatha Morton, Emily Watson, Eva Mendes, Michael Shannon, and more. Check them out after the jump, and follow the title links to watch them right now.
Jeff Nichols’s previous effort, the overwhelming Take Shelter, was one of the more intense experiences of my recent movie-going life. His latest, a freewheeling coming-of-age story with a dash of Southern Gothic, is much looser and (at first glance) more laid back, in what seems a deliberate attempt to avoid repetition. He assembles the story subtly, gingerly, and leisurely, soaking in the small-town details, and enjoying yet another masterful Matthew McConaughey performance, here engaged as a cagey character and fascinating enigma. But it’s all tremendously absorbing, in its own particular way, and in its remarkable third act, the seemingly disparate secondary elements fold in, tightly, and become the primary focus. Everything adds up, which is perhaps the nicest surprise about this very fine film. (Available for purchase on Amazon and iTunes; full review here.)
