Happy new year, Polygon readers!
We’re excited to be back in the swing of things after the vacations and prepared to share with you the best films now readily available to stream on Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video, Shudder, and Hulu. Our list this month includes Andrzej Żuławski’s 1981 cult classic scary film Ownership starring Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani, 2004’s The Pilot starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kathryn Bigelow’s 1995 cyberpunk thriller Unusual Days, and more. Here’s what to enjoy this month based upon everything brand-new across the platforms:
Editor’s pick
Ownership on Shudder
Image : Gaumont/Anchor Bay Entertainment Genre: Mental scary Year: 1981 Run
time: 2h 4m Director: Andrzej Żuławski Cast: Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Heinz Bennent Beyond the most ardent of cinephile circles, Andrzej Żuławski isn’t a name that influences passionate acknowledgment in the United States. Known for his transgressive brand name of arthouse movie theater, Żuławski’s career was stymied by Communist authorities in his homeland of Poland, with a number of his early films being either greatly censored, prohibited, or in one instance, almost damaged upon release. It also does not help that the couple of films of his that have actually been launched in the States have actually since gone out of print– though that seems changing quickly.
If you do understand Żuławski’s name, it’s likely for his 1981 psychological scary movie Possession, a film whose cult status amongst horror connoisseurs has only been amplified in the years considering that its release by its difficulty to obtain on physical media, not to mention to view online. Luckily for everybody, that’s no longer the case– Ownership is now finally readily available to stream thanks to Shudder.
Set in Cold War-era West Berlin, Żuławski’s movie stars Jurassic Park’s Sam Neill as Mark, a Russian spy who returns home to discover that his better half, Anna (Isabelle Adjani), has left him and desires a divorce. When Anna declines to divulge why, only stating that she has actually not left him for someone else, Mark grows suspicious and has her trailed. What he ultimately discovers is a horrifying secret beyond his understanding, one which awakens a long-dormant wellspring of stress and anxiety, bitterness, and anguish between the 2 that threatens to tear apart not just their small household, however their very peace of mind too.
Influenced by Żuławski’s own troubled divorce in 1976 and his subsequent struggles with suicidal ideation, Possession blurs the line between the autobiographical and the phantasmagorical, with hysterical performances by Neill and Adjani that dither in between troubling, comical, and disquietingly considerate. An inspiration for everything from Ari Aster’s Midsommar to the 2016 video for Enormous Attack’s “Voodoo in My Blood,” Possession is a vital must-watch for any serious horror fan.– Toussaint Egan
Belongings is offered to stream on Shudder.
New on Netflix
The Aviator
Image: Warner Bros. Video Category: Biographical drama Year: 2004 Run time: 2h
50m Director: Martin Scorsese Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale Martin Scorsese’s 2004 biopic on the life of eccentric air travel mogul Howard Hughes is one of the best motion pictures to arrive at Netflix this month. A lot so, we made it our editor’s choice for the platform today! Leonardo DiCaprio provides a captivating efficiency as Hughes, one which marries the guy’s famous public reputation for blowing and outrageous organization choices with his personal battles with undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder and hypochondria. It’s a breathtaking movie, both in the scale of its story and the elegant craft obvious in its magnificent production.– TE
The Aviator is available to stream on Netflix.
The Raid 2
Image: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Genre: Action/thriller Year: 2014 Run time: 2h 30m Director: Gareth Evans Cast: Iko Uwais, Arifin Putra, Oka Antara The follow-up to the 2011 smash (and we do indicate smash )struck The Raid, Gareth Evans’2014 sequel packs a heavy punch as well (and some hammers). Set just after the occasions of the very first film, Rama (Iko Uwais, repeating his lead role) is sent undercover to expose corruption in Jakarta’s authorities. This involves getting himself imprisoned, enduring a prison riot, and ingratiating himself with members of the Jakarta underworld. Filled with high-octane action sequences, lots of gore, and jaw-dropping displays of the Indonesian martial art pencak silat, fans of The Raid must likewise have a look at the ante-upping sequel.– Pete Volk
The Raid 2 is available to stream on Netflix.
New on HBO Max
Weird Days
Image: 20th Century Fox House Home Entertainment Genre: Sci-fi/thriller Year: 1995 Run time: 2h
25m Director: Kathryn Bigelow Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis Like Żuławski’s previously mentioned Belongings, Kathryn Bigelow’s 1995 cyberpunk movie starring Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett is another cult timeless whose reputation is defined in no little part by its relative inaccessibility to enjoy online. That too has changed, however, as HBO Max has actually just recently added the motion picture to the service, and in HD no less.
Embed in a futuristic Los Angeles simply 2 days prior to completion of the 20th century, Unusual Days follows Lenny Nero (Fiennes), a black-market broker dealing in an illicit technology that enables the user to record their own memories and physical feelings and experience them after the reality. When Lenny encounters a recording that threatens to link the LAPD in a high-profile murder, he’s forced to turn to his old friend Lornette “Mace” Mason (Bassett) in order to reveal the origins behind the recording while remaining one step ahead of a mysterious killer that wants him dead.
Conceived by manufacturer James Cameron and influenced by the 1992 LA riots that appeared in the wake of the notorious Rodney King trial, Unusual Days is a pitch-black sci-fi thriller that discuss institutional racism, voyeurism, social collapse, and sexual violence, the latter of which is focused mostly on ladies and Black individuals. It’s a tough watch– however a rewarding one that rewards its audience with a trio of terrific performances and a noticeably original vision of a bygone alternate future.– TE
Unusual Days is offered to stream on HBO Max.
New on Hulu
Teacher Marston and the Wonder Women
Image : Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Genre: Biographical drama Year: 2017 Run time: 1h 48m Director: Angela Robinson Cast: Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall, Bella Heathcote You might recognize with the story of the DC Comics superhero Wonder Lady, likewise referred to as Princess Diana of Themyscira. But do you know the real-life origins behind of the leotard-clad, tiara-wearing, and golden-lasso-wielding demigoddess? Angela Robinson’s 2017 biographical drama follows the story of William Moulton Marston (Luke Evans), the psychologist turned comic author behind the production of Marvel Lady, whose polyamorous relationship between his partner, Elizabeth (Rebecca Hall), and his girlfriend, Olive (Bella Heathcote), served as the motivation behind the character’s earliest experiences and representation. Professor Marston and the Wonder Women is a remarkable film, not simply for its recounting of an amazing real-life story, but for its delicate and supportive depiction of a committed polyamorous couple and the BDSM neighborhood at large. You’ll never ever take a look at the character of Marvel Lady the very same way once again after viewing this, and I indicate that absolutely as a compliment.– TE
Teacher Marston and the Wonder Women is readily available to stream on Hulu.
New on Amazon Prime Video
The Indiana Jones series
Image: Paramount Pictures/Lucasfilm Category: Action/adventure Year: 1981 (Raiders of the Lost Ark); 1984 (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
; 1989(Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade); 2008 (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull )Run time: 1h 55m (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
; 1h 58m(Temple of Doom); 2h 7m(Last Crusade ); 2h 2m(Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Fate, the fifth entry in the iconic action-adventure series and the very first given that 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, is set to get here in theaters this June. What much better time to reacquaint or familiarize yourself with the intrepid death-defying exploits of Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones Jr.? The whole series has actually been contributed to Prime Video this month, and you really can’t fail with enjoying them all (yes– that includes Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). The very first film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, is an indisputable timeless and requisite watch for anyone who likes globetrotting adventures and seeing Nazis get punched into aircraft propellers. However, I feel specifically forced to suggest 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which sees series star Harrison Ford collaborate together with Sean Connery as an estranged father-son duo starting a race to discover the Holy Grail and avoid an unscrupulous business owner allied with the Nazis from achieving immortality.– TE
The Indiana Jones series is available to stream on Prime Video.
The best of the rest
The Day After Trinity
Image: PBS/The Requirement Collection Genre: Documentary Year: 1981 Run time:
1h 28m Director: Jon Else
Christopher Nolan returns this July with Oppenheimer, a biographical drama based on the life of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer starring Cillian Murphy. If you, like us, are waiting with bated breath for Nolan’s newest, you might be curious enough to review the history of Oppenheimer’s crucial function as the “dad of the atomic bomb.” Luckily for you, the 1981 documentary The Day After Trinity has been contributed to streaming. Else’s movie charts Oppenheimer’s life from his days as a school child approximately the creation of what would simultaneously become his biggest contribution to human history and his inmost life-defining remorse.– TE
The Day After Trinity is readily available to stream on Criterion Channel.