Stream Guide: Atomic Blonde & The Little Hours (March 30th, 2018)

March 30, 2018 / Leave a Comment

ATOMIC BLONDE on HBO GO

With the “Me Too” and “Time’s Up” movements landing last year, if any film truly showed the kick ass power of females, it was the Charlize Theron led “Atomic Blonde.” Based on the graphic novel “The Coldest City,” Theron plays a spy sent to Berlin during the Cold War to recover a list of double agents after a fellow spy and colleague is murdered. Coming off her powerful role as Furiosa in “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Theron is proving to be paving quite the path for women. James McAvoy, John Goodman, Sofia Boutella, and Toby Jones fill out the cast.

Another female packed film this week is “The Little Hours,” starring Alison Brie, Kate Micucci, Aubrey Plaza, and Molly Shannon along with male co-stars Dave Franco and John C. Reilly in a medieval comedy about nuns and a young servant boy who is passing through the convent as a deaf-mute. Aubrey Plaza also produced. Sarah Silverman is also a strong female trailblazer in the comedy industry, speaking her mind and pushing boundaries. But on top of being funny, she’s also made quite a career in taking up odd-job indie drama roles like the lead in “I Smile Back,” where she plays a drug addict whose addiction starts to affect her husband and kids.

Prolific directors Martin Scorsese and Alexander Payne have films on this week’s list. Scorsese’s “Mean Streets” ranks as one of my favorite films from the director, starring a young Robert De Niro before his stint in “Taxi Driver” and was their first collaboration together with many to follow. Despite “Downsizing” not quite reaching the bar as far as Payne films go, one film of his that sets that bar is the dark comedy “Election,” starring Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon. Taking aim at school politics and education, Payne received his first Academy Award nomination from this year for Best Original Screenplay.

The fourth film in “The Conjuring” universe is available for streaming this week, titled “Annabelle: Creation.” It is a sequel to the spin-off film “Annabelle,” which told the story of the haunted doll from the original “Conjuring” film and was based on one of the haunted items held by the real-life paranormal investigators, the Warrens, and was in reality a haunted Raggedy Ann doll.

Before his supporting role in the Academy Award winning Best Picture “The Shape Of Water,” Michael Shannon had another excellent villain role in the film “99 Homes” opposite Andrew Garfield, who was just coming off his second Spider-Man role. We know now that he would never play the super-hero again, as Tom Holland took over the role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Speaking of the MCU, before stepping into the role of Nick Fury in “Iron Man,” Samuel L. Jackson had a prolific career, with one of his more underrated roles being in “Black Snake Moan.” In the film, he plays a troubled man living on his own when he comes across Christina Ricci’s character, who is spiraling downward and is found beaten and left for dead. He decides to chain her inside his house until she’s cured.

If you’re keeping up with the “Breaking Bad” prequel/spin-off “Better Call Saul,” the saga continues with Season Three now available for streaming. The AMC show has been picked up for a fourth season, so you’ll be getting plenty more Bob Odenkirk in the foreseeable future.

And finally, released late last year, “The Road Movie” was a film that made buzz just for the fact that it’s really something we’ve never seen before. The film is compiled of dashboard cameras in Russia and all the crazy accidents, pedestrians, and unbelievable events that are just randomly caught on film. At a runtime of only 67 minutes, I have heard it will likely scare anyone away from visiting Russia.