Stream Guide: Thelma & Kodachrome (April 20th, 2018)

April 20, 2018 / Leave a Comment

THELMA on HULU

Coming off the critical successes of his films “Oslo, August 31st” and “Louder Than Bombs,” Norwegian director Joachim Trier delivered “Thelma,” which was the Norwegian entry into the Best Foreign Language Feature category at the 90th Academy Awards. Although it received some buzz going into the award nominations and earned some national critics’ awards, it was ultimately passed up for an Oscars nod. The film follows college student Thelma (Eili Harboe) as she starts a relationship with a woman and finds that her feelings for this woman “trigger inexplicable, and often dangerous, powers.”

Edgar Wright’s film’s “Baby Driver” did receive some Oscars attention this past year, but before his films were being nominated for Academy Awards, he was making comedies with Simon Pegg. Available this week is their follow-up collaboration after “Shaun of the Dead” titled “Hot Fuzz,” following two cops (Pegg and Nick Frost) in a small-town when crimes start breaking out.

A big Oscar contender at the 89th Academy Awards was Mel Gibson’s “Hacksaw Ridge,” which saw lead Andrew Garfield playing real-life Pfc. Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa in WWII and received the Medal of Honor despite being a conscientious objector/pacifist. As a medic, he would go on to save 75 men in the battle, all without ever firing a shot. The film was nominated for 6 Academy Awards, winning two for Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing.

Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman (“The Hours”) has a new film this week, where she pairs with Academy Award nominated documentary director Werner Herzog (“Encounters at the End of the World”) on a narrative feature film titled “Queen Of The Desert,” where Kidman plays real-life Gertrude Bell, a British traveller, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer and political officer in Herzog’s first film in six years after his 2009 film “My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?” Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage (“Leaving Las Vegas”) finds himself in a thriller titled “Mom And Dad,” from the director of “Crank” and “Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance” (also starring Cage), where something causes parents to turn violently on their own kids. Academy Award nominees Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years A Slave”) and Margot Robbie (“I, Tonya”) also find themselves in a thriller where a disaster has wiped out most of the population and the two of them, plus Chris Pine, who are the last known survivors, are involved in a love triangle in “Z For Zachariah.”

Not just a classic but an acclaimed favorite, “The Wizard Of Oz” went on to win two Academy Awards out of the six it was nominated for, eventually winning Best Original Song for “Over The Rainbow” and Best Original Score. The story of Dorothy (Judy Garland) and her dog Toto traveling to the world of Oz and following the Yellow Brick Road is about as iconic as you can get.

In one of his last roles before his unexpected death in 2016, Anton Yelchin stars in “Porto,” a film about a deep and intimate romantic relationship in the Portuguese city of Porto in which the two lovers eventually move on but remain haunted by their previous connection. Yelchin was great in these romantic roles, having starred in one of my favorite films of all time, Drake Doremus’ “Like Crazy” alongside Felicity Jones.

Before he got to directing films like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Alice In Wonderland,” director Tim Burton used the success of his “Batman” films, “Beetlejuice,” and “Edward Scissorhands,” and created an alien invasion film titled “Mars Attacks!” which was a dark comedy about martians invading Earth. With an ensemble cast, including Jack Nicholson (in a dual role), Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Lukas Haas, and Natalie Portman, the film is very tongue-in-cheek and reached minor success at the box office.

And lastly, Netflix releases the film “Kodachrome,” which first premiered last year at the Toronto International Film Festival and is based on a New York Times article. Set up as a road trip film, Jason Sudekis, Ed Harris (taking a break from “Westworld”), and Elizabeth Olsen (taking a break from “Avengers”) set out cross country to go to Parsons, Kansas, the last place in the world that develops Kodak’s kodachrome film. Harris’ character was a famous photographer and this final roll of film means a lot as he is also dying. Sudekis plays Harris’ son and reveals to have had a less than present father throughout his life, as he remembers every picture he ever took but can’t remember his son’s birthday. The trip ends up being a rekindling of the father-son relationship, as well as what looks like a blossoming love between Sudekis and Olsen.