Streaming Weekly August 2016 2.0
The Olympics in Rio are in full swing and you may be glued to your TV screen as the world’s greatest athletes show off their incredible strength, stamina, and physical ability. There is no reason, once the Olympics end at every evening, for you to feel bad for yourself. Experience a small sliver of their joy at winning it all and watch a movie recommended by our skilled contributors. Michael Phelps might be able to win 20+ gold medals, but can he boast watching these quality movies right now? Probably not…unless he is reading this. Anyway, hi Michael and we hope you enjoy these movies. Happy movie watching weekend Mr. Phelps!
via The Film Avenger
TRON (HBO Now) – This is one of my favorite films of all time. A true visionary work made at a time in the history of Disney when the studio was severely lacking in creative risk-taking. This film also ushered in the use of computer animation, which has revolutionized the industry. It is an interesting snapshot of a time when the public was first growing conscious of the computer, as well as video games. TRON portrays the computer as a parallel micro-universe, an alien world filled with human-like programs. There are also strong thematic parallels to our relationship with God, as the film’s central story revolves around a User (creator) being beamed into the computer world, made into a program, and setting the system free from a malicious force. Sound familiar?
via Josh Crabb
Cloverfield (Amazon Prime) – If you can’t get enough of J.J. Abrams and having his hand in everything, then if you haven’t, you should check out the Abrams-produced 2007 film, Cloverfield. Directed by Matt Reeves, who would later go on to direct the surprisingly great Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and the forthcoming War of the Planet of the Apes, this found footage film is one of the only of its medium I can stomach. It helps the movie is written by frequent Abrams collaborator Drew Goddard, who also wrote Cabin in the Woods, World War Z, The Martian, and produced Daredevil. Needless to say, it’s got a lot of current heavy hitters just coming into their own in 2007. Did I also mention it has a young TJ Miller being everything that makes TJ Miller great? I did now and you should watch this movie before and after sitting down to watch 10 Cloverfield Lane.
