Weekend Streaming Recommendations: Let the Fire Burn, Death Wish, & More
Welcome to WTI’s Weekend Streaming Recommendations where I recommend 4-5 films that under-watched, under-appreciated, or just plain old personal favorites. My goal is to take the hassle out of deciding which film to stream on the plethora of streaming sites that populate the internet. To make your streaming life easier, I include which platform each film is available on along with a link to the trailer. Now sit back, relax, and click on play!
Let the Fire Burn
This searing documentary (which nearly made my top films of 2013 list) is the account of a police house raid in 1985 Philadelphia that ended with two pounds of explosives being used. A fire naturally started and instead of putting it out, the police let the fire burn. 6 children and 5 adults, as well as 61 buildings, were lost in the blaze. The film’s brilliance comes with how it’s completely comprised of 100% archival footage that had previously been withheld from the public. Director Jason Osder controls the tension in the beginning, but lets it build to an immense pay off where literally everything around is on fire. – Watch the trailer
The Parallax View
The 1970’s had a bevy of conspiracy films released and this is one of the best. Warren Beatty stars as a reporter whose investigation into a senator’s assassination puts him in the middle of a conspiracy that possibly involves a multinational corporation who is ostensibly behind every world headline. The film exceeds at building atmosphere and is very good at putting you in the thick of things. For me, the highlight of the film is when Warren Beatty realizes there is a bomb onboard his airplane. The way the scene slowly and confidently unfurls is electric. Watching the proverbial noose tighten around Beatty’s neck as the film hurdles along will leave you breathless. – Watch the trailer
Death Wish
Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is a tortured soul. In the first film of the series, his wife and daughter are raped by a group of street thugs and in every subsequent film someone he cares deeply about is murdered. But that doesn’t stop him from dishing out his own form of vengeance. The entire series, sans the 5th, the last and worst film, is now available on Netflix. The first in the series is a great crime film that shows how far a man is willing to go to fight back against injustices when our system seems to falter. The deeper you go in the series the more exploitative and cheesy they get. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but don’t go in expecting a continuing exploration of a haunted man’s psyche. Instead, the later films focus on gratuitous shootouts and blood and gore. Still, if you’re bored on a Saturday night and looking to get your action fix in; you could do worse. – Watch the trailer
My Bloody Valentine (’81)
The 1980’s were literally littered with slasher films. 99% of them were horrible. My Bloody Valentine is the 1%. You probably know of the very decent remake that came out about 4 or 5 years ago, but I’m here to talk about the original. There are a lot of great scenes in the film where the unidentified masked man (who else, right?) venomously hunts down the people he (or she?) feels wronged by. Using the biggest and sharpest axe since Paul Bunyan, the killer viciously butchers teens. It’s a great atmospheric 80’s slaughterhouse of a film. – Watch the trailer
I’m Not Scared
Raise your hand if you’ve heard of this overlooked gem from 2003. I’m guessing most of you haven’t. This thriller from Italy concerns a boy, Michele, who discovers a deep hole in the ground in which another boy is being held captive. The boys form a friendship before Michele realizes that his own parents are possibly in on the kidnapping. Director Gabriele Salvatores captures the beautiful Italian countryside so well, you wonder how such a horrible occurrence could happen in such a stunning place, all while the film slowly, but powerfully, builds to a gorgeously tragic finale. – Watch the trailer