Weekend Streaming Recommendations: We Are What We Are, Charley Varrick, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, & 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!
We Are What We Are
Jim Mickle has been gaining a lot of fans over the past decade and is being heralded as one of the next big things in horror. He debuted with Mulberry St. and then blew audiences away with Stake Land. Now we have Mickle’s remake of the Mexican hit of the same name. I’m going to tread lightly here with how I describe the plot because watching this moody, dread drenched film unfold is finger-licking fun. Two young sisters are forced to go beyond their normal everyday tasks to help provide for their reclusive family who live by ancient and diabolical means. I know it doesn’t sound inviting, but trust me; Mickle’s film is chilling at times while his relaxed, yet, fixated filmmaking captures the cruel violence that is expunged upon the innocence. We Are What We Are has a good, small following; now it’s your turn to see what all the fuss is about. – Watch the trailer
8 Million Ways to Die
Hal Ashby’s (Harold and Maude, The Last Detail, Being There) final film before his death has Jeff Bridges as Matt Scudder, an alcoholic detective whose mental state worsens after he shoots someone during a police raid. With his marriage ruined and job lost he turns to Alcoholics Anonymous to turn his life around. Then he meets a mysterious woman who asks for his help in solving a murder. Will the mounting pressure of trying to solve the brutal crime turn Scudder back to alcoholism? Ashby’s film, based off an Oliver Stone screenplay, is ferociously violent but endlessly fascinating to watch. Bridges, who has been one of the best actors for over 40 years, is a delight to watch in one of his most underrated roles. There are 8 million ways to die; chose one. – Watch the trailer
Charley Varrick
While The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three will always be my favorite Walter Matthau film from the 70’s, I can’t help but throw some love Charley Varrick’s way. Don Siegel (Dirty Harry, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Beguiled) directs this gangster thriller that has Matthau playing the title character; a leader of a trio of bank robbers who knock off a bank owned by the mob. The mob isn’t too happy with this and sends out Molly (Joe Don Baker), a mob enforcer, to unleash vengeance upon Varrick. Baker is, as far as I’m concerned, one of the best character actors that has ever worked in film and is sensational here. The final 30 minutes of Varrick are insanely preposterous, but who cares? The cat and mouse game between Matthau and Baker across the American Southwest is a delight to watch and you’ll have a big grin on your face as the film ends with bang. – Watch the trailer
Poolhall Junkies
Mars Callahan stars (as well as writes and directs) as Johnny, a former pool hall hustling master who gave it up for the girl he loves. Johnny’s younger brother soon starts to follow in his old footsteps by trying to out hustle the other sharks that circle the local halls. But when he gets into trouble with a very dangerous local gangster (the scintillating Chazz Palminteri), Johnny must revert to his old lifestyle to help is brother out. The film is endlessly entertaining from beginning to end as the cast has a blast with the material. Christopher Walken shows up a few times to provide a little bit of weight to the action and even has an epic monologue near the height of the film that’ll send the audience into frenzy. Poolhall Junkies is far from setting the cinema world on fire, but it’ll have you laughing and cheering loudly by the time Callahan throws down the gamut in the final act. – Watch the trailer
All the Boys Love Many Lane
The story behind the film is probably more interesting than the film itself, but All the Boys Love Many Lane is still a rarely seen gem. Completed in 2006 and shown at various film festivals around the world in 2007, the film wasn’t released in the U.S. until 2013! This was due to the complicated ownership of the film, but thankfully it’s out there and available for audiences to finally see. Mandy Lane (Amber Heard, who should be a bigger star than what she is presently) is the good girl at her high school, still a virgin and somehow got extremely hot over the summer. The popular kids invite her to a secluded ranch where they throw a party while many of the young men do their best to be her suitor. As the party rages on, guests at the party start disappearing and film becomes a “who dunnit” with slasher appeal. Mandy Lane is definitely a solid horror movie. – Watch the trailer