It seems like Netflix has released a new original series about every week. Well, it’s not going to slow up any time soon, with another new series out today and four more scheduled to be released over the next two months. Their newest series is Grace and Frankie, less publicized but with a stellar cast including Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Sam Waterston and Martin Sheen. There is a lot of talent behind the camera, as well, with co-creators Marta Fran Kauffman (best known as the co-creator Dream On and Friends) and Howard J. Morris (co-executive producer on Home Improvement and According to Jim). In the next few weeks, Between, The Wachowskis’ Sense8 and Wet Hot American Summer will all be ready to be binge watched. Oh, and Orange Is the New Black comes back for its third season on June 12th. All of this is to say, you better catch up on Daredevil and Bloodline before it’s too late. But if you’ve looking for movies to stream, check out these new to streaming titles this weekend.

Netflix

Jimi: All Is by My Side (John Ridley, 2013)

In a strong year for unconventional biopics, Jimi: All Is by My Side was one of the most striking and most overlooked. The directorial debut of 12 Years a Slave screenwriter and American Crime creator John Ridley, it stars Andre Benjamin (one half of Outkast) as music icon Jimi Hendrix. Like many of the best recent biopics, the film focuses on a small part of Hendrix’s life instead of the full life treatment. What makes the film so surprising, though, is its lack of narrative form. Instead, it is all about mood while telling the rise-to-fame story through its sharp and unique editing style – the film’s co-directors earlier work includes The Tree of Life, Moneyball and 28 Days Later, which should give you a good idea how Jimi: All Is by My Side feels vitally different from your standard musical biopic.

Other titles new to Netflix this week:
Anita (Freida Lee Mock, 2013)
Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)
The Homesman (Tommy Lee Jones, 2014)
The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan, 1999)
Winter Sleep (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2014)

Amazon Prime

The People vs. George Lucas (Alexandre O. Philippe, 2010)

With all the Star Wars hype the past few weeks (only to get more deafening by the time The Force Awakens finally hits theaters this December), this is a perfect time to check out a very interesting little documentary about the franchise’s strong voice. The People vs. George Lucas chronicles the love/hate relationship the auteur has had with his millions of fans, looking specifically at the many controversies surrounding Star Wars and how they’ve been received. It is a surprisingly balanced film, however, correctly tuning this complicated relationship. The film also boasts a great variety of voices, from popular authors, filmmakers, bloggers and everyday regular fans.

Other titles new to Amazon Prime this week:
Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog, 2005)
Men in Black II (Barry Sonnenfeld, 2002)
Payback (Brian Helgeland, 1999)
The Puffy Chair (Jay & Mark Duplass, 2005)
The Real Blonde (Tom DiCillo, 1997)

Fandor

The Big City (Satyajit Ray, 1963)

The work of Satyajit Ray is a complete blind spot for me, possibly my biggest. For those like me, this is a great time to be introduced into the prolific Indian auteur’s best work, with restored versions of his films just released and an announcement that the films will show in 4k in New York and Los Angeles this summer. If you don’t live near our two largest cities or just don’t want to wait, you can stream The Big City on Fandor, available until Sunday, May 17. The streaming site also put together a new Spotlight series, called “Throwback NYC,” which looks at the vibrant city through the years. Films in that series include film movement doc Blank City, On the Bowery and The Vanishing City.

Other titles new to Fandor this week:
The House of Seven Corpses (Paul Harrison, 1974)
The Match Factory Girl (Aki Kaurismäki, 1990)
My Sassy Girl (Kwak Jae-oung, 2001)
Osaka Elegy (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1936)
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Mikio Naruse, 1960)

Video On-Demand

What We Do in the Shadows (Jemaine Clement & Taika Waititi, 2014)

One of the funniest films of the year so far, What We Do in the Shadows is now available On-Demand after its limited release. Set up like a documentary following a group of vampires in New Zealand, it brilliantly spoofs the new cultural obsession with these creatures of the night. The film is directed by Jemaine Clement (one half of the amazing Flight of the Conchords) and Taika Waititit (Boy, Eagle vs. Shark), blending their weird and smart comic sensibilities. You can now rent the film a few weeks before it will be released on DVD and Blu-ray.

Other titles new to VOD this week:
I Am Big Bird: The Carroll Spinney Story (Dave LaMattina & Chad N. Walker, 2014)
Lost River (Ryan Gosling, 2014)
Mr. Turner (Mike Leigh, 2014)
Selma (Ava DuVernay, 2014)
Welcome to Me (Shira Piven, 2014)

John Ridley, the man who took on the heavy task of adapting Solomon Northup’s memoir Twelve Years a Slave into the Oscar-winning script that mesmerized us all this past year, has taken on true-life once again with Jimi: All Is by My Side. Focusing on the early years of Jimi Hendrix’s career, the film starts with Jimi, starring André Benjamin (André 3000 of Outkast fame), the night he meets the woman who will kick-start his path to fame, Linda Keith, played with doll-like charm by Imogen Poots. Her faith in his abilities and his destiny as a star pushes the film forward. After a series of misses, she finally makes a match for Jimi in Chas Chandler (Andrew Buckley), former bassist for The Animals, who sees that same star power in him and insists he come to London and sign with him as manager. On his first night in London Jimi meets Kathy Etchingham (Heyley Atwell) after playing at The Scotch and the two immediately begin what would be a several year relationship. The film documents the steps in Jimi’s career leading up to the Monterey Pop Festival where Jimi the Myth became Jimi the Legend.

The film’s weaknesses have nothing to do with its cast, instead Ridley attempts to channel the times with some of his more artistic choices in editing. Dialogue is often cut off mid-sentence, the more famous characters are given silly freeze frames with their names written on-screen, wigs run rampant, and while it’s understood drug use was a huge part of the scene, the hazy way in which Ridley tries to convey the mood is sometimes just too distracting from what we really want to see and hear: Jimi playing music. But when André Benjamin is given free rein to be Jimi, and in the scenes where he plays guitar especially, boy does he impress. His spot-on imitation of Jimi’s slow and deliberate speech patterns, juxtaposed with the intense presence he had on stage, are a testament to just how well the actor did his research. Jimi Hendrix enthusiasts will have very little to complain about.

It may be the tiniest bit too self-aware and Ridley might have been fan-boying out a little in his attempt, but the performances shine through his stranger directorial decisions and the film effectively pays tribute to the groundbreaking titan Jimi Hendrix was while respecting the more intricate parts of his personal life. A well done biopic carried by an inspired cast that’s failings are entirely artistic but in no way disrespect the legend it depicts.

Originially published on June 13, 2014 during the Los Angeles Film Festival