Thanksgiving is traditionally a time to celebrate all the good things in life with family and friends. But it seems like the holiday is slowly becoming overshadowed by the absurd and incredible shopping deals of the day after. This year, fans of streaming movies and television will reap some of that benefit, as Roku has announced a low-cost streaming player that will be sold as part of their Black Friday push. The device, which will regularly be sold for $50, will be only $25 online and at participating retailers. Despite the low-end cost, the Roku SE will still have access to all of their apps and can stream at 1080p. This could be a good push for those who haven’t already jumped into the streaming world or are still stuck to their computers. Now that we’re all done obsessively watching a Shia LaBeouf watch all of his own movies (we admit, it was surprisingly entertaining), check out these new titles streaming online this weekend.

Netflix

W/ Bob and David (Series, Season 1)

I discovered Mr. Show with Bob and David in college and it became one of the things my friends and I quoted endlessly. Even though some of its episodes were nearly 10 years old, it was so different and so special, that it seemed something just for us. Seventeen years later (can you believe it?) Bob Odenkirk and David Cross are back with a vengeance in a short series that is sure to capture the same rogue comedic spirit. In the years since their landmark first run, Odenkirk has reached critical acclaim and an Emmy nomination for best actor in a drama series (for Breaking Bad) and Cross created one of the most lovable losers in sitcom history (in Arrested Development). Seeing their incredible success over the years makes W/ Bob and David even more interesting—now they are back to claim the throne in sketch comedy once more.

Other titles new to Netflix this week:
Anna Karenina (Joe Wright, 2012)
Call Me Lucky (Bobcat Goldthwait, 2015)
Dear Jack (Joshua Morrisroe & Corey Moss, 2009)
Mala Mala (Antonio Santini & Dan Sickles, 2014)
The Wolfpack (Crystal Moselle, 2015)

Fandor

Araya (Margot Benacerraf, 1959)

One of the most beautiful documentaries ever made, Margot Benacerraf’s black-and-white study of Venezuelan salt mines is incredibly naturalistic and full of life. In a lot of ways, the film is a direct descendant of the Robert Flaherty school of filmmaking, as it takes an exotic location and simply watches daily processes. Araya is able to build a story out of many characters, however, and it does so very effectively—looking mostly at three generations of a family that all take on different jobs in the mine. The film effortlessly defines each in an anthropological way while maintaining their humanity. Also available now on Fandor is their newest Spotlight, called “The Auteurs,” which includes films from some of the greatest masters of film. Particular films available include The Conformist, Fitzcarraldo, Metropolis, The Turin Horse and The Beaches of Agnès.

Other titles new to Fandor this week:
A Coffee in Berlin (Jan Ole Gerster, 2012)
Fire Over England (William Howard, 1937)
Forget Me Not (Zoltan Korda, 1936)
The Great McGonagall (Joseph McGrath, 1974)
The Scarlet Pimpernel (Harold Young, 1934)

MUBI

Red Road (Andrea Arnold, 2006)

Before Andrea Arnold found indie acclaim with her 2009 drama Fish Tank she made the compelling thriller Red Road. In the film, Kate Dickie stars a Jackie, a security camera operator who quietly goes about her work until she sees a man from her past show up on screen. This simple setup has received comparisons to the work of thriller masters Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Haneke, and while Red Road is smaller in scope, it delivers on tension. Arnold wonderfully blends in the cinematic realism that she has become known for, giving a unique feel to the usually slick genre. Interestingly, the film’s characters were conceived by filmmaker Lone Scherfig (An Education, The Riot Club) and adapted by Arnold, who wrote the screenplay. You can check out this female-driven thriller on MUBI until December 7.

Other titles new to MUBI this week:
Gigante (Adrián Biniez, 2009)
The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, 2008)
Lancaster, CA (Mike Ott, 2015)
The Little Deputy (Trevor Anderson, 2015)
Love and Anarchy (Lina Wertmüller, 1973)

Video On-Demand

Entertainment (Rick Alverson, 2015)

The recent spring of anti-comedy films has become one of the most bizarre movements in recent cinema. There has been successful and notable work from the genre’s key figures Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim and Canadian filmmaker Quentin Dupieux, but with Entertainment, Rick Alverson has set himself apart. Along with star Gregg Turkington, who plays a thinly veiled version of his comedic persona Neil Hamburger, Entertainment brings more dramatic stakes and pathos to the anti-comedy narrative. The film follows a stand-up comedian on a horrific tour through hotel lounges and dive bars across the American southwest. The unnamed comedian takes the Neil Hamburger act and replaces his alternative success with ridicule from audiences and overwhelming despair. It doesn’t try to be a character study, but you can’t help but probe into the character’s mind during the bombed performances and many quiet moments. Surrounding Turkington’s outstanding performance is a stellar and surprising supporting cast which includes John C. Riley, Tye Sheridan, Amy Seimetz and Michael Cera. For more opinions on Entertainment, check out of full review of this “dark, surreal road trip that brings out laughter and pain in [a] subversive, provocative anti-comedy.”

Other titles new to VOD this week:
Heist (Scott Mann, 2015)
Mr. Holmes (Bill Condon, 2015)
Shelter (Paul Bettany, 2014)
Tangerine (Sean Baker, 2015)
Terminator Genisys (Alan Taylor, 2015)

Listen to the Way Too Indiecast if you want to live! On this week’s show, Bernard and special guest Mel Valentin review Terminator: Genisys, the fifth installment in the long-running time travel series. In a separate conversation Bernard is joined by Dustin “D-City” Jansick to share their Favorite Gun Movies as well as their Indie Picks of the Week. We’ve been waiting for you!

Sponsoring this week’s podcast is MUBI, a curated online cinema that brings its members a hand-picked selection of the best indie, foreign, and classic films. Go to www.mubi.com/waytooindie and try MUBI free for 30 days.

Topics

• Indie Picks of the Week (3:17)
• Favorite Gun Movies (14:20)
• Terminator: Genisys Review (27:40)

WTI Articles Referenced in the Podcast

Batkid Begins review
Terminator: Genisys review

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The problem with reboots and remakes of great movie franchises is that, about 90 percent of the time, they get caught up in paying homage to their predecessors, recalling the original’s most iconic scenes and doing them half as well. Terminator: Genisys falls neatly into this category of uninspired fan service cash grabs, but to its credit, it’s the cream of the crop when it comes to Hollywood schlock. It’s a well-oiled, inoffensive thrill machine that doesn’t approximate T1 and T2‘s entertainment value by a zillion miles, but is by and large a painless, easily-digestible summer action movie starring the former king of summer action movies.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (I will from this point forward only refer to him as “Ahnold,” because I must) has reinvented his career in recent years by shedding all self-seriousness and making movies (as far as we can tell) for the fun of it. He acknowledges that he’s 67 years old and no longer pilots his career with a macho-bullshit attitude, and that’s really, really endearing. This newly acquired “old guy” appeal is the best thing about this fifth installment of the long-running Terminator franchise, in which he reprises his role as the T-800, though this time with a paternal twist (as strange as that sounds). Will hearing Ahnold say “I’ll be back” ever get old? His new catchphrase, “Old. Not obsolete,” might be the best answer to that question. Ahnold isn’t as badass or relevant as he was twenty years ago, but heaven knows he’s still fun to watch.

Director Alan Taylor’s picture begins with the series’ most familiar scenario. We start in a machine-ravaged 2029 and find human resistance leader John Connor (Jason Clarke) sending his right-hand man, Sgt. Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney), back in time to protect (and knock up) his mother, Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke). History gets skewed, however, as Kyle arrives in an already-altered 1984 in which Miss Connor is a far-from-fragile machine killer who’s been protected since childhood by a T-800 she calls “Pops” (Ahnold). From this point forward the film becomes both a continuation of the original mythology and a reboot of sorts, a la JJ Abrams’ 2009 stab at Star Trek. It sees Sarah and Kyle launched forward to 2017 to destroy Skynet, which has taken the form of a popular life-management operating system called “Genisys,” before the world-wiping “judgment day” ever happens.

It comes as no surprise the movie is packed wall-to-wall with time-travel explication, mostly administered by the socially ill-equipped Pops (in Ahnold’s iconic Austrian monotone, of course). Kyle hurtles from 2029, to 1984, to 2017, where he finds himself in the awkward situation of learning that his mentor is actually his son, whose mother is the girl he’s been manipulated to fall in love with for years, but just met yesterday. There are alternate timelines, memories from impossible pasts, flashbacks to the future—the mind boggles! But not too much. Taylor actually does a great job of making the time-travel loopiness easy to follow, though the humor mined from it is pretty lame; watching Kyle agonize over timeline logistics is grating, especially when he makes the obligatory “Say it in English!” joke.

The movie never gets stopped dead by the bullets of exposition because the action is piled on so relentlessly. It’s all pretty standard fare: big, meaty explosions; buses doing somersaults in slow motion; San Francisco getting brutally demolished (seriously, what’s with Hollywood’s current obsession with wiping out SF?). The action, like the plot, is comprehensible and well presented, but doesn’t bring a whole lot to the table in terms of artistry or innovation. (An effect that sees the newest terminator incarnation leaving shadows of itself behind while breaking free from an MRI is the sole exception.) Taylor simply doesn’t have the knack for over-the-top action Cameron does, though fans will be happy with some of the movie’s shameless recalls to the originals (“old” Ahnold throwing fists with CGI young Ahnold is awesome).

The father-daughter-new boyfriend dynamic between the three leads is amusing, but it fails to launch emotionally. It’s good for laughs from time to time (Kyle and Pops exchanging impudent glares as they race to fill ammo clips in an unspoken “best guardian” competition), but the movie’s dramatic climax is a stinker that goes nowhere fast. The actors are serviceable (Courtney is a much better villain than hero, as seen in the Divergent series), with Ahnold’s robot-failing-at-acting-human schtick being the most memorable character impression we’re left with. There’s a levity to the material that may infuriate those who hoped for a grittier kind of doomsday movie, though I found it welcome.

Terminator: Genisys is a bridge to the future in that it captures the feel (not the greatness) of T1 and T2 while laying the groundwork for a full departure from the old mythology in forthcoming installments. J.K. Simmons makes an appearance as the only surprise in a mostly unsurprising movie, playing a ruffled cop who’s spent decades obsessing over a life-changing experience he had with a deadly robot in 1984. He’s a warm representation of the legions of fans who’ve been in love with the Terminator series since 1984’s The Terminator; the childlike smile on his face while in the presence of Sarah Connor, John Connor, Kyle Reese and the T-800 says it all.