Our weekly guide to new and noteworthy indie and international genre fare.
The Twin
The film is now streaming on Shudder.
Not to be confused with the other movie called The Twin that is streaming on Shudder -- that one stars Teresa Palmer -- this movie has a jolting opening scene that sets its sights firmly on threatening children.
When no child is (possibly) safe, that makes the next, rather placid sequence tense because another adorable child is featured. What could possibly happen to that child? And any nearby, though less consequential, adults?
J.C. Doler directed. Logan Donovan and Aleksa Palladino star.
The Terminal List: Dark Wolf
The first three episodes are now streaming on Prime Video. Subsequent episodes will debut every Wednesday.
Taylor Kitsch and Tom Hopper star as ex-Navy SEALS who accept missions from Robert Wisdom in which they shoot all the ammunition in the world in order to kill Bad People and all their anonymous underlings in an unappreciated quest to Save the World.
The dialogue sounds like it was cribbed from bumper stickers on military bases. The motivation for all this is provided in the first, 68-minute episode, in which Taylor Kitsch is given explicit orders not to kill a terrorist leader who was responsible for killing his local informant, all because the terrorist leader is secretly an informant for The Agency.
Then, given the opportunity, Taylor Kitsch kills the bound and tied terrorist leader because he talks nasty, and clearly deserves to die. His SEAL team buddies honorably try to cover it up. But Taylor Kitsch is too noble for that; he does not regret killing a Bad Guy in cold blood, which means that he is discharged by his angered superiors, who do not acknowledge their role in Covering Up Evil.
The next two episodes are missions that feature a ton of guns being fired and an incredible amount of action, all in the name of Saving the World.
Thunderbolts*
The film is now streaming on Disney Plus.
Disney wants you to know that these are *The New Avengers, so the film, said by some to be influenced by A24 Films -- though that's completely wrong -- will clear the decks of all those other superhero films that Marvel has been producing ad infinitum. In any event, the film only made $382 million dollars worldwide, which, in view of its budget, is considered a huge disappointment. But what about the film itself?
Our own Mel Valentin noted in his review that it "really stands out from its most recent predecessors: It's not about overcoming failure and disappointment by beating your opponents into submission and saving the world, but in learning to live with and accept failure and disappointment regardless of costumed superheroics."
Well, it's better than Captain America: Brave New World.
The Thursday Murder Club
The film is now streaming on Netflix.
Journeyman director Chris Columbus helms a murder mystery that is pleasantly diverting, in large part because of its outstanding cast, led by Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie as the titular club, with the notable likes of Naomi Ackie, Daniel Mays, Tom Ellis, David Tennant, and Jonathan Pryce in support.
It's quite funny to watch this after seeing Mirren and Brosnan as the married couple at the head of a brutal gangster clan in MobLand, where they ordered the whacking and the dismembering, and so forth. Here Mirren is married to Jonathan Pryce, suffering from dementia, and Brosnan is single with an adult son (Tom Ellis) who is quite famous for something or other. Kingsley is a confirmed bachelor, and Imrie is a recently arrived widow who is asked to help the Murder Club due to her background.
It's all light and fluffy and enjoyable. David Tennant is a splendidly evil villain, and Naomi Ackie effectively essays her ambitious, eager to please police officer.
The Friend
The film is now streaming on Paramount Plus with Showtime.
Naomi Watts stars as a writer who agrees to temporarily house her late friend's Great Dane. One problem: that dog is huge! Second problem: she lives in New York City and her rent-controlled apartment doesn't allow dogs. What was she thinking?
Frankly, this film falls outside our usual parameters for coverage: no one kills the dog, no one kills or even threatens the life of Naomi Watts. Yet this is a sweethearted movie that is readily likable and surprisingly deep on the connections that people can make with living creatures who do not walk upright.
Bonus: It has a ton of on-location footage of New York, New York, which made me nostalgic for a certain time of my life that I remember very fondly. So sue me. (It was a good prelude to see before running out to watch Darren Aronofsky's Caught Stealing, which is much more our style of New York City love letters.)
Now Streaming celebrates independent and international genre films and television shows that are newly available on legal streaming services.