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    ‘Touchy Feely,’ ‘Maggie’ and Other Streaming Gems

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    A look at off-the-radar recommendations for home viewing, including indie comedy-dramas, genre hybrids and informative documentaries about influential outsiders.As the temperature drops and the couch again beckons, it’s time to go exploring in the libraries of the subscription streaming services. This month’s recommendations include indie comedy-dramas, genre hybrids and informative documentaries about influential outsiders.‘Touchy Feely’ (2013)Stream it on Amazon.When the writer and director Lynn Shelton died unexpectedly last year, she left behind a small but distinctive group of films — wise and insightful comedy-dramas, modest in their scope but endless in their emotion. This Sundance selection is one of her most moving, an ensemble family story focusing on siblings (Rosemarie DeWitt and Josh Pais) in personal and spiritual crisis, attempting to open up their minds and hearts to the inexplicable forces around them. Allison Janney, Elliot Page and Scoot McNairy round out the cast.‘Begin Again’ (2014)Stream it on Netflix.John Carney followed up the success of the micro-budgeted “Once” on a far grander scale, with such marquee names as Mark Ruffalo, Keira Knightley and Catherine Keener in major roles. But his sensibility remained intact; this is another bittersweet musical comedy-drama, its songs baked into a story about the people who make music, and why they do it. Ruffalo stars (and charms) as a dissatisfied record executive on the hunt for not only talent but authenticity; he thinks he finds both in Knightley’s uncertain singer-songwriter.‘Adult Beginners’ (2015)Stream it on HBO Max.Sketch artist and stand-up comic Nick Kroll shows his thespian range in this low-key but engaging indie. The narrative strokes are familiar: a young hot shot gets cut down to size, so he moves back home and does some living and learning and growing up. Yet Kroll’s emotional evolution is convincing, as is his relationship with his suburban sister, played with equal parts warmth and exasperation by Rose Byrne; her real-life partner Bobby Cannavale is in top form as her husband.‘The Year of Spectacular Men’ (2018)Stream it on Amazon.When the “Back to the Future” star Lea Thompson took the turn from acting to feature filmmaking, she made it a family affair. Her daughters Madelyn Deutch and Zoey Deutch co-star as sisters, Madelyn writes the script and Thompson appears, in a brief but juicy supporting role, as their mother. But this is no vanity project; the screenplay is witty and perceptive, portraying 20s ennui with lacerating self-reflection, the sisterly byplay is unsurprisingly credible and Madelyn has a winning screen presence. Additionally, “Succession” fans will delight at the sight of Cousin Greg himself, Nicholas Braun, as a romantic leading man.‘Don Jon’ (2013)Stream it on Netflix.When Joseph Gordon-Levitt took the leap from actor to filmmaker, he went in the opposite direction of Lea Thompson, creating a character and situation miles from his own. He stars as the title character, a goofy musclehead with a thick Jersey accent and an omnipresent leather jacket. Jon is addicted to sex and all of its accouterments, and Gordon-Levitt’s stylish direction homes in on the routines and rhythms of his single-minded pursuit. It’s like “Shame” with a sense of humor, a mixture that shouldn’t land, but somehow does.‘First Date’ (2021)Stream it on Hulu.The filmmaking team of Manuel Crosby and Darren Knapp write and direct this cheerfully overstuffed homage to the “one crazy night” action-comedies of the 1980s. Tyson Brown stars as Mike, a shy high school kid who unexpectedly lands a date with his dream girl Kelsey (Shelby Duclos) and, stuck without a car, ends up buying a cheap clunker. But the vehicle is a bargain for a reason, putting him in the sights of trigger-happy drug dealers, killers and cops. There’s a lot going on, but the young stars keep it grounded; he’s endlessly likable, she’s a star in the making (her fight scene is a jaw-dropper), and their vibe and chemistry create genuine stakes amid the lunacy.Five Movies to Watch This WinterCard 1 of 51. “The Power of the Dog”: More

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      ‘First Date’ Review: Modern Action Romance Propelled by a ’65 Chrysler

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      The filmmakers Manuel Crosby and Darren Knapp pack their debut, starring Tyson Brown and Shelby Duclos, with oddballs and left turns, but their script has heart.“First Date” is a boy-meets-girl, boy-and-girl-evade-goon-squad action romance from Manuel Crosby and Darren Knapp, a debut filmmaking team putting their faith in Jean-Luc Godard’s maxim that “all you need for a movie is a gun and a girl.” Hey, that cliché sold Quentin Tarantino’s first scripts, and this likable homage moves at a clip, as though the young writer-directors are impatient to introduce themselves to producers beyond their immediate families. Calculated? Absolutely. Yet, “First Date” endears itself to the genre by knowing when to lean into nostalgia (the heroine Kelsey, played by Shelby Duclos, adores surf rock eight-tracks) and when to veer off-course (she’s also a boxer).Kelsey’s fisticuffs come in handy when she makes a date with Mike (Tyson Brown), a wallflower who impulsively buys a busted-up 1965 Chrysler to impress his kitsch-obsessed crush. Mike’s new car is bad luck twice over. Not only was the Chrysler’s previous owner, a drug smuggler (Todd Goble), fatally shot by a gang of violent dimwits determined to get their hands on the keys, but the car itself is bait for two nosy cops (Nicole Berry and Samuel Ademola) certain there’s something suspicious about a Black teenager purchasing a rust bucket. As the deputy says, “That just don’t sound like sober decision making to me.”What follows is a barrage of gunfire, wah-wah guitars and a surprising amount of novelty and heart for a film that can feel as if it’s a road trip through the directors’ inspirations. Crosby, who also shot and helped edit the movie, manages to capture the vibe of David Lynch’s suburban surrealism, albeit hampered by a visibly lower budget. Crosby’s sly camera movements and pacing choices are funnier, however, than the dialogue — which isn’t hard when Mike is so passive, he barely speaks. When will filmmakers realize that there’s little thrill in a bland underdog eventually rising to the occasion if the character wastes much of the running time being flatter than a Kansas freeway? Kelsey, at least, lands a dozen zingers, telling one suitor she’ll see him “the second Tuesday of next week.”The script is so crammed with oddball characters that it threatens to become a clown car. There’s a fast-talking salesman, his strung-out wife and their deranged robot vacuum, which has a mind of its own. Plus the drug smuggler Tony’s bossy best friend, Brett (Josh Fesler); a Porsche-driving jock named, of course, Chet (Brandon Kraus); and a pair of sentimental retirees with their own claim to the Chrysler. It’s too cute by half that the pistol-waving heavies are also in a book club where they bicker over “Of Mice and Men.”Still, even in a film populated with cartoons, the carnage is never played for laughs. “First Date” pauses to give each death emotional weight, and that empathy — more than gags about “Titanic” VHS tapes and winking insertions of the Wilhelm scream — is reason to give Crosby and Knapp the green light to squire us on a second adventure.First DateNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Apple TV, FandangoNow and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More

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      Sundance 2021 Guide: Bundle Up and Settle in on Your Sofa

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySundance 2021 Guide: Bundle Up and Settle in on Your SofaNow that the film festival has gone virtual, you can watch like an insider. But where do you start? If you liked previous hits from Park City, try these new entries.At home, unlike in Park City, you’re first in line.Credit…Margeaux Walter for The New York TimesJan. 28, 2021Updated 5:09 p.m. ETAttending the Sundance Film Festival has never been an easy thing to do. Passes are pricey, accommodations are even pricier, the closest airport is nearly an hour away, and you end up waiting in long lines (in Utah, in January) for screenings — at least for the ones that haven’t sold out (which most do).But like so many film festivals in the Covid era, Sundance, which starts Thursday, has gone virtual this year. So while that means there’s no chance of randomly encountering celebrities in the bathroom (well, less of a chance), it does mean that anyone who can scrounge up $15 — the price of a single film ticket — can attend. You won’t even have to put on long johns and snow boots, unless your super is being especially stingy with the heat.So … what to watch? Even pared down, as it is this year, the festival program is a bit overwhelming — 73 feature-length films and 50 short films — and it’s not like you can make your selections based on reviews or buzz, as most of these titles have never been seen before. But if you’re the kind of viewer who wants to attend a virtual Sundance, you’re probably the kind of viewer who has enjoyed films from previous festivals, so here are some recommendations from this year’s slate that recall the great films of Sundances past. The festival runs through Wednesday. Tickets and other details are at sundance.org.If you liked ‘The Rider,’ try ‘Jockey.’Clifton Collins Jr. plays a jockey at a crossroads.Credit…Adolpho VelosoChloé Zhao’s powerful, earnest drama “The Rider” (which played in the Spotlight section of the 2018 fest) concerns a rodeo rider who finds himself sidelined from the work he loves, and uncertain where his life will go next. In Clint Bentley’s “Jockey” (playing in this year’s U.S. Dramatic Competition), the versatile character actor Clifton Collins Jr. (“Capote”) stars as a racing jockey facing a similar dilemma: As he makes one last run at a championship, the appearance of a young jockey who claims to be his son forces the aging athlete to contemplate who he’ll be when he’s not on a horse.If you liked ‘Call Me by Your Name,’ try ‘Ma Belle, My Beauty.’Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of André Aciman’s novel was one of the highlights of Sundance 2017, and for good reason: the beauty of its luminous Italian vistas was matched only by the tenderness of its dramatization of first love (and loss). The first-time feature filmmaker Marion Hill’s “Ma Belle, My Beauty” (in this year’s Next section) plays in a similar key, mixing gorgeous European locations — this time, the dazzling vistas of the South of France — with a story of sophisticated romantic entanglements, as a newlywed couple welcomes the woman they both once loved back into their home for a surprise visit.Arguing about movies at home may not be quite the same as in Park City.Credit…Margeaux Walter for The New York TimesIf you liked ‘Donnie Darko,’ try ‘We’re All Going to the World’s Fair.’Audiences at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival knew they were seeing something special in “Donnie Darko,” Richard Kelly’s mind-bending deep dive into time travel, wormholes, doomsdays and suburban ennui. It’s so strange and distinctive that it’s all but incomparable, but those unnerving vibes are also present in the debut writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s Next selection, “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair.” Focusing on a lonely teenage girl’s journey into a mind-altering online role-playing horror game, it’s another emotionally resonant tale of teenage identity, with generous helpings of horror and science fiction mixed in.If you liked ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,’ try ‘Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street.’Oscar the Grouch and his pal Caroll Spinney in the new documentary.Credit…Luke GeissbühlerOne of the breakout titles of Sundance 2018, Morgan Neville’s “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” was a poignant and heart-rending documentary about the life and legacy of the children’s public television favorite Fred Rogers. Marilyn Agrelo’s adaptation of Michael Davis’s book mines similar historical and emotional territory, detailing how educators and entertainers joined forces in the late 1960s to put new ideas about teaching and learning — and a new focus on inner-city children — into practice on “Sesame Street.” And like “Neighborhood,” “Street Gang” is loaded with enough archival clips and songs to stir nostalgia in the heart of even the most resistant viewer.If you liked ‘Blindspotting,’ try ‘On the Count of Three.’Carlos López Estrada’s comedy-drama was one of the opening-night films of Sundance 2018, and one of its most memorable — a pulsing, rousing story of two lifelong best friends dealing with changes in their lives and the world around them. That film was grounded by the relationship between its protagonists (played by co-writers Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs). A kindred relationship, with even higher stakes, is at the center of “On the Count of Three,” in which the actor and comedian Jerrod Carmichael (making his feature directorial debut) and Christopher Abbott are best friends bonded by a suicide pact.If you liked ‘Hoop Dreams,’ try ‘Captains of Zaatari.’One of the most acclaimed documentaries in Sundance history — and in the history of nonfiction cinema — is the 1994 sports epic “Hoop Dreams,” following two high school basketball players through a four-year cycle of hopes and disappointments. The first-time director Ali El Arabi also profiles two young sports fanatics: Fawzi and Mahmoud, best friends obsessed with soccer but trapped in a Jordanian camp for Syrian refugees. And like the subjects of “Hoop Dreams,” Fawzi and Mahmoud see their sport not just as a hobby, but as a pathway out of their grim surroundings and into a better, brighter future.You won’t run into celebrities at home the way you would in Park City. Probably.Credit…Margeaux Walter for The New York TimesIf you liked ‘Swiss Army Man,’ try ‘Cryptozoo.’Love it or hate it, no one who saw the 2016 U.S. Dramatic competition award-winner “Swiss Army Man” forgot its story of a forgotten man on a desert island who befriends a farting corpse. That same spirit of gonzo, anything-goes storytelling is in abundance in Dash Shaw’s animation-for-adults feature, which centers on a secret zoo holding rare and imaginary beasts (like the unicorn and the baku), and the humans who are drawn into its orbit.If you liked ‘American Teen,’ try ‘Homeroom.’The trials and tribulations of the typical high school student’s senior year were transformed into compelling drama in Nanette Burstein’s 2008 Sundance documentary “American Teen,” which focused on five students in small-town Indiana. The director Peter Nicks (who also made the Sundance 2017 award-winner “The Force”) captures a much more tumultuous time in his documentary “Homeroom,” which follows Oakland High School’s class of 2020 through a senior year shaken up by calls for the elimination of the district’s police force, and then overturned by the pandemic.If you liked ‘Brick,’ try ‘First Date.’Tyson Brown in “First Date,” a playful genre mashup from Manuel Crosby and Darren Knapp.Credit…Manuel CrosbyOne of Sundance’s most noteworthy fictional high school films was Rian Johnson’s 2005 Special Jury Prize winner “Brick,” which viewed the types and tropes of the secondary school narrative through the lens of classic film noir. Manuel Crosby and Darren Knapp’s “First Date” is also something of a throwback, crossing the classic high school dating comedy with ’80s-influenced action and “Repo Man”-esque surrealism, a playful genre mash-up with a beating heart underneath.If you liked ‘Stranger Than Paradise,’ try ‘El Planeta.’Jim Jarmusch’s deadpan comedy “Stranger Than Paradise” was an early indie hit, and thus one of the first big breakouts from Sundance (where it won the Special Jury Prize in 1985). It remains among the most influential independent films of all time, so it’s not surprising to hear its echoes in the artist Amalia Ulman’s feature directorial debut, “El Planeta,” another black-and-white, absurdist comedy about survival. But it also goes in its own wonderfully personal direction, with Ulman not only writing and directing but also starring as a desperate student running small-time grifts with her mother (played by Ulman’s own mother, Ale Ulman).AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More