WILD ROSE and BAD BOYS highlight this week’s Field of Streams
Welcome to Field of Streams, Cinapse’s weekly guide of what’s playing on your favorite streaming services. What’s new on Netflix and Amazon Prime? What do we recommend on Kanopy, Fandor, and Shudder? We’ve got it all. From monthly roundups, to curated top 5 lists, to reviews of our favorites available now… it’s here. We built it for you, so come and join us in the Field of Streams.
BAD BOYS (Netflix)
BAD BOYS II (Netflix)
Real talk: Until this week, I had never seen a Bad Boys movie. Action movies are fine, but I don’t go out of my way to see them. This is a case where the Cinapse crew influenced me, for good or ill. Thanks to the Alamo Drafthouse, I was able to see all three–including the brand new Bad Boys For Life–as part of a triple feature. It was a lot.
Host Wilson Smith–Cinapse contributor Wilson Smith–hosted the event and called this an “unlikely trilogy.” To be sure. I get why the original was made. I remember Martin and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. These were huge and hugely funny shows back in the day. Add a little action a la Beverly Hills Cop, and why not?
It was really great to see the first two together, just like you can do on Netflix right now. BB2 absolutely fulfills the promise of the original. While the chemistry is there, the humor lives up to the legend of the two starts by the sequel, and the action is just something else. Wilson said they should have just stopped making action movies after this because BB2 had it all.
Take this weekend to bone up on the past while you get ready for BBFL, a worthy successor in this line of hits. Whatchoo gonna do?
WILD ROSE (Hulu)
There’s not a more charming or heartfelt movie that hit US theaters in 2019. Jessie Buckley is destined to become an absolute star, and Wild Rose showcases exactly why. He fiery red hair and “Sod off!” attitude make Rose-Lynn a powerful yet nuanced character. Those of us from Texas might think the story of a Scottish singer with her sights set on a career in Nashville as a country music story gone wrong, but in the hands of director Tom Harper, it is told as a story of hardship, resilience, and getting out of your own damn way. And those Scottish accents. Love ’em. I cannae help it!
EL CAMINO: A BREAKING BAD MOVIE (Netflix)
Speaking of bad, if you’re a Breaking Bad fan, El Camino is a must watch. There’s sure to be some apprehension with a film that appears to glom onto possibly the best television show of all time. But fear not! Vince Gilligan has stepped back onto his Albuquerque stage and done it again. That’s not to say El Camino sits with the best of the series, but it takes the loose ends of the series finale and ties them into something very much worthwhile.
Jesse (Aaron Paul) went through hell in that final season, and seeing him in the aftermath is a tough watch. Luckily, we get a little time with Badger and Skinny Pete, as well as sinister flashbacks featuring America’s nicest Nazi psycho Todd (Jesse Plemons).
El Camino isn’t about putting a nice bow on the series, but it deals respectfully with the remaining plot points it was given. Give it a watch, and it just might lead to going back to the beginning and Breaking Bad all over again.
There are countless services to explore and great things to watch on all of them. Which ones did we miss that you would suggest to us? And, as always, if you’ve got thoughts on titles we’re missing out on or new services to check out, leave a comment below or email us.
Till next week, stream on, stream away.