Dear friends,
The newsletter’s two top picks are usually new arrivals on streaming services, but this week, exceptionally, the top movie pick is leaving Netflix. If you feel like a romance-drama, make sure to catch the excellent God’s Own Country before Thursday.
THE TOP TV SHOW OF THE WEEK
Alias Grace
Streaming now on Netflix almost everywhere.
This miniseries is based on a Margret Atwood novel and was also produced by her. The script was written by Canadian filmmaker extraordinaire Sarah Polley (Stories We Tell).
Grace is a poor but bright Irish immigrant in Upper Canada who is accused and convicted of a double murder. 15 years into her life sentence, a young American doctor is sent to try to get her out.
📰 Referring to The Handmaid’s Tale, David Bianculli of NPR said: “I suspect that every viewer will agree upon one particular verdict -- television, in adapting the novels of Margaret Atwood, now has a record of 2 for 2.”
📺 on Netflix almost everywhere; 🍅 rating: 99%
THE TOP MOVIE OF THE WEEK
God’s Own Country
Leaves Netflix this Thursday, April 30th.
God’s Own Country is A Call me By Your Name without the wealth or privilege, and it’s probably a better movie because of it.
It tells the story of Johnny, a young farmer from the Yorkshire underclass. His family’s workload and responsibility fell on his shoulders after his father suffered from a stroke, and he had been dealing with the pressure with drinking and casual relationships. Upon meeting a Romanian immigrant, his ideas of loneliness, sex, and intimacy are completely changed.
📰 The BBC: “Under battered Yorkshire skies, with grime beneath its nails and soil clodding up the treads of its boots, Francis Lee's outstanding feature debut God's Own Country is a work of rough-hewn alchemy.”
📺 on Netflix U.S., Canada, and select other geographies; 🍅 rating: 98%
Readers’ top picks
King Jack on Netflix is our readers’ favorite movie pick for the second week in a row. It’s a small-budget coming-of-age drama set in the American countryside.
And same with readers’ top TV pick, Caliphate also on Netflix gets their vote for the second week. It’s a fantastic thriller about a Swedish woman who was radicalized and traveled to Syria, but changed her mind and wants to go back to Sweden.
New titles worth your time
After Life with Ricky Gervais comes back for a second season on Netflix today. If you’ve watched the first season, you might have guessed that the story can only be taken so far, and the new episodes do feel redundant and forced. Still, if you’re a hardcore Gervais fan, you might enjoy it.
A new action movie with Chris Hemsworth called Extraction premieres today on Netflix. It was directed by Marvel stunt coordinator Sam Hargrave, so the stunt work is incredible. However, as it is with most big-budget action movies, the only way to have a good time watching Extraction is to not expect too much from the script.
No notable new titles on Amazon Prime this week.
Great titles that will soon expire
Quite a few notable movies are leaving Netflix this April 30th:
Baz Luhrmann's 1992 movie Strictly Ballroom
Rounders with vintage 1998 Matt Damon
Billy Bob Thornton's excellent 1996 movie Sling Blade
Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull
Spike Lee and Denzel Washington’s Malcolm X
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise
Alfonso Cuarón’s 1995 movie A Little Princess
Crash
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
GoodFellas
The Shawshank Redemption
The 2016 comedy Don't Think Twice with Keegan-Michael Key
And God’s Own Country, today’s top movie pick.
Depending on how you feel about Woody Allen, four of his 70s classics are leaving Amazon Prime this Wednesday, April 29th: Annie Hall, Bananas, Love and Death, and Manhattan.
The Newsflash: Will Netflix run out?
You might have wondered recently if, with productions being halted around the world, Netflix will run out of new titles. It would appear that the answer is almost certainly no.
First, as Japan Times reports, Netflix didn’t put off all its productions: titles filming in South Korea and Iceland never stopped and productions in Denmark and Sweden are restarting. Animations, something that the company has been heavily investing in, has turned to remote work and is still ongoing.
It also seems that movies and shows which are currently in post-production will last Netflix for a long time. The new season of The Queen, for example, has already finished filming and is now in remote post-production.
The company’s chief content officer recently said that even 2021 mostly covered:
“Our 2020 slate of series and films are largely shot and are in post-production stages in locations all over the world. And we’re actually pretty deep into our 2021 slate. We don’t anticipate moving the schedule around much, and certainly not in 2020.”
With theaters closed and TV channels’ ad revenue decreasing, Netflix might also be offered better deals in acquisitions. Filming will likely restart in the US for example while theaters are still shut, leaving distributors and filmmakers with few alternatives other than seeking streaming deals.
As you might have guessed, Netflix is not who we should worry about. Our local theaters, small filmmakers, and cultural events and institutions are going to be the hardest hit coming out of this. By all measures, Netflix looks like it will come out richer and more dominant than ever before.
That’s it for today, I hope there is something in there for you.
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The next edition will be in your inbox on Friday, May 1st.
Until then,
Bilal Zou, founder [bilal@agoodmovietowatch.com]
Carried with the support of the Creative Europe Program – MEDIA.
As always, thank you. Et bon jeudredi!🤣