August 2024’s Best Streaming Titles: “The Rings of Power,” “Raising Arizona,” “Amélie,” “Godzilla,” “The Goonies”
Return to Middle-earth, Coen brothers, Parisian fantasy, the big G, One-Eyed Willy, and more.
As Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, et al. add more content, it can be difficult to know what to look for amidst all of the new titles. I’ve compiled a list of particularly noteworthy and interesting movies and TV shows to add to your streaming queues in the coming month.
Amazon Prime Video
Batman: Caped Crusader, Season One (Aug 1)
Not to be confused with the video game from 1988, Batman: Caped Crusader follows Gotham’s Dark Knight in his early days as a crimefighter, before he became allies with James Gordon. The fact that Bruce Timm — who created Batman: The Animated Series in the mid ’90s — co-developed this series is probably reason enough for most folks to tune in and check it out. I’m also excited that Ed Brubaker (The Fade Out, Friday) was the season’s head writer. Hamish Linklater (Legion) will be the man behind Batman’s voice, stepping in for Kevin Conroy, who died in 2022.
Cinema Paradiso (Aug 1)
Written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, Cinema Paradiso is a movie that celebrates cinema itself (read my review). After learning that his childhood mentor has died, a jaded filmmaker reflects on the role and influence of movies in his life, which the movie reveals in a series of flashbacks. Upon its release in 1988, Cinema Paradiso quickly became a critical and commercial success, winning numerous awards (including an Oscar for “Best Foreign Language Film”) and helping to resurrect Italy’s film industry.
Looper (Aug 1)
Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt star opposite each other in this thriller about a hitman who squares off against his future self as they both search for a powerful psychic who could alter the future. Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Looper injects some clever new twists into the tried and true time travel formula. Johnson previously worked with Gordon-Levitt in 2005’s Brick.
Pulp Fiction (Aug 1)
I was a college freshman when Pulp Fiction arrived in theaters, and it was everywhere. Tarantino’s twisty, twisted morality play about hitmen, gangsters, drug addicts, boxers, and a mysterious briefcase blew everyone away with its snappy dialog, retro aesthetic, and celebrated performances (including John Travolta in a career-resurrecting performance). In particular, the diner conversation between Jules and Vincent is one of my favorite movie scenes of all time.
Sense and Sensibility (Aug 1)
Emma Thompson spent five years adapting Jane Austen’s classic novel, and the result is a lavish and utterly delightful adaptation directed by Ang Lee and starring Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet, and Hugh Grant. Released in 1995, the film was a massive commercial and critical success. Sense and Sensibility received seven Academy Awards nominations, with Thompson winning an Oscar for “Best Adapted Screenplay.”