September 2023’s Best Streaming Titles: “2001,” “Dracula,” “The Lego Movie,” “Band of Brothers,” “Star Trek: Lower Decks”
HAL, Bela Lugosi, Emmet Brickowski, Easy Company, the USS Cerritos, 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
10 Things I Hate About You (Sep 1)
Before he was the Joker, Heath Ledger was Patrick Verona, a mysterious bad boy hired to win the heart of Julia Stiles’ Katarina in this modern retelling of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. While it could’ve been little more than a ’90s high school rom-com, 10 Things I Hate About You shines thanks to a smart script and a wonderful cast that includes Ledger, Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Krumholtz, and Larry Miller as the Stratford sister’s over-protective father.
2001: A Space Odyssey (Sep 1)
A giant monolith of non-human origin is found buried on the moon’s surface, and its signal sends a group of astronauts to Jupiter to find the signal’s origin. Not only must the astronauts contend with facing an alien intelligence, but they must also deal with their ship’s increasingly erratic AI. One of cinema’s most iconic titles, 2001: A Space Odyssey blends ambitious storytelling about the origins and destiny of mankind with visual effects still feel groundbreaking to this day; it has subsequently been the subject of countless tributes and parodies, attesting to its cultural significance.
Army of Darkness (Sep 1)
Army of Darkness isn’t as good as Evil Dead II, but it’s still a horror comedy classic thanks to Bruce Campbell’s performance of the hapless — and handless — Ash Williams and Sam Raimi’s inventive directing. When Ash is transported back to the Middle Ages through his own cluelessness, he must use his 20th century wisdom — and his boomstick — to defend the land from the encroaching Deadite forces.
The Bourne Identity (Sep 1)
Matt Damon stars in this slick action thriller about a man who is pulled from the ocean with a couple of bullets in his back and no memories. As he tries to rediscover his past, he discovers an array of deadly and unusual skills — skills that’ll come in handy when he finds himself in the middle of an international conspiracy. Directed by Doug Liman and based on Robert Ludlum’s novel, The Bourne Identity kicked off the Bourne franchise, which thrilled moviegoers throughout the ’00s.