Kneel Before VOD: November 6th
Welcome to Kneel Before VOD! Here, we recommend the latest, highlight-worthy films now on video-on-demand. We'll help you navigate through the thousands of options out there, on dozens of services, to the best in streaming this month!
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Did you know Leslie Nielsen wasn’t always “the funny guy”? Okay, yeah, I’m an idiot, but as a kid raised on Airplane! and Naked Gun movies I’d only ever known him to make me laugh, until I saw the 1956 science-fiction masterpiece Forbidden Planet. The story of a future starship crew investigating the mysterious silence of a far away colony still holds up today as a thrilling and exciting piece of cinema. From a time where most of the sci-fi being made was relegated to B movies, director Fred M. Wilcox treats this material with respect. The performances are fantastic, and more than anything, the special effects are still a marvel to this day. Not to mention it features one of the most famous robots in cinema history!
Logan’s Run (1976)
In a surprising turn of events, Netflix has added a nice little group of classic sci-fi films to their service this month, which means we can all have a hell of a double feature. Go from the mysterious space colony of Forbidden Planet to the mysterious utopian future of Logan’s Run, where life is perfect, we all just have to die at the age of thirty. Starring Michael York and Jenny Agutter, and directed by Michael Anderson, this movie is a wonderful gem of 70’s paranoid cinema. As our main characters decide they don't want to die at thirty, we begin to see the world around them unravel, and the truth behind their hedonistic police state comes to light. Come for the great setup, stay for the over-the-top 70’s futuristic fashion and gorgeous set design.
Blindspotting (2018)
Written by, and starring, Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, Blindspotting is easily one of the best movies from 2018. Centering on the final days of probation for Collin (Diggs) the movie explores his complicated relationship with his long time best friend Miles (Casal) as well as with his community and home. The film tackles the gentrification of The Bay area in California, police brutality/racial profiling, gun control, and so much more. This is a film that wants you to understand that no matter how hard you try to do things right, to be good, life can instantly destroy all of it with one stroke of bad luck. It also wants you to laugh, a lot, as Diggs and Casal not only fill the script with fantastic humor, but bring it to life in memorable fashion. If you missed out, be sure to catch up with one of 2018’s best films and get excited for whatever Diggs and Casal do next.
The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
It always feels a little weird recommending a Spielberg because, well, it's a Spielberg! If there is one of his movies that doesn’t get the love and recognition it deserves though, it's The Adventures of Tintin, a wonderfully charming motion capture animated adaptation of the Belgian character. In a time where the film world is over the moon for Paddington bear it seems like the perfect time for Tintin to make a comeback. He will charm your socks off, he has an adorable little dog, he's happy to destroy the rich, and seems to have a general disdain for capitalism, he's a true millennial icon! Plus, the movie was written by Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, and Steven Moffat, produced by Peter Jackson, and there is still hope for a sequel directed by Jackson. So fire up your prime accounts and start watching, let’s get those numbers up so at the very least we can finally get another film directed by Peter Jackson that doesn’t take place in Middle Earth.
More Streaming Picks:
Netflix: Enter the Dragon (1973), Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (2019)
HBO: Upgrade (2018), Glass (2019)
Amazon: Overlord (2018)
Hulu: Missing Link (2019)
