Armchair Vacation: Five Films To Watch At Home This Weekend [February 27-March 1]

Every day, more and more films are added to the various streaming services out there, ranging from Netflix to YouTube, and are hitting the airwaves via movie-centric networks like TCM. Therefore, sifting through all of these pictures can be a tedious and often times confounding or difficult ordeal. But, that’s why we’re here. Every week, Joshua brings you five films to put at the top of your queue, add to your playlist, or grab off of VOD to make your weekend a little more eventful. Here is this week’s top five, in this week’s Armchair Vacation.

5. The Overnighters (Netflix)

With this year’s Academy Awards now officially in the books, one of the show’s biggest snubs is now available to stream on Netflix. Entitled The Overnighters, this breathtaking documentary tells the story of a local pastor in a small North Dakota city who allows over 1,000 people to stay in his church over the span of roughly two years, as they look for jobs spawning out of that region’s oil boom. A beautifully made piece of non-fiction cinema that has often seen comparisons to things like The Grapes Of Wrath, this is a touchstone documentary from a year that saw more than its fair share of fantastic documentaries. Gorgeously shot by writer/director Jesse Moss and released thanks to Drafthouse Films, this is a picture that got looked over by a branch of The Academy that has been known to skip over some much beloved films, but will hopefully find a home thanks to its status on Netflix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMTWQWK5pQ4

4. Ejecta (VOD)

The alien invasion genre hasn’t been the most fruitful subgenre of science-fiction over the last few decades, and yet one would be hard pressed to think of a better example of a perfect fit for the current favorite horror sub-genre, found footage. Thankfully, directors Chad Archibald and Matt Wiele have taken it upon themselves to bring the two genres together for one of the more interesting thrillers you’ll find currently available on VOD. Telling the story of a blogger who claims to have been subjected to an alien encounter which has haunted him for years now, Ejecta splits between he and documentary filmmaker Joe Sullivan trying to escape from what appears to be an alien attack, while also finding the blogger under the control of an intelligence agency craving the knowledge that his encounter can give them. Beautifully made and quite entrancing, this small-budget thriller from IFC Midnight isn’t a groundbreaking work, but it’s a thrilling and atmospheric thriller that takes two tried and true genres and smashes them together to make one hell of a fun picture.

3. Da Sweet Blood Of Jesus (VOD)

While it’s now available to see on the big screen, Spike Lee’s latest unsung gem is also available on VOD, and is the best film currently available to the general public. A remake of the beloved cult horror film Ganja and Hess, this is a nightmarish vision unlike anything we’ve seen from Lee. Lee’s picture is intimate and has an undercurrent of anger to it that is delicious to anyone willing to gnaw on it for a moment. Impressionistic and brazenly surreal, this is Spike Lee as we have rarely seen him. Including a film like Red Hook Summer, it appears as though Lee, in this age of crowd sourcing and shoe string budgets, has found a new life, one of experimentation and breathless looks at the minority experience. An acquired taste, this is a film that will be as polarizing as they come. Stuffy and structured at a snail’s pace, this is an erotic horror picture that will have Jean Rollin fans buzzing, and Spike Lee acolytes aching to see what the filmmaker has up his sleeve next.

2. Jacqout De Nantes (Hulu)

From director Agnes Varda comes this evocative look at filmmaker, and her husband, one Jacques Demy. A lesser known but potent picture from Varda, this was included in Criterion’s recent masterfully put together career-spanning box set of Demy’s work, which has seen a majority of its included films newly added to Criterion’s Hulu page. With films ranging from Donkey Skin to The Pied Piper now available to stream via the service, this is a perfect film to either wrap up one’s journey through the filmmaker’s canon or a wonderful introduction into the life and work of one of the film world’s most underrated auteurs.

1. Kung-Fu Elliot (VOD)

When one thinks of truly great and legendary action cinema icons, names like Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and Arnold Schwarzenegger instantaneously pop into one’s mind. However, for Elliot “White Lightning” Scott, the road to becoming synonymous with those names has been a tough one to tread. The main focus of this new documentary is the production of Scott’s newest film, but the most enlightening narrative thread involves the relationship between he and his main squeeze, Linda, as they try to maneuver their way through a relationship that appears to be on the brink. Scott is a womanizing escort-service frequenter with a penchant for buying movies instead of looking for his girlfriend’s dream wedding ring, and Linda is hell bent on either changing that or ending this relationship. The most rewarding thematic yarn being woven throughout the film, this relationship is a troubling one and one that twists this film out of its comedy roots, morphing it into what is one of the more intriguing looks at human nature in quite some time.