Armchair Vacation: Five Films To Watch At Home This Weekend (July 26-28)

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. Drinking Buddies (iTunes)

While the name “mumblecore” has become a pejorative only existing for those uninterested in the type of intimate, human character dramas being made by directors like Andrew Bujalski and Lynn Shelton, this new picture from genre forefather Joe Swanberg proves that this oft-maligned indie genre can be a breeding ground for some of the most interesting character work of this very year. Starring a top notch cast including Jake Johnson, Olivia Wilde, Anna Kendrick and Ron Livingston, this film follows two friends, who are both in committed relationships. However, when their relationship begins to toe the line between friendly and something a tad more intimate, each respective relationship, including their own, begins to unravel. A deeply powerful meditation on modern romance, friendship and everything in between, the film stole the show at this year’s SXSW Film Festival, where it was easily one of the five best pictures this writer had the pleasure of seeing. Still very much a member of my top 10 of 2013, this is an absolute must see, that is currently available to stream on iTunes. Get on that ASAP. You won’t be sorry.

4. Woody Allen: A Documentary (Netflix)

Another year, another new Woody Allen project. With his latest effort, Blue Jasmine, bowing in theaters this week, it’s as perfect a time to take a look back at the auteur’s career as any, and thankfully, Netflix can help you do just that. While they lack actual films from Allen on their service, they hold an all encompassing documentary entitled Woody Allen: A Documentary. The film takes a look, through archival and source footage as well as new interviews, at the filmmaker’s life, career and all that they include. From birth to today, the film doesn’t pull punches, getting into everything from his days as a comic to his tabloid-filled fall out with Mia Farrow. With a stiff focus on the actual films, however, this is a breathtaking look at the director’s career, a career that is as vibrant and lively today as it was decades ago when he first hit the scene. It’s truly something to behold.

3. Le Grand Amour (Hulu)

Added to The Criterion Collection’s Hulu Plus page as part of their 101 Days Of Summer, the company has added yet another film from director/star Pierre Etaix, and it’s possibly the comedy legend’s very best film. Released in 1969, Etaix created a brilliant masterwork with this picture, something as melancholy and beautifully crafted as the icon ever crafted. An inherent meditation on upper class boredom and lust, the film is a charming if melancholy tale of a man who falls out of love with his stale wife and in love with his stunning new secretary, and is a truly great piece of visual cinema. Spearheaded by a tour de force dream sequence that truly sets the plot forward, the film is gorgeously composed and is both Etaix’s funniest and most cinematically inspired picture. Toss in a handful of really well made and detail-centric jokes and gags, and you have one of the greatest comedies ever made, and far and away Etaix’s masterpiece.

2. Road To Nowhere (Fandor)

From director Monte Hellman and writer Steven Gaydos comes this superb and troublingly underrated drama. Starring Tygh Runyan, Dominique Swain and Cliff De Young, the film tells the tale of a young director who becomes enthralled with a crime while on location for a new picture. Dense and twisty, this obtuse picture is a haunting and stylish bit of modern neo-noir that becomes as thrilling to dissect as it does cinematically. Impossible to forget, this film from the man behind such bewildering classics as Two Lane Blacktop and The Shootist is the type of engaging crime story that just doesn’t get made any more. Quiet, quaint and as abrasive a movie-within-a-movie style narrative as we’ve ever seen, this film was originally met to middling reviews and middling response from audiences, but this is surely one of the better films that may have slid under your radar over the last handful of years.

1. Deep In My Heart (Warner Instant)

Very little screams “must watch” quite like a Stanley Donen musical. From the Singin’ In The Rain director comes this MGM musical. Telling the story of the composer Sigmund Romberg, the film stars Jose Ferrer and features various then A-list performers taking on various Romberg classics. With a cast including Merle Oberon, Helen Traubel, Doe Avedon, Walter Pidgeon, Jim Backus, Gene Kelly, Fred Kelly, Jane Powell, Ann Miller, Cyd Charisse and Howard Keel all taking on various Romberg pieces, along with names like Rosemary Clooney and even Tony Martin. With beautifully composed music and even more stunningly composed productions, including a duet between brothers Fred and Gene Kelly and Ferrer’s breathtaking take on the comedy “Jazzboat,” the film is admittedly a “minor” entrant into the top notch canon of one Stanley Donen, but features some of his most inspired filmmaking. With the killer cast along for the ride, this is a film that will have any musical fan short of breath.