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Chapter 1: What is the significance of streaming movies in today's era?
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One basic truth of the streaming era is that streaming movies come at you fast. The good ones, the bad ones, the silly ones. It's an absolute deluge.
Chapter 2: What are some fun movies to stream at home?
And sometimes it's worth taking a breath and checking in on some of the ones you might have missed.
I'm Linda Holmes. And I'm Ayesha Harris. And today on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, Linda's going to recommend some fun movies that you can stream at home. And now it's just the two of us today. Linda, you know, sometimes we both catch up with streaming movies that seem a little offbeat.
And today you've got three that you've seen and that we haven't covered on the show that you think might be worth a watch.
That's right. I'm calling these fun streaming movies to check out at home. And they are fun, I will say, in different ways as we will get into.
All right. So the first one is one that I have actually seen. I also off mic just called this Mikey and Nikki referring to the 1976 Elaine May movie. I've also called it Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice. What is this movie actually called?
So Mike and Nick and Nick and Alice is a movie that came out on Hulu at the end of March. It stars James Marsden, Vince Vaughn and Aza Gonzalez. Mike, who is played by Marsden, is kind of a hired gun. They're both sort of gangsters. And Mike is also having an affair with Nick's wife, Alice, who is played by Gonzalez. Mike is trying to quit the gangster business, I guess you'd say.
But one night, Nick comes and cajoles Mike into doing a job for him. And that job ultimately reveals the existence of a time machine, just saying, a time machine that has created a second Nick. So now there are two Vince Vons. There's present Nick. There's future Nick.
It turns at that point into kind of a one wild night comedy where everything is happening and everything is just going on simultaneously. But the difference is that they're all trapped in this bizarre kind of science fiction tinged crime picture. I would probably have liked it a little bit more if it were about 10% less violent. It is pretty brutal in places. Mm-hmm.
Comically so, I think intentionally, but for me maybe a little much at times. With that said, I am a big fan of James Marsden, who's very charming in this. I think the current stage of Vince Vaughn's career, which has included this and also the show he's in, Bad Monkey. I think has brought out a little more melancholy in him, which is certainly part of this story.
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Chapter 3: What is the plot of 'Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice'?
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All right. Welcome back. We are, of course, talking about some fun movies that you can stream at home right now. And Linda, you're going to give us the next one. Tell us, what is it?
All right. So this is one I was very much of two minds about this movie. So Apex is a Netflix movie. It seemed when I saw the trailer like this was going to be right up my alley. I like a thriller. In the trailer, you see Charlize Theron playing this woman named Sasha who is doing a wilderness camping thing solo in an Australian national park.
She meets this seemingly friendly guy named Ben who is played by Taron Egerton who gives her directions and so forth. But then he turns out to be a violent weirdo and he's chasing her through the woods, this kind of cat and mouse thing. When you actually watch it, it is partly that, but I want to stress that this movie gets very, very wackadoodle by the end.
It spends more time than I anticipated with him kind of holding her captive. I did not enjoy that as much because then you kind of have him kind of menacing and tormenting her, which is not as much fun, right? Yeah.
But you also see some things that feel very much to me like the current Netflix formula, which is that you have to put an action sequence right at the very beginning, even if it's not really necessary for the story. And the weird thing is they've packed this action sequence up front, and then it takes a really long time for the movie to actually get to the central action part.
You know what I mean? There's kind of a long, dull part in between the action part at the beginning and the part where... You know, he kind of goes into full, I'm going to chase you through the woods now, you better run. This is basically a slickly made B movie out in the wilderness.
And I think if you kind of give yourself over to how over the top it is, and especially how over the top the Taron Egerton performance is, and the character is, it is diverting. It's sort of funny in ways that sometimes I am not totally sure are intentional, but You know, you're out in the woods and you hear birds screaming, essentially. Birds are going, ha, ha, ha, ha.
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Chapter 4: What are the main themes in 'Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice'?
It's been in the top rung of Netflix for, you know, the time since it came out. And I think people like it. It got some good reviews. So I don't know. I am of two minds about this movie. But I definitely think if this sounds like something you would like, you might very much like it.
Okay. Yeah. This actually does sound like something I'd like. Something I'd probably like to watch preferably with a group of people because it feels like the type of movie where it's like you want a crowd.
I think that's a good thought.
But unfortunately, it's streaming on Netflix. So I guess just call your friends over and check it out. That's right.
Call your friends over. Have a night in. Have some pizza. Watch Apex. Yeah.
So as we said, Apex on Netflix now. Linda, we've got one more that you're going to recommend here. And you say it's gleefully stupid, according to my notes here. So I'm excited to hear about this. I did say that.
So Thrash is another Netflix movie. Yes, I said Thrash. It is substantially less slick than Apex. I would say the aesthetic is cheaper, right? It stars Phoebe Dynevor, who played Daphne on the first season of Bridgerton. She plays a very pregnant woman named Lisa who ends up trapped in a storm. What kind of storm? A hurricane that ends up flooding her coastal town with sharks. Now...
Before we really get to what Thrash is, and in order to accurately place this movie in various canons, I have to clarify an important piece of history, if you will indulge me. Okay. The most attention-grabbing part of Sharknado, the movie that aired on SyFy in 2013, was the title, which suggested a tornado made of sharks, right?
Yes.
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