Stay Inside, Watch This, Pt. 1: What To Stream This Summer
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The Fall: Oh, you want some eye candy?Director Tarsem made a visual splash with his first movie, 2000's The Cell, and then followed it up with this mesmerizing self-funded two-hour vanity project to end all vanity projects. You've never seen visuals like the ones in this movie (which reportedly didn't use CGI), which features a wildly imaginative series of tall tales framed by a touching story of a young girl and an injured stuntsman in 1920s Los Angeles. Even without mind-altering substances the movie is a trip and a half. Sadly, however, Tarsem's more recent films (Immortals, Mirror Mirror) haven't lived up The Fall's promises.Available on Netflix Instant
Sherlock: Oh, you want a good mystery? Sure, American audiences are getting their own updated Sherlock Holmes series this fall (Elementary) but that wouldn't have happened if the Brits hadn't done it first. Downton Abbey may have gotten all the PBS anglophile loving this year, but that doesn't mean Sherlock isn't worth your time. Doctor Who's Stephen Moffat produces a charming retelling of the classic Holmes stories in modern London with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman playing the constantly-confused-for-a-gay-couple Sherlock and Watson. And when you are done with the first season (it won't take you long, it is just three 90-minute episodes), well, the similarly quality second season already aired in the U.K. and here...so it is out there if you look for it. (But also, check out Doctor Who, you'll like it. Promise).Available on Netflix Instant
Heathers: Oh, you want to go dark? Few movies make us laugh like this pitch black high school comedy. Mean Girls? Heather Chandler would have eaten you for lunch. How this intensely quotable Winona Ryder/Christian Slater movie about killing off the cool kids even got made is an open question, but thank god it did. Otherwise we might have been left bereft of classic lines like: "Fuck me gently with a chainsaw," "teenage suicide/don't do it," "bulimia is so '87," "I love my dead gay son!," "how very," and "eskimo" (to name just a few). If you've never seen it, well, you are in for one hell of a treat. And if you've seen it? Watch it again. Though it gets a little draggy at the end, this baby holds up just fine.Available on Netflix Instant
Battle Royale: Oh, you want to go super dark, maybe with a lot of gore? We've mentioned this Japanese flick before, but with it now on Netflix it bears repeating: this is the movie that The Hunger Games should have been. The gist? A group of 40 school children are taken to an island, outfitted with exploding necklaces and told to kill each other. And they do. Now go watch. Available on Netflix Instant
Wayne's World: Oh, oh, you just wanted a good laugh? For year's when asked my name I've always answered "Garth, like Wayne's World" as a way to avoid the Brooks jokes. But recently that line has worked less and less. And that's because Wayne and Garth's first big screen adventure came out twenty freaking years ago. Which means you probably haven't seen it in about as long. But don't worry, it is still so good. Mike Myers! Dana Carvey! Tia Carrere! Rob Lowe looking exactly the same! Ed O'Neil! Alice Cooper! Psyco hose beasts! Man, what a great movie to watch on a sweltering hot day. But let's not talk about the one time I actually met a person named Wayne (did not go well!). Available on Netflix InstantAvailable on Amazon Instant Video