Last Chance: Anna Karenina, Lost in Translation, Shivers, and Big Trouble

Public Service Announcement for Happy Streaming! The following list of movies are available on streaming only until the end of this month. This is not, alas, a comprehensive list (good luck with that -- even the official press releases and specialty "what's leaving" sites are never entirely comprehensive / accurate). But here are 10 titles + that caught our eye and they'll be gone when May strolls in. Now's the time if you have any desire to watch them. To help whet your appetite or kill it, depending, here is our playful yet highly unscientific practice of freezing the movies entirely at random to see what image/quote comes up. Please to discuss the titles.

Ahhh, taxation without representation, brother. Nothing's free in this world you lucky first day motherfucker."

Training Day (2001) Netflix
"I love my life," it's Denzel's second Oscar. 

Travolta, Newman, Witherspoon, and Jodie Foster after the jump...

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Newish Home Viewing: The Lady in the Van, The Oscar in the Franchises.

Here's what's new recently for your eyeballs.

Newish to DVD/BluRay
• Fifty Shades of Black. Marlon Wayans sends up the Grey S&M movie.
• The Force Awakens. Not available for rental yet but when it is we shall rewatch
• The Forest. In which Natalie Dormer enters Japan's Suicide Forest to confront true terror: the reviews of Gus Van Sant's 'Sea of Trees' which is also set there.
• Ip Man 3. For your completists. I haven't seen any of these since I figured The Grandmaster covered it for me. You?
• The Lady in the Van. In which Maggie Smith gets grittier and descends the economic ladder for once. Maintain high society snobbier via her delusions of
• Norm of the North. Animated. Though probably nothing we need worry about over here.
• The Revenant. That which did rob George Miller of his rightful Best Director Oscar in February.

new to streaming
• AJIN (S1) on Netflix. An anime sci-fi series about a teenager who realizes he is not human. Cue: suspenseful music, giant expressive eyes.
• Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (S2) on Netflix. I haven't started yet due to travels. Can't wait to see my Jane Krakowski again. Tell me NOTHING. 
• Mad Max on Amazon Prime. The original. Roughly 20 years before everyone realized Mel Gibson was also Mad.
• Kong, King of the Apes (S1) on Netflix. This is a kids sci-fi series about Kong battling robot dinosaurs or some such. Has Netflix been doing kids series for awhile and we're just now noticing?
• Tangerines on Amazon Prime. Not the awesome LA trans hooker comedy but the Estonian Oscar nominated drama.

A BURNING QUESTION: WHAT'S WITH OSCAR'S FRANCHISE FICKLENESS?
All the Bourne films (2002-2012 - 4 films thus far) and all the X-Men films (2000-2014 - five films thus far) have been reissued on DVD & BluRay for the obvious reason: new theatrical outing about to happen. This prompted head spinning when randomly thinking about their Oscar histories. Weirdly both series have been popular from the start with audiences but have just one film within them that Oscar responded to: The Bourne Ultimatum (2007, 3 Oscar noms/wins) and X-Men Days of Future Past (2012, 1 Oscar nomination).

Rehearsing a fight scene for Bourne Ultimatum. Photograph by Greg Williams

Isn't it fascinating how non-patterned Oscar is with franchises as a general rule? Sometimes they're not into them at all and then all of a sudden they are (those franchises and James Bond of course). Other times it's steady if halfhearted interest (superhero films in particular categories). Often it seems vaguely disconnected to the particulars of individual films. Consider this: Batman Forever is easily the Academy's second most all time favorite Batman film? WTF.  They've also been weirdly sporadic in Harry Potter love ignoring one of the best entries (Order of the Phoenix) that actually worked hard for an Art Direction nomination while rewarding the film that took place mostly in a tent (Deathly Hallows Part 1).

On the broad surface of things you'd think that Oscar voters, many of whom are ordinary working people who just happen to be in showbiz (like Emmy voters) would treat franchises the way that Emmy treats TV... which is all franchises. Not that we recommend this! With Emmy if they don't notice you at beginning they almost never do -- and they're loyal to the point of stupidity if they like you at all! Oscar doesn't really equate with that at all in ongoing narratives. What do you make of that? I ask because I'm not sure. I don't have all the answers!!! Is it just happenstance involving the every shifting competition in each calendar year at the movies?

Streaming Thoughts: Broken Circles, Hunger Games, Gay Indies

Time for another "watch this before it leaves" warning. It's so stupidly complicated to follow these things is it not? So we'll do what we can here and there. The big 'new month calendar dump' is approaching but we'll deal with those next week. For now, let's just talk random streaming stragglers. The following titles are leaving either Amazon Prime or Netflix Instant quite soon so give them a shot if you've been meaning to.

As we do we've freeze-framed them randomly to see what they're serving up and to (hopefully) prompt discussion...

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Newish Viewing: Concussion, Hateful 8, and Reader Poll

Here's what's new or newish for home viewing over the past two weeks for DVDs, BluRays, or Streaming. Now you can...

• see if the Pinkett-Smiths had any reason to be upset about the lack of Oscar interest in  Concussion (hint: no)
• stab your eyes out while watching Daddy's Home 
• find out if The Hateful Eight is Tarantino's worst (hint: yes)
• discover the stuff they left out of Pt 1 in order to make another billion with Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt 2
• watch Juliet Stevenson be Mother Teresa in The Letters
• endure yet another Paranormal Activity movie because they will never stop making those
• use Point Break (2015)  discs for coasters because who needs a remake when Point Break (1991) is still such a knockout?!

READER'S CHOICE STREAMING
We kicked off the biweekly reader's choice series with Gattaca (1997) and Cruel Intentions (1999). Time for another on Wednesday April 6th only I'm forcing a move away from the 1990s this time via these options, all new to streaming.

Also New To Streaming
AMAZON PRIME: Amistad, Bananas, Batman, The Big Lebowski, The Dead Zone, Death Wish, Dr T & The Women, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Lars and the Real Girl, Men in Black II, Payback, The Peacemaker, Rescue Dawn,  Ronin, You've Got Mail; NETFLIX: Best in Show, Boogie Nights, Chaplin, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, Cujo, Deep Impact, Explorers, Finders Keepers, The Holiday, The Hunting Ground, Looking for Richard, My Girl, Mystic River, The Next Best Thing, The Perfect Storm, The Phantom, The Promised Land, Rising Sun, The Running Man, Say It Isn't So, Shawshank Redemption, Scrooged, Shelter, Something's Gotta Give, Sunset Blvd, Under the Same Moon, V For Vendetta

Bye Instant Watch: Sinatra, Flashdancers, and Spielberg's Worst

It's your last chance to watch the following multiple Oscar nominated titles for free on Netflix or Amazon Prime. There are more films leaving than these but you know The Film Experience isn't good copying and pasting press releases and calling it a day. It would make our lives SO much easier but it's just not how we do. This is for you Oscar completists -- you know who you are. As is our habit, we've freeze framed the titles at random and just shared whichever image came up.

Got any feelings about these pictures? Or will you by midnight on March 31st? Do you think they deserved their wins and/or nominations?

10 OSCAR TITLES LEAVING NETFLIX AT THE END OF THE MONTH
* indicates Oscar win in the category 

African violet. I can't tell you how difficult that was to come by.

Amistad (1997)
Oscar Nods: Supporting (Anthony Hopkins), Cinematography, Costumes, Score.
Shameful Confession: I've never seen this. I think it's my most significant gap in 1990s Oscar viewing. 

9 more after the jump...

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