\n<\/p>\n
Stream it here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The current vogue of jukebox biopics shows no sign of slowing, thanks to the impressive grosses of films like \u201cBob Marley: One Love,\u201d<\/a> even though most of these dramas are still trafficking in tropes that should have been decimated by the pitch-perfect satire of \u201cWalk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story\u201d<\/a> a decade and a half ago. But credit where due: Tate Taylor\u2019s biopic about the \u201cGodfather of Soul,\u201d the hardest-working man in show business, the one and only James Brown, zigs where most of these movies would zag. The inventive screenplay by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth hopscotches through his life, eschewing the cradle-to-grave march of so many biopics for a more stream-of-consciousness approach, with Brown frequently breaking the fourth wall to address his audience (and comment on the action) directly. There are some telling erasures, personally and politically, but the picture moves fast, and is loaded with great songs (Mick Jagger is a producer of both the film and its music). Also top-notch is its ensemble cast, including Dan Aykroyd, Nelsan Ellis, Craig Robinson, Jill Scott and Tate\u2019s \u201cThe Help\u201d stars Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, and Chadwick Boseman convincingly fills Brown\u2019s (big, tall) shoes.<\/p>\n Stream it here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n After a rough run in the early 2000s, the director Oliver Stone took a shot at recapturing some of his \u201cNatural Born Killers\u201d juju with this 2012 adaptation of Don Winslow\u2019s crime novel. It\u2019s not altogether successful \u2014 mostly because of the severe lack of charisma and danger from its stars, Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Taylor-Johnson \u2014 but Stone keeps things moving at a brisk pace, and gets excellent late-period performances out of three key supporting players: John Travolta, as a cheerfully corrupt D.E.A. agent; Benicio Del Toro, as an utterly amoral enforcer for a Mexican drug cartel; and best of all, Salma Hayek as the head of the cartel, turning her customary purring sexiness into eye-opening menace.<\/p>\n Stream <\/em>\u201cJohn Wick\u201d here<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>\u201cJohn Wick: Chapter 2\u201d<\/em><\/a> here and <\/em>\u201cJohn Wick: Chapter 3 \u2014 Parabellum\u201d<\/em><\/a> here.<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s safe to say that when \u201cJohn Wick\u201d quietly slipped into theaters in the fall of 2014, no one expected it to turn into a world-building, big-budget, four-film (and counting) franchise. It seemed like a B-movie at best, distinguishable from straight-to-VOD action flicks only by the presence of Keanu Reeves in the title role \u2014 a tale of violence and vengeance from the first-time director Chad Stahelski, best known then as Reeves\u2019s stunt double. But in the first film and its follow-ups, the action sequences are astonishing, the pathos is genuine and the wit is winking. The universe that\u2019s set up for Wick \u2014 a former master assassin returning to that world for revenge \u2014 and fleshed out with each installment is remarkably clever, masterfully deploying intricate logistics and stellar casts of tiptop character actors.<\/p>\n Stream it here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n A slew of films from the ill-fated \u201cDC Extended Universe\u201d will leave Netflix at the end of March, and very few are worth your time. (\u201cBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,\u201d<\/a> for example, boasts an unpleasantness and incompetence rarely rivaled in recent mainstream moviemaking.) But there is fun to be had in \u201cBirds of Prey,\u201d which spins off Margot Robbie\u2019s Harley Quinn from \u201cSuicide Squad\u201d into a candy-colored stand-alone adventure, as she assembles her own crew of tough girls \u2014 including Rosie Perez, Jurnee Smollett and Mary Elizabeth Winstead \u2014 to take down a vile underworld boss, played to slimy perfection by Ewan McGregor.<\/p>\n\u2018Savages\u2019 (March 16)<\/h2>\n
\u2018John Wick\u2019 (Chapters 1-3) (March 30)<\/h2>\n
\u2018Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)\u2019 (March 31)<\/h2>\n
\u2018Community\u2019: Seasons 1-6 (March 31)<\/h2>\n