\n<\/p>\n
Stream it here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n This erotic thriller from Adrian Lyne was one of the most successful<\/a> pictures of 1987 \u2014 and one of the most controversial<\/a>, prompting heating conversations about its depictions of adultery and mental illness that moved from movie listings to opinion pages and magazine covers. The story is simple: Michael Douglas stars as a family man whose seemingly offhand weekend extramarital affair with Glenn Close turns into a matter of literal life and death. It is a deeply flawed picture \u2014 Close\u2019s nuanced characterization outclasses the paper-thin caricature she\u2019s given, and critics of the era were right to call out the cheap-thrills ending as a cop-out \u2014 but a nevertheless fascinating snapshot of the era\u2019s sexual mores and moral paranoia.<\/p>\n Stream it here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n There was something of a prerelease, sight-unseen backlash<\/a> to this 2016 Chinese-American co-production, whose initial trailers, which centered on Matt Damon, smelled suspiciously like a \u201cwhite savior\u201d narrative in the making. The film itself proved to be quite the opposite; Damon\u2019s character, a mercenary soldier, spends much of the film being educated and humbled by the Chinese characters around him. \u201cThe Great Wall\u201d is, in fact, a lot of fun, a period adventure in which armies are gathered and battles are mounted to protect the Great Wall from hordes of deathly monsters. The director Zhang Yimou (of \u201cHero\u201d and \u201cHouse of the Flying Daggers,\u201d among others) mounts the B-movie action with style and verve, and the supporting cast (including Willem Dafoe, Andy Lau, Pedro Pascal and Jing Tian) approach the material with the proper mix of solemnity and wit.<\/p>\n Stream it here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Ang Lee\u2019s follow-up to the Oscar-winning triumph of \u201cCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon\u201d was an ambitious attempt to make a true comic book movie \u2014 replicating not only storytelling and character but also the look, feel, and even layout of those slim volumes. It was perceived as an unsuccessful experiment at the time (Marvel rebooted it<\/a> with \u201cThe Incredible Hulk\u201d five years later), and some of the contemporaneous complaints against it were valid. But in the passing years, as the superhero movie has become narratively and stylistically codified, Lee\u2019s visual experimentation and narrative bravado have made \u201cHulk\u201d seem like less a fumble than an attractive outlier.<\/p>\n Stream it here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s a tale as old as time: Two incompatible people on a first date have a little bit too much to drink, make some poor choices, and a few weeks later, have to decide what to do about them. Judd Apatow told the tale as his follow-up to \u201cThe 40-Year-Old Virgin,\u201d plunking the supporting player Seth Rogen into the lead role of a happy-go-lucky stoner whose lucky night with a whip-smart career woman (Katherine Heigl) turns both of their lives upside down. It\u2019s a rom-com with both a heart and a dirty mind, which proved a lucrative (and much-imitated) combination, but Apatow did it best; the supporting cast is full of comic heavy hitters, including Jay Baruchel, Bill Hader, Jonah Hill, Leslie Mann, Harold Ramis, Craig Robinson, Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Martin Starr and Kristen Wiig.<\/p>\n\u2018The Great Wall\u2019 (July 31)<\/h2>\n
\u2018Hulk\u2019 (July 31)<\/h2>\n
\u2018Knocked Up\u2019 (July 31)<\/h2>\n
\u2018Shrek\u2019 (July 31)<\/h2>\n