Theaters largely shut down during the early days of the pandemic, but many reopened, if to a fraction of their regular audience, late last summer. The plan was supposed to work like this: the release of Tenet would signal the return of moviegoing normality as those reluctant to visit movie theaters flocked to a film they couldn’t resist. The only problem: Tenet’s release date kept getting pushed and when it did arrive it played to a much smaller audience Yet while most stayed home, some still went to the movies, resulting in one of the weirdest stretches in box office history, one that made sort-of hits out of films like The War with Grandpa, starring Robert De Niro as a retiree who partakes in a dangerously escalating prank battle with his grandson. (Ever want to see De Niro, Christopher Walken, Cheech Marin, and Jane Seymour play dodgeball in a trampoline park? That’s your movie.)
In the fall, major studios went all-in on home viewing, at least for the moment. In this upside-down stretch, direct-to-streaming service releases overshadowed films playing in theaters (even those released simultaneously to VOD services). Fortunately, it also produced some fine choices. If you missed Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, Boys State, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Dick Johnson is Dead, Lingua Franca, Wolfwalkers, or Small Axe, catch up with them as soon as you can.
But did you miss anything good by staying away from theaters? Actually, yes. Of the pandemic-era box office champs (or “champs”) Tenet is pretty great, New Mutants is better than its reputation, Honest Thief is a perfectly solid Liam Neeson thriller, and Come Play is a decent-enough scary movie (think of it as the PG-13 horror equivalent of a Liam Neeson thriller). Other titles like the Tom Hanks western News of the World and the acclaimed horror film Relic at least got some attention, but a number of good films were virtually ignored. Here are six you might have missed.
Bill & Ted Face the Music What film got screwed over worst by the pandemic? The competition is stiff. Kelly Reichardt’s great First Cow, released to theaters moments before they closed down, surely deserves a mention. So does Saint Maud, a stylish, disturbing horror movie about a nurse’s obsession with a dying patient that undoubtedly would have started a lot of conversations if it had made it to theaters in 2020 as planned (you can, and should, find it on Hulu now). But the winner would have to be Bill and Ted Face the Music.
A sequel years in the making (that often seemed unlikely to get made at all), Face the Music reunites Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter as the SoCal hair rock enthusiasts whose music is destined to save the world. But as middle age overtakes them, they seem less and less likely to live up to their potential, even though the fate of the universe may depend on them finding a way out of their rut.
In some ways, the years between entries help make Face the Music a deeper movie than it might have been if Winter and Reeves had made it as younger men. It’s as silly as its predecessors, but it’s also as interested in the passage of time as it is in the comic possibilities of time travel, and finds real emotional resonance in the relationships between Bill, Ted and their teenage daughters (Brigette Lundy-Paine and Samara Weaving). (All that, and William Sadler reprises his role as Death.) For a seemingly unnecessary sequel about slackers, it never stops overachieving.
Where is it now? Streaming on Epix and rentable through major streaming services.
Let Him Go In the American West of the 1950s, retired sheriff George Blackledge (Kevin Costner) and his wife Margaret (Diane Lane) spring into action to retrieve their grandson when the new husband of their widowed daughter-in-law unexpectedly moves the family to North Dakota. There they discover mother and child have been taken into the compound-like residence of the Weboys, a violence-prone family whose members include a terrifying matriarch played by Lesley Manville (The Phantom Thread) and a creep played by Jeffrey Donovan.
Written and directed by Thomas Bezucha (Big Eden), Let Him Go is at once a sensitive look at the George and Margaret’s lived-in but still passionate relationship and a slow-burning thriller that builds to a gripping climax—the sort of genre film that puts characters first but doesn’t skimp on the suspense. Bezucha fills the screen with stunning vistas, Lane and Costner invest their scenes with understated intensity, and Manville happily chews up the scenery as she menaces her out-of-state visitors. A film too strong to get lost in the pandemic dead zone, it deserves to find a second life.
Where is it now? Rentable through major streaming services.
The Vast of Night This impressive debut from Oklahoma-based director Andrew Patterson made a brief run in drive-ins, which was a good fit, because it draws inspiration from the sort of science fiction films that packed them in the 1950s. But Patterson reworks that familiar material into unexpected shapes, following a motor-mouthed teenage disc jockey (Everett Sloan) and a curious switchboard operator (Sierra McCormick) as they investigate some strange transmissions beaming into their small New Mexico town the night of a big basketball game.
Sloan and McCormick make charming leads as they walk and talk their way through the night, but it’s Patterson’s willingness to change direction with little notice that sets his debut apart (and will keep viewers on their toes). Long, tense monologues give way to astounding unbroken shots in which the camera whisks its way from one end of the town to the other, through the in-progress basketball game, then out the other side. That Patterson shot it for virtually nothing makes it all the more impressive.
Where is it now? The drive-in run was really just a warm-up for its debut on Prime Video, where it remains.
The Wolf of Snow Hollow A different sort of throwback, Jim Cummings’ The Wolf of Snow Hollow is set in a resort town plagued by a string of mysterious deaths that seem to be related to a monstrous wolf. Unfortunately, John Marshall (Cummings), the officer heading the investigation, doesn’t seem likely to get to the bottom of the mystery. He’s an alcoholic perpetually on the verge of relapsing or exploding in rage (or both). It’s not clear whether this is all played straight or for laughs, which turns out to be a feature not a bug as the film reveals itself to be as much about toxic masculinity as bloodthirsty monsters. Fine work from a supporting cast that includes Riki Lindhome and (in his final role) Robert Forster help make this an oddball genre gem.
Where is it now? Streaming on Epix and rentable through major streaming services.
Freaky A slasher film twist on Freaky Friday and other body-swap comedies, Freaky stars Kathryn Newton as Millie Kessler, a teenaged misfit who discovers she’s swapped bodies with local serial killer the Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn). Can she change back before she’s stuck there forever? And how can she persuade her friends she’s not the hulking maniac she appears to be?
While the plot sounds like the set-up for a lot of cheap gags, the film’s a witty treat that works as both a surprisingly sensitive teen comedy anchored by Vaughn’s thoughtful, respectful performance and a surprisingly gory slasher film (the sort in which an asshole wood shop teacher meets a predictable but satisfying end). It’s got something for everyone, in other words. Director Christopher Landon, who helmed the fun Happy Death Day films, remains one to watch.
Where is it now? Rentable through major streaming services.
Kajillionaire In some ways, Kajillionaire is the most mainstream-friendly movie Miranda July has made. Unlike Me and You and Everyone We Know and The Future it follows a clear plot from Point A to Point B and hangs much of its comedy on recognizable gags rather than weirdness or wry understatement. On the other hand, it’s still pretty peculiar. Evan Rachel Wood plays Old Dolio Dyne (the film explains her name, eventually) the youngest member of a family of not-particularly successful con artists that also includes Richard Jenkins and Debra Winger. Old Dolio knows only a life of extremely low-budget crime, but awakens to new possibilities when she meets an outsider (Gina Rodriguez) intrigued and amused by their schemes.
Kajllionaire’s story mirrors what happened to a lot of movies in 2020. It made a splash at Sundance, even sparking a bidding war between A24 and Focus Features. In another year, it should have charmed arthouse crowds, maybe even winning July new fans in the process. But with no theaters to nurture it or word of mouth to sustain it, it kind of came and went in spite of strong reviews. In some ways, 2021 will be a do-over year for 2020, particularly for big movies able to push their release dates back. But for films lost in the chaos of the pandemic there will be no do-over, only the hope they’ll be rediscovered somewhere down the line.
Where is it now? Rentable through major streaming services.