What To Stream In October
Netflix
Dazed and Confused - October 1st
Richard Linklater’s seminal classic about 70’s high school partying hits the ‘Flix and it’s time for some L-I-V-I-N. In addition to an all-star cast that plays like a who’s who of Hollywood before they were famous (and the birth of The McConaissance), it’s just a straight up good time. As you can imagine memorable one-liners abound and the soundtrack is essential 70’s classic rock at its finest.
Unforgiven – October 1st
Clint Eastwood directed this Western in 1992 that he also starred in, and it’s a worthwhile classic to add to your repertoire. It also brought together two other Hollywood legends, Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman. Unforgiven is about former bandits William Munny (Eastwood) and his friend Ned Logan (Morgan) trying to win the reward for catching the men who disfigured a prostitute, but there’s a tough sheriff (Hackman) who doesn’t like outlaws standing in their way. The movie scored several awards, including the Oscars for Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Supporting Actor for Hackman.
The Siege of Jadotville – October 7th
Netflix has really shown itself to be a major player when it comes to good original programming, which is why The Siege of Jadotville is necessary for your must-see list this month. The movie tells the true story of an Irish battalion of approximately 150 men sent as U.N. peacekeepers in 1961 to the Democratic Republic of Congo that came under attack from an army of 3,000.
Black Mirror, Season 3 - October 21st
Part Twilight Zone, part techno-thriller, Charlie Booker’s controversial and mind-bending sci-fi series returns this month after a two-year hiatus and is ready to fuck with your head again. If you’ve yet to experience the show, add it to your queue immediately, each stand-alone episode is a must-watch blend of dark humor and the terrors of technology, plus top-notch cast members. Whatever episode you watch, there’s no doubt it’s going to make you question your relationship with technology for the rest of time.
More: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (October 1st), Three Kings (October 1st)
Amazon Prime
The Devil’s Advocate – October 1st
1997’s The Devil’s Advocate is about the job from Hell, literally. Undefeated criminal defense attorney Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves with a laughable southern accent) gets a job offer that seems too good to be true at a firm run by John Milton (Al Pacino)—like the author of Paradise Lost for anyone who remembers anything from high school English class. Soon Lomax and his wife (Charlize Theron, who arguably offers the film’s best performance) are in a really nice apartment in Manhattan and have more money than they could dream of. Of course, with Pacino actually being the Devil, shit goes left really quickly.
The Lethal Weapon films – October 1st
Unfortunately Lethal Weapon has been rebooted as a TV show with Damon Wayans and Clayne Crawford as law enforcement partners on Fox this season, but why go for the diet version when its source material is also available to stream right now. The four movies star Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in the original roles as partners and defined the buddy cop genre.
Training Day – October 1st Speaking of cop films, one of the best out there has come to Amazon Prime. Training Day stars Ethan Hawke as a rookie cop who spends the day riding around Los Angeles with a corrupt narcotics detective, played superbly by Denzel Washington. Washington, who won a Best Actor award for the 2001 film, teamed up with the film’s director, Antoine Fuqua, again for the rebooted Magnificent Seven, which is out now.
More: The Dog of War (October 1st), Final Destination (October 1st), The Patriot (October 1st)
HBO Now
Deadpool – October 1st
Everyone’s favorite irreverent superhero arrives at HBO Now this month. After learning that he has thyroid cancer, Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) agrees to undergo experiments with a covert organization that claims they can cure him. Instead, he is tortured and eventually disfigured by the treatment, but he does develop the ability to heal quickly and reinvents himself as costumed vigilante Deadpool. The film was released theatrically earlier this year.
Eastern Promises – October 1st
Eastern Promises is one of those movies that really didn’t do well in theaters when it was released in 2007, but has gained a lot of acclaim over the years. Viggo Mortensen of The Lords of the Rings-fame plays a foot soldier in a powerful Russian crime organization who comes across a midwife (Naomi Watts) with a secret about the organization that could bring it down.
Vice News Tonight – October 10th
Vice expands its groundbreaking media empire with a daily news program, which has been described as a blend of traditional newscasts and an audience-less Daily Show. Vice has really made a name for itself with an unconventional approach to news and it’s never censored. HBO currently has a weekly Vice program that covers breakthroughs in science and medicine and the lives of people in warzones.
More: 28 Days Later (October 1st), I Am Legend (October 1st), John Carpenter’s Ghost of Mars (October 1st)
Hulu
The Blair Witch Project – October 1st
The Blair Witch Project didn’t create the “found footage” genre in 1999. It did, however, prove that movies didn’t need a huge budget (it was funded with $60,000) or a load of special effects to be successful (It has made $250 million at the box office to date and spurred a slew of copycats). In it, three film students are filming a documentary about the legend of the Blair Witch in a small town in Maryland. It’s a good watch purely for the reminder that camping is really not great and the chance of getting murdered is pretty high. It was so well-received, in fact, that it inspired a reboot/sequel that nobody asked for this past summer.
Snatch – October 1st
The follow up to Guy Ritchie’s classic Brit humor heist indie, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, 2000’s Snatch revolves around the same themes of double crossing and interconnected stories. Criminals plot to steal an already stolen diamond from their friend while others try to fix boxing matches. It stars Guy Ritchie mainstay Jason Statham and Brad Pitt as a hilarious, unintelligible gypsy named Mickey. Cockney slang at it’s finest.
Platoon - October 1st
Platoon is considered a classic and the well-respected film from Oliver Stone frequently lands on “best” lists. Though it was released in 1986, it takes places in 1965 during the Vietnam War when university student Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) enlists and is deployed to the border of Cambodia. Taylor soon realizes that the war isn’t just about what’s going on in the world around him because the men in his infantry are also fighting amongst themselves. Platoon won a Best Picture award and Stone won Best Director at the Oscars that year. If you’re a fan of historical war films and series like Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, and Band of Brothers, this one’s for you.
Spectre - October 21st
In Daniel Craig’s final (maybe?) outing as 007, Bond finds himself face to face with the shadowy criminal organization of the film’s title (including a jacked and silent David Bautista), and the enigmatic criminal mastermind Blofeld, played by the always amazing Christoph Waltz. Stylish and action-packed, Craig’s Bond never disappoints.
More: The Amityville Horror (October 1st), The Descent (October 1st; requires a Showtime subscription), S.W.A.T. (October 1st), Kill Bill Vols. 1&2 (October 1st)