Regular visitors to our film section have probably noticed Old Movies to Watch Now, a feature on our film page that provides direct links from one of our many capsule reviews to streaming services where you can watch the film instantly. Considering both our extensive archive—currently more than 38,000 reviews deep—and the popularity of online streaming, we figured our ever-curious readers would appreciate being able to read one of our many capsules before diving into the films themselves.
OMTWN is still around and better than ever—a new wave of capsules from our collection is currently available and we’re adding more each week. So the next time you can’t decide what to watch on Netflix or Hulu, look no further than OMTWN, which will narrow down your choices with the help of over 40 years of Reader film writing. To make things easier for you, we’ll have a weekly blog post with recommendations on what you should see—we’ll also tweet a new selection each day.
To kick things off, here are nine films that will get you through the holiday weekend and the next week—one for each day until next Friday—all of which come recommended by one of our critics and is currently available to watch online.
L’Argent, Robert Bresson’s late masterpiece.
Black Girl, the debut film from Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene.
Burden of Dreams, Les Blank’s documentary about the (mis)making of Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo.
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, the great satire by Luis Bunuel.
History is Made at Night, Frank Borzage’s lively 1937 romance.
Mary Poppins, a perfect film to watch with the family over Thanksgiving.
OSS 117: Lost in Rio, the little-known comedy directed by Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist).
Where the Sidewalk Ends, an Otto Preminger noir starring Dana Andrews.
Small Soldiers, the Joe Dante curio Jonathan Rosenbaum calls “a synthesis and extension of most of [Dante’s] previous movies, with echoes of Gulliver’s Travels (including some of the satire).”
Happy watching!