Take The Hateful Eight challenge, relive Boogie Nights, survive You’re Next and more must-sees

March 30, 2016

Thursday 3.31
Consider this fair warning: You have 10 days to catch one of the most influential thrillers of the last decade before it leaves Netflix. 2009’s Let the Right One In approaches its supernatural subject matter (vampirism) in the most naturalistic and practical way possible. An awkward 12-year-old boy in Stockholm is bullied at school. He befriends a “young girl” who is probably at least 100 years old. Let the Right One In is a must-see, artfully wrought examination of alienation that extends beyond genre fare.

Friday 4.1
Speaking of genre fare: I swear this isn’t an April Fool’s joke, although it’s probably not an accident that the SyFy original film Dead 7 premieres tonight. Written by Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, this boy-band-meets-zombie-western co-stars Carter’s bandmates Howie and A.J. as well as members of ’N Sync, 98 Degrees, O-Town, All-4-One and the alt-rock equivalent of a boy-band frontman, Everclear’s Art Alexakis. The Asylum — the folks responsible for the Sharknado movies — produced Dead 7, so it will likely wear out its welcome by the first commercial break. DVR it if you’re boy-curious.

Saturday 4.2
Do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight … on Netflix! Paul Thomas Anderson’s gorgeous 1997 ensemble epic, Boogie Nights, debuted yesterday on the streaming service. Set during the heyday of the 1970s porn industry, this one-of-a-kind portrait of a fringe community somehow manages to be wistful. Plus, Boogie Nights announced Mark Wahlberg as a serious actor, led to Julianne Moore’s first Oscar nomination (and Burt Reynolds’ only nom) and kickstarted the careers of John C. Reilly, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzman and Don Cheadle.

Sunday 4.3
Steve Coogan is hilarious and heartbreaking as Factory Records head honcho Tony Wilson in 24 Hour Party People, an extraordinary 2002 movie from Michael Winterbottom that spotlights Manchester, England’s 1980s and early ’90s music scene (Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays, among others). Every frame is sparklingly alive, as the film mixes in documentary footage, inserts real rock stars in fictional reenactments of their own stories and breaks the fourth wall to tell a tragic and unlikely story. Stream it on Amazon Prime or Hulu.

Monday 4.4
The full 187-minute “roadshow” cut of Quentin Tarantino’s controversial chamber western The Hateful Eight is out on Blu-ray now, which means it has less than a third as many pixels as its original 70mm format. Still, it looks as good as it can on a 1080p TV set. Experience all of QT’s long-winded setup and a brief, violent payoff in the comfort of your home. I dare you not to stop the movie once for a bathroom break or a mid-movie snack.

Tuesday 4.5
Dwight Twilley Band’s ’70s power-pop classic “Looking for the Magic” takes a dark feel when it’s set on repeat on a turntable against the backdrop of a grisly murder scene. That’s what happens in the fun and twisty horror flick You’re Next, showing tonight at 7 at Alamo Drafthouse Mainstreet. A limited-edition run of the soundtrack on 180-gram vinyl (with exclusive artwork by Mondo) sold out long ago, but a rare copy of the LP will be given away tonight.

Wednesday 4.6
There’s something sad about a movie made to be “bad” — Sharknado being a prime example. Dangerous Men, out on Blu-ray this week, is the polar opposite. It’s a joyful mess! It took 26 years for untrained writer-director-composer John S. Rad to complete his passion project: a low-budget action-revenge flick filled with amateurs. By then, his actors didn’t even look the same. His solution? Change the story and press on. Dangerous Men sports all kinds of bizarre filmic choices you might never see again. As Kool & the Gang once sang: It’s so fresh … exciting!