Streaming Picks

If you're a fan of Joaquin Phoenix, you can check out The Master on Netflix this week. Brett McCracken reviewed the film for us when it was released in theaters. McCracken describes the film (which also stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams) as a "Scientology epic [that] explores human nature and our attraction to self-help systems."

Just in time for Christmas in July, Netflix is releasing Christmas with the Kranks. Jamie Lee Curtis and Tim Allen team up as parents who decide they're going to try to nix celebrating Christmas—and chaos ensues.

Netflix also recently starting streaming the 1982 classic Gandhi. Sir Ben Kingsley stars in the film that depicts the life of the attorney who stood up against injustice.

Amazon Prime members can enjoy our classic pick of the week: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World. The 1963 comedy follows the lives of eight vacationers and the gut-wrenching laughter that ensues.

Critics Roundup

Although most would think there would not be any redeeming qualities to a movie with a name like The Purge: Anarchy, PluggedIn's Paul Asay was able to find a few. One character risks his life to save others again and again, and in turn, those he saves "show him how much better and nobler it is to preserve life rather than take it." Despite this, the good doesn't make up for the bad. There is an obscene amount of language and repulsive violence. As Asay notes, the message of the film might just be "that some folks deserve to be purged." Despite the content of the film, the New York Times' Manohla Dargis describes the movie as a "satisfyingly creepy, blunt, down-and-dirty thriller, one of those follow-ups that improves ...

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