Steamy Streaming This Week

BY: Zak Wojnar

Looking for something to watch this weekend? PROVOKR‘s got you covered, and you can interpret that statement however you’d like. Here’s our picks for the most provocative selections, feature red-hot redheads we love, to check out on a steamy August night. Enjoy!

Ed Sheeran: Songwriter

His non-sequitur appearance on Game of Thrones notwithstanding, Ed Sheeran seems like a pretty cool guy. He’s a good singer, he writes his own material, he was great in FX‘s little-seen The Bastard Executioner, and he’s got a distinctly atypical look. He’s a total TILF, or “Tomato I’d Love to Fuck.” The beautiful round boy is now the subject of a documentary, “Songwriter,” which explores the artist’s life from the perspective of his cousin, filmmaker Murray Cummings. It’s currently playing in select theaters, but will be available to rent from Apple’s iTunes store starting August 28.

Miss Julie

Based on the play by August Strindberg, Miss Julie stars Jessica Chastain, one of the sexiest redheads this side of Ann Margret, and Colin Ferrell, a timeless leading man with equal measures of swagger and grace. Set in 1890, the film deals with the desire for female empowerment in an era where such ambitions were laughable at best, and downright dangerous at worst. It’s a complex film with tremendous acting from Chastain and Ferrell. Some people criticized director Liv Ullmann for adhering so closely to the framework and trappings of the original play, but we love it for keeping the focus squarely on the acting and script, and refusing to get bogged down by Hollywood cliches and aesthetics. Check it out on Netflix.

Mad Men

Is there a woman sexier than Christina Hendricks? The ultimate bombshell redhead, her buxom, curvy style is reminiscent of vintage pinup girls like Bettie Page or Rita Heyworth. She has precisely the look which indicates she will be underestimated by men and dismissed as a ditzy sex object. Of course, she was the perfect choice to play Joan, the long-suffering office manager at Sterling Cooper, in AMC‘s Mad Men. Despite her prestigious title, she’s nonetheless dismissed by the men as a minor secretary of little importance, even as she works her way up the ladder of big business, simultaneously held back by, and making use of, her sexuality in her efforts to become a major player in the male-dominated business game. Mad Men is currently streaming on Netflix.

Boogie Nights

Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the most prestigious directors in the world right now, but in 1998, he was a total unknown. His debut feature, Hard Eight, earned some critical praise but failed to break out into the mainstream. His second film, however, blew up and became one of the most iconic movies of the 1990s.

The first half of Boogie Nights is a jolly romp through the sex-fueled world of the budding porn business in the 1970s. The second half is a gritty look at what happens when the party ends, set in the 1980s. It boasts an all-star cast, including Burt Reynolds, William H. Macy, Don Cheadle, Heather Graham, and “Marky” Mark Wahlberg. Our favorite character is Amber Waves, played by the lovely, talented, and red-headed Julianne Moore. As a veteran porn star with a heart of gold (and a vagina of gold, presumably), she’s the vulnerable soul of the film, and her performance stands out even among a suite of standout performances.

Jade

Finally, we come to the sexiest redhead of them all, David Caruso. While he’s best known for starring as Horatio Caine, a supreme badass with awesome sunglasses and corny/cool one-liners, in CSI: MIami, he also starred in NYPD Blue as the streetwise Detective John Kelly. For the purposes of Steamy Streaming, though, we’re shining a spotlight on Jade, one of the most infamous erotic thrillers of the 1990s. Directed by William Friedkin (The Exorcist, Killer Joe), this neo-noir sexual thriller was supposed to be the next Basic Instinct, but it ultimately crashed and burned at the box office, only earning cult status years later as a faded relic of the 1990s. Aside from Caruso, our favorite ginger, Jade also stars Michael Biehn, Chazz Palminteri, and Linda Fiorentino, who apparently starred in every erotic thriller from the 1990s. Catch it on Amazon Prime.