Steamy Streaming This Week
Summer's End Draws Near
The Summer season is approaching its end, but that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate what’s left of it; go outside, get a tan, drink a mojito, and go swimming, but watch out for sharks. Or stay inside, cuddle with someone who can tolerate your presence (or, really, anyone with air conditioning), and watch one of these Provokr Picks.
Endless Summer
In 1966, at the height of the beach movie craze – to say nothing of The Beach Boys, one of the greatest pop groups of all time – director Bruce Brown released the documentary film, Endless Summer. To this day, it’s one of the coolest documentaries ever made, with breathtaking footage of longboard surfers riding waves with effortless gusto, all set to a killer soundtrack by The Sandals, masters of the classic “surf guitar” sound.
Jaws
The ultimate monster movie, Jaws is considered by many film historians to be the first Summer blockbuster, and it still holds up, even over 40 years after its original release. After spending the first half of the movie being terrorized by a bloodthirsty Great White, the film makes a legendary tonal shift, moving from horror to adventure when the three main characters (Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss) embark on a mission to take down the shark, once and for all.
Stream it on Amazon Prime, and check out the underrated sequel, Jaws 2, but for the love of God, skip Jaws 3-D and the somehow-even-worse Jaws: The Revenge.
Wet Hot American Summer
This 2001 comedy came and went without much fuss, receiving a meager theatrical release and earning mostly negative reviews. However, over time, the film became a massive cult classic thanks to its off-the-wall humor and what ultimately turned out to be an all-star cast. While they were unknowns back in 2001, Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Amy Poehler, H. Jon Benjamin, Christopher Meloni, and so many others in the cast have gone on to become A-List stars.
Wet Hot American Summer was followed, 14 years later, by the hilarious Netflix series, First Day of Camp, which has the entire cast reprising their roles as teenage camp counselors, despite all being in their late 40s, at least! The saga concluded with Ten Years Later, which ended things on a suitably absurd grace note.
Cocaine Coast
Netflix‘s Spanish import is known as Fariña in its home territory, but has become something of a quiet hit among American audiences. Focusing on the European cocaine trade in the 1980s, Cocaine Coast takes a few too many historic liberties to be remotely educational, but it’s a decent – if cheap and predictable – cops and robbers story. It’s no Narcos, but it’s suitably epic and grandiose, and is worth a watch, if only to scratch the itch of “Miami Vice in Spain but not as good.” It’s a very specific itch.
Miami Vice (2006)
Speaking of Miami Vice, the series (or at least the first four of its five season run) is available on Hulu. Additionally, for those who subscribe to Starz on Amazon Prime, the 2006 film adaptation is also available to stream, though it’s sadly only the theatrical cut and not the superior Director’s Cut.
Directed by series producer Michael Mann, Miami Vice updates the setting to the present day, but maintains the original’s focus on emotionally-driven storylines, nihilistic characterization, and tremendous use of cutting-edge production design. Shot in a manner similar to several of Mann‘s other films, Collateral, Public Enemies, and Blackhat, Miami Vice has a distinct “digital video” style which, unlike many other experiments in digital shooting, looks phenomenal today. Add in a steamy romance between Colin Ferrell and Gong Li, and Miami Vice has it all; action, style, sex, music, and mojitos.
