What's New To Streaming In March 2021
Featuring an Oscar-winning Denzel, a 90s action classic, and a star-studded rom-com
Hello, DYLAers! Somehow it’s March already, which means we are here this week to highlight the best of what’s new to streaming this month. We wrote about one of Denzel’s best movies, a 90s action classic, and one of the better rom-coms of the last 10 years. Dig into this edition and find something good to watch this weekend!
Drew recommends…
Training Day (streaming on Netflix and HBO Max)
What must it be like to work with Denzel Washington? Ethan Hawke had this to say about his Denzel experience on 2001’s Training Day: “I just mean that he’s an amazingly confident man. He knows who he is, and he fills the room, and he knows what he wants, and he expects a lot from other people.” Denzel’s immense screen presence clearly emanates from his self-assurance in real life. He’s larger than life for a reason.
Training Day is when Denzel had the confidence to cash in the beloved actor credit he had built up over the years to play a truly corrupt bad dude. The story follows Hawke’s Jake Hoyt, a hungry but naive young police officer, as he spends a day with brash LAPD narcotics detective Alonzo Harris (Denzel). Throughout the day it becomes apparent that Alonzo is involved in some shady operations. As Alonzo, Denzel weaponizes his towering charisma in an Oscar-winning performance that will be mentioned in the first few lines of his obituary. It’s bracing to see him become such a terrifyingly amoral authority figure.
READ: Actor Spotlight: Denzel Washington
You have to possess real talent to avoid getting blown off the screen when Denzel is in this mode. Fortunately, Ethan Hawke was up to the challenge. While he was Oscar-nominated in Best Supporting Actor, Hawke is really a co-lead in Training Day. He goes toe-to-toe with prime Denzel as an earnest officer learning the ropes and becoming increasingly concerned that some crazy illegal stuff is going on. Hawke has to bring many emotions to the table here, and the convincing development of his character over a short period of time is one of the movie’s highlights.
Beyond the stellar performances, Training Day is about as gritty and tense as a Hollywood police drama can get. Director Antoine Fuqua and screenwriter David Ayer construct a lawless Los Angeles criminal underworld, replete with gang violence and drug-dealing that is profited on by high-ranking police. When the film hooks on to the main story in the second half, this turns into a nail-biter of a crime thriller.
But it’s Denzel as the bad guy that remains most memorable. He has a few scenes where he just overpowers the audience with his character’s badass allure (“You in the office, baby”) and larger-than-life hubris (the famous “King Kong” scene). It’s amazing (and scary) when Denzel can flip a switch and become that dangerous.
Speed (streaming on HBO starting March 13th)
Some movies have such a killer premise that it’s no wonder they became a runaway success. In 1994 an action movie called Speed opened in theaters with one of the great one-line movie premises: a bus is rigged with a bomb that will go off if the bus goes below 50mph. That’s it. That’s the movie. Basically, it’s Die Hard on a bus, which is how Speed was pitched to the studios. In fact, Die Hard’s cinematographer, Jan de Bont, ended up directing it.
However, Speed is more than just Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock on a bus that can’t go below 50mph in Los Angeles during rush hour. I’d forgotten that it’s pretty much three long action sequences stitched together -- the opening scene in an elevator, the aforementioned bus, and a third act set on the subway. There’s hardly a second to breathe from start to finish.
Although Speed is pure 90s cheese, what’s not to love about an action movie so wildly entertaining? As long as you enjoy ludicrous situations and a quippy one-liner (“Pop quiz, hotshot!”), Speed is a rip-roaring good time. Keanu and Sandy are fun together, and I’m never mad about seeing Jeff Daniels. But Dennis Hopper wins the movie. His villain, a sadistic bomber out for ransom money, is just what this movie needed. Hopper has fun with the role, but never goes too over-the-top. With performances this captivating inside a premise this snappy, Speed is easily one of the top action movies of the 90s.
Billy recommends…
Crazy, Stupid, Love. (streaming on Netflix)
Any movie where most of the budget goes to a group of classic and budding superstars is money well spent in my eyes. The older, veteran actors ushering in a new generation with a light and effective romantic comedy should be required for each actor who wants to make it big. When a rom-com hits right there is not much more fun you can have watching a movie, and Crazy, Stupid, Love. hits right at almost every turn.
READ: Fall In Love with These Rom-Coms
No ensemble cast is introduced as quickly and effectively as the cast in this movie. It takes about eight minutes to introduce the audience to our four recognizable faces (Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling, and Emma Stone), each of which are introduced with memorable and hilarious scenes. Carrell jumps out of a car, Moore hilariously and inappropriately divorces her husband, Gosling is suave AF, and Stone finds Conan O’Brien sexy. This quick opening makes me completely buy into the rest of the movie.
Sure, on a rewatch, the reveals lose some of their muster and the winks to the camera are a little too meta, but the classic rom-com tropes are made new again, creating a classic that us millennials can call our own. If you somehow haven’t seen this movie yet I hope you give it a shot. There are more original rom-coms, but this one is more fun than most movies out there.
Other Movies New To Streaming in March 2021
Netflix
Batman Begins
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Dances With Wolves
The Dark Knight
I Am Legend
Invictus
The Pursuit of Happyness
Rain Man
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
Amazon Prime
48 Hrs.
As Good As It Gets
Back To The Future trilogy
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
Patriot Games
Patriots Day
Rain Man
Rushmore
The Whole Nine Yards
Tombstone
Wet Hot American Summer
Hulu
50/50
Brooklyn’s Finest
Enemy Of The State
The Ghost Writer
Malcolm X
Pretty Woman
Rushmore
The Social Network
Wedding Crashers
Young Frankenstein
HBO and HBO Max
Blade
The King’s Speech
Ocean’s Eleven
Ocean’s Thirteen
Ocean’s Twelve
Pitch Perfect
Wedding Crashers
Links
Michael B. Jordan’s next project is as a Tom Clancy action hero in Without Remorse, streaming on Amazon Prime on April 30th. Check out the trailer here.
Melissa McCarthy’s next movie just got a trailer this week. Look for Thunder Force, a superhero comedy with McCarthy and Octavia Spencer, on Netflix later this year.