Four New Streaming Picks for Your Holiday Weekend
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Although July 4 isn’t for another two days, many people are starting their vacations now. In most years, this vacation might include beach trips and other outdoor travel, but with the COVID-19 pandemic causing many people to think twice before going out, you might be planning to spend the weekend inside for a binge-watching marathon. These four new July 2020 streaming picks should help you breeze through your July 4th indoors.
1. Anne Frank: Parallel Stories
Available now on Netflix
Earlier this year, Helen Mirren starred in Anne Frank: Parallel Stories, in which the legendary actress uses Anne Frank’s diary as a route for exploring the journeys of other young girls who were sent to Nazi concentration camps during World War II. The film was commissioned to celebrate what would have been Frank’s 90th birthday, and Mirren has said that she finds Frank’s story newly relevant given Europe’s widespread immigration issues and the wars being waged in Syria, Iraq, and Libya.
2. Airplane!
Available now on Netflix
This classic 1980 comedy film stars the late Leslie Nielsen in one of his most iconic roles. The movie, which is filled with fast-paced wordplay and slapstick, hilariously depicts the steps that passengers and crew aboard a plane must take to stay alive after a severe case of food poisoning incapacitates the pilots. The film is a clear and constantly hysterical parody of disaster films, but in light of recent conversations that the George Floyd protests have sparked, certain jokes may prove to have aged poorly.
3. Shark Week 2018 and Shark Week 2019
Available now on Hulu
If you’re staying in for the holiday weekend, you can always pretend you’re at the beach with Shark Week 2018 and Shark Week 2019. Newly added to Hulu, the annual series’ most recent two editions include exactly what would be expected of the franchise: Lots of sharks, and lots of drama. It also includes two first-time hosts, as Shaquille O’Neal hosted the franchise in 2018 and Rob Riggle in 2019. All information on Shark Week 2020 remains unannounced.
4. Watchmen (2009 movie)
Available now on HBO Max
The 2009 movie based on Alan Moore’s classic graphic novel hits the newly launched streaming service HBO Max for the first time this month. Many people have praised the movie for adhering strongly to the original graphic novel’s plot, whereas others have criticized the film for exactly this reason. In general, the film has, with time, come to be equally criticized and praised for any and all of its qualities, whereas a more recent Watchmen adaptation available on HBO Max has earned universal acclaim.
For the ultimate at-home Watchmen experience this holiday weekend, you can pair the 2009 Watchmen film with the 2019 Watchmen HBO limited series. The latter option, which diverges significantly from the source material, reshapes the original story to include explicit messages against white supremacy and its harmful influence on politics. The series’ realistic depictions of the often overlooked 1921 Tulsa race massacre have been widely praised, and many people have pointed to the series as vital viewing alongside the ongoing George Floyd protests.
What will you be streaming this holiday weekend? Sound off in the comments!