![]() What modernizes the movie has more to do with context than content. ![]() News of the World has no interest in subverting or updating classic Western formulas: It is content with its function as a handsomely-made studio picture, built ostensibly around Hanks but with plenty of room for its young star to make her mark. Zengel is a fresh spark in an otherwise old-fashioned production, but old-fashioned here is a compliment. ![]() But as soon as the film judges him, it presents him with a chance at redemption in the form of a girl, Johanna (Helena Zengel). News of the World damns Kidd without having to say a word. An erstwhile soldier in Texas could only have fought on one side of the aisle. The movie doesn’t exactly ask the viewer to overlook which side of the war Kidd stood on: In fact, the truth of his old allegiances becomes more unavoidable the less directly they’re spoken of. His hero is Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Hanks), a Confederate Civil War veteran who, having stood on the losing side of history, moseys across the Lone Star State and reads out-of-town papers to the locals at each stop on his journeys. Neither of these terms, nor their equally grotesque cousins, make their way into Greengrass’ film, but the spirit that conjured them into being four years ago is alive and well in his recreation of the American frontier. Paul Greengrass and screenwriting partner Luke Davies may have adapted Paulette Jiles’ 2016 Western novel News of the World at least in partial consideration of how far the United States hasn’t come as a nation–around the time of the book’s publication, such cursed phrases as “fake news” and “alternative facts” were inducted into popular language by fascists and crooks attempting to pull a fast one on the American people. Year: 2020 Director: Paul Greengrass Starring: Tom Hanks, Helena Zengel, Bill Camp, Elizabeth Marvel Rating: PG-13 Genre: Western Inevitably, Johnny and Bodhi bond-and then clash-over their mutual thirst for salt water, high-stakes adventure and the love of a strong woman (Lori Petty, a wonderfully anti-typical blockbuster love interest), climaxing in the now-iconic scene of Reeves, consumed by X-treme angst, hollering and firing his gun into the sky, a scene so cemented in the cinematic canon that any aging, pacifist Millennial who has never fired a gun before still secretly wet-dreams about having the chance to do the same before their time on this godforsaken planet runs out. Johnny Utah-played by the only one on this Earth who could believably play a human being named that, Keanu Reeves, with the sedate gusto that would further vaunt him to action star fame-is an FBI agent who must learn how to be an X-treme surfer in order to infiltrate a cadre of bank robbers led by Bodhi (Patrick Swayze in peak hunk form). There are plenty of late ’80s/early ’90s action flicks anyone could cite, but few epitomized the near-paradoxical dudebro melodrama of the era with as much heart and sincerity as Kathryn Bigelow’s Point Break. Year: 1991 Director: Kathryn Bigelow Stars: Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Gary Busey, Lori Petty Rating: R Genre: Action But why not give Freevee a try before it changes its name again? Additionally, there’s been rumblings that there’ll be Freevee exclusives coming down the pike too, though other AVOD services’ originals haven’t exactly been stellar (looking at you, Tubi’s Titanic 666). IDMbTV used to be one of the more reliable and varied sections of our larger Best Free Movies streaming list, and it seems-at least initially-that Freevee will follow suit. At least Freevee’s portmanteau is relatively clear: The best movies on Freevee are, as you might expect, free!Īs Amazon begins fully marching back to the world of commercial breaks, there’s still plenty to love on its AVOD service, regardless of what it’s called. ![]() The ad-driven, free-to-watch streamer (which is where many Prime Video titles were landing as they left the paid service) is becoming Freevee, one of the funniest names for a way to watch things since Quibi. Not only is Amazon Prime Video slowly becoming less worth the hassle to navigate, as its library dwindles in relation to its unwieldy user interface, but its recently acquired AVOD service, IMDbTV, is being rebranded. The inner workings of Amazon’s various stream services are an enigma.
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