Cut the Cord: Numbers
February 2023. Volume 2, Issue 2.
Welcome back to Cut the Cord, the monthly newsletter all about great movies on free streaming services.
Every month has a different theme, like Food & Drink or Female Directors or Scary Movies. This month’s theme is Numbers. Why?
Why not? You got a better idea?
Every title much contain a number, but that number cannot be the designation of a sequel.
Enjoy this quite varied list. If you watch anything, let us know in the comments. And feel free to suggest any themes there as well.
12 Angry Men (1957)
The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open and shut case soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors’ prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other.
12 Angry Men is one of the great films, so if you're tired of my deep cuts that'll make you go, "Huh, that looks cool. I'll add it to my Letterboxd watchlist," and then never actually watch it, this one's for you. It's essential viewing. It's one of the 101 Films You Should Watch Before You Die. It's in the Criterion Collection. It's a genuine masterpiece.
If you've seen this one, as you should, last year I recommended the '90s television sequel. It's not as stunning, but it's still solid because it's still 12 Angry Men.
13 Going on 30 (2004)
After total humiliation at her thirteenth birthday party, Jenna Rink wants to just hide until she’s thirty. With a little magic, her wish is granted, but it turns out that being thirty isn’t as always as awesome as she thought it would be!
From Taylor:
13 Going on 30 is widely considered one of the greatest rom-coms of all time. Okay, I actually totally made that up but I feel like it’s true!
Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo have palpable chemistry in this twist on a coming-of-age classic. Whether you’re 13 or 30, the growing pains of life and adulthood can be tremendously daunting. Ruffalo and Garner are supported by a cast of equally lovable characters including performances from actors such as Andy Serkis and Judy Greer - a cast so good that even then child actors with minimal lines included budding stars such as Ashley Benson and Renee Olstead.
Each time I revisit this movie, I find something new. It’s, in my humble opinion, the perfect-for-everyone, better-than-it-had-any-right-being rom-com. And if you’re curious about its cultural impact? Well, there’s a reason "Vienna" has become the anthem of women everywhere ages 20-35, and it’s not because of Billy Joel.
99 Homes (2014)
After his family is evicted from their home, proud and desperate construction worker Dennis Nash tries to win his home back by striking a deal with the devil and working for Rick Carver, the corrupt real estate broker who evicted him.
It's been a few years since I last saw 99 Homes, but any movie with Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, and Laura Dern is worth a revisit. I remember liking it quite a bit, which is why I'm recommending it here, but it seems to be largely forgotten. I often see the DVD and/or Blu left behind in Dollar Trees, if that's any indication. To be fair though, those movies are often the ones we can find on these free streaming services, so it might say more about the film's distribution than its quality. So save the dollar-and-a-quarter (damn you Dollar Tree inflation!) and give it a shot for free here.
Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017)
After working as a drug courier and getting into a brutal shootout with police, a former boxer finds himself at the mercy of his enemies as they force him to instigate violent acts that turn the prison he resides in into a battleground.
Let's just say the next three recommendations are...interesting. Because I can't really tell you that I particularly like any of these movies. But I also recognize that my taste is not almighty and that if everything was just vetted by me and me alone, we would only ever talk about The Night of the Hunter.
I'm not going to dive too deep into Brawl in Cell Block 99 because you can just listen to my thoughts on that episode of Vaughn-a-thon, but I will say this: I have very mixed feelings about this movie. One on hand, I'm not quite sure it succeeds in just about anything it's trying to say socially or critically. On the other hand, I really liked it when Vince punched that one guy with another guy’s fist.
Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957)
When the population of Hollywood and Washington DC sees flying saucers on the sky, a colonel, a police lieutenant, a commercial pilot, his wife and a policeman try to stop the aliens.
Isn't this a newsletter about "great movies on free streaming services?" Why then would I be recommending a movie that many consider to be the worst movie ever made?
Infamous director Edward D. Wood Jr., the mastermind behind about a billion low-budget indies from the '50s, really loved movies. He loved making them. He wanted to make wacky creature features and ground-breaking social pictures and exploitation extravaganzas and everything in between. And he did it with pennies and washed-up actors and critics who hated his work. He did it with one strike against him already. But he also loved the movies that he made. They were just what he wanted and he never stopped, even when had to switch to porno to keep getting to make movies.
Nothing made with that much love can be that bad. The heart behind the movie overpowers the flimsy walls and flubbed lines.
Midnight movies at their worst/best.
The Three Musketeers (2011)
The hot-headed young D’Artagnan along with three former legendary but now down on their luck Musketeers must unite and defeat a beautiful double agent and her villainous employer from seizing the French throne and engulfing Europe in war.
Taylor has been trying to convince me that AI writing is the way of the future. So I thought I would prove her wrong by writing the first two sentences of this review and letting Sudowrite complete the rest:
I'm not entirely sure I can recommend the 2011 film The Three Musketeers. Most people don't even find it to be a good movie.
It has a terrible story with a nonsensical plot, the characters are poorly represented, and the dialogue will drive you to the edge of insanity. It's a good thing that the costumes are pretty bad ass...
That is all.
Ok, ok, I will squeeze in one more. ��Something a little different than the other costumes I have posted on this blog...
I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've re-watched X2: X-men United. That is why this is one of my favorite costumes. I just love the X-men series, and I have an obvious soft spot for Nightcrawler. I even have my special edition DVD.
This is probably one of the more popular costumes from the X-men movies and comics. Nightcrawler has a very distinct look and it is very easy to make. A lot of people have done it and even some of But that's just
Credit: Each plot synopsis comes from Letterboxd via TMDb.
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