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The Top 5 Streaming Titles of the Week: ‘Lovelace’ and Other Movies You'll Be Happy to Watch at Home

Lovelace

Probably the most sexually charged week you’ll ever come across in the streaming world (we’ll, that isn’t porn), you can figure out the rest of your movie-watching for the next four days through our suggestions. Start off tonight with our number one selection, "Lovelance," highlighted by Amanda Seyfried playing the legendary star of "Deep Throat" and rounded out by an impressive supporting cast. Then tomorrow you have "The Canyons," where you can decide if it’s the return of Lohan or another Schrader disaster. Follow that with Brian De Palma’s sexed-up thriller "Passion," starring Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace. And then on Friday end the week with "Touchy Feely," which is nothing like the title implies.

1. 'Lovelace'

Streaming same day as it hits theaters, Amanda Seyfried plays iconic porn star Linda Lovelace and highlights her struggles in the business including the relationship with her husband, Chuck (played with perfect creepiness by Peter Sarsgaard). Having received positive reviews since premiering at this year’s Sundance, directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman ("Howl," "The Times of Harvey Milk") have an impressive cast together—outside of Seyfried and Sarsgaard there’s also great performances by Sharon Stone, Hank Azaria, Juno Temple and James Franco as Hugh Hefner.

Why Watch It: There’s more to Lovelace’s story than Deep Throat, this film hits all the right chapters.

Available On 8/9: Cable On Demand, iTunes, VUDU

Read Our Review

2. 'The Canyons'

Now to the star that was original cast in the "Lovelace" lead. The drama around Lindsay Lohan has been a big reason why anyone knows about The Canyons. After the film was rejected by SXSW and a New York Times Magazine story highlighted the drama on set, the Paul Schrader-directed/Bret Easton Ellis-written drama about the dark side of the movie business only piqued people’s interest more. At the end of the day our review of the film by Matt Patches isn’t necessarily a glowing one, but he does point out that Schrader “is still a competent director, but he’s forced to whittle down his style for micro-budget shooting. He succeeds, striking the iron with montages of haunting, dilapidated movie theaters and just the right close ups of Lohan’s frailest moments.”

Why Watch It: Lohan does surprise (though we wished her character was more involved in the plot).

Available On: Cable On Demand

3. 'Passion'

In Brian De Palma’s latest he remakes the 2010 French thriller "Crime d’amour" with Rachel McAdams playing the power hungry boss and Noomi Rapace as her protégée who is soon caught up in her boss’ murder case. McAdams is in her mean girls glory with the role and Rapace—often playing the strong-willed, no BS, character in her films—is great in a toned down role.

Why Watch It: Only time will tell if this is one of De Palma better known titles, but it is tailor-made for his strengths.

Available On: Cable On Demand, iTunes, VUDU, YouTube, Google Play

4. 'Touchy Feely'

Continuing her exploration of thirtysomething couples and their struggles, Lynn Shelton’s latest is perhaps her most conventional story yet. Headlined by Rosemarie DeWitt, who plays Abby, a popular message therapist who suddenly is repulsed by bodily contact, the film weaves in and out of the lives of Abby’s brother, Paul (Josh Pais), whose dental practice suddenly takes off during Abby’s affliction, and Abby’s boyfriend (Scoot McNairy), who desperately tries to understand Abby’s problem through Paul’s daughter Jenny (Ellen Page) is making her feelings for him become more obvious.

Why Watch It: If you’ve enjoyed Shelton’s previous films, "Humpday" and "Your Sister’s Sister," you should enjoy this.

Available On: Cable On Demand, iTunes, VUDU, Amazon Instant, Google Play

Read Our Review

5. 'Prince Avalanche'

Also streaming same day as it hits theaters, David Gordon Green returns to his independent film roots with this "buddy" film (and it’s about damn time). Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch play two highway road workers who send the summer working on an isolated road, far away from their city lives. With nothing to do but talk about their lives as well as likes and dislikes, the two go back and forth from being at odds to being friends, eventually forming a strong bond.

Why Watch It: Rudd and Hirsch may sound like an unlikely pairing, but the two quickly grow on you.

Available On 8/9: Cable On Demand, iTunes

Read Our Review

OLDIES BUT GOODIES

It’s Robert Mitchum’s birthday! To celebrate one of Hollywood’s best tough guys, here’s three of his classics you can watch right now.

'The Night of the Hunter'

Charles Laughton’s terrifying adaptation of Davis Grubb’s novel has Mitchum as Harry Powell, a serial killer and self-appointed preacher with very distinguishable tattoos: "love" on one hand, "hate" on the other. After hearing from a cellmate that he hid $10,000 from a bank robbery, Powell head’s to the man’s home, though he doesn’t know where the money is hidden. That’s when Mitchum gets super dark, as he befriends the man’s family though soon his true intentions come through.

Available On: iTunes, VUDU, Amazon Instant, YouTube, Google Play

'Cape Fear'

If you thought Mitchum was cool and calculated in "Hunter," wait until you see him as the psychotic Max Cady. Once out of jail Cady only has one thing on his mind, paying back the man who put him in. He soon terrorizes the family of prosecutor Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck), whose clever ways to get Cady sent back to jail never work out leading him to finally face the ex-con on his own.

Available On: iTunes, VUDU, Amazon Instant, YouTube, Google Play

'El Dorado'

For Howard Hawks’ classic western, Mitchum plays a Sheriff who with the help of The Duke and a very young James Caan go up against a crooked rancher who’s robbing water. Though we often remember Mitchum for his mean-as-hell roles, here’s one of the rare times when he pulls it back and is likable, though he’s still plenty tough.

Available On: iTunes, VUDU, Amazon Instant, YouTube, Google Play

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