Flix At :48

The Binge was released on August 28th and is currently available for personal streaming on Hulu. Set in the not too distant future, when all alcohol and drugs are banned from everyone in the United States, The Binge focuses on the stressful lives of 3 teenage boys trying to attend an exclusive party on the one night of the year when all drug and alcohol consumption is legal for everyone. It's like a merging of the films The Purge (2013) and Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982).

The Secrets We Keep is a patient psychological mystery set in a quiet post-WWII suburb where a housewife (Noomi Rapace, Prometheus, 2012) starts to unravel when she suspects a new man living in her town is a Nazi who tortured her during WWII years ago. This suspicion leads to kidnapping, interrogation, and blood. And when suspicion grows into an obsession with vengeance, nobody walks unscathed.

Oscar-nominated director Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk, 2017) is evidently still enjoying his obsessions with complicated action sequences and non-linear storytelling.

Tesla is a historic, biographical drama on the life of pioneering engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla, whose ideas changed the world at the turn of the 20th century and beyond (his work included the alternating current electricity system, a thermo-magnetic motor, and the Tesla coil.)

Waiting for the Barbarians is a historical period drama based on the award-winning novel of the same name by South African writer J.M. Coetzee first published in 1980. This newly released film (premiered on August 7th) tells the story of a Magistrate, played by a soft-spoken and dignified Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies, 2015), who manages a small settlement in a foreign, quiet desert on the far edge of an unnamed empire (presumably the British Empire).

Aren't weekend getaways a blast? They're especially fun when they have dangerous secrets, hidden cameras, a hot tub, and dead bodies. Actor Dave Franco, mostly known for light-hearted comedy and action films like The Disaster Artist (2017) and Now You See Me (2013), has his feature-length directorial debut with The Rental currently playing in select movie theaters throughout Utah after its nationwide release on July 24th.

The Old Guard was released on July 10th this year and has become one of the most popular original films streaming on Netflix this month. Adapted from a graphic novel series by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez that was first published in 2017, The Old Guard follows a group of expert, world-weary (and refreshingly diverse) mercenaries who travel the globe killing terrorists, hiding their identities, and speculating on immortality (hinting at this film's gold mine twist).

One half crime procedural and one half Shakespearean tragedy, Blow the Man Down tells a contemporary, noir-inspired drama of two twenty-something sisters who cover up a murder in a small coastal town of Maine. But their cover-up leads them into unexpected secrets, money, and danger. Lobster traps, fishmongers, and chowder are clever bits of decoration that portray the calloused lives of Down Easters.

Palm Springs was released July 10th of this year and is currently available for streaming on Hulu. This R-rated comedy is set in the magical desert of Southern California where a man and a woman meet at a Palm Springs wedding and become eternally linked to each other...and to the same repeating day. The leading stars Andy Samberg (Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, 2016) and Cristin Milioti (Breakable You, 2017) give likable performances with a few moments of funny dialogue.

When a young loving couple visit a pristine suburb looking for a new home, they become trapped in a mysterious world of quiet isolation turning their casual visit at a possible starter home into an endless nightmare. The title is a real word meaning a living space where plants or animals are kept under observation (hint hint), and just like this fancy word, this film is not for everyone.