Newflix is our weekly look at notable new titles available on online streaming sites.

Obvious Child (2014)
Directed by Gillian Robespierre
$3.99 to rent on Amazon
At some point during the last two decades, Hollywood largely lost sight of what makes a great romantic comedy. It’s easy enough really, you just need a cute story and a lovely setting and a pair of stars with great chemistry, whip em up into a froth, and let the whole thing just be, well, sweet. Instead of sticking to the formula—and, in this case, formula is a good thing—the studio system decided that we needed giant casts of people in loosely connected stories (Valentine’s Day to He’s Just Not That Into You, and every horrible thing in between) or attractive stars pretending that they just want to bang each other (Friends With Benefits, No Strings Attached) instead of movies that boasted actual romance and comedy. The charm was gone. The bloom was off the rose. And then comes something like Obvious Child, billed as an “abortion rom-com” that, despite its ripped-from-the-headlines plot points (how modern! how shocking! clutch your pearls!), still manages to feel like a perfect entry into the genre. The story may not be “cute” (girl and boy meet, drink, bang, then accidentally get pregnant), but it’s modern and relatable, and it’s bolstered by a fun setting (Brooklyn, always Brooklyn) and a pair of leads (Jenny Slate and Jake Lacy) with both chemistry and comedy, the kind that only gets better the more they interact. The golden age of the rom-com might not be back just yet, but this is more than a fine start.

Grey Gardens (1976)
Directed by David and Albert Maysles
TCM
Do you have plans this weekend? Drop them, because you only have two more days to catch Grey Gardens on TCM (for free!) before it goes away again. The Maysles’ classic direct cinema documentary recently received a large-scale restoration, care of the Criterion Collection and Janus Films, and while I can personally speak to how wonderfully clean and crisp that new print looks, the real power of Grey Gardens is in the film itself. A classic of American documentary cinema, Grey Gardens long ago seeped into our collective cultural consciousness and never quite let go, thanks to a story that seems too bizarre to be true and too salacious to be denied. But thinking about Grey Gardens isn’t the same as watching it, and just chatting about its elements tends to reduce it, taking away the deeply moving and very human experience of watching Little Edie and Big Edie go about their daily lives. With the recent death of Albert Maysles, there’s no better way to pay tribute to the brothers and their contributions to the film world than with a fresh Grey Gardens watch. You’ll even be able to pick up some classic fashion tips. (I am not kidding, sweaters make excellent headwraps, and are very cozy during the winter.)

The Theory Of Everything (2014)
Directed by James Marsh
$5.99 to rent on Amazon
Yes, Oscar season was positively glutted with biopics, and if you skipped a few, that’s fully understandable, but perhaps give James Marsh’s The Theory Of Everything a first (or, heck, even a second) look, if only to examine the ways in which this seemingly cookie-cutter sliceof life subverts some of the tropes of the genre. Although the film can be classified in the “great man does some cool professional stuff, but totally screws up his personal life” subgenre that is so popular among these kinds of films, its very source material lends it a distinctly and uniquely feminist angle that is worth talking about. Pulled from Jane Hawking’s own book, the film is much more than a Stephen Hawking biopic, and the attention paid to Jane’s (played by Felicity Jones) need to complete her education, have time to herself, and explore other romantic and sexual options, all in service to feeling personally fulfilled, is never used in a cruel manner. Jane isn’t villianized for her desires, and neither is Stephen (Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne), and while they’re both extraordinary people, their struggles often feel relatable enough that you don’t have to be a rocket scientist (or whatever, I dunno) to feel the pain they’re going through. It’s an element of the story that I am convinced was mainly overlooked, and it’s one many people would likely appreciate seeing on the big screen. 

How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
Directed by Dean DeBlois
Netflix
The How To Train Your Dragon movies make me anxious, misguidedly so, because what sort of sick, twisted animation house would kill off its charming leads, be they three-limbed boy-kings or disarmingly sweet flying dragons? I don’t know, but what if it happens? It could happen! The anxiety level is high as ever in this follow-up to 2010 smash hit, as young Hiccup and I-guess-also-young Toothless fly far enough away from their rocky home that they discover a secret ice cave that essentially functions as a rescue for broken-down dragons. No, you’re crying. Of course, the big secret is who runs the joint—which we won’t spoil here, but it’s so obvious that it actually serves as the film’s biggest misstep—and the film piles on the family feel-goodness in a big way while also finding time to engage a bunch of battles. Basically, this movie makes its audience want their own flying dragon, but since that’s not a real thing, just watch it on a loop.

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