Staff Picks: Our Favorite New July Movies
These are the films we can’t stop talking about
Here at Tribeca Shortlist, we pride ourselves in offering amazing movies hand-picked by industry experts—actors, directors, musicians, composers, we call them our Shortlisters—but we’re all movie lovers ourselves, too! So as we welcome sixty new movies to the service this month, we reached out to our staff to see what we’re all most excited for.
Here’s our full list of titles coming to the service this month, followed by individual recommendations from some of us at TSL.
Intrigued by any of these suggestions? Click the movie’s image to start streaming with a FREE Tribeca Shortlist trial.
“Yes, we’re all annoyed at the one guy we know who is Always. Busy. Quoting. Alec Baldwin’s amazing, show-stopping monologue in the middle of the film. (Or maybe you are that guy. If so, dude, dial it down a notch.) But this film, based on the play by David Mamet, offers so much more than that very memorable speech. It’s a thrilling story about desperate men doing whatever it takes to hang on to their piece of the American Dream, even if it means dragging a few poor saps down with them in the process. And I challenge you to find a better cast than Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris and Kevin Spacey, every one of them at the very top of their game.” — Sean Redlitz, Head of Brand, Editorial & Social
Layer Cake
“I’m excited for this movie to be back on Tribeca Shortlist because it is a hidden gem that I first discovered here. It can be summed up with, “And, you thought your job sucked?!?!” Imagine that your boss calls you in to their office on the day you’re about to retire and tells you that you’ve just been put on the biggest project of your life. Well in this case, that last job involves a little bit of ecstasy, a lot of cocaine and Daniel Craig. Also starring Colm Meaney and Tom Hardy. Layer Cake has a star-studded cast and is action packed. Need I say more?” — Richard Van Kampen, Marketing Director
The Faculty
“Do you love Stranger Things? Still remember how incredible Scream was when you first saw it in theaters in 1996? If so, then you’re definitely going to dig the science fiction nostalgia-fest that is Robert Rodriguez’ 1998 film, The Faculty.
This funny, scary, suspenseful (and sometimes gory) film is a supremely entertaining high school movie that takes its cues from a plethora of classics like The Stepford Wives, Terminator, The Thing and The Breakfast Club, and then mixes in some campy horror elements from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and voila! — you get this gem.
It has an insanely great cast to boot — a young Elijah Wood, dreamy bad boy Josh Hartnett, a pre-The Fast and the Furious Jordana Brewster, a pre-The Daily Show Jon Stewart, Salma Hayek, a pre-X-Men Famke Janssen, and a young Usher — this film couldn’t be more 90s if it tried! But then add in a killer soundtrack which re-introduced “Another Brick in the Wall” to younger audiences plus the fantastic special/makeup effects you’d expect from Robert Rodriguez, and you’ve got a contemporary classic. Enjoy!” — Shari Angel, Senior Manager, Content Programming
On the Road
“Despite the fact that living up to Kerouac’s idiosyncratic book is an impossible project, I feel like this movie doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Garett Hedlund is scintillating and perfect as Dean Moriarty (a thinly-veiled fictionalization of the charismatic Neal Cassady), and Sam Riley has the ideal face for an introspective foil. The women in this movie (including Kristen Stewart and Kirsten Dunst) also effortlessly take on the period feel, showing how these influential oddballs made a community. Comparing it to the book is a losing battle, but this movie is transportive in its own right.” — Kelly Steinmetz, Editorial Intern
Belly
“Belly, starring none other than DMX and Nas, collected about a decade’s worth of music video style into one glorious, hyperactive film. The film’s writer-director, Hype Williams, is perhaps the godfather of the hip hop music video, doing as much as P Diddy to visualize the decadence of hip hop’s shiny suit era. Belly is the sole film directed by Williams and is a mesmerizing piece that acts as a compendium of hip hop music video tricks and iconography: fish eye, lenses, extreme color contrasts, black lights, strobe lights, extended slow motion, money flying through the air like a John Woo dove, and an uncomfortable amount of architecture fetishism. If you grew up on Notorious B.I.G., Missy Elliott, and R. Kelly music videos, this film will hit a sweet spot between nostalgia and the unfamiliar — a movie steeped in 90s visuals, that looks like no other film since. I guarantee the opening scene — one of the best ever done — will have you pinned to your seat.” — Henry Carroll, Video Editor
They Came Together
“I’m so excited to see They Came Together… and I can’t believe this will be my first watch. I’m a huge fan of director David Wain, who co-wrote with Michael Showalter (who’s latest directorial effort, The Big Sick, is doing great in theaters), and everything they’ve ever done together (from The State, to the utterly brilliant Stella) feels custom-designed to make me laugh. They Came Together, starring Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler, is a satirical sendup on the romantic comedy genre. It looks like everything I love about a David Wain production (see also: The Ten, Role Models): absurdity, awkwardness, and intense heart.” — Giaco Furino, Editorial Manager
Liberal Arts
“I first saw Liberal Arts at its Sundance Film Festival premiere in 2012. As a fan of Josh Radnor from How I Met Your Mother (who plays the loveable Ted Mosby), I was eager to see his writing and directing skills following his first film, HappyThankYouMorePlease. It turned out to be one of my favorites at Sundance that year for it’s cute, relatable plot about feeling nostalgic for our youth (college in particular), and also because of Elizabeth Olsen’s fantastic performance — I have really come to love her as an actor. I haven’t seen Liberal Arts in a few years now, and I am so excited to re-visit it! It’s definitely an adorable indie gem worth watching.” — Sarah Dawson, Coordinator, Content Management and Programming
Eagle vs. Shark
“This movie is a quiet gem. If you are a fan of awkward comedies like Napoleon Dynamite or odd-ball couples like Sheldon and Amy from Big Bang Theory, then this is the movie for you. I am a huge fan of director Taika Waititi (Hunt for the Wilderpeople) for his offbeat sense of humor yet incredibly touching human stories. Jemaine Clement is delightfully socially inept and Loren Horsely’s Lily dares you to feel sorry for her (Loren steals every scene). I might have to host my own animal themed costume party and have some friends over to watch Eagle vs Shark.” — Monica Bloom, Senior Vice President/General Manager
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
“This is one of my favorite films of all time. It is hard to find at times, so when it is available, I always watch it. I first saw this when I was in high school and the film has stuck with me ever since. It is dark, twisted, sexy and haunting. It is also absolutely visually stunning. It is constructed as if it is an opera — focusing the action on one location (a restaurant) where the action moves from outside in the parking lot, to inside through the main rooms. The use of color plays a significant role in setting the tone and context and is a character itself. It’s a film in which you notice new things every time you watch. Warning: this is not a movie for the faint of heart, as it is truly disturbing (which kind of makes me love it even more).” — Monica Bloom, Senior Vice President/General Manager
