There’s a lot of great stuff to stream and rent this lonely holiday weekend. Here’s just a few I’d recommend.

The Boondocks (2005)

Hilarious, provocative and poignant in equal measure, The Boondocks is Aaron McGruder‘s animated satire on the African American experience. Following two children, the politically woke Huey (Regina King) and the obnoxious Riley (also Regina King) who go to live with their onery grandfather (Friday‘s John Witherspoon) in the most stereotypical white suburban WASP town imaginable. Featuring a large cast of voice talents including Cedric Yarborough, Charlie Murphy, Samuel L. Jackson, Ed Asner, Jill Talley, Mark Hammil, Katt Williams, Mos Def, Snoop Dogg and the incredible Gary Anthony Williams as Uncle Ruckus, a ridiculously racist, self-hating black man that believes he’s actually white, he just has re-vitiligo, the opposite of what Michael Jackson claimed to have had, giving him a darker complexion every year. There’s a lot to unpack here and it’s rare something this outrageously raunchy makes you think. STREAMING ON HBOMAX

The Ice Storm (1997)

Speaking of WASPs, good mama! Ang Lee’s fascinating but crushingly sad, The Ice Storm, uses eastern music and Asian visual flair to tell a story about trouble in white suburbia almost like an old Buddhist morality play. Set over Thanksgiving weekend in 1973 Connecticut, the story follows a seemingly healthy (but anything but) family. There’s the lecherous adulterer father (Kevin Kline) having an affair with a frigid and cruel housewife (Sigourney Weaver), the wound-too-tight mom (Joan Allen), the angsty, Nixon-hating 14-year-old daughter (Christina Ricci) and the 16-year-old nerdy son (Tobey Maguire) returning home from boarding school. Rounding out the cast is a very young Elijah Wood and Allison Janney. It’s extremely powerful and rewarding stuff. $3.99 RENTAL ON AMAZON PRIME

Blade (1998)

The most fun you’re going to have this weekend is spending two hours watching this relentlessly entertaining and stupid fantasy action movie starring Wesley Snipes as a half-human, half-vampire, super vampire killer. Guillermo Del Toro made a sequel nowhere near as good, so stick with the original. STREAMING ON HULU

First Cow (2020)

Wow. Easily the best 2020 movie I’ve seen from the queen of glacially-paced but extremely thoughtful indies, Kelly Reichardt. First Cow is a period piece about an unlikely friendship between an inept trapper and a Chinese immigrant on the run from the law. The most shocking thing about this movie is how thoroughly pleasant it is all the way through. Careful though, the feels sneak up on you. It’s the cinematic equivalent of falling asleep in a nice herbal bath. STREAMING ON SHOWTIME and AVAILABLE FOR $1.99 RENTAL ON AMAZON PRIME

Boogie Nights (1997)

How long has it been since you’ve seen this masterful epic that treats life in the porn industry like fucking Goodfellas? Paul Thomas Anderson‘s breakout hit Boogie Nights is a perfect movie. Powerful, fun, intelligent, provocative and entertaining the whole way through. It’s two and a half hours well spent on a day you’re just sitting around your house with a thumb up your butt. STREAMING ON HBOMAX

Lake Mungo (2008)

One of the most quietly terrifying horror films I’ve seen in recent years, Lake Mungo is actually a mockumentary and more specifically, a drama about losing a child and the great emotional impact it can have on a family. Designed to look like a real documentary, Lake Mungo succeeds in always making us forget what we’re watching isn’t real. It’s a slow burn for sure, but the ending packs one of the biggest and troubling scares I’ve seen in a movie. STREAMING ON AMAZON PRIME

Dark Side of the Ring (2019)

I really dislike wrestling, I think it’s very stupid and it gets a lot of dangerously stupid people really riled up. However, this two-season Vice documentary series on the fucked up little stories making up the world of wrestling is an exhilarating emotional roller coaster. From the heartbreaking and infuriating story of Chris Benoit, to the sordid history of woman’s wrestling, to all the slimy bullshit Vince MacMahon was/is involved with, this is a real treat for ANYBODY craving a good human interest story. STREAMING ON HULU

American Pie Presents: Girls’ Rules

No takers? Seriously people, I’ll venmo $11 to anyone willing to watch and write a couple paragraphs on this. I’ll even publish your work on Margetis Movie Reviews. STREAMING ON NETFLIX