Everybody's working for the weekend — to stream Cheddar's recommendations: 'The Gilded Age,' 'Benedetta,' 'Snow Day,' and 'Annie'!
The Gilded Age - HBO Max
Picked by Digital Editor Mike Nam
Initially, the title of a satirical novel by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, the term "The Gilded Age" came to be a label for the post-Reconstruction late 19th Century where massive income inequality and racial oppression, alongside technological and social upheavals, took place in the United States. It was 140 years ago but alarmingly many of the themes remain the same. Enter Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey, the hit British upstairs-downstairs drama set in the early 20th Century. His latest series follows a recently impoverished young woman in 1882 who goes to live with her old-money aunts in New York City who are readying to feud with their new-money neighbors — a railroad baron and his social-climber wife. The first episode premiered on Monday, January 24.
Benedetta - Amazon Prime Video
Picked by Reporter Alex Vuocolo
The legendary Paul Verhoeven, director of RoboCop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, and Showgirls, is known for schlocky genre films with a smart, subversive twist. But few know that he's also an amateur religious scholar, and his latest film, Benedetta, brilliantly incorporates that knowledge into his cinematic vision. The story — and there's really no way to soft-peddle this — is about a 17th-century nun who becomes entangled in a forbidden love affair with another nun as a plague rages around their convent. Yes, it's sensational, as the best Verhoeven films are, but it's also a rich, generous portrait of a woman balancing her faith, her passion, and her survival.
Snow Day - Amazon Prime Video
Picked by Producer Lawrence Banton
Much of the U.S. is experiencing a deep freeze and if you're on the East Coast, you're probably gearing up for this weekend's bombogenesis, so it seems like the perfect time to dust off the old classic Snow Day. To the '90s babies, it doesn't get much more nostalgic than this, right? The movie follows a bunch of kids who just got the day off from school because of an unexpected blizzard. But what's even better than a snow day? Well, a second one, of course. The recently liberated school kids spend the day terrorizing the big, bad snowplow guy in hopes they can stop him from clearing the streets and get another day home to play.
Annie (1982) - Netflix
Picked by Sr. News Editor Dina Ross
This weekend I think I'll kick back with a childhood favorite: Annie. I tried to find it streaming around the holidays, but it wasn't available on any of the platforms I pay for. Come January, Netflix had my back. The classic tale of the spunky, red-headed orphan has been redone several times since my childhood, but there's definitely something sentimental about Aileen Quinn's rendition. And poor Carol Burnett will always be cruel Miss Hannigan in my mind. It really was an all-star lineup with Albert Finney, Bernadette Peters, and Tim Curry playing prominent roles. Of course, I recognize there is a downside to revisiting this musical: I'm going to be singing The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow for weeks. Worth it.
Looking for more to watch? Check out our recommendations from last week and the week before.
