Binge-watching is becoming very popular. If you are not familiar with the term, it is the practice of watching sequential episodes of a television program, in a short period of time. Simply put –It is watching one show, right after the other — typically by means of digital streaming. The term became familiar to me, when content providers (like Netflix) started releasing multiple seasons of an “addicting” show. The show Breaking Bad, is probably the best example of this phenomenon. The term might be new, but the style is not. Don’t you remember television stations having a weekend “marathon”? For you hipsters, that don’t own a TV because you only “stream” internet content — this is when a station would show reruns of a single series i.e. back to back.
In any case, if you believe that “if one is good, more is better” then why not try some binge film watching. And since we are at it, how about some amazing films that demonstrate addiction and alcoholism, at their finest. Are you in?
I am going to start with the newer films, that I haven’t seen, but want to:
The Worlds End (2013) This is about a group of friends who embark on a pub crawl. At the same time, the world is being attacked by aliens. Not to fear, because they can save the world, by making it to to the last bar.
The Angels Share (2012) A Scottish father, attempts to turn over a new leaf, after many arrest. Oddly, he does this by entering the world of whiskey tasting and collecting, in order to make enough money to start over.
Drinking Buddies (2013) Luke and Kate are coworkers at a brewery who spend their nights drinking and flirting heavily. One weekend away together with their significant others proves who really belongs together and who doesn’t.
In Heaven There is no Beer (2012) This is a documentary chronicling the underground world of polka bands and its fans. The title comes from a German song that encourages drinking all the beer you can while you are living because “in heaven there is no beer.” The film won awards at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival.
Smashed (2012) A married couple whose bond is built on a mutual love of alcohol gets their relationship put to the test when the wife decides to get sober.
Classics
The Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
An alcoholic marries a young woman, who doesn’t drink. She might be predisposed to addictive behavior, because she uses chocolate as a drug. In any case, he introduces her to booze and they go on to share his “passion for alcohol” together.
My name is Bill W. (1989 TV movie)
Based on the life of Bill W. a stockbroker, whose life falls apart due to alcoholism. He finds a solution, and together with a man called Dr. Bob, they go on to create a fellowship called Alcoholics Anonymous.
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship with a prostitute Sera.
28 Days (2000)
A big-city newspaper columnist is forced to enter a drug and alcohol rehab center after ruining her sister’s wedding and crashing a stolen limousine.
Flight (2012)
An airline pilot saves almost all his passengers on his malfunctioning airliner which eventually crashed, but an investigation into the accident reveals something troubling.
If you just can’t get enough .. here is a compiled list of 116 alcoholism related films. I think it would be fun to print it out and try to check them off as you watch them. You have probably seen many of them, already.
• 16 Years of Alcohol
• 28 Days (film)
A
• Affliction (film)
• Afonya
• Another Year (film)
• Arthur (2011 film)
• Arthur (1981 film)
• Arthur 2: On the Rocks
• An Autumn Afternoon
B
• Bad Santa
• Barfly (film)
• Le Beau Serge
• Bed of Lies
• The Betty Ford Story
• Beyond (2010 film)
• Bhakthajanangalude Sradhakku
• Bill W. (film)
• The Boy Who Drank Too Much
• Boyhood (film)
C
• Café Paradis
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1984 film)
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (film)
• Le Cercle Rouge
• The Champ (1931 film)
• Chances: The Women of Magdalene
• La Ciénaga (film)
• Clean and Sober
• Come Back, Little Sheba (1952 film)
• Come Fill the Cup
• The Country Girl (1954 film)
• Country Strong
• Crazy Heart
• The Cure (1917 film)
D
• Dangerous Parking
• Days of Wine and Roses (film)
• Death Nurse
• Death Nurse 2
• Dev.D
• El Dorado (1966 film).
• Dreams and Shadows
E
• Everything Must Go (film)
F
• Factotum (film)
• Falling Angels (film)
• Falling Sky
• La Femme de ma vie
• Fish Hawk (film)
• Flight (2012 film)
G
• Gavilán o Paloma (film)
H
• Hancock (film)
I
• I’ll Cry Tomorrow
• Ironweed (film)
J
• Julia (2008 film)
K
• Kansas Saloon Smashers
• Kingpin (1996 film)
L
• Leaving Las Vegas
• The Legend of the Holy Drinker (film)
• Life of the Party (2005 film)
• Long Day’s Journey into Night (1962 film)
• Long Day’s Journey into Night (1973 film)
• The Loser Takes It All
• The Lost Weekend (film)
M
• Merrily We Go to Hell
• Metastases (film)
• Mind Meld
• Mini (film)
• The Morning After (1974 film)
• Morning Patrol
• My Name Is Bill W.
• My Name Is Joe
• My Zinc Bed (film)
N
• Neenga Nalla Irukkanum
O
• On the Bowery
• Once Were Warriors (film)
• One for the Road (2009 film)
• Only When I Laugh (film)
P
• Pay It Forward (film)
• Perdóname Todo
• The Pilot (film)
• Pollock (film)
R
• Rio Bravo (film)
• The Rum Diary (film)
• Ryan (film)
S
• Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam
• Sarah T. – Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic
• Saving Mr. Banks
• Scent of a Woman (1992 film)
• Seven Psychopaths
• Shakes the Clown
• The Shining (film)
• The Shining (TV miniseries)
• Skin Deep (1989 film)
• Smashed (film)
• Something to Live For (film)
• Sons (1996 film)
• The Spectacular Now
• Spirit (2012 film)
• A Star Is Born (1954 film)
• The Struggle (film)
• Submarino
• Sunset Strip (film)
T
• Ted (film)
• Tender Mercies
• That’s My Boy (2012 film)
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (film)
• Trees Lounge
U
• Under Capricorn
• Under the Volcano (film)
V
• The Verdict
W
• W. (film)
• Warrior (2011 film)
• When a Man Loves a Woman (film)
• When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story
• Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (film)
• Withnail and I
• The World’s End (film)
Y
• You Kill Me
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