Top streams
Paul Rudd stars as a depressed, middle-aged burnout who is replaced with a better version of himself in "Living with Yourself," a Netflix original series that takes cloning to a level of existential absurdity. While the sad sack struggles to take back his life and his identity, the fresh, new version embraces every new experience with a glee bordering on bliss. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (" Little Miss Sunshine") direct all eight episodes of the comedy created by "The Daily Show" producer Timothy Greenberg. Now streaming on Netflix.
https://youtu.be/5w54yW2Ur50
The anthology series "Modern Love" explores love in its many forms—romantic, platonic, parental—in short stories drawn from the popular column in "The New York Times." Anne Hathaway, Dev Patel, Tina Fey, John Slattery, Andrew Scott, and Olivia Cooke are among the stars of the debut season, developed for Amazon by director John Carney ("Once"), who helms four of the eight episodes. Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
https://youtu.be/650Mt63HIBU
A frustrated teen (Charlie Plummer) struggles to find himself while dealing with first love at a boarding school in "Looking For Alaska," a limited series adapted from John Green's young adult novel by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage ("Gossip Girl"). Kristine Froseth plays the enigmatic Alaska Young and Denny Love, Timothy Simons, and Ron Cephas Jones co-star. Streaming on Hulu.
https://youtu.be/rWNlrgNNVm4
Meryl Streep plays a widows who inadvertently uncovers an international financial scandal in "The Laundromat" (2019, R), a film that uses humor and star-studded cast (Antonio Banderas, Gary Oldman, Sharon Stone, Jeffrey Wright and Matthias Schoenaerts) to explore the crimes exposed in The Panama Papers. Steven Soderbergh directs the Netflix Original feature, which played briefly in theaters.
https://youtu.be/wuBRcfe4bSo
New Halloween arrivals: Armie Hammer is a screw-up bartender targeted by dark spirits in "Wounds" (2019, R), costarring Dakota Johnson and Zazie Beetz (it comes to Hulu from the festival circuit), and a stricken child undergoes experimental treatments with terrifying side effects in "Eli" (2019, not rated), a Netflix Original Film starring Kelly Reilly and Lili Taylor.
https://youtu.be/LGTMkU7QK5o
Cult pick: Meat is precious enough to kill for in the deliciously black comedy "Delicatessen" (France, 1992, R, with subtitles), a cannibal farce with a science fiction setting and surreal sense of humor. Co-director Jean-Pierre Jeunet went on to make the hit romantic comedy "Amelie." Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
https://youtu.be/GVL5_I4CvTc
Pay-Per-View / Video on Demand
In "Crawl" (2019, R), a young woman and her injured father (Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper) are trapped in the crawl space of their Florida home with a vicious alligator during a raging hurricane with rising floodwaters. Alexander Aja directs this modern drive-in horror. Also new:
https://youtu.be/H6MLJG0RdDE
- action comedy "Stuber" (2019, R) with Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista;
- satire "The Art of Self-Defense" (2019, R) with Jesse Eisenberg and Alessandro Nivola;
- Rob Zombie's action horror "3 From Hell" (2019, R) with Bill Moseley and Sid Haig.
New documentaries this week include "Liam Gallagher: As It Was" (2019, not rated), which follow the former Oasis frontman as he embarks on a solo career;
- "Somewhere in the Middle" (2019, not rated), a profile of five working artists on the margins of fame, including actress Jasika Nicole ("The Good Doctor");
- "#NoJoke" (2019, not rated), which takes on bullying and features Patrick Stewart, Jeff Goldblum, Charlie Sheen and Jane Lynch;
- "Making Montgomery Clift" (2018, not rated), directed by the actor's nephew.
Available same day as select theaters nationwide is "Miss Virginia" (2019, not rated), a based-on-a-true-story drama starring Uzo Abuda ("Orange is the New Black") as a single mother challenging the system.
Netflix
Martin Scorsese won his first Oscar for Best Director for the undercover cop thriller "The Departed" (2006, R) starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Jack Nicholson.
Jim Carrey takes a dramatic role in the crime drama "Dark Crimes" (2016, R) as a police detective on the trail of a brutal killer.
True stories: twin brothers confront a dark family secret in "Tell Me Who I Am" (2019, not rated) and a group of suburban Muslim Americans in Texas confront a friend's decision to become an extremist in the award-winning short documentary "Ghosts of Sugar Land" (2019, not rated).
https://youtu.be/OLjaRjaGjRc
Streaming TV: the non-fiction series "Unnatural Selection: Season 1" triumphs and the potential dangers of gene editing. Also new is the competition series "Interior Design Masters: Season 1."
International affairs: French hip-hop artist Kery James writes, co-directs, and stars in "Street Flow" (aka "Banlieusards") (France, 2019, TV-MA, with subtitles), an urban drama about three brothers trying to find a future in the projects outside Paris. Also new:
"Seventeen" (Spain, 2019, not rated, with subtitles), a road picture about a teenager who escapes from juvenile detention to track down his kidnapped therapy dog and reconnect with his brother;
"Upstarts" (India, 2019, not rated, with subtitles), a buddy film about three idealistic college graduates in the cutthroat world of startups.
International TV: "The Yard: Season 1" (aka "Avlu") (Turkey, with subtitles) is a Turkish version of the Australian prison drama "Wentworth Prison." Also new:
comedy "Toon: Seasons 1-2" (Netherlands, with subtitles) about a reluctant viral video star;
young adult crime drama "Baby: Season 2" (Italy, with subtitles);
satirical comedy "The House of Flowers: Season 2" (Mexico, not rated).
Kid stuff: twin brothers battle a government conspiracy with a band of rebels in "The Unlisted: Season 1" (Netflix Family), a science fiction thriller for teens from Australia. For preschool kids there's the animated "Mighty Little Bheem – Diwali: Season 1."
Stand-up: "Martin Matte: La vie, la mort...eh la la..!" (2019, TV-14, with subtitles) features the Quebecois comic in a French-language performance.
Amazon Prime Video
Indie Canadian horror "Ginger Snaps" (2001, not rated) combines werewolf lore with puberty for an inspired piece of female-centered horror that also delivers bloody spectacle, smart dialogue, and monster movie scares. Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle star and return in the sequel "Ginger Snaps 2" (2004, not rated) and the prequel "Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning" (2004, not rated) set on the 19th century Canadian frontier.
https://youtu.be/lRXT1J0kqdY
International affairs: François Ozon directs "Frantz" (France, 2017, PG-13, not rated), an historical drama set between the two world wars.
Streaming TV: Eddie Albert is a New York lawyer who buys a run-down farm in the rural burg of Hooterville and Eva Gabor is his socialite wife in "Green Acres: Complete Series" (1965-1971), a goofy sitcom with cornpone humor.
Hulu
Tessa Thompson and Lily James are estranged sisters reunited after the death of their mother in "Little Woods" (2019, R), a drama set in the opioid crisis of the American Midwest.
A young woman fights an alien invasion in "Starfish (2018, not rated), an indie science fiction film with an experimental approach.
Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem are aid workers in a war-torn African country in "The Last Face" (2017, R), directed by Sean Penn.
Streaming TV: "Letterkenny: Season 7" continues the absurdist Canadian comedy of rural life.
True stories: "Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am" (2019, PG-13) honors the great American author with a deep dive into her life, her work, and her legacy.
HBO Now
The death spiral continues in the horror comedy sequel "Happy Death Day 2U" (2019, PG-13) with Jessica Rothe.
True stories: "Liberty: Mother of Exiles" (2019, TV-14) looks at the history and legacy of the Statue of Liberty.
Available Saturday night is M. Night Shyamalan's "Glass" (2019, PG-13), a sequel to both "Unbreakable" and "Split" with Bruce Willis, James McAvoy, and Samuel L. Jackson.
Other streams
Showtime presents the original documentary "Sid & Judy" (2019, TV-14), a look at the life of Hollywood icon Judy Garland through the eyes of her manager and third husband Sid Luft.
Jacques Tourneur's film noir masterpiece "Out of the Past" (1947) with Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer and frontier drama "Stars in My Crown" (1950) with Joel McCrea (the director's personal favorite) are new to Criterion Channel this month, joining the filmmaker's horror classics "Cat People" and "I Walked With a Zombie" (featured in last week's roundup).
A wife and mother in 1920s Sicily tries to give her family a better life in New York City in "The Promised Life" (Italy, 2018). The first season debuts in the U.S. on Acorn TV.
"Professor T: Season 1" (Germany, with subtitles), a murder mystery about a strange but brilliant criminologist (Matthias Mattschke) who helps the police in their most challenging cases, and "Dicte: Season 1" (Denmark, with subtitles) starring Iben Hjejle as a mystery-solving crime reporter are new to MHz. New episodes arrive each Tuesday.
New on disc and at Redbox this week:
"Crawl," "Stuber," "The Art of Self-Defense," "3 From Hell"
Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. His reviews of streaming movies and TV can be found at http://streamondemandathome.com.
