What's new for home viewing on video-on-demand and Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and other streaming services, starting Friday.
Top streams for the week
Free streams: If you have a library card, you may be able to watchmovies, documentaries, and other programs through Kanopy and Hoopla. Most major library systems in the country (public and college both) offer access to one or the other, some offer both. (Editor’s note: Kanopy is available through Washington State University Libraries.)
Kanopy includes a big selection of international classics from the Criterion Collection and offers up to five free streams a month. Hoopla favors recent foreign and independent films and British TV and offers up to ten titles a month. Both include plenty of family-friendly programs. Visit kanopystreaming.com or hoopladigital.com for more information.
The great character actor Harry Dean Stanton is "Lucky" (2017, not rated), a charming little character piece about a laconic old man confronted with his mortality. He was 90 when he played the role, which was only his second turn as a lead in his long career, and it's a lovely tribute to the actor who passed away soon after completing the film. David Lynch takes a rare acting role in another filmmaker's movie as his best friend and Ron Livingston, Ed Begley Jr., Tom Skerritt, Beth Grant, and James Darren co-star. Now streaming on Hulu.
https://youtu.be/2KLLkj84GAo
The regal Charlotte Rampling earned an Oscar nomination for "45 Years" (2015, R)
https://youtu.be/gFPmhyUCzi0
a portrait of a long, happy marriage suddenly jolted when the distant past of the devoted husband (Tom Courtenay) suddenly resurfaces. A hushed British drama of powerful feelings under placid surfaces. Streaming on Netflix.
Pay-Per-View / Video-On-Demand
Willem Dafoe earned an Oscar nomination playing the manager of a low-rent hotel in the American indie drama "The Florida Project" (2017, R). Available on VOD before DVD.
https://youtu.be/WwQ-NH1rRT4
Josh Brolin and Miles Teller are elite firefighters battling an epic wildfire in "Only the Brave" (2017, PG-13), inspired by a true story. Also on DVD and Blu-ray and at Redbox.
Also new: moms-gone-wild comedy sequel "A Bad Moms Christmas" (2017, R) with Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell, dark comedy "Suburbicon" (2017, R) from director George Clooney, historical drama "LBJ" (2017, R) with Woody Harrelson, and horror thriller "Thelma" (Norway, 2017, not rated, with subtitles).
Available same day as select theaters nationwide are the romantic comedies "Basmati Blues" (2017, not rated) with Brie Larson, "Permission" (2018, not rated) with Rebecca Hall and Dan Stevens, "The Female Brain" (2018, not rated) with Whitney Cummings and Sofia Vergara, and the LGBTQ "Signature Move" (2017, not rated) set in the world of masked wrestlers.
Netflix
Netflix announced the secretive sci-fi project "The Cloverfield Paradox" (2018, not rated) during the Super Bowl and released it directly after the game. Too bad the secretive third film set in J.J. Abrams' loose science-fiction invasion franchise didn't live up to the excitement.
https://youtu.be/8brYvhEg5Aw
Two more films debut directly to Netflix this week: "When We First Met" (2018, not rated), a romantic comedy with a time travel twist starring Adam Devine and Alexandra Daddario, and British horror film "The Ritual" (2017, not rated).
Alternate awards season: the animated "The Emoji Movie" (2017, PG) is a Razzie nominee for worst picture of 2017.
Kid stuff: "Woody Woodpecker" (2017, PG) gets a computer animation makeover in a live action comedy.
Streaming TV: "Queer Eye: Season 1" reboots the makeover reality series for Netflix. Also new: the second installment of "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman" with George Clooney and the CW military melodrama "Valor: Season 1," just days after the season finale aired.
Foreign affairs: Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts star in "Rust and Bone" (France, 2012, R, with subtitles), a hard-edged romantic drama from Jacques Audiard. Also new: "The Wound (Inxeba)" (South Africa, 2017, not rated), set in the Xhosa community in rural South Africa, and the short documentary "The Trader (Sovdagari)" (Republic of Georgia, 2018, with subtitles).
True stories: "Seeing Allred" (2018, not rated) profiles lawyer and women's right advocate Gloria Allred. Also new: "Before the Flood" (2016, PG) on the effects of global warming and Alex Gibney's "The Armstrong Lie" (2013, R) on the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.
Stand-up: "Fred Armisen: Standup For Drummers."
Amazon Prime Video
Inspired by a true story, "50/50" (2011, R) mines comedy from the ordeal of a young man ( Joseph Gordon-Levitt) diagnosed with cancer.
Also new:
- the original "Steel Magnolias" (1989, PG) with Sally Field, Shirley Maclaine, Dolly Parton, and Julia Roberts;
- cult science fiction drama "The Man From Earth" (2007, not rated), based on an original screenplay by "Star Trek" veteran Jerome Bixby;
- TV movie "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1968) with Jack Palance
https://youtu.be/pVCwf6__yB0
Hulu
Get into the Olympic spirit with "Downhill Racer" (1969, PG) starring Robert Redford as ferociously competitive skier.
True stories: "Weiner" (2016, R) chronicles the 2013 mayoral campaign of New York politician Anthony Weiner as he attempts to resurrect his image after his sexting scandal.
Foreign affairs: based on a true story, "A Taxi Driver" (South Korea, 2017, with subtitles) follows a Korean driver (Song Kang Ho of "Snowpiercer") and a German journalist in the chaos of the 1980 uprising in Gwangju.
Streaming TV: Hank Azaria is minor league baseball announcer "Brockmire" in the first season of the IFC comedy. Also new:
- "Broad City: Season 4 " from Comedy Central;
- "Archer: Dreamland: Season 8," which takes the animated spy spoof into old school private eye territory;
- TNT crime drama "Perception: Complete Series," starring Eric McCormack as a crime-solving neuropsychiatrist;
- complete runs of the ABC sitcoms "Gary Unmarried " with Jay Mohr and animated "The PJ’s" from Eddie Murphy.
Chris Evans is a single father trying to give a child prodigy a normal childhood in "Gifted" (2017, PG-13).
Arriving Saturday night is "Wonder Woman" (2017, PG-13), the superhero hit of 2017 with Gal Gadot as the original comic book superheroine, and on Sunday HBO launches its new original drama "Here and Now" with Holly Hunter and Tim Robbins as parents of a multi-ethnic family in Portland, Ore.
Showtime Anytime
Jamie Foxx stars in the crime thriller "Sleepless" (2017, R).
Standup: "Eddie Griffin: Undeniable" (2018, TV-MA)
FilmStruck / Criterion Channel
The Criterion Channel celebrates the Olympics with a collection of documentaries chronicling almost a century of the event, including Leni Riefenstahl's epic "Olympia" (Germany, 1938, with subtitles) and the international anthology "Visions of Eight" (1973).
FilmStruck presents a collection of City Symphony movies, from "Berlin: Symphony of a Great City" (Germany, 1927, silent with score) to "London Symphony" (2017, not rated). It includes two of my favorites: Dziga Vertov's dizzying "Man with a Movie Camera" (USSR, 1929, silent with score) and Jean Vigo's poetic "A Propos de Nice" (France, 1930, silent with score)
For a more modern urban experience, FilmStruck offers two great triad thrillers from Hong Kong crime movie master Johnnie To: "The Mission" (Hong Kong, 1999, not rated, with subtitles) and "Vengeance" (Hong Kong, 2009, not rated, with subtitles) featuring French icon Johnny Hallyday.
Acorn TV
Miranda Richardson, Phyllis Logan, and Zoe Wanamaker are old friends in the British drama "Girlfriends," which makes its U.S. debut on Acorn TV. New episodes arrive each Monday.
Also new: the second season of the Australian medical dramedy "The Heart Guy" (new episodes arrive each Monday) and 1990s drama "Doctor Finlay: Series 1," based on the stories by A.J. Cronin.
BritBox
BritBox prepares for Valentine's Day with a week of romantic programming, including the 2002 mini-series "Doctor Zhivago" with Keira Knightley and the time-travel comedy "Lost In Austen."
New on disc this week:
"Only the Brave," "A Bad Moms Christmas," "Suburbicon," "LBJ," "Batman: Gotham by Gaslight"
Now available at Redbox:
"Only the Brave," "A Bad Moms Christmas," "Suburbicon," "24 Hours to Live," "Batman: Gotham by Gaslight"
Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. His reviews of streaming movies and TV can be found at http://streamondemandathome.com.
