Top streams for the week
The con artist thriller "Sharper" (2022, R) stars Julianne Moore and Sebastian Stan as a pair of grifters who entangle a college student (Briana Middleton) in a scheme involving a shy bookstore owner (Justice Smith) and a Manhattan billionaire (John Lithgow). The film, directed by Benjamin Caron, dissects and reconstructs the classic con thriller to tell its story in reverse and keep the audience guessing just who is conning who. It's a twisty little story with a sometimes mean-spirited edge. Streams a week after a limited theatrical release. (Apple TV+)
Tilda Swinton is a literary scholar and Idris Elba an ancient Djinn released from his prison in a bottle in "Three Thousand Years of Longing" (2022, R), a lovingly-told fantasy based on a short story by A.S. Byatt. Three wishes are involved, of course, but director George Miller is more interested in telling a story of love and disappointment that spans three millennia, and he fills the screen with deliriously beautiful images of mythical imagination. (Prime Video and MGM+)
Set in an alternate reality past, the dramedy "Hello Tomorrow: Season 1" (TV-MA) stars Billy Crudup as the optimistic leader of a team of salesman hawking timeshares on the Moon in 1950s suburban America. His optimism in a better tomorrow inspires his coworkers and customers but leaves him teetering on the brink of disappointment. Haneefah Wood, Alison Pill, Hank Azaria, and Jacki Weaver costar. Three episodes available, new episodes on Fridays. (Apple TV+)
The third and final season of "Star Trek: Picard" (TV-14) reunites the Starship Captain (Patrick Stewart) with members of his former crew. Gates McFadden, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Jeri Ryan, Marina Sirtis, Jonathan Frakes, and Brent Spiner all make appearances. New episodes on Thursdays. (Paramount+)
The wary coexistence of humans and faerie folk threatens to descend into war in the second and final season of "Carnival Row" (TV-MA), set in a fantasy version of 19th century London where the magical beings are oppressed by the human majority. Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne star. Two episodes available, new episodes on Fridays. (Prime Video)
The British horror thriller "Red Rose: Season 1" (TV-MA) follows a group of teens who download an app that hacks their phones and their lives, blackmailing them into performing increasingly dangerous tasks. (Netflix)
True stories: Jada Pinkett Smith produces and narrates "African Queens: Njinga" (TV-14), a documentary miniseries about the life of the 17th century warrior queen of Ndongo and Matamba. (Netflix)
Pay-Per-View / Video on Demand
Steven Spielberg draws from his own childhood for his family drama "The Fabelmans" (2022, PG-13), which was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including best picture.
The Christmas action thriller "Violent Night" (2022, R) stars David Harbor as a Santa Claus turned action hero taking on brutal criminals.
Netflix
Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg team up in the action thriller "2 Guns" (2013, R).
The nonfiction series "Full Swing: Season 1" (TV-MA) follows a diverse group of professional golfers on and off the course during a season of competition.
International passport: six high school students are trapped in a murderous time loop in the horror series "Re/Member" (Japan, 2023, TV-MA, with subtitles) and a lost smartphone gives a hacker access to a woman's entire life in the mystery thriller "Unlocked" (South Korea, 2023, TV-MA, with subtitles).
International TV: "The Law According to Lidia Poët: Season 1" (Italy, TV-MA, with subtitles) dramatizes the life of the real-life 19th century woman who fought to become Italy's first female lawyer.
Stand-up: "Jim Jefferies: High n' Dry" (TV-MA).
Hulu
James Norton and Gemma Arterton star in "Rogue Agent" (2022, not rated), a thriller inspired by the true story of a con man who successfully passed himself off as an undercover MI5 agent.
The documentary series "Planet Sex with Cara Delevingne" (TV-MA) explores the joys, mysteries, and changing nature of human sexuality
Streaming TV: Joel McHale stars in "Animal Control: Season 1" (TV-PG), a sitcom set in Seattle and the third and final season of "Wu-Tang: An American Saga" (TV-MA) begins.
International TV: a famous TV reporter conceals his involvement in a crime he's covering in the thriller "Horario Estelar: Season 1" (Mexico, not rated, with subtitles).
HBO Max
Stand-up: "Marc Maron: From Bleak to Dark" (TV-MA).
Disney+
A 16-year-old girl travels to parallel dimensions to find her mother in the fantasy "Mila in the Multiverse: Season 1" (Brazil, TV-PG, with subtitles).
Amazon Prime Video
The eight-episode western "The Head of Joaquín Murrieta" (Mexico, TV-MA, with subtitles) stars Juan Manuel Bernal as the real-life outlaw known as the Mexican Robin Hood in 1851.
Jamie Lee Curtis plays Laurie Strode for the last time in "Halloween Ends" (2022, R), the third and final film of David Gordon Green's sequel horror series.
Other streams
Four young men from the South Asian enclave of Los Angeles hatch a plan to steal wedding diamonds from an ex-girlfriend in the comic caper "Four Samosas" (2022, PG-13) (AMC+).
Horror, science fiction, and action mix it up in "The Witch: Part 2 – The Other One" (South Korea, 2022, not rated, with subtitles), which follows the search for a young woman created in a secret lab to be a weapon. (AMC+ and Shudder)
A young woman flees a stalker with the help of a friend who dabbles in witchcraft in "Jethica" (2022, not rated), an indie horror that slips into dry humor. (Fandor)
Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker star in the hit family sitcom "My Family: Complete Series" (2000-2011, TV-14). (BritBox)
The rediscovered indie "Alma's Rainbow" (1994) is a coming-of-age comic drama about a Brooklyn teenager with two very different role models of Black American womanhood: a straight-laced hairdresser mother and a free-spirited showgirl aunt. (Criterion Channel)
Julie Christie earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in "Away from Her" (2006, PG-13), the debut feature from "Women Talking" director Sarah Polley. (MUBI)
Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. His reviews of streaming movies and TV can be found at https://streamondemandathome.com.
Copyright © 2023 by Sean Axmaker
