Top streams for the week
Less "based on" than "inspired by" a true story, "Cocaine Bear" (2023, R) turns the real-life incident of drug smuggling gone awry into a gleefully gory comedy thriller about a disparate group in the forests Georgia crossing paths with a black bear on a cocaine-fueled rampage. Keri Russell takes top billing as a mother desperate to save her child and O'Shea Jackson Jr. and Alden Ehrenreich are mob flunkies sent to retrieve the missing shipment dropped into the National Forest. Elizabeth Banks directs with plenty of comic overkill. (Peacock)
The romantic comedy "Ticket to Paradise" (2022, PG-13) reunites George Clooney and Julia Roberts as estranged exes who hate each other but team up to stop their daughter (Kaitlyn Dever) from impulsively marrying a kelp farmer in Bali. (Prime Video)
Daisy May Cooper and Selin Hizli write and star in the British comedy thriller "Am I Being Unreasonable?: Season 1" (not rated) as a grieving wife and mother (Cooper) and her best friend (Hizli), a new woman in town whose dark secrets start to come out as their relationship develops. All episodes streaming. (Hulu)
Jennifer Garner produces and stars in the limited series "The Last Thing He Told Me" (TV-MA) as a woman who must work with her teenage stepdaughter (Angourie Rice) to find out what happened to her missing husband. Laura Dave adapts her bestselling novel with Oscar-winning screenwriter Josh Singer ("Spotlight"). New episodes on Fridays. (Apple TV+)
International pick: French filmmaker Cedric Klapisch follows up his hit "L'Auberge Espagnol" film trilogy with "Greek Salad: Season 1" (France, not rated, with subtitles), which follows the children (Aliocha Schneider and Megan Northam) of the couple in the films (Romain Duris and Kelly Reilly, reprising their screen roles) after they inherit a building in Athens and end up connecting with young people from all over Europe. (Prime Video)
Classic pick: a woman on the run for murder lands in a sleazy hideaway in the Caribbean in "Safe in Hell" (1931), a snappy, disreputable gem from filmmaker William Wellman from the daring pre-code era of early Hollywood. (HBO Max)
Pay-Per-View / Video on Demand
Bill Nighy earned his first Oscar nomination in "Living" (2022, PG-13), a remake of the classic Akira Kurosawa drama "Ikiru," and Emma Mackey is "Wuthering Heights" author Emily Brontë in "Emily" (2023, R). Both also on DVD.
Netflix
The limited series erotic thriller "Obsession" (TV-MA) stars Richard Armitage as a London surgeon who gets involved in a passionate and reckless affair with his son's fiancée (Charlie Murphy). Based on the novel "Damage" by Josephine Hart.
A disgraced cop (Edgar Ramírez) reluctantly returns home to track down a mobster's runaway girlfriend in "Florida Man" (TV-MA), a limited series mystery thriller with a comic edge.
Uhtred (Alexander Dreymon) attempts the united the warring tribes into a united England in "The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die" (2023, TV-MA), the feature-length conclusion to the popular historical drama.
Actor Megalyn Echikunwoke makes her directorial debut with the short drama "Weathering" (2023, TV-MA) starring Alfre Woodard.
True stories: the limited series "American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing" (TV-MA) delves into the manhunt that followed the terrorist bombing.
International passport: a nationalist politician falls in love with a passionate, left-wing activist in the romantic comedy "Operation: Nation" (Poland, 2023, TV-MA, with subtitles). Also new:
"Phenomena" (Spain, 2023, TV-MA, with subtitles), a thriller about three middle-aged women who investigate paranormal event;
the road movie comedy "Queens on the Run" (Mexico, 2023, TV-MA, with subtitles).
International TV: a savvy political veteran puts her skills and experience to work to help a civil rights lawyer's mayoral campaign in "Queenmaker: Season 1" (South Korea, TV-MA, with subtitles).
Stand-up: "Leanne Morgan: I'm Every Woman" (TV-14) and "Celeste Barber: Fine, thanks" (TV-MA).
Hulu
An aging film star (Alice Krige) recovering from surgery in the Scottish countryside is roused to vengeance in the folk horror thriller "She Will" (2021, not rated).
A demon unleashed in a funeral home targets the unborn child of a Hasidic funeral director in "The Offering" (2023, R).
Artistic rivalries in a culinary sonic collective push passions to the breaking point in "Flux Gourmet" (2022, not rated), a mix of horror and satire from filmmaker Peter Strickland,
HBO Max
The young adult superhero series "Titans" (TV-MA) returns for its final episodes and the fourth season of "A Black Lady Sketch Show: Season 4" (TV-MA) beings.
Disney+
The four-part series "Rennervations" (TV-PG) follows actor Jeremy Renner as he and his best friend travel the globe to transform old purpose-built vehicles into devices to help small communities. It streams with the TV special "Jeremy Renner: The Diane Sawyer Interview" (TV-PG).
Amazon Prime Video
True stories: "Life Itself" (2014, R) explores the life, career, and achievements of film critic Roger Ebert.
International passport: Three strangers out for revenger collide in the brutal and bloody thriller "Big Bad Wolves" (Israel, 2014, with subtitles, TV-MA).
Stand-up: "Lizzy Hoo: Hoo Cares!?" (2023, 16+)
Paramount +
Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson's comedy "Broad City: Complete Series" (2014-2019, TV-MA) has a new streaming home.
A grieving man abandons his body to rejoin his dead wife in a world without death in "4/11 – Yonder: Season 1" (South Korea, not rated). It debuts along with three South Korean crime thrillers: "Save Me: Complete Series" (2017-2019, TV-14), "Signal: Complete Series" (2016, not rated), "Voice: Seasons 1-2" (2017-2018, TV-14), all with subtitles).
Peacock
The romantic comedy "Marry Me" (2022, PG-13) with Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson returns to Peacock for a limited time.
Apple TV+
Kid stuff: a budding young environmentalist (Ava Louise Murchison) footsteps of her hero, Dr. Jane Goodall, in "Jane: Season 1" (TV-G)
Other streams
A mysterious London firm is disrupting the world of magic in the fantasy comedy "The Portable Door" (2023, TV-PG) with Christoph Waltz and Sam Neill. (MGM+)
A suicidal young woman (Thomasin McKenzie) finds new purpose talking strangers out of killing themselves in "Totally, Completely Fine: Season 1" (not rated). (AMC+ and Sundance Now)
The five-part limited series "Waco: The Aftermath" (not rated), a sequel to the 2018 miniseries, dramatizes the rise of homegrown terrorism in the wake of the Branch Davidian disaster. Michael Shannon stars. (Showtime Anytime)
Martin Scorsese directs "Personality Crisis: One Night Only" (2023, not rated), a profile of musician, singer, and "New York Dolls" frontman David Johansen. (Showtime Anytime)
Britbox pays tribute to actor Brian Cox with the hour-long "An Interview with Brian Cox" (not rated) plus the comedy "Bob Servant Independent: Complete Series" (2013, not rated) and the BBC films "Saltwater" (2000, not rated) and "Blue/Orange" (2005, not rated). (Britbox)
"Directed by David Lynch" spotlights six features and nine short films from the indie maverick filmmaker, from his weird, nightmarish debut feature "Eraserhead" (1977, not rated) to "Inland Empire" (2006, not rated) , a mystery starring Laura Dern as "A woman in trouble." Includes two of Lynch's greatest achievements, "Lost Highway" (1997, R) and "Mulholland Dr." (2001, R), a pair of offbeat thrillers with surreal twists. Also includes dozens of bonus interviews, featurettes, and other supplements ephemera. (Criterion Channel)
"Songs from the Second Floor" (Sweden, 2000, not rated, with subtitles) is a mad, mordant, one-of-a-kind black comedy from the singular Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson. (Criterion Channel)
"Orlando" (1992), Sally Potter's imaginative film of the historical fantasy by Virginia Woolf, brought actress Tilda Swinton to the world's attention. (MUBI)
In the cyberpunk musical "Burst City" (Japan, 1982, not rated, with subtitled), two punk bands gather their fans to protest a nuclear power plant.
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
