Films for comedy fans, foodies hit small screen
What’s new to watch this week on pay-per-view and streaming services:
Pay-per-view and video on demand
With everyone recovering from Thanksgiving overkill, what better time to indulge in a feel-good foodie film. “The Hundred-Foot Journey” sets classical French cuisine against traditional Indian spices and ends up mixing the cultures, personally and professionally. Helen Mirren plays the old epicurean guard and Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey produce this international curry.
Also new: the romantic comedy “And So It Goes” with Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton, the science fiction drama “I Origins” with Michael Pitt and Brit Marling, the direct-to-disc-and-VOD holiday comedy “Jingle All the Way 2” with Larry the Cable Guy, and a whole batch of horror films, including “As Above, So Below,” which plays out in the catacombs below Paris.
Netflix
It’s a new month and a new batch of movies. Among the notable additions are the Oscar-winning “American Beauty,” the rock ’n’ roll coming-of-age film “Almost Famous” and the medieval odyssey “A Knight’s Tale,” with Heath Ledger jousting to an arena rock soundtrack.
Among the more recent films are the comedies “The One I Love” with Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss, “The Grand Seduction” with Taylor Kitsch, and the fantasy role-playing goof “Knights of Badassdom” (filmed in Spokane) with Ryan Kwanten (“True Blood”), Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”), and Summer Glau (“Firefly”).
“Son of God” presents the story of Jesus from birth to resurrection. It’s edited down from the TV mini-series “The Bible,” which is also available in its entirety.
Amazon Instant Prime
The coming-of-age story “Stand By Me” with River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton is rated R for language but is otherwise fine for older kids, and “A League of Their Own,” about the short-lived women’s baseball league of World War II, is a fine family film with Geena Davis and Tom Hanks. And it features the immortal line: “There’s no crying in baseball.”
For the kids, there’s “Madeline,” based on the beloved storybooks of the little French schoolgirl, and “Stuart Little 2,” inspired by the E.B. White books about a talking mouse.
And here’s a couple of classics that are always worth a revisit: the 1952 comedy “Monkey Business” with Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers and a young Marilyn Monroe, and the quintessential James Bond film “Goldfinger” with the quintessential Bond, Sean Connery.
Hulu Plus
“Selfie” and “Manhattan Love Story” were canceled by ABC with episodes still unaired. Hulu and ABC.com are streaming the unaired episodes. You can also stream them at ABC.com.