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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

‘Narcos’ follows Colombian cartels

From left, Wagner Moura, Juan Riedinger, Juan Pablo Raba, Roberto Urbino and Luis Guzman star in the Netflix series “Narcos.”
Sean Axmaker

What’s new for home viewing on video-on-demand and Netflix, Amazon Prime and other streaming services.

Netflix

The new Netflix original series Narcos is a sprawling crime saga produced in Colombia by filmmaker José Padilha, who draws inspiration from “Goodfellas” and other American gangster movies for his take on drug kingpin Pablo Escobar and the rise of the cartels. In Spanish with subtitles, features explicit sex and violence. All 10 episodes of the first season available.

The modern Gothic horror Byzantium(2012) is an inspired twist on the vampire myth from filmmaker Neil Jordan (R).

More streaming TV: Once Upon a Time: Season 4brings “Frozen” into Storybrooke’s fairy tale world, and the CBS warhorse NCIS: Season 12 keeps investigating military-related crimes. Both arrive a month before the new seasons debut on TV.

For the kids: Girl Meets World: Season 1,” originally made for the Disney Channel, is a sequel to the ’90s sitcom for today’s teens and tweens, and for the elementary school set there’s the Netflix original Inspector Gadget: Season 2.”

Amazon Instant Prime

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(2014), the live-action reboot of the comic book heroes in the half shell from Michael Bay, stars Megan Fox and Will Arnett with the CGI heroes. PG-13 for sci-fi action violence.

Timbuktu(2014) from the African nation of Mauritania was an Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. It has English subtitles and is PG-13.

In Grantchester,” set in a picturesque British village in the early 1950s, a priest (James Norton) and a detective (Robson Green) solve murders the British TV mystery way.

Pay-per-view / video on demand

Cameron Crowe’s sentimental and intermittently charming romcom Aloha,” starring Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, and Rachel McAdams, was a major flop, but the PG-13 film has beautiful people, a Hawaiian setting and Bill Murray. The Cable On Demand rental features a bonus gag reel.

Digging for Fire,” a low key comic drama with Jake Johnson and Rosemarie DeWitt as a married couple on separate staycations, comes to VOD just days after its theatrical premier. Rated R.

Available same day as select theaters nationwide is the indie drama Queen of Earth with Elisabeth Moss (no rating, adult themes), the post-apocalyptic Z for Zachariah with Margot Robbie and Chiwetel Ejiofor (PG-13), and the offbeat comedy 7 Chinese Brothers with Jason Schwartzman (no rating, mature themes).

Hulu

The cable TV series Fargo: Season 1 isn’t exactly a spinoff of the movie, but it captures the sensibility and morbid sense of humor of the Coen brothers and features a terrific cast that includes Billy Bob Thornton and Martin Freeman.

Now available at Redbox: “Aloha,” “Home,” “The Water Diviner,” “Lila and Eve”

Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. His work appears in Parallax View, Turner Classic Movies online, Keyframe, and at http://streamon demandathome.com.