New service offers free streaming movies
What’s new to watch this week on pay-per-view and streaming services:
Humor website Break.com has partnered with Lionsgate to launch a free streaming movie channel. There are about 80 films to start, from Oscar nominees like “Winter’s Bone” (the film that launched Jennifer Lawrence) and “Requiem for a Dream” to pre-sorted junk like “Kickboxer” and “Leprechaun” sequels, and new titles will be added each week. It’s ad supported, and there are apps to stream it on your media devices. Check it out at www.break.com/ movies/.
Pay-per-view / Video on Demand
“The Boxtrolls,” an Oscar nominee for Animated Feature, is a storybook fantasy with a British sensibility but the intricate and inventive stop-motion animation production comes from Portland’s Laika Entertainment. Also on Blu-ray and DVD.
Most of the Oscar-nominated films are still in theaters, but a few are available to see at home, including multiple nominees “Boyhood” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” There’s also “Gone Girl” (Best Actress), “How to Train Your Dragon 2” (Animated Feature), and special effects nominees “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” and “X-Men: Days of Future Past.”
Definitely not a nominee: Scarlett Johansson gets a brain-juicing upgrade that turns her into both a supercomputer and a superhero in “Lucy,” a silly action film with great action set pieces. Morgan Freeman provides the sage commentary.
“Laggies,” the latest from Seattle-based filmmaker Lynn Shelton, is her most accessible yet, a comedy starring Keira Knightly as an unfocused 20-something resisting adult responsibility.
Also new: the horror prequel “Annabelle” and the satirical college comedy “Dear White People.” Arriving same day as theaters are the dramas “The Humbling” with Al Pacino and Greta Gerwig and “Song One” with Anne Hathaway.
Netflix
If you’ve heard rumors that Netflix is losing its BBC TV shows, you can breathe easier. Most will be sticking around, including “Doctor Who” (old and new), “Luther” and the original “House of Cards,” but a few are leaving on Feb. 1. Now is the time to catch up on the comedies “Faulty Towers,” “Blackadder” and “Red Dwarf,” and the espionage thriller “MI-5” (featuring “Selma” star David Oyelowo in its first three seasons).
If you wish that “Downton Abbey” had more mystery to it, “Death Comes to Pemberly” may be your cup of English Breakfast tea. Based on the P.D. James novel, this British TV film is a sequel to “Pride and Prejudice” with Elizabeth and Darcy playing detective (but with very proper manners) when the rakish Wickham is accused of murder.