‘Gone Girl’ adapts novel into smart thriller
What’s new to watch this week on pay-per-view and streaming services:
Pay-per-view and video on demand
“Gone Girl,” the screen version of Gillian Flynn’s novel directed by David Fincher and starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike is a smart, cynical thriller with a streak of dark humor and social satire. Pike earned an Oscar nomination, and Flynn’s screenplay should have scored a nomination.
“The Judge,” a legal drama starring Robert Downey Jr., also received a nomination, for supporting actor Robert Duvall.
Brad Pitt leads a tank crew through Germany in the final days of the war in Europe in “Fury,” a gritty World War II drama co-starring Shia LaBeouf and Logan Lerman.
Kevin Kline inherits a Paris apartment and Maggie Smith comes with it in the comedy “My Old Lady.”
Based on a true story, “Low Down” stars John Hawkes as a drug-addicted jazz pianist and Elle Fanning as his teenage daughter watching his spiral of self-destruction.
Available same day as it opens in theaters is the romantic drama “Amira & Sam” with Martin Starr and Dina Shihabi and the action film “Wild Card” with Jason Statham and Michael Angarano.
Netflix
The most unexpectedly controversial film of 2014, the comedy “The Interview” with James Franco and Seth Rogan attempting to assassinate Kim Jong-un, arrived on Netflix over the weekend, not too long after its successful VOD run.
If you don’t watch it, then the North Koreans win. Or something like that.
Jon Favreau turned down the third “Iron Man” film so he could direct and star in the indie film “Chef,” playing a burned-out celebrity chef in Los Angeles who rediscovers his passion for cooking with a food truck that he runs with friends and family.
Binge watch: Denis Leary developed “Sirens: Season 1,” a comedy about self-destructive EMTs in Chicago.
Catch up on the first season while the second season begins on USA.
Euro-zone crime series “Crossing Lines: Season 2” did not play on American TV, but Netflix has it along with the first season.
Amazon Instant Prime
The original 1982 version of the musical “Annie,” with Albert Finney as Daddy Warbucks and Carol Burnett as the wicked Miss Hannigan, is now available to compare to the new take with Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz.
It’s also on Netflix, as is the romantic drama “Barefoot” with Evan Rachel Wood and Scott Speedman, the thriller “Repentance” with Forest Whitaker and Anthony Mackie, and the 2014 stand-up comedy special “Patton Oswalt: Comedy Plus Tragedy Equals Time.”