Stream on Demand: Spider-Man slings his web for home viewing
What’s new for home viewing on video-on-demand and Netflix, Amazon Prime, and other streaming services.
Top streams for the week
“1922” (2017, not rated), starring Thomas Jane as a Nebraska farmer consumed with guilt after committing murder, is the second Netflix original film this month based on the work of Stephen King.
The third and final season of the Amazon series “Red Oaks” brings closure to the easy-going dramedy about a New Jersey kid with dreams of becoming a filmmaker in the 1980s. Six episodes, with ’80s movie vets Amy Heckerling and Hal Hartley directing key episodes.
New: Netflix, which is outspending all streaming competitors in its expansion of new programing, is raising the price of its standard plan (two screens, HD quality) by $1 to $10.99 a month and its premium plan (four screens) by $2 to $13.99 (the basic $7.99 plan remains the same). Expect to see the new charges on your bill within the next couple of months. Meanwhile, Hulu is dropping the price of its entry-level plan by $2 to $5.99 for the first year for new customers.
Pay-Per-View / Video-On-Demand
“Spider-Man: Homecoming” (2017, PG-13) reboots the web-slinging superhero as a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tom Holland captures the sense of wonder and anxiety of a high school kid aspiring to Avengers greatness while juggling the down-to-earth problems of a teenager, Michael Keaton is a supervillain with a blue collar work ethic, and Robert Downey Jr. jets in as reluctant mentor Iron Man. Also on DVD and Blu-ray and at Redbox.
Also new: hit buddy comedy “Girls Trip” (2017, R) with Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, and Jada Pinkett Smith, the British drama “Lady Macbeth” (2017, R) with Florence Pugh, the Yiddish-language drama “Menashe” (2017, PG, with subtitles) set in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community, the French drama “The Midwife” (2017, not rated, with subtitles) with Catherine Deneuve, and the documentary “Step” (2017, PG) about the step dance team in inner-city Baltimore.
Available same day as select theaters nationwide are the survival thriller “Jungle“ (2017, R) with Daniel Radcliffe, the indie drama “The Bachelors” (2017, not rated) with J.K. Simmons and Julie Delpy, and the thriller “Never Here” (2017, R) with Mireille Enos and Sam Shepard in his last film role.
Netflix
“Smurfs: The Lost Village” (2017, PG) skips live actors completely for an animated adventure about the little blue cartoon characters.
The action thriller “Wheelman” (2017, not rated), starring Frank Grillo as a getaway driver in a race to survive after a bank robbery gone wrong, comes directly to Netflix.
Sylvester Stallone is a hitman in Walter Hill’s “Bullet to the Head” (2012, R), a New Orleans-set thriller with Sarah Shahi, Christian Slater, and a fire-axe battle with Jason Momoa.
Foreign affairs: Takeshi Kaneshiro stars in the culinary romance “This is Not What I Expected” (China, 2017, not rated, with subtitles).
Kid stuff: animated “LEGO: City: Season 1” and live-action “Power Rangers Ninja Steel: Season 1” from Nickelodeon.
Streaming TV: “Slasher: Guilty Party” presents eight more episodes of the Netflix original anthology horror series.
True stories: “One of Us” (2017, not rated) profiles three women struggling to escape the strictures of life in New York’s Hassidic community. Also new: “The Day I Met El Chapo: The Kate del Castillo Story” (2017, not rated), featuring the Mexican celebrity actress, and “She Makes Comics” (2016, not rated), about women in the comic book industry.
Extreme Halloween picks: before “The Hunger Games” there was the extreme satire “Battle Royale” (Japan, 2000, not rated, with subtitles) from gangster movie veteran Kinji Fukasaku. Bradley Cooper stars in “The Midnight Meat Train” (2008, not rated), based on the Clive Barker story. From Eli Roth comes the nastily effective “Cabin Fever” (2002, R) and brutal “Hostel” (2005, R) and “Hostel: Part II” (2007, R).
Stand-up: “Patton Oswalt: Annihilation”
Amazon Prime Video
Aaron Taylor-Johnson and John Cena are American soldiers trapped by an Iraqi sniper in “The Wall” (2017, R), a cat-and-mouse war thriller from Doug Liman.
Cynthia Nixon is Emily Dickinson in “A Quiet Passion” (2017, PG-13), an intimate drama from Terence Davies.
Also new: black comedy “Bad Kids of Crestview Academy” (2017, R), American indie grunge drama “Bellflower” (2011, R), and “August” (1996, PG), an adaptation of Anton Chekov’s “Uncle Vanya” directed by and starring Anthony Hopkins.
Streaming TV: the romantic dramedy “The Baker and the Beauty” (Israel, with subtitles), ran for 20 episodes over two successful seasons.
From Britain comes the mini-series “Any Human Heart” (2011) with Matthew MacFadyen and Hayley Atwell, and “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” (2012), based on the unfinished Charles Dickens novel.
Henry Fonda stars in the Emmy-nominated “Gideon’s Trumpet” (1980, not rated), based on the true story of the man who fought for the right of publicly funded legal counsel.
Kid stuff: a new batch of educational shows from PBS are now streaming, including “Arthur: Seasons 10-18,” “
True stories: “
Rock and roll: “The Punk Rock Movie” (1978, R) features performances by British punk bands Sex Pistols, The Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Generation X and others (shot on grainy Super 8mm film) and Ray Davies (of The Kinks) directs “Return to Waterloo” (1984, PG-13) with Tim Roth.
Amazon Prime and Hulu
Tom Cruise is back in the action thriller “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” (2016, PG-13) to save a friend (Cobie Smulders) framed for treason (Amazon Prime and Hulu).
Also new: legal drama “The Whole Truth” (2016, R) with Keanu Reeves (Amazon Prime and Hulu) and documentary “The Other Dream Team” (2012, not rated) (Amazon Prime and Hulu) about the underdog Lithuanian Olympic basketball team, which featured future NBA Hall of Famer Arvydas Sabonis.
Hulu
Hulu continues to acquire classic shows and cult series. Among the newest additions are the complete runs of the animated sci-fi farce “Futurama” from “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening, the groundbreaking sitcom “Ellen” with Ellen DeGeneres, and the sexy spy thriller “Alias” with Jennifer Garner.
Also new: the second season of the Hulu original sci-fi show “Freakish,” and complete runs of the Lifetime drama “Army Wives” and ABC Family sitcom “Melissa and Joey.”
Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames star in “Undisputed” (2002, R), a smart boxing-behind-bars bare-knuckle drama from Walter Hill that was overlooked on its original release.
Halloween: “Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare” (1991, not rated) was clearly not final but it does feature bit parts by Tom Arnold, Roseanne Barr, and Johnny Depp.
True stories: “Unzipped” (1995, R) profiles fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi as he develops his fall 1994 collection.
HBO Now
Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dorman star in the kinky romantic drama “Fifty Shades Darker” (2017, unrated), based on the best-selling novel by E.L. James. HBO presents the unrated version.
The second season of the BBC sketch comedy series “Tracey Ullman’s Show” makes its stateside debut on HBO. New episodes arrive on Friday nights.
Arriving Saturday night is stunt-filled, bullet-riddled thriller “John Wick: Chapter 2” (2017, R) with Keanu Reeves.
Showtime Anytime
Jay Pharoah plays a rising young comedian in “White Famous,” a comedy about the effects of fame. Jamie Foxx is a producer and guest stars in the first episode. New episodes arrive each Sunday.
FilmStruck / Criterion Channel
Michael Haneke’s Oscar-winning “Amour” (France, 2012, PG-13, with subtitles), starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva as married octogenarians, and Oscar-nominated “The White Ribbon” (Germany, 2009, R, with subtitles) are new to FilmStruck this week.
Also new: Bernardo Bertolucci’s Oscar-nominated “The Conformist” (Italy, 1970, R, with subtitles) and Elim Klimov’s devastating World War II drama “Come and See“ (USSR, 1985, not rated, with subtitles)
Acorn TV
The Irish thriller “Acceptable Risk,” starring Elaine Cassidy as the widow of a murdered salesman who discovers her husband may be have been part of a global conspiracy, makes its U.S. debut on Acorn TV. The first two episodes now available, new episodes arrive each Monday.
“Second Sight” (1999-2000) features Clive Owen as a brilliant detective going blind in a series of four BBC TV movies.
BritBox
Sean Bean is a struggling Catholic Priest in Northern England in “Broken,” a BBC mini-series making it US premiere on BritBox.
Stephen Mangan is “Dirk Gently” (2010) in the first short-lived screen adaptation of Douglas Adams’s comic detective novel “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.”
At Redbox: “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “The House,” “Lady Macbeth,” “Step,” “Jackals”
Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. His reviews of streaming movies and TV can be found at http://streamondemandathome.com.
Copyright © 2017 by Sean Axmaker