‘Nebraska’ hits Netflix, Amazon
What’s new to watch this week on pay-per-view and streaming services:
On Saturday, Alexander Payne’s Oscar-nominated road movie “Nebraska” arrives on Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video. Starring Bruce Dern as a cantankerous old man and Will Forte as his son and photographed in black and white along the highways and small towns of Montana and Nebraska, it’s a low-key heartland drama with a Washington connection: Seattle-based screenwriter Bob Nelson, who earned an Oscar nomination.
Pay-per-view
“A Merry Friggin’ Christmas,” one of the last films completed by Robin Williams before his death, comes to pay-per-view the same day it opens in theaters. Joel McHale and Lauren Graham co-star in the dysfunctional family comedy.
For more traditional family fare, there is Disney’s “Maleficent,” a dark fairy tale starring Angelina Jolie as the “Sleeping Beauty” villain reconceived as a tragic figure, and the animated “Planes: Fire and Rescue,” another Pixar sequel aimed at the very young.
For the grown-ups there is “A Most Wanted Man,” a contemporary espionage thriller based on a John Le Carré novel and starring Philip Seymour Hoffman (in one of his last roles) as a German intelligence agent monitoring possible terrorist activities.
And there are two for the AARP set: The romantic comedy “Elsa & Fred” with Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer, and “Land Ho!,” a low-key indie comedy about two old friends on a trip to Iceland, co-staring Bellevue actor Paul Eenhorn.
Also new: “Hercules” with Dwayne Johnson, young adult romantic comedies “Two Night Stand” with Miles Teller and Analeigh Tipton, and “Life Partners” with Leighton Meester and Adam Brody, and the documentary “The Dog,” the true story behind the movie “A Dog Day Afternoon.”
Netflix
Premiering on Netflix the same day it opens in theaters in New York and Los Angeles is the award-winning documentary “Virunga.” It chronicles the efforts of a small team of park rangers to save the last of the mountain gorillas in the Congo from the militia, poachers, a civil war, and an industry that wants to revoke the sanctuary’s status to mine its resources.
Also new is the documentary “Altman,” a profile of the maverick director Robert Altman, which comes direct to Netflix after limited theatrical screenings.
New TV on Netflix this week: “Portlandia: Season 4,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 9,” and “The Carrie Diaries: Season 2,” which is also the final season of the “Sex and the City” prequel.