Stream on Demand: Works from Campion, Altman lead the streaming pack
What’s new for home viewing on video-on-demand and Netflix, Amazon Prime, and other streaming services.
Top streams for the week
Lose yourself in the romantic passions of Jane Campion’s “Bright Star” (2009, PG), starring Ben Whishaw as impoverished poet John Keats and Abbie Cornish as his muse Fanny Braune, who inspired some of the most romantic verses (and lover letters) in the English language. Campion’s presentation of their passion under the restraint of 19th century decorum is both lush and delicate. Queue it up on Netflix.
Susannah York won the Best Actress award at Cannes for her performance as a schizophrenic woman who can’t sort out her hallucinations from real life in “Images” (1972, R). Robert Altman’s richly textured psychological thriller forgoes the “thrills” and suspense to concentrate on the complex intertwining of realities in reserved, removed style. Shot in the cool colors of the foggy hills of Ireland by Vilmos Zsigmond and set to a discordant score by John Williams, it’s an overlooked classic in Altman’s oeuvre. Add to Amazon Prime watchlist.
Pay-Per-View / Video-On-Demand
Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Zoë Kravitz, and friends have a “Rough Night“ (R) in the comedy of a bachelorette party gone terribly wrong. Available on VOD with a bonus gag reel of outtakes. Also on DVD and Blu-ray and at Redbox.
Kate Mara is “Megan Leavey” (PG-13), a misfit soldier in the K-9 unit whose bond with her IED-sniffing dog saved lives in Iraq and became national news back home. Also on DVD and Blu-ray and at Redbox.
Also new: romantic comedy “Paris Can Wait” (PG) with Diane Lane and Alec Baldwin, comedies “The Wedding Plan” (PG, with subtitled) from Israel and “Lost in Paris” (not rated, with subtitles) from France, the unsetting drama “Harmonium” from Japan (not rated, with subtitles), and “Score: A Film Music Documentary” (G), all also on disc.
Available same day as select theaters nationwide is the Belgian social drama “The Unknown Girl” (not rated, with subtitles), about a young doctor (Adele Haenel) haunted by a dead woman she could have saved, from acclaimed filmmakers the Dardenne Bros.
Also new: the historical thriller “The Limehouse Golem” (not rated) from Britain with Bill Nighy and Olivia Cooke, the action comedy “Gun Shy” (R) with Antonio Banderas and Olga Kurylenko, and the romantic drama “The Good Catholic” (PG-13) with Zachary Spicer and Danny Glover.
Netflix
Noah Baumbach directs Nicole Kidman in “Margot at the Wedding” (2007, R) and Ben Stiller in “Greenberg” (2010, R), two comic dramas about troubled souls with spiky edges,
Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried star in the sexy psychological thriller “Chloe” (2009, R).
The Netflix Original Film “#realityhigh” (2017, not rated) drops a high school romance in the modern culture of social media celebrity and cyber-bullying.
Streaming TV: The zombie apocalypse is back in “The Walking Dead: Season 7,” streaming a month before the new season debuts on cable TV. Also new: conspiracy thriller “The Blacklist: Season 4,” historical drama “Reign: Season 4,” and Netflix original “
True stories: “Facing Darkness” (2017, not rated) takes us to the front lines of the Ebola with a Christian missionary, and “A Good American” (2015, not rated) looks at a code breaking program called ThinThread. Also new: the Netflix Original true crime series “The Confession Tapes: Season 1.”
Foreign affairs: The drama “Graduation” (Romania, 2016) won the best director prize at Cannes for filmmaker Cristian Mungui. Also new: caper film “Bitcoin Heist” (Vietnam, 2016, not rated, with subtitles), revenge drama “I Am Not Madame Bovary” (China, 2016), and road comedy “Like Crazy” (Italy, 2016). All not rated and with subtitles.
Kid stuff: The young adult Netflix original “Greenhouse Academy: Season 1” is an American adaptation of an Israeli show moved to an elite Southern California boarding school. For younger kids there’s the animated series “Spirit: Riding Free: Season 2” and “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: Season 7.”
Theater: “
Stand-up: “Marc Maron: Too Real” and the Spanish language specials “
Amazon Prime Video
Tig Notaro is back for a second of her semi-autobiographical comedy series “One Mississippi.”
Jennifer Connelly and Anthony Mackie play a homeless couple on the streets of New York City in “Shelter” (2015, not rated).
Also new: the revenge thriller “The Hunter’s Prayer” (2017, R) with Sam Worthington as a veteran assassin, the haunted inn tale “The Innkeepers” (2012, R) with Sara Paxton and Pat Healy, and the time-travel thriller “The Final Countdown” (1980, PG) with Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, and a modern aircraft carrier sent back to Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
Cult TV: you can stream hundreds of episodes of the 1960s supernatural soap opera “Dark Shadows: Series 1-17” (1967-69)
True stories: Oscar-winning “The Cove” (2009, PG-13) exposes the brutal slaughter of whales in a hidden cove in Japan and “Wide Awake” (2006, not rated) delves into insomnia.
Cult movies: Delphine Seyrig stars in “Daughters of Darkness” (Belgium, 1971, not rated), one of the sexiest and sleekest films of the seventies Euro-horror wave. The award-winning “Bad Boy Bubby” (1993, not rated) from Australia is the surreal and oddly sweet odyssey of a misfit man-child in a strange new world.
More cult arrivals: Larry Cohen’s religion-meets-UFO lore horror film “God Told Me To” (1976, R); Italian gangster film “Machine Gun McCain” (Italy, 1968, not rated) with John Cassavetes; urban crime drama “Vigilante” (1982, R) with Robert Forster; gory social satire “Society (1992, not rated), where the rich really are different; and Dario Argento’s flamboyant horror films “Cat O’Nine Tails” (Italy, 1971, not rated) and the surreal “Inferno” (Italy, 1980, not rated)
Amazon Prime and Hulu
Jack Huston and Toby Kebbell square off in the chariot race in the remake of “Ben-Hur” (2016, PG-13). (Amazon Prime and Hulu)
Hulu
The ambitious and often overreaching “Crash” (2004, R), a drama of racism, hypocrisy, and desperation in urban America with Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Thandie Newton, and Matt Dillon, won three Academy Awards.
Kid stuff: swap places in “Freaky Friday” (1977, G) with Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris, and the remake “Freaky Friday” (2003, PG) with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. Also new: animated Disney films “The Emperor’s New Groove” (2000, G) and “
True stories: “Returning Citizens” (2017, not rated) charts the efforts of former incarcerated individuals trying to start over.
HBO Now
Felicity Jones and Sigourney Weaver star in “A Monster Calls” (2016, PG-13), a drama of loss and healing featuring the voice of Liam Neeson as a (possible?) imaginary playmate.
Colombian superstar J Balvin returns home for the all-star concert special “J Balvin: Bruuttal.”
Arriving Saturday night is the Oscar-nominated “Hidden Figures” (2016, PG).
Showtime Anytime
Hailee Steinfeld is a teenage mess in “The Edge of Seventeen” (2016, R), a perceptive and sympathetic coming-of-age comedy co-starring Woody Harrelson. Or watch it via Hulu or Amazon Prime subscription.
Stand-up: “Gary Owen: I Got My Associates.”
Sports: “A Season with Navy Football” begins.
FilmStruck / Criterion Channel
New to Criterion Channel: René Clair’s spirited comedy “Le million“ (1931) bursts with visual and auditory invention.
Also new: the hilarious “The In-Laws” (1979, PG) with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin; Wes Anderson’s offbeat film debut “Bottle Rocket” (1996, R); André Téchiné’s “
New arrivals to FilmStruck include the debut features of four directors: Steve McQueen’s “Hunger” (2008, not rated) with Michael Fassbender in his breakthrough role; Guillermo del Toro’s offbeat vampire film “Cronos” (Mexico, 1993, R, with subtitles); Gus Van Sant’s indie drama “Mala Noche” (1986, not rated) shot on the streets of Portland; and Ridley Scott’s “The Duellists” (1977, PG) with Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel.
At Redbox:
“Rough Night,” “Megan Leavey,” “All Eyez on Me,” “First Kill,” “Raw”
Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. His reviews of streaming movies and TV can be found at http://streamondemandathome.com.