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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Stream on Demand: Oscar winners ‘Shape of Water,’ ‘I, Tonya,’ and ‘Call Me By Your Name’ come to On Demand

By Sean Axmaker For The Spokesman-Review

What’s new for home viewing on Video on Demand and Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and other streaming services.

Top streams for the week

Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water (2017, R), a monster movie turned romantic fantasy about a mute janitor (Sally Hawkins) and an amphibious creature held captive in a government lab, won four Academy Awards, including best picture and best director. It’s now on cable and video on demand and on DVD.

More Oscar winners new to VOD: the darkly comic and ferociously satirical I, Tonya (2017, R) with Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding won best supporting actress for Allison Janney, and the lyrical gay love story Call Me by Your Name (2017, R) with Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet won for Oregon-raised James Ivory’s adapted screenplay. Also on DVD and at Redbox.

Benji (2018, not rated), a Netflix Original remake of the original adorable shaggy dog adventure, updates the family-friendly adventure for a new generation of kids. Director Brandon Camp is the son of Joe Camp, creator of the original 1974 movie, which is also streaming on Netflix.

Per-View / Video-On-Demand

In Justice League (2017, PG-13), the DCU answer to “The Avengers,” Batman and Wonder Woman (Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot) join forces with the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg to save the world after the death of Superman.

Family-friendly choices include the documentary Jane (2017, PG) about pioneering primatologist and animal rights activist Jane Goodall (also available on Hulu), and the animated comedy Ferdinand (2018, PG).

Available same day as select theaters nationwide are the comedies Furlough (2018, not rated) with Melissa Leo as a troublesome inmate, and Tessa Thompson as a rookie guard and Dear Dictator (2018, not rated) with Michael Caine as an exiled Caribbean dictator in suburbia who helps an American teenager (Odeya Rush) overthrow the mean girls of her high school. Also new: The Forgiven (2018, not rated), a drama starring with Forest Whitaker as Desmond Tutu.

Netflix

The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter (2018, not rated), a comedy about a father-son bonding weekend starring Josh Brolin and Danny McBride, comes direct to Netflix from its world premiere at SXSW.

True stories: Take Your Pills (2018, not rated) looks at the (ab)use of Adderall and Ritalin by students and high-pressure professionals, and the documentary mini-series Wild Wild Country takes on the story of the Rajneesh commune created in Central Oregon in 1981 and the culture clash that turned into a hostile takeover.

Streaming TV: the international line-up grows with the Belgian thriller Tabula Rasa (with subtitles) and the Argentine melodrama Edha (with subtitles). Also new: The Hollywood Masters: Season 2 offers more interviews with film professionals.

Kid stuff: On My Block: Season 1,” a drama about four friends in South Central Los Angeles, is a high school series for teens and tweens. Also new: animated fantasy Children of the Whales: Season 1 from Japan (dubbed and subtitled versions) and animated superhero comedy Stretch Armstrong: The Breakoutfor younger kids.

Stand-up: Ricky Gervais: Humanity (2018, not rated).

Amazon Prime Video

Originally produced for Disney Channel,Nightjohn (1996, PG-13) is a powerful drama about an enslaved 12-year-old girl in the antebellum South who learns to read, a “crime” punishable by death. Director Charles Burnett won an honorary Oscar this year.

Ansel Elgort and Chloe Grace Moretz are high school kids who turn detective to solve a murder in November Criminals (2017, PG-13).

Amazon Prime and Hulu

Peter Mullan and Sam Neill star in the Scottish golf drama Tommy’s Honour (2017, PG), and Miley Cyrus and Demi Moore are daughter and mother in the coming-of-age comedy LOL (2012, PG-13).

Hulu

Blade of the Immortal (Japan, 2017, R, with subtitles), the 100th film from Takashi Miike, pushes samurai action to extremes.

Also new: Denzel Washington is the father of a dying boy who takes an emergency room hostage in John Q (2002, PG-13), and Hugh Grant is a cartographer in an eccentric Welsh village in the romantic comedy The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995, PG).

Streaming TV: Pierce Brosnan is a ruthless oil baron in 19th century Texas in the AMC historical dramaThe Son: Season 1.” Also new: 2010 revival of British series Upstairs Downstairs,” comedy Angie Tribeca: Season 3 with Rashida Jones and Scandinavian murder mystery The Bridge: Season 4.”

HBO Now

Rachel Weisz is My Cousin Rachel(2017, PG-13) in the romantic drama turned Gothic thriller adapted from the Daphne Du Maurier novel.

Arriving Saturday night is Sofia Coppola’s remake of The Beguiled(2017, R) with Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, and Colin Farrell.

Showtime Anytime

Mark Wahlberg and Kevin Bacon hunt for the Boston Marathon bombers Patriots Day (2017, R).

Also new:Before I Fall(2017, PG) based on the young adult novel by Lauren Oliver and Matt Damon inThe Good Shepherd(2006, R), the story of the origins of the CIA from director Robert DeNiro.

FilmStruck / Criterion Channel

Spencer Tracy is the exasperated Father of the Bride(1950) in the classic comedy co-starring Joan Bennett and Elizabeth Taylor.

The great French actor and cinematic icon Jean Gabin is FilmStruck’s Star of the Week and the service offers 17 of his films, from 1930s masterpieces Pépé le Moko (France, 1937, with subtitles) and Grand Illusion (France, 1937, with subtitles) to gangster classic Touchez pas au grisbi (France, 1954, with subtitles) to crime drama Deux hommes dans la ville (“Two Men in Town”) (France, 1973, with subtitles) with Alain Delon.

FilmStruck celebrates Director the Week Christopher Guest with his four comic mockumentaries, from Waiting for Guffman (1996, R) to For Your Consideration (2006, PG-13), and curates a collection of Texas films, including Giant (1956, G) with Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean, and Wim Wenders’ Paris Texas (1984, R).

Acorn TV

The lighthearted legal drama Striking Out: Series 2 from Ireland and the first two seasons of Goodnight Sweetheart,” the BBC sitcom with Nicholas Lyndhurst as an accidental time traveler are available to stream in their entirety. Additional seasons of “Goodnight Sweetheart” arrive in the coming weeks.

Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. His reviews of streaming movies and TV can be found at http://streamondemandathome.com.