Stream On Demand: Kings, cops, superheroes ready to come home
What’s new for home viewing on Video on Demand and Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and other streaming services.
Top streams for the week
Chris Pine stars in “Outlaw King” (2018, R) as Robert the Bruce, the 14th century Scottish nobleman who claimed the crown of Scotland and rallied his country to battle the occupying British army of King Edward I. Directed by David Mackenzie (“Hell and High Water”), it co-stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Florence Pugh. Opens in select theaters the same day it debuts on Netflix.
Pixar’s inventive superhero adventure/comedy “
Spike Lee returns to form in “
“John Leguizamo’s Latin History for Morons” (2018), a recording of the actor’s one-man Broadway show, distills 3,000 years of Latino history into a 95-minute comic monologue. On Netflix.
Classic pick: Sean Connery and Michael Caine are British soldiers of fortune in “The Man Who Would Be King” (1975, PG), John Huston’s grand adaptation of the sweeping Rudyard Kipling adventure. Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Foreign language pick: Jean Vigo’s anarchic gem “Zero for Conduct” (France, 1933, with subtitles) celebrates the rebellious spirit of adolescent boys captivated by magic tricks and word games. Set in a strict boy’s school run by creaky, cranky petty tyrants, it’s a strange and wonderful film full of unbridled imagination, flights of fantasy, and delirious images. The first masterpiece of prepubescent self-actualization. On Prime Video.
Holiday essential: Every time you watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946) an angel gets its wings. Prime Video also offers a colorized version but please watch it in the original black and white.
Pay-Per-View / Video on Demand
Ewan McGregor is the grown-up “Christopher Robin” (2018, PG) who gets a little help from Winnie the Pooh and other childhood friends. Also new:
“
award-winning indie drama “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” (2018, not rated) with Chloë Grace Moretz;
“Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti” (France, 2017, not rated, with subtitles) with Vincent Cassel;
“The Reckoning: Hollywood’s Worst Kept Secret” (2018, not rated), a documentary on sexual misconduct in Hollywood.
Available same day as select theaters nationwide are romantic comedy “In a Relationship” (2018, not rated) with Emma Roberts and romantic drama “The Delinquent Season” (2017, R) with Cillian Murphy and Eva Birthistle.
Netflix
Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood go “Into the Forest” (2015, R) in the apocalyptic science fiction thriller and Matthew McConaughey navigates “The Sea of Trees” (2015, PG-13) with a Japanese man (Ken Watanabe) lost in a forest near Mount Fuji.
Streaming TV: Chris O’Dowd and Ray Romano star in the comic gangster series “Get Shorty,” an Epix original that reworks the Elmore Leonard crime-meets-show business novel and 1995 movie. From South America comes revenge drama “The Queen of Flow: Season 1” (Colombia, with subtitles) and animated adult comedy “Super Drags: Season 1” (Brazil, with subtitles).
Foreign affairs: extreme action film “The Raid: Redemption” (Thailand, 2011, R, with subtitles) earned a reputation as one of the fiercest, most brutal crime thrillers of the past decade. Stephen Chow’s “Shaolin Soccer” (Hong Kong, 2001, PG-13, with subtitles) takes a more humorous approach to action.
Kid stuff: there are new seasons of the live-action series “Treehouse Detectives” and the animated shows “Beat Bugs” and “Spirit Riding Free.”
Non-fiction TV: “Medal of Honor: Season 1” tells the stories of recipients of the highest military honor. Also new:
“Westside: Season 1,” a reality series that follows nine struggling musicians in Los Angeles;
foodie show “The Great British Baking Show: Collection 6.”
More new arrivals: comedy “The Late Bloomer” (2016, R) about a 30-year-old man hitting puberty;
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” (2007, PG-13), the third film in the comic adventure series with Johnny Depp;
true-life drama “United 93” (2006, R) from filmmaker Paul Greengrass;
comedy “
Amazon Prime Video
A promoter in Berlin’s techno club scene is recruited as an undercover agent in “Beat: Season 1” (Germany, with subtitles), a Prime Original spy thriller with a beat. Also this week is the second season of the Prime Original spy comedy “Patriot.”
Also new: the romantic drama “The Whole Wide World” (1996, PG) helped launch the careers of Vincent D’Onofrio and Renée Zellweger;
“Crossing Delancey” (1988, PG), a sweet romantic comedy with Amy Irving;
Peter Sellers in the sharp, smart satire “Being There” (1979, PG);
original “Going in Style” (1979, PG) with George Burns and Art Carney as elderly bank robbers;
gorgeous family adventure “The Black Stallion“ (1979, G);
Oscar-winning drama “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975, R) with Jack Nicholson;
Stanley Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon” (1975, PG), which won four Academy Awards;
neo-noir detective thriller “Night Moves” (1975, R) with Gene Hackman;
Martin Scorsese’s “Mean Streets” (1973, R) with Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro;
Charlton Heston in the doomed science fiction dramas “
Terrence Malick’s “Badlands” (1973, PG) with Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek;
murder mystery “
British classic “
John Boorman’s dazzling crime thriller “Point Blank” (1967) with Lee Marvin;
Billy Wilder’s Oscar-winning classic “The Apartment” (1960) with Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine;
Peter Sellers in the original “The Pink Panther” (1964) and the even funnier sequels “Return of the Pink Panther” (1975, G), “The Pink Panther Strikes Again” (1976, PG), and “Revenge of the Pink Panther” (1978, PG).
Cult: the ingenious “The Usual Suspects” (1995, R) turned the crime drama inside out with inventive storytelling. Also new:
“The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai” (1984, PG) with Peter Weller as the rock star, brain surgeon, and adventurer;
George Lucas’ feature directorial debut “THX 1138: Director’s Cut” (1971, R);
trippy British crime drama “Performance” (1970, R) with James Fox and Mick Jagger;
Robert Altman’s dark fairy tale “Brewster McCloud” (1970, R).
More streaming TV: “The Durrells in Corfu: Season 3” continues the adventures of a British family in 1930s rural Greece.
Prime Video and Hulu
The extremely violent “Kick-Ass” (2010, R) is both a comic book movie and a superhero satire starring Aaron Johnson as a high school kid whose fantasy of being a costumed crime-fighter meets the brutal reality of urban violence. Prime Video and Hulu.
Hulu
The British horror film “Ghost Stories” (2017, not rated) pays tribute to the anthology horror films of the 1970s with three tales of unexplained phenomenon. Martin Freeman stars in one segment.
Adam Pally is a former high school hotshot who returns home years later in the indie comedy “Most Likely to Murder” (2018, R).
Foreign affairs: Juliette Binoche stars as a free-spirited Parisian artist with bad luck with men in “Let the Sunshine In“ (France, 2017, not rated, with subtitles), a romantic comedy from Claire Denis. Also new:
“Under the Tree” (Iceland, 2018, not rated with subtitles), a black-humored satire of suburban life;
“The 12th Man” (Norway, 2017, not rated, with subtitles), a World War II thriller based on a true story.
Streaming TV: Hulu is now the streaming home to the complete series of animated comedy “King of the Hill” created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels and long-running sitcom “Married With Children” with Ed O’Neill and Katey Sagal.
True stories: “Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin Story” (2017, not rated) profiles the fashion makeup artist.
HBO Now
“Fifty Shades Freed” (2018, R) concludes the erotic romantic trilogy starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan.
The new nonfiction series “
Also new: the second season of the anthology series “Room 104” and the short documentary “We Are Not Done Yet” (2018, not rated).
Available Saturday night is “Love, Simon” (2018, PG-13), a coming-of-age teenage romantic comedy and coming out story, and “Paddington 2” (2017, PG), a funny and charming comic adventure for the whole family.
Showtime Anytime
The Showtime Original series “Shut Up and Dribble: Season 1” chronicles the modern history of the NBA and its players. New episodes arrive each Saturday.
Asa Butterfield and Alex Wolff star in the coming-of-age comic-drama “The House of Tomorrow” (2017, not rated) with Nick Offerman and Ellen Burstyn.
Stand-up: “Howie Mandel Presents: Howie Mandel at the Howie Mandel Comedy Club” (2018, not rated).
FilmStruck
TCM Select Pick of the Week is “The African Queen” (1951), which stars Humphrey Bogartas a hard-drinking caption of a sputtering steam-powered boat in Africa during World War I and Katharine Hepburn as a spirited missionary who pushes him to strike back at the Germans who invaded their mission in German East Africa. It’s a classic journey adventure, with a series of obstacles that they meet with resilience and resourcefulness, but the story is how they move from “Mr. Allnut” and “Miss” to Charlie and Rosie, opposites who find strength, support and unexpected love in one another. Bogart and Hepburn stoke the fires of this unlikely romance the way only stars of that magnitude can. Huston shot the film (largely) on location in Africa and makes the location and The African Queen itself, with its big, clumsy, temperamental steam engine, essential parts of the film’s personality and texture.
It’s one of 25 films in the tribute to “Star of the Week: Katharine Hepburn,” a collection that spans six decades, from her first Oscar-winning performance in “Morning Glory” (1933) through such essentials as “Stage Door” (1937) and “The Philadelphia Story” (1940) to her final Oscar-winning performance in “On Golden Pond” (1981, PG) and her last big-screen appearance in “Love Affair” (1994, PG-13).
“Director of the Week: Aki Kaurismaki” presents eight films from the deadpan Finnish filmmaker, from his early offbeat comedies “Ariel” (Finland, 1989) and “Leningrad Cowboys Go America” (Finland, 1989) to his more serious recent dramedies “Le Havre” (Finland, 2011) and “The Other Side of Hope” (Finland, 2017), plus five music videos. All films not rated and with subtitles.
Other streams
“The Simple Heist: Series 1” (Sweden, with subtitles) is a crime caper comedy about two women in their sixties who decide to rob a bank to fund their retirement. The complete six-part series streams on Acorn.
BritBox presents the gritty new British crime drama “Dark Heart: Series 1” with Tom Riley concurrent with its TV debut in England, plus two of Britain’s most acclaimed comedies, the political satires “Yes, Minister” and sequel series “Yes, Prime Minister” from creator Jonathan Lynn.
The Danish crime thriller “Those Who Kill” (Denmark, with subtitles) debuts on MHz with two episodes available and new episodes arriving Tuesdays.
New on disc
“Incredibles 2,” “BlacKkKlansman,” “Christopher Robin,” “Papillon,” “The Miseducation of Cameron Post”
Now available at Redbox: “Incredibles 2,” “BlacKkKlansman,” “Christopher Robin,” “Papillon,” “The Darkest Minds”
Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. His reviews of streaming movies and TV can be found at http://streamondemandathome.com.