Stream on Demand: Tom Cruise who? Alan Ritchson is the new Jack Reacher
What’s new for home viewing on Video on Demand and Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max and other streaming services.
Top streams for the week
Fans of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels were unimpressed by the Tom Cruise movies because he simply didn’t fit the author’s description. Alan Ritchson is a more faithful casting as the brawny military veteran in the new series “Reacher” (2022, TV-14). (Amazon Prime Video)
Bradley Cooper plays a charismatic carnie who takes a mind-reading act off the midway and into big city nightclubs in “Nightmare Alley” (2021, R). Guillermo del Toro’s vivid crime drama straddles the dusty caravans and colorful carnival families working in small towns in the Depression and the art deco splendor of urban high life. Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette and Willem Dafoe also star. (Hulu and HBO Max)
Bob Odenkirk is a seemingly ordinary suburban husband and father in “Nobody” (2021, R), an action thriller from the writer of “John Wick” and the director of “Hardcore Henry.” A streak of dark humor runs through the gleefully violent, stunt-laden action. (HBO Max)
The limited series “Pam & Tommy” (TV-MA), starring Lily James as Pamela Anderson and Sebastian Stan as Tommy Lee, takes on the true story of a sex tape that turned into the original viral video in 1997. Three episodes available, new episodes on Wednesdays. (Hulu)
Murder mystery meets improvisational comedy in “Murderville” (TV-MA). Will Arnett plays a police detective who solves a case every week with a celebrity guest partner who isn’t given the script and has to fake it. (Netflix)
The son of an American businesswoman (Uma Thurman) is kidnapped from a high-end New York hotel, and four British citizens fall under “Suspicion” (TV-MA) in the new series. Two episodes available, new episodes on Fridays. (Apple TV+)
Sports fans can stream the Winter Olympics (not rated) live through Feb. 20. (Peacock)
Classic picks: Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway star in “Chinatown” (1974, R) directed by Roman Polanski, and you can revisit the original “West Side Story” (1961), which won 10 Academy Awards. (HBO Max)
Pay-Per-View / Video on Demand
The grandkids take up the family business in “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” (2021, PG-13) with Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd and special appearances by original stars. Also on disc and at Redbox.
Netflix
True crime: “The Tinder Swindler” (2022, TV-MA) chronicles a con artist who woos women online and then turns investigative thriller as his victims try to turn the tables.
International passport: “My Best Friend Anne Frank” (Netherlands, 2021, TV-14, with subtitles) dramatizes the real-life friendship between Anne Frank and Hannah Goslar.
Amazon Prime Video
An English author (Sam Claflin) and the Mexican translator (Verónica Echegui) whose spicy rewrite turned his failed novel into a bestseller clash on a book tour in the romantic comedy “Book of Love” (2022, TV-14).
Hulu
The new Fox drama “Monarch” (TV-14) stars Anna Friel, Susan Sarandon and Trace Adkins as members of a country music dynasty. Episodes stream a day after network premiere.
Other streams
Emmy winner W. Kamau Bell directs the four-part docuseries “We Need to Talk About Cosby” (TV-MA). (Showtime)
New on disc and at Redbox
“Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” “Clifford, the Big Red Dog”
Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. His reviews of streaming movies and television can be found at streamondemandathome.com.