Yes, there are a lot of good movies and series to stream this week, so lets get right to it!
Hulu
Hulu doesn’t have many new additions this week, but there are a couple of gems to keep in mind. First is the new show National Treasure: Kiri. This is the second season of National Treasure, the first covered Paul Finchley, an aging comedian accused of assault, played by Robbie Coltrane. This second season covers the mystery of a missing girl, Kiri, except Kiri is black, and so this show covers race, class and mystery. It has a stellar cast, including Sarah Lancashire and Felicia Mukasa as Kiri. It also stars Lucian Msamati, Steven Mackintosh and Lia Williams. The first season of National Treasure got a 7.4/10 on IMDb and Variety calls this season “magical”. I can’t wait. Also on Hulu, is Dina, a 2017 documentary about Dina Bruno and Scott Levin, both of whom are on the Autism spectrum. The film is directed by Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles, and is an intimate window into Scott and Dina life together and marriage. It won the US Grand Jury Prize for a documentary at Sundance and several other awards for best doc at Sarasota and Boston, etc. And it gets a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. You can’t do better than that. And, finally on Hulu is 50/50, the 2011 film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen in a comedy about the realities of cancer. It also stars Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard and Angelica Huston. It gets a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and got a 3.5/4 on Roger Ebert.com.
Netflix
Netflix has some exceptional new movies and series offered this week, including 6 Balloons , a Netflix original movie about a girl dealing with her brother’s relapse into heroin addiction. It has a good cast, including Abbi Jacobson, Dave Franco, Jane Kaczmarek and Tim Matheson. It is written and directed by Marja-Lewis Ryan and premiered at South by Southwest in March. It gets a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and The Guardian calls it “grimly effective”. Also, new to Netflix is Orbiter 9, a Spanish sci-fi thriller from 2017. It stars Clara Lago, Alex Gonzalez and Andres Parra. It’s about a woman who supposedly spent her whole life alone on a spaceship and the sudden visit that changes her life and reality. It just premiered yesterday, so there are no ratings available, but it looks good. And, just added to Netflix is Tale of Tales, a 2015 European production starring Selma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones and John C. Reilly. It’s a collection of three fairy tales based on the Pentamerone by Giambattista Basile that are fantastical and magical. It gets an 82% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.4 on IMDb, but I’m watching because of the cast. And, finally, Netflix offers Fallet, a Swedish comedy drama from 2017. It stars Lisa Henni, Adam Godley and Lia Boysen. It is a spoof of the noir genre, and it is funny, but it is also dark and violent. Showtime is reportedly developing a comedy based on Fallet, so if you want to be ahead of the crowd, tune into the original on Netflix first.
Amazon Prime
The most exciting addition on Amazon has to be the The Florida Project! Yes , the 2017 movie nominated for an Academy Award and winner of Awards from Chicago Film Critics and Hamburg Film Festival and numerous others is available for streaming . It stars Willem Dafoe, Brooklyn Prince and Bria Vinalte in a movie shot on 35mm and on an iphone about a family living in a motel and just barely getting by. It gets a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and Anne Hornaday of the Washington Post say of Dafoe ” his finest performance in recent memory, bringing to levelheaded, unsanctimonious life a character who offers a glimmer of hope and caring within a world markedly short on both.” I’m tuning in. Also new to Amazon is The Little Hours, a movie based loosely on Bocaccio’s The Decameron. It takes place in Medieval Europe, but uses modern language. It stars Alison Brie, Dave Franco, John C. Reilly and Aubrey Plaza and it is ribald and explicit, so don’t watch it with your kids.It gets a 4 out of 4 on Roger Ebert.com, and a 78% on Rotten Tomatoes, so if you want humor, however raunchy, this is your ticket. Finally, Amazon added The Killing of a Sacred Deer, the 2017movie starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan and Alicia Silverstone. It’s directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, and is a modern day story based on Iphigenia at Aulis, by Euripedes. It is about a heart surgeon(Farrell) and his family, endangered after he becomes too close to a fatherless boy. It is a thriller/horror film so I won’t be watching it, but it won the Best Screenplay Award at Cannes, was nominated for numerous others and gets a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, so it might be worth your time, if you like Yorgos Lanthimos and his rather avant-garde films.
So if it’s raining, snowing or just boring at your house, sit back and relax while streaming great movies online!
Grownups Guide to Streaming 