Yes, it’s the weekend again, and time to review the new additions to streaming sites online. So lets get right to it.
Hulu
Hulu doesn’t have a ton of new movies this week, but one they do have is Loving Vincent, the 2017 movie about Vincent Van Gogh and the mystery surrounding his violent death. It is a story2 told in painted animation and it tells the tale of a young man going to deliver Van Gogh’s last letter to his father and what ensues. It is a rather avant garde film dedicated to Van Gogh and his vivid way of painting. And it is a beautiful movie. It was directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman and uses the voices of Robert Gulacyzk, Jerome Flynn and Saorise Ronan. If you love Vincent Van Gogh and his paintings and are intrigued enough to watch a mystery about his death, this is the movie for you. It gets a 7.9/10 on IMDb and an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. Also new to Hulu is War & Peace, from Lifetime(2016). It is a British-American collaboration and if you love Masterpiece Theater or Downton Abbey, you will recognize a lot of the actors and actresses here. It stars Lily James(Downton Abbey), Paul Dano , James Norton(Grantchester) and Greta Scacchi. It features, of course, Tolstoy great epic of Russia during the Napoleonic War. If you love historical epics, this is for you and it gets an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.2/10 on IMDb. And, finally, Hulu has the 3rd season of Deadbeat, a Hulu original, starring Tyler Labine, Cat Deely and Kal Penn. The series is about Kevin Pacalioglu, a kind of irresponsible unemployed guy, who can see dead people. So he tries to help the out. But this is a comedy, not horror, and it gets a 7.5/10 on IMDb and 75% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Netflix
There are some good new additions to Netflix recently, and one of the most interesting is Kodachrome, a 2017 movie. It has an outstanding cast, starring Ed Harris, Elizabeth Olsen and Jason Sudeikis. It is about a dying photographer and his road trip with his son and his nurse, from New York to Kansas, to get his film developed. I’m watching just for the cast, but the movie gets a 73% on Rotten Tomatoes and it looks like a good bet. Also new to Netflix is The Chalet, a french thriller set in the Alps. Starring Chloe Lambert, Phillipe Dusseau, Emilie de Preissac and Blanche Viesberg, it’s about a group of people getting stuck at a chalet, and the bad history they find it holds. I’ve only had the courage to watch the first fifteen minutes and it looks good and scary and too tense for me.It gets a 6.8/10 on IMDb. Another new series on Netflix is The Letdown, an Australian series about motherhood. As you may have guessed it’s a comedy, starring Alison Bell, Duncan Fellows and Noni Hazelhurs . It is a witty assessment of new parenthood and it’s adjustments and gets a 7.3/10 on IMDb. Check it out. There is also a new German series on Netflix called Charite, a 2017 production. It stars Alicia Von Rittberg, Maxmillian Meyer-Bretschnieider and Klara Deutschman, about a young woman in 1888 going to work in Berlin’s Charite Hospital. I have been able to find no information on this,no reviews of any kind but it looks good and is rated MA, so don’t watch with the kids.
Amazon Prime
There aren’t a lot of new additions to Amazon Prime this week, but one great one is Aida’s Secrets, a documentary from 2016. It is about a family separated by World War II and Nazism and finding each other again, after decades of being apart. It’s directed by Alon and Shaul Schwarz and features lots of detective work to find a man’s brother, from whom he was separated at the Bergen-Belsen camp. It’s an amazing, moving movie and gets a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Definitely worth a view. Also, new on Amazon is Pass Over, a 2018 movie by Spike Lee. It’s a production of Antoinette Nwandu’s stage play of the same name, featuring two young black men, talking about life. A modern riff on Waiting For Godot, it stars Jon Michael Hill, Julian Parker, and Ryan Hallahan. The Hollywood Reporter calls it uplifting and it gets an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. And, finally, on amazon is Fame, the 2008 version of the classic musical film. It stars Collins Pennie, Bebe Neuwirth, Kelsey Grammar and Megan Mullally and is a loose remake, so don’t expect an exact replica. It didn’t get great reviews, in fact it gets a 24% on Rotten Tomatoes, but if you love musicals, or just Fame, tune in.
So have a wonderful weekend, vegging out in an easy chair and streaming your favorites online.
Grownups Guide to Streaming 