New Movies and TV to Stream, Oct. 26

That’s right, it’s the weekend again, and time to review the new movies and television shows available on Hulu, Netflix and Amazon. So let’s get right to it!

HULU

Hulu actually has some good new additions this week, including The Escape, starring Gemma Arterton and Dominic Cooper. Arterton stars as a woman is increasingly disenamored with her husband(Cooper) and her life.  This movie premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and also stars Frances Barber, Marthe Keller and Jalil Lespert. And The Escape gets a 78% on Rotten Tomatoes. Hulu also has Cropsey, a 2010 American documentary. But this is a Halloween doc, if there ever was one, for it’s about, at first, Cropsey, an urban myth boogeyman in the New York City area–then it segues into the story of Andre Rand, a child kidnapper from Staten Island, now in jail. Cropsey was directed by Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio. Now, the trailer was too scary for me, but Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie a 90% and IMDb gives it a 6.3/10. But it’s just creepy, if you want real thrills, Hulu has also added Ghost Stories, a 2017 British horror movie. This is the story of a famed  debunker of the paranormal, played by Martin Freeman(Watson on Sherlock), who is asked to look into three suspicious occurrences, by his one time mentor. The film also stars Andy Nyman, Alex Lawther, Nicholas Burns, Paul Whitehouse and Jill Halfpenny and gets an 82% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.4/10 on IMDb.  Another new movie on Hulu is Results, a 2015 production starring Guy Pearce and Cobie Smulders. The pair star as two physical trainers in an atypical rom-com, where things don’t go always go smoothly and the leads aren’t silver tongued. It’s directed by Andrew Bujalski(Computer Chess)and also stars Kevin Corrigan, Giovanni Ribissi, Brooklyn Decker, Anthony Michael Hall and Constance Zimmer. It premiered at Sundance 2015 and gets an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. And, finally, if you want horror for Halloween, Hulu has added What We Become, a 2016 Danish zombie pic. It stars Mille Dinesen, Troels Lyby, Benjamin Engell and Marie Hammer Boda, in the tale of a family, trying to survive a sudden virus that engulfs their town. The result is a full zombie apocalypse, and What We Become gets a 78% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 5.6/10 on IMDb.

NETFLIX

Netflix, too, has some big additions this week, the buzziest being Bodyguard, a 2018 British series. About David Budd, a war veteran hired to work as a bodyguard for a conservative Home Secretary, whose politics he detests. It stars Richard Madden, Keeley Hawes, Gina McKee, Sophie Rundle, Paul Ready and Stephanie Hyam and is created by Jed Mercurio. This series got the highest ratings on the BBC since the multichannel era, and it gets an astounding 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.3/10 on IMDb. Give it a try. Also, new on Netflix, is Dovlatov, a 2018 drama from Russia. About six days in the life of author Sergei Dovlatov, and his constant difficulties with censorship and a repressive Soviet regime, Dovlatov stars Milan Maric, Danila Kovlovsky, Helene Sujecka,Eva Herr and Artur Beschastny,  and directed by Alexei German. It won the Silver Bear at the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival, and gets a 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. Netflix also has Been So Long, a 2018 urban musical  from Britain. This movie is about a single mother, who meets and falls in love with a handsome stranger. It was directed by Tinge Krishnan and stars Michaela Coel, Arinze Kene, George MacKay, Rakie Ayola and Genevieve Barr. It has wonderful dance scenes and great music,  was selected at the BFI London Film Festival and gets an incredible 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Also new on Netflix is Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, a Netflix original starring Kiernan Shipka(Mad Men). Adapted from a comic book, this series catches Sabrina, the half human, half witch, on the eve of her sixteenth birthday, when Sabrina must choose between her witch family and the human world of her friends. It also stars Ross Lynch, Miranda Otto, Lucy Davis, Michelle Gomez and Chance Perdomo and gets a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.1/10 on IMDb.But beware if you watch with kids for this is rated TV-14, and is listed as dark and violent by Netflix!  Netflix has also added God Knows Where I Am, a 2017 documentary directed by Jedd and Todd Wider. This is a heartbreaking movie about Linda Bishop, a single mother who battled with bipolar disorder and psychosis, and died alone in an abandoned farm house in New Hampshire. Based on a New Yorker story by Rachel Aviv, this is an important movie for all of us to see, and gets an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.6/10 on IMDb. And, finally, Netflix has Shirkers, a 2018 documentary by Sandi Tan. Tan made a road movie in 1992, as a 19 year old, only to have it stolen by her film teacher, Georges Cardona, and Shirkers is about her present day search for that film, from Singapore, to New Orleans. This film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and won the World Cinema Documentary Directing Award and rave reviews from countless publications. It gets a 100%(!) on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.2/10 on IMDb. Well worth a view.

AMAZON

Amazon, too, has a few interesting additions this week, but the biggest new movie added is You Were Never Really Here, starring Joaquin Phoenix. Phoenix stars as a beaten down war veteran, who rescues trafficked girls, willing to use a great deal of violence, all the while enduring flashbacks of his own traumatic childhood and abuse. It also stars Ekaterina Samsonov, Alex Manette, Judith Roberts, Dante Pereira-Olson and Alessandro Nivola and won numerous awards, including an award at Cannes for Best Actor for Phoenix and Best Screenplay for Lynne Ramsay, who also directed. It got a 4/4 stars on rogerebert.com and gets an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. But this is a super-violent movie, so be prepared. Also, newly available on Amazon, is Bad Samaritan, starring David Tennant(Doctor Who). This is a 2017 horror movie about two young burglars, who pick the wrong victim, i.e., Tennant, who happens to be a serial killer. Filmed here in Portland, Oregon, Bad Samaritan also stars Robert Sheehan, Carlito Olivero, Kerry Condon and Jacqueline Byers, and gets a 6.4/10 on IMDb, but beware, Simon Abrams of rogerebert.com called it ” a spectacularly dumb, weirdly entertaining bad-taste thriller.” Enough said. Also, new on Amazon, is Back To Burgundy, a 2017 French movie. About three siblings, running a winery and trying to reconnect and adjust after their father falls ill, it stars Pio Marmaï, Ana Girardot,  Francois Civil, Maria Valverde, Yamée Couture and Florence Pernel and was directed by Cédric Klapisch. And it gets a 6.9/10 on IMDb. Amazon has also added Spaced, a series from Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes. This was made before Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, and here Pegg and Hynes play a couple of slackers who pretend to be married to get an apartment together. It also stars Nick Frost(Shaun of the Dead), Nick Frost, Mark Heap  and Julia Deakin and was nominated for a BAFTA. And  it gets an 8.6/10 on IMDb! And, finally, Amazon has A Street Cat Named Bob, a 2016 British drama. It tells the tale of a homeless man and former heroin addict, whose life is changed by a ginger street cat named Bob, played by Bob, himself. The movie also stars Luke Treadaway, Ruta Gedmintas, Joanne Froggatt, Anthony Head and Caroline Goodall and won Best British Film at the U.K. National Film Awards in 2017. So if you need an uplifting film after all your Halloween horror, this may be your pick.  And it gets a 7.4/10 on IMDb.

So, relax and binge, on new classics and old, online this weekend!