New Movies and TV Shows to Stream, Nov. 24

Yes, it’s time to review the new movies and television shows coming to Hulu, Netflix and Amazon. So let’s get started!

HULU

One of the most exciting movies added online this week is on Hulu, – Sorry to Bother You, the 2018 absurdist comedy from writer and director Boots Riley. It stars Lakeith Standfield as the protagonist, Cassius Green, who just wants to get a job and make some money in an alternate Oakland, California. But it turns out, as a telemarketer, the way to make more money is to ‘sound white,’ so he does, with sad results. It also stars Danny Glover, Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler, Omari Hardwick, Terry Crews, Patton Oswalt, Steven Yeun and Armie Hammer, and it may be a contender for an Oscar or two, next year.  It premiered at Sundance earlier this year, and gets a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. Hulu has also added The Wolfpack, the 2015 documentary about the six Angulo brothers. The brothers, most unfortunately, were almost imprisoned by their father for years, in their New York apartment, and used movies and film-making their escape. This movie is not grim, thanks to director Crystal Moselle. And it gets an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. Also, new on Hulu this week, is Dancer, the 2016 doc directed by Steven Cantor. It is about dancing phenom Sergei Polunin, the so called “bad boy of ballet,” who was the Royal Ballet‘s youngest principal dancer at nineteen, only to quit two years later. It’s a study of dance, and how fame and success may not be suit everyone. And it gets an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. Hulu has also added Damascus Cover, a 2017 thriller. Based on the novel of the same name by Howard Kaplan, this movie is about a spy, asked to ferry a chemical weapons scientist out of Syria, which, predictably, goes wrong. It stars  Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Olivia Thirlby, Jürgen Prochnow and John Hurt, in his last role on film. This movie doesn’t get the best reviews, and only gets a 4.9/10 on IMDb, and a staggering 14% on Rotten Tomatoes. So only if you’re desperate for a spy thriller. And, finally, Hulu offers John Dies in the End, the 2013 sci-fi/horror movie from director John Cascarelli. Based on the popular book by John Wong, of the same name, this is a gory, violent, wacko story of a bunch of slackers, trying to avoid zombie apocalypse and drug induced hallucinations, at the same time. It stars  Chase Williamson and Rob Mayes, with Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown, Glynn Turman, Daniel Roebuck, and Doug Jones. Wired named it a cult film, but it got mixed reviews, and only gets a 62% on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s too violent for me, but if you need sci-fi and horror, this may be the film for you.

NETFLIX

Netflix has some big additions this week, including Sick Note, a 2017 comedy series starring Rupert Grint. In it Grint stars as a young man whose life suddenly improves, when he’s mistakenly told he has esophageal cancer, so when he learns it’s a misdiagnosis, he doesn’t tell anyone. It also stars Nick Frost, Don Johnson, Pippa Bennett-Warner and even, Lindsay Lohan, and there are 2 seasons available on Netflix already. And, it gets a 6.3/10 on IMDb. Also, available on Netflix is The Tribe, a 2017 comedy movie from Spain. It’s the story of an villainous executive, hit by bus, who loses his memory, but finds his biological mother and her dance club. It stars Carmen Machi, Paco León, Maite Sandoval and Luis Bermejo and gets a 5.6/10 on IMDb. Netflix also has The Christmas Chronicles, the 2018 movie starring Kurt Russell as Santa Claus. Yes, I know it’s only November 24, but it stars Kurt Russell, as a more athletic Santa, whose sleigh is infiltrated by a pair of lonely kids from Chicago. It also stars Kimberly Williams-Paisly, Darby Camp and Judah Lewis. There is more action than usual in a Christmas movie, and even features Russell singing, but Variety still calls it ‘formulaic,’ and it gets a 65% on Rotten Tomatoes. Netflix also has Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia, a stand-up special with, you guessed it, Trevor Noah. In it, Noah touches on racism, the president, camping, tacos and lessons from his Mom. Noah is always insightful, as well as funny and the special gets a 7.1/10 on IMDb. Netflix also added DePalma, a 2015 documentary. A movie for film fanatics about director Brian DePalma directed by Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow, it has lots of scenes from DePalma movies, such as Carrie and Dressed to Kill, but also Alfred Hitchcock(DePalma’s hero and main influence) movies, too. And it gets a 7.4/10 on IMDb. And, finally, Netflix offers Fugitiva, a new Mexican TV series. It stars Paz Vega, as a mother who arranges her family’s own kidnapping, to escape her powerful husband’s abuse. It also stars Julio Braza, Arantza Ruiz, Ruisa Rubino, Lander Otaola and Mercedes Sampietro and is  a stirring and original take on the old thriller idea of kidnapping. ReadySteadyCut calls it a ‘genuinely enticing series’ and it gets a 6.3/10 on IMDb. Give it a try.

AMAZON

Amazon, too, has some exciting new stuff this week, including First Reformed, the 2017 Ethan Hawke drama. From master director Paul Schrader, comes this movie about a Protestant minister(Hawke) confronted with the loss of his son, dwindling parishioners and a horribly difficult situation, brought to him by a distraught member of his flock. It also stars Amanda Seyfried, Cedric Kyles, Victoria Hill and Philip Ettinger, and figures to be a contender for many awards later this year. And it gets a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. Also, newly added  on Amazon is Loving Pablo, the 2018 biopic about druglord Pablo Escobar.  Based on Virginia Vallejo’s memoir about her affair with Escobar, it stars power couple Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, covers Escobar‘s rise to power and his affair with the journalist Vallejo. It also stars Peter Sarsgaard, Julieth Restrepo and Óscar Jaenada, but other than it’s cast, it doesn’t have much to recommend it, getting a 32% on Rotten Tomatoes.  And, if you need horror this holiday season(and who doesn’t), consider The Night Eats the World, a newly added 2018 French zombie pic. In this film, a man(Anders Danielsen Lie) awakens after passing out at a party, to find that he is the last living man in Paris, threatened by an army of zombies. It also stars Golshifteh Farahani, Denis Lavant, Sigrid Bouaziz and Daniel Kammenos and is directed by Dominique Rocher. And it gets a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.10/10 on IMDb. I’m watching. Amazon has also added Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc, a French musical movie from 2017. It’s not only a musical, but hard-rock, to boot, covering the childhood of Joan of Arc, during the Hundred Years War. It stars  Jeanne Voisin, Lise Leplat Prudhomme, Lucille Gauthier, Victoria Lefebvre, Aline Charles, Elise Charles and Nicolas Leclaire and is directed by Bruno Dumont. Ty Burr of the Boston Globe called “very likely the first medieval heavy-metal musical ever to grace the silver screen” and “deeply and unsettlingly strange” but Cahiers du cinéma placed it at number 2 on their best 10 of 2017 list. You decide. Oh, and it gets a 74% on Rotten Tomatoes. And, finally, Amazon Prime has added Cadfael, the Medieval murder mystery series from 1994-1998. Starring the wonderful Derek Jacoby, and produced by ITV Central, it’s based on the mystery series of books by Ellis Peters. It takes place in the 12th century and features Brother Cadfael, a monk at the Benedictine Abbey in Shrewsbury. It also stars Sean Pertwee, Eoin McCarthy and Julian Firth.It’s a great series and Amazon has all 5 seasons available. And it gets an 8.2/10 on IMDb.

So sit back, relax, eat leftovers and binge on great movies and TV shows online, on Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime!