Yes, it’s the weekend, again and tie to review the new movies and television shows online this week on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. So lets get right to it!
HULU
Hulu has not added much this week, butthey have one exciting new movie, Goran, a 2016 thriller from Croatia. It stars Franjo Dijak in the title role of Goran as a cab driver, married to a blind woman he adores, but all is not as it seems and things get worse at his birthday goes on. It also stars Natasa Janjic as Lina, his wife, Goran Boddan,Janko Popovic Volaric,Filip Krizan and Milan Strljic, and is masterfully directed by Nevio Marasovic. This is a taut, gory movie, filmed in beautiful Gorski Kotar, in Croatia. Dijak won Best Actor for this role at the Fantasia Film Festival and the film won Best Narrative Feature at the Calgary Film Festival. And it gets a 6.7/10 on IMDb. Hulu has also added Every Day, a 2018 romantic fantasy from director Michael Suczy(Grey Gardens). Based on a novel of the same name by David Levithan, it stars Angourie Rice as a girl who falls in love with a traveling soul A, who wakes up in a new body each morning. The cast also includes Justice Smith, Jeni Ross, Lucas Jade Zumann, Rory McDonald, Maria Bello and Deby Ryan. It’s not my kind of film, but it gets a 6.4/10 on IMDb, and a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes.If you need horror(mixed with comedy), Hulu has added the 3rd season of Stan Against Evil, from IFC. This series stars John C. McGinley (Platoon, Wall Street, Scrubs) as the former sheriff of a town that has just been invaded by 172 demons, since it was built on the site of a massive witch burning. He teams up with the new sheriff(Janet Varney) and his daughter(Deborah Baker Jr.). Mike Ignis, Danielle Phelan, Denise Boutte, Grace DeAmicis and Dana Gould round out the cast. This is a funny show, but don’t worry, it’s still got plenty of gore, terror and chain saws. And it gets a 7.3/10 on IMDb. Hulu has also added Jamie’s Quick and Easy Food, the new cooking series from chef Jamie Oliver. In this series, Oliver cooks with only five ingredients max, for each dish, and shows you how to make tasty gourmet meals, in very little time. Each episode is only 30 minutes long, and feature several recipes, including Linguine, Squid, Sausage Carbonara and Lamb Kofta. Oliver is a veteran chef, who doesn’t waste time, and the show gets an 8.7/10 on IMDb. And Hulu has 2 seasons available. And, finally, Hulu has added The Here After, a 2015 thriller from Sweden. It stars Ulrik Munther as a teen, just released from a correctional facility, only to return home to a harsh father and a town that won’t forgive him his violent crime. It also stars Mats Blomgren,Loa Ek, Wieslaw Komesa, Alexander Nordgren and is directed by Magnus Van Horn. This film won three awards at the 51st Guldbagge Awards(Swedish Film Institute), including Best Director for Van Horn, Best Film and Best Supporting Actor for Blomgren. And it gets an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.
NETFLIX
This week’s most exciting addition on Netflix is Paddleton, the Duplass brothers‘(The Puffy Chair) latest film. In this one, Mark Duplass stars as Michael, a typically Duplassian oddball, who develops a serious and fatal form of cancer, and enlists Andy, his best friend and neighbor, played by Ray Romano, to help him end his life. So they go on a road trip, in search of the right medication. The cast also includes Christine Woods, Kadeem Hardison, Marguerite Moreau, Dendrie Taylor and Alexandra Billings but most of the film focuses on the two quirky friends,who play paddleton(a game they invented) in the park. This movie premiered at Sundance this year, earlier in the month and gets an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes. It you love the Duplass brothers’ this is a must see, although it isn’t their best effort. Netflix has also added Workin’ Moms, a 2017 Canadian comedy series, developed by Catherine Rietman. This is a raunchy and irreverent study of how four moms cope(or don’t cope), after their maternity leave ends. It stars Reitman,Juno Rinaldi, Dani Kind and Jessalyn Wanlim as the four friends, with Trenna Keating, Katherine Barrell, Philip Sternberg, Sarah McVie and Ryan Belleville also starring. And it gets a 5.5/10 on IMDb, but deserves better. I’m watching. Netflix also has The Photographer of Mauthausen, a Spanish historical drama from 2018. This movie tells the true tale of Franscisco Boix, a Catalan photographer, imprisoned by the Nazis in the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, where he took enough photos to help convict Nazi war criminals for their horrendous crimes. It stars Mario Casas as Boix, and also stars Macarena Gomez,Alain Hernández,Adrià Salazar, Eduard Buch and Stefan Weinert and was directed by Mar Targarona. Cinemania called it “direct and effective, what is told on the screen is so intense that it gets the hardest heart excited.” And it gets a 6.5/10 on IMDb. I’m definitely tuning in. And, finally, Netflix has added Transformer, a 2017 Canadian documentary about a power lifter’s transition to being a woman. This movie, directed by Michael del Monte, focuses on former marine and world record weightlifter Matt “Kroc” Kroczaleski, who was outed in 2015 as transgender, where sponsors immediately dumped her, and her parents disowned her. It follows on her journey afterwards, trying to change her sex and facing the dilemma of whether to be a small female and lose muscle. It’s a fascinating movie, one that one Monte the Audience Award at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. and it gets a 7.1/10 on IMDb.
AMAZON PRIME
Amazon‘s biggest add this week has to be What They Had, the 2018 drama starring Hilary Swank and Robert Shannon. This is a compelling drama with a stellar cast, that deals with a family, trying to cope with a parent who has Alzheimers. Bythe Danner plays the mother afflicted with the disease, and Shannon and Swank playing the kids, and Robert Forster playing the husband who doesn’t want to let her go. It also stars Taissa Farmiga, Josh Lucas and Jay Montepare and is written and directed(her first go!) by Elizabeth Chomko. It’s not a total downer, either, it is laced with humor and wit. And it gets an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. Also, new on Amazon is This Giant Beast That is the Global Economy, hosted by Kal Penn. Developed by Adam McKay(The Big Short), this series tries to answer the question of what the global economy is, and how it affects us. We are led by Kal Penn(don’t forget he was once a White House Associate Director!), who , each episode, answers a question like”How can I launder a bag of dirty cash”?” It’s funny and informative and there are eight episodes available. And it gets a 7.9/10 on IMDb. And that’s it for the new additions on Amazon, so I’m going to recommend two more of the classic movies that Amazon added at the beginning of the month, Sparrows, a 1926 silent starring Mary Pickford, as an older orphan who saves younger ones from a terrible fate. Pickford produced this movie and film historian Jeffrey Vance considers it Pickford‘s masterpiece. And, finally, Amazon has Marie Galante, a Spencer Tracy movie from 1934. It stars French actress Ketti Gallian as the title character, who is kidnapped, taken on shipboard, thrown off at the Yucatan and ends up singing in a Panama City cafe. It’s directed by Henry King and includes costars like Ned Sparks, Helen Morgan and Sig Ruman. And it has music by Kurt Weill! And it gets a 5.8/10 on IMDb.
So if the weather’s too wintry, stay inside and curl up with a good movie or two, online at Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime!
Grownups Guide to Streaming 