Yes, it’s the weekends again, and time to review the best new movies and tv shows added on Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime. So lets get right to it!
HULU
Hulu has the best movie added this week, with If Beale Street Could Talk, the 2018 drama directed and written by Barry James(Moonlight). Based on James Baldwins novel of the same name, this follows a woman, played by Kiki Layne, as she tries to clear the name of her lover, played by Stephan James, who is accused of rape, before the birth of their child. She knows he’s not guilty, because she was with him at the time, but the police don’t believe her. The cast also includes Regina King,Teyonah Parris, Emily Rios, Brian Tyree Henry and Aunjanue Ellis. This movie deservedly won multiple awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Regina King, at the Academy Awards, as well as being nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score. It was named one of last year’s top 10 films by many organizations including the American Film Institute and National Board of Review. And it gets an amazing 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. I’m definitely watching. Also, new on Hulu is Monsters and Men, the 2018 drama written and directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green. this movie tells the tale of man who videos the wrongful gunning down of a hustler by a white policeman, and then is faced with the dilemma of exposing himself and his family to danger by going public, or keeping quiet.John David Washington stars as well as Anthony Ramos, Kelvin Harrison Jr,Chanté Adams,Jasmine Cephas Jones and Nicole Beharie. It’s a wonderful and sensitive movie and it gets an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. Hulu also offers Acrimony, Tyler Perry’s 2018 thriller starring Taraji Henson. Henson plays a mistreated wife, who decides to get revenge on her cheating and seemingly duplicitous husband, played by Lyriq Bent. It also stars Ajiona Alexus,Antonio Madison , Crystle Stewart, Danielle Nicolet and Jazmyn Simon. Now this isn’t the greatest movie, it only gets a 19% on Rotten Tomatoes, Paul Asay of Plugged In says of it “before the credits roll, Acrimony boards an express train to Crazyville,” but the pickings are slim on Hulu, after our first two recommended movies and if you need a thriller, this might satisfy your cravings. And, finally, Hulu has added The Domestics, the 2018 post-apocalyptic horror film. This one stars Kate Bosworth and Tyler Hoechlin as a married couple trying to survive and find safety in a world overtaken by murderous gangs after a state-sponsored chemical weapons attack. The movie also stars Sonoya Mizuno,Lance Reddick, Dana Gourrier, David Dastmalchian and Thomas Francis Murphy. This is definitely a B movie, but it gets a stunning 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, but Paul Mount of Starburst says “and be warned, the violence is pretty unflinching and uncompromising.” So don’t say you weren’t told.
NETFLIX
Netflix has some big additions this week, too, most notable of which is The Highwaymen, a 2019 Netflix original crime drama. But not just any crime drama, this one stars Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson, otherwise you might not hear about it at all. In this one, the pair play a couple of grizzled Texas Rangers on the trail of Bonnie And Clyde, with Kathy Bates playing Texas governor “Ma” Ferguson. The cast also includes John Carroll Lynch, Kim Dickens, Thomas Mann,William Sadler and W. Earl Brown, and is directed by John Lee Hancock(The Blind Side). but this is a revisionist story of Bonnie and Clyde, unsympathetic and hard-line, where they got what they deserve, and even the J.Edgar Hoover is a “sissy.” It gets a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Katie Walsh of The Chicago Tribune says of it “this morally dubious and ultimately suspenseless film is simply not worth the time,” and I agree. More interesting on Netflix is Traitors, a 2019 British thriller. In this intriguing series, a young woman, Feef Symonds(played by Emma Appleton) is talked into spying on her own government, by on behalf of the American government, to search for “communists,” after Churchill‘s defeat by Clement Attlee in 1945. It also stars Michael Stuhlbarg(The Shape of Water), Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard, The Durrells), Luke Treadaway,Greg McHugh and Brandon P Bell and is directed by Dearbhla Walsh and Alex Winckler. There aren’t many reviews available yet for this show, but the Sunday Times calls it “smart and funny, provocatively reimagining a moment when Britain had to shake off the bombsite dust and decide how to shape its future.” And it gets a 70% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.2/10 on IMDb. I’m watching. Netflix also offer Osmosis, a new French sci-fi series. This takes place in Paris, in the near-future, where two siblings, played by Hugo Becker and Agathe Bonitzer, devise a new process to find your true love, and go to test it on a select few. But they probe your brain to do so, and it looks like it could go horribly wrong. It also stars Stéphane Pitti, Gaël Kamilindi,Lena Laprès, Philypa Phoenix, Suzanne Rault-Balet,Luna Silva, Manoel Dupont and Yuming Hey and was created by Audrey Fouché. For this too, there are not yet many reviews, but IMDb already gives it a 7.2/10. It’s definitely on my list. Also new on Netflix is Bayonet, a 2019 Mexican drama. In this film, Luis Gerardo Mendez plays ex-fighter Bayoneta, trying to escape(in Finland) his ignominious past, only to decide to fight again. The cast also includes Laura Birn, Brontis Jodorowsky, Ilkka Koivula,Joonas Saartamo and Ville Virtanen, and it’s directed by Kyzza Terrazas. And it gets an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes. Netflix also offers Eugenie Nights, an Egyptian drama series from 2018. This tells the story of a couple, each in an unhappy marriage, Kariman, married to an abusive man, and Nino, her husband’s brother, unable to bond with his wife. It stars Injy El Mokkaddem,Cherif Hafez,Amina Khalil,Dhafer L’Abidine, Carmen Bsaibes, Mourad Makram and Leila Ezz El Arab. And it gets a 7.6/10 on IMDb. And finally, Netflix has Saving Mr. Banks, the 2013 comedy drama starring Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks. Thompson stars as P.L. Travers(the author of Mary Poppins) traveling to L.A., at the urging of her agent, to meet with Walt Disney, who wants to buy world the rights to her world famous book, which she is dead set set against, for fear of his changing her wonderful title character. The cast also includes Paul Giamatti, Rachel Griffiths, Colin Farrell, Ruth Wilson, Paul Farrell, Jason Schwatrzman and Kathy Baker and the director was John Lee Hancock. Thompson won multiple awards for her role here, including a BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globe, and Critics Choice Award, for Best Actress, and the film was named to the Top 10 lists of both the American Film Institute and the National Board of Review. And it gets a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.5/10 on IMDb. And Thompson is always amazing.
AMAZON PRIME
Okay, so there’s not much newly added on Amazon at all, but there are still a few hidden gems, added in March. Like the movies of Italian cult horror master director Lucio Fulci and his 1980 movie City of the Living Dead, starring Christopher George(!), Katherine MacColl, Janet Agren, as the Seven Gates of Hell are due to open in three days and a reporter and a psychic try to stave off disaster. It gets a 6.3/10 on IMDb. If you like that, Amazon has the sequel, The House By The Cemetery, from 1981, with Paolo Malco, Giovanni Frezza, Dagmar Lassander, which Dr. Norman Boyle examining an old house and the mysteries it holds, which gets a 6.2/10 on IMDb. If you want more, they have The New York Ripper, by Fulci, starring Jack Hedley, Almanta Suska, Howard Ross, from 1982, which gets a 6.4/10 on IMDb. If you don’t like those, and want a different horror experience, Amazon offers The Reef, an Australian thriller from 2011. In this, four friends must swim shark infested waters to shore. It stars Damian Walshe-Howling, Gyton Grantley, Adrienne Pickering and gets a 5.8/10 on IMDb. and, finally, if you don’t want horror at all, like me, you can watch The Invincible Armor, a 1977 Kung Fu movie from China.In this movie, Chow Lu Fong is framed for murder, and befriends Shen Yu, who is on the hunt for him. And, of course, in the end , they prevail and the evil Minister Chang. It stars John Liu, Jang Lee Hwang, Chiang Wang and gets a 7.1/10 on IMDb. And don’t forget, Amazon still has Herditary and Homecoming, to catch up on!
So sit back and relax, this lovely weekend and binge on classics old and new on Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime. Enjoy!
Grownups Guide to Streaming 