New Movies and TV to Stream, May 18

Yes, there’s some exciting new movies and television shows added to Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime. So let’s get right to it!

HULU

Hulu’s got a great addition this week, with George Clooney‘s Catch-22. Based on Joseph Heller‘s classic novel of the same name, this limited series stars Christopher Abbott as John Yossarian, a bombardier in WWII, who is can’t kill enough enemy pilots to please the bureaucracy that runs the army, and tries to survive with his sanity intact. He’s joins by a wide array of characters also on the edge, played by all-star actors like George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Kyle Chandler, and others like Rafi Gavron, Daniel David Stewart, Tessa Ferrer, Julie Ann Emery, Gerran Howell and Grant Heslov. This series has a wonderful look and feel, that might remind you of MASH, and not in a bad way. There are 6 episodes on Hulu, and NPR’s reviewer Eric Deggans calls it “a beautiful, horrifying adaptation of one of the best anti-war novels in literature.” It gets an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.2/10 on IMDb. Hulu also has added the movie Egg, a 2019 comedy about motherhood. It stars Christina Hendricks (Mad Men), Alysia Reiner (Orange Is the New Black), and Anna Camp (Pitch Perfect), and considers why some choose to be mothers and others avoid it with a passion. The cast also includes Gbenga Akinnagbe (The Deuce), David Alan Basche and the film is directed by Marianna Palka(Good Dick). It’s an honest and sharp pros and cons of parenthood, and it gets a stunning 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and Refinery29 says “it is a searing examination of how class, privilege, money, and freedom of choice intersect.” Hulu has also added Prey, a 2014 British TV crime series. This show features DCI Susan Reinhardt, played by Rosie Cavaliero, as she hunts down fellow detective Marcus Farrow, played by John Simm, wrongly accused of murder. The cast also includes Craig Parkinson, Anastasia Hille, Benedict Wong and Adrian Edmondson. There are two seasons available now, with only three episodes per season. And it gets an amazing 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.2 on IMDb. Its on my list. And, finally, Hulu has A Breath Away, a 2018 French sci-fi movie. It stars Romain Duris and Olga Kurylenko as two parents trying to save their daughter from a toxic mist that engulfs Paris after an earthquake. Their daughter is stuck in a medical tank, with the battery life dying after the earthquake. It also stars Fantine Harduin, Michael Robin and Anna Gaylor and is directed by Daniel Roby. Not everyone likes it , it got a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, but Deirdre Crimmins of HighDef Digest says it” is an excellent little film about the death of civilization as we know it.” I’m watching.

NETFLIX

Netflix has some big new additions this week, including See You Yesterday, a 2019 Netflix original sci-fi movie. In this one, two high school science geniuses C.J. Walker and Sebastian Thomas, played by Eden Duncan-Smith and Dante Crichlow, devise backpacks that can let you travel back in time, but only come to desperately need them when C.J.’s unarmed brother is killed by the cops. Desperate to undo that, they make attempt after attempt. The movie also stars Brian ‘Stro Bradley, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Johnathan Nieves and Wavyy Jonez and is directed by Stefan Bristol. Oh and the producer is Spike Lee, and you can tell with the wonderful cuts and authentic depiction of the boroughs of New York.This is a new kind of sci-fi grounded in the harsh reality of today. And it gets a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and Brian Tallerico says it’s”an ambitious, striking debut that takes unexpected creative risks and heralds the arrival of an exciting new filmmaker.” Don’t miss it. Netflix has also added Good Sam, another 2019 Netflix original movie. This is a soppy story of a female reporter, played well by Tiya Sircar, who keeps getting put on either bummer stories(fires, burglaries) or fluff, neither of which fulfill her abilities, so she pushes hard to find the good Samaritan who’s been leaving $1000 on needy peoples doorsteps. And, of course, she finds romance. The cast includes Mark Camacho, Chad Conell, Marco Grazzini, Jesse Camacho, Elana Dunkelmen and Kelly Hope Taylor. But Decider.com says to skip it and so do I, and it gets a 5.4/10 on IMDb. A far better upbeat choice might be It’s Bruno!, a 2019 series about a man and his dog, Bruno. But this is a truly New York tale of love, with Solvan Naim playing himself, ditto his dog Bruno, as they face the streets of Bushwick, Brooklyn and the adversity posed by other dogs, people attempting to pet his dog, and , of course, women. It also stars Rob Morgan, Shakira Barrera, Johnnie Mae, Joe Perrino,Donnell Rawlings,Eden Marryshow and Jade Eshete. The show is created and directed by Naim, too, and it is great, funny and truly original. And it gets a 7.4/10 on IMDb. Netflix has also added Bathtubs Over Broadway, a 2019 documentary directed by Dava Whisenant. This movie follows Steve Young(former writer for the David Letterman Show) as he finds all kinds of industrial musical, musicals they spent wads of money on, merely to showcase different new products, like The Bathrooms Are Coming!, by Sid Seigel, showcasing American Standard‘s new bathroom fixtures, with Broadway star SuEllen Estey singing about her love for the bathroom, or tony winner Sheldon Hardnick writing songs about dog chow! It’s like Mystery Science Theater for bizarre Broadway musicals you’d never heard of. And it gets 3.5/4 stars on rogerebert.com and a 7.8/10 on IMDb. And, finally, Netflix offers Still Laugh-in:The Stars Celebrate, a fond all-star tribute to the classic TV show of the 60‘s. And this show has tons of stars reminiscing, like Lily Tomlin, Jo Ann Worley, Goldie Hawn, Ruth Buzzi, Billy Crystal, Tiffany Haddish, Jay Leno and lots of new material, too.There are classic clips plus new riffs on the old standards from Laugh-In like the famous wall of comics. And it gets a 5.4/10 on IMDb.

AMAZON PRIME

Amazon Prime has some good adds, too, this week, with one of the best being Little Pink House, a 2018 Canadian-American biographical drama. Based on a true story, this tells the tale of Susette Kelo, an EMT played by Catherine Keener(!), who is forced to become a spokesperson in her community’s fight against Pfizer Corporation and politicians who head it’s drive to bulldoze their homes. It also stars Jeanne Tripplehorn, Aaron Douglas, Colin Cunningham, Miranda Friggon and Callum Keith Rennie, and is directed by Courtney Moorehead Balaker. It won Audience Choice Award at the Vail Film Festival and other smaller film festivals and the movie gets a 75% on Rotten Tomatoes. And Rex Reed says “Keener is scrappy but calm throughout, with a convincing naturalism as a woman with tremendous strength and a powerful belief in civil rights.” It’s on my list. Amazon also added The Dead, the legendary John Huston’s last directorial effort, from 1987. It’s based on James Joyce’s The Dubliners and stars Anjelica Huston as a woman whose husband, played by Donal McCann, finally learns of her deceased lover at an Epiphany party. It also stars Cathleen Delaney, Helena Carroll, Rachael Dowling, Ingrid Craigie and Marie Kean. This movie won numerous awards, including National Society of Film Critics Awards, for Best Film of the year and Independent Spirit Award for Best Director and for Best Supporting Female, for Anjelica Huston. And it gets a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.4/10 on IMDb. And, finally, Amazon has The Vanishing, a 2018 thriller starring Gerard Butler. This movie is set in the remote Flannan Isles, where three lighthouse keepers actually disappeared in 1900. Butler, Connor Swindells and Peter Mullan play those play those keepers who find a chest and what appears to be a dead body, after a storm. And things get rough from there. The Vanishing also stars Olafur Darri Olafsson, Gary Lewis and Søren Malling and was directed by Kristoffer Nyholm. Oh, and Gerard Butler was one of the producers of this film, as well. And it gets an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 5.8/10 on IMDb. But don’t watch this with the kiddos, it is graphically violent.

So sit back and binge this weekend on classics new and old, online, at Hulu Netflix and Amazon. Enjoy!