Yes , it’s the weekend again, and time to review the best new movie s added to Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. So let’s get started!
The biggest new add on Hulu this week is The Art of Self Defense, the 2019 Jesse Eisenberg black comedy. Here, Eisesnberg stars as a meek and inhibited accountant, who, after a physical assault, enrolls in a self-defense class taught by the overly macho Sensei, played by Alessandro Nivola. But the classes turn him gradually into a more violent and aggressive person, with surprising results. Imogen Poots ,Steve Terada ,Phillip Andre Botello and David Zellner also star, while Riley Stearns(Faults) directs. And while this very dark comedy is not for everyone, it makes a very good point about toxic masculinity, and get an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times says it’s,” bold but inconsistent, outrageous but not all that shocking, The Art of Self Defense never reaches its full potential, but lands more than enough punches to warrant our attention.” I’m watching. Hulu has also added the 2014 drama In Secret. Based on the novel Thérèse Raquin by Emile Zola, Elizabeth Olsen plays Thérèse, a young woman forced to marry her sickly cousin, played by Tom Felton, by her forceful aunt, played by Jessica Lange. She lives a boring, repressed life, until she meets her husband’s friend, an artist, played by Oscar Isaac, who paints her portrait. Murder ensues. Shirley Henderson, John Kavanagh and Matt Lucas are also featured, and Charlie Stratton directs. It’s a bit melodramatic, and only gets a 41% on Rotten Tomatoes. But Odie Henderson of RogerEbert.com called it, “a costume drama with a gigantic accent on the drama. It’s my kind of crazy, and I was quite entertained.” You decide. Hulu has also added the 2018 Canadian legal drama series Burden of Truth. Kristin Kreuk stars here as an attorney who starts out representing a big pharmaceutical company, but starts to realize the sick girls in her hometown who are suing the company have a case, and that a bigger conspiracy is going on as well.Peter Mooney, Star Slade, Nicola Correia-Damude, Anwen O’Driscoll and Michelle Nolden also star. There are 2 seasons of the show available now on Hulu, and it gets a 7.2/10 on IMDb. It’s on my list. And, finally, Hulu has added The Possession, a 2012 horror movie. Natasha Calis stars as Em, who buys a wooden box with Hebrew letters on it at a garage sale, that seemingly comes to possess her, and turn a nice little girl dangerous. Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick star as her parents, with Madison Davenport, Grant Show, Matisyahu and Jay Brazeau also featured. Ole Bornedal directs and Sam Raimi is a producer here, not surprisingly. But, unfortunately, this is a run of the mill shocker. It only gets a 40% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 5.9/10 on IMDb. But I know you need horror.
NETFLI
This week, Netflix has added A.J. and the Queen, RuPaul’s dazzling new comedy series. RuPaul plays Ruby Red, a successful drag queen, but in love with a man who turns out to be a grifter who’s been robbing her blind, so newly broke, Ruby Red hits the road in his RV, accompanied by an a stowaway, A.J., played by Izzy G.. And A.J. has some gender issues of their own, so Ruby Red helps with that. Josh Segarra, Michael-Leon Wooley,Katerina Tannenbaum, Tia Carrerre(!), Mary Kay Place(!) and Matthew Wilkas also star. This is not a perfect show, it is corny and sometimes confused, but it has so many great drag performances, with wonderful costumes sand productions, you just shouldn’t miss.The Daily Beast calls the show a “happy, important mess,”and it gets a 7.4/10 on IMDb. Don’t miss it. Netflix has also added the 2019 British crime series Giri/Haji(Duty/Shame). Here, Takehiro Hira plays Kenzo Mori, a Tokyo detective, who goes looking for his presumed dead yakuza brother Yuto(Yōsuke Kubozuka) in London, and ends sup working with the Metropolitan Police, including DC Sarah Weitzmann(Kelly MacDonald). Will Sharpe,Aoi Okuyama ,Masahiro Motoki and Charlie Creed Miles also star, and this is brought to us by the producers of HBO’s Chernobyl. Carol Midgley of the Times(UK) says,”there is an artfulness to this drama – the split screen, the surprise shift to cartoon animation – that promises it won’t be just another international crime tale.” And it gets an astounding 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.9/10 on IMDb. Netflix also offers A Ghost Story, 2018 supernatural drama starring Casey Affleck. Here, Affleck stars as a man who dies, and haunts the new house he and his wife(Rooney Mara) had recently moved into. And stays after she leaves. Will Oldham, Sonia Acevedo, Rob Zabrecky, Liz Franke and Kenneisha Thompson also star, with David Lowrey(Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) directing. This is a really different , experimental movie, with
Kevin Maher of the Times(UK) saying it’s, “a genuinely gorgeous and quietly upsetting fantasy drama.” And it gets a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.8/10 on IMDb. Also new on Netflix is Medical Police, a 2019 comedy series. In this hilarious send up of how like CSI and innumerable other, Erinn Hayes and Ron Huebel play two doctors, Lola Spratt and Owen Maestro, from a secret division of the CDC, who go on a well armed hunt for a global virus all over the world. Malin Akerman, Sarayu Blue,Rob Corddry, Lake Bell and Jason Schwartzman also star, as well as countless notable guest stars to pep thing up. And this from the creator of Children’s Hospital, Rob Corddry. There are ten episodes now on Netflix, and it gets an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. Great for a laugh. And, finally, Netflix has added Live Twice, Love Once, a Spanish comedy/drama. Here, Oscar Martínez play Emilio, a retired teacher newly diagnosed with Alzheimers. He goes in search of his childhood sweetheart(Inma Cuesta),with the help of his daughter and granddaughter. Mafalda Carbonell, Nacho López, Isabel Requena and Aina Clotet also star, with María Ripoll(Woodpeckers) directing. It may be a little corny, but it’s funny and touching, too. And it get a 7.4/10 on IMDb. It’s on my list.
AMAZON
Huzzah! Amazon has finally added Midsommar, the 2019 horror film from director Ari Aster(Herditary).Florence Pugh stars as a young college student, who, after a horrible family tragedy, goes on a Swedish vacation with her boyfriend and his friends, to the Hårga, an ancestral commune, where things get terribly worse. Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper, Vilhelm Blomgren and Will Poulter also star. Manohla Dargis of the NY Times says, “after a while, an unproductive restlessness sets in as you wait for the characters to matter as much as the silky moves and painstaking details. ” And it gets an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. I’m not watching, though–too scary for me. Another new add on Amazon is Ladyboys: Inside Thailand’s Third Gender, a 2019 documentary series. About the third gender in Thailand, kathoey, which means ‘someone of a third gender,’ follows two expats, Scott and David, as they meet their kathoey friends throughout Thailand. And it get a 7.1/10 on IMDb. A fascinating series with three episodes available. And that’s it for Amazon’s new adds.
So it back and binge this weekend, with classic movies , new and old, on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. Enjoy!
Grownups Guide to Streaming 