Yes, it’s that time again, the weekend, and time to review the best new movies and television shows added online this week, to Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. And there are some intriguing adds this week, so let’s get started!
HULU
Hulu has some interesting adds this week, like Hustlers, the 2019 drama. Here, Constance Wu plays Destiny, a newer stripper at a strip club in 2007 Manhattan(before the crash), who is taken under the wing of Ramona, played by Jennifer Lopez, the diva at the club, who teaches her the tricks of the trade, and how to survive. Which becomes a more desperate fight after the crash, when the pair meet again, and come up with a plan to make money and even the score with some of their rich clients, by stealing their credit cards. Keke Palmer(!), Lili Reinhart, Julia Stiles(!), Mercedes Ruehl(!) and Wai Ching Ho also star and Lorene Scafaria(Coherence) directed. This movie is loosely based on a true story featured in New York magazine, and was nominated for numerous awards in 2020, with Jennifer Lopez raking in many of the film’s awards, including Best Supporting Actress at the Hollywood Critics Association and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards. It even was named one of the Top Films of the Year by the New York Film Critics in 2019. And it gets an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. Though the film itself doesn’t get universal accolades, it’s often been called the best performance by Lopez ever. Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com wrote “walking out of Hustlers, you may experience a sensation similar to that of the strippers’ victims: You may not remember everything that happened, but you’ll know you had a great time.” It’s on my list. Hulu has also added The East, a 2020 Dutch thriller. Set in Indonesia during it’s post-WWII War of Independence, with the white Dutch soldiers trying to suppress any freedom fighting, and maintain their stronghold on the island. Martijn Lakemeier plays Johan De Vries Jr., a young man haunted by his father’s Dutch Nazi past, who tries to make up for his horrible inheritance, but soon falls under the sway of superior officer Raymond Westerling(Marwan Kenzari), a sadist in his own right. Denise Aznam, Jonas Smulders, Abel Van Gijlswijk, Coen Bril and Reinout Scholten van Aschat also star, and Jim Taihuttu(Wolf) directed. And it gets a 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, but Phuong Le of the Guardian said “ostensibly a critique of imperialism, The East inadvertently commits the same sins as the old empire once did, as Indonesian characters are no more than window dressing.” So you decide. Also new to Hulu is Enlisted, a 2013 comedy series. Here, three brothers, Staff Sergeant Pete Hill(Geoff Stults), Derrick(Chris Lowell) and Randy(Parker Young) are all assigned to the same small, no-drama Florida camp at Fort McGee, far from the action in Afghanistan, and where the bumbling recruits far from the elite teams any of them dreamed of. Keith David, Angelique Cabral, Kyle Davis, Tania Gunadi, Mel Rodriguez and Michelle Buteau also star, and there are 13 episodes available to enjoy now. This acclaimed series only lasted one season on Fox, but received many accolades, and Keith David was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the 2014 Critics Choice Television Awards for his work here. And it gets an astounding 7/10 on IMDb. Andy Greenwald of Grantland wrote “there ought to be a place even in a pacifist’s heart for a show as warm and playful as this one.” So I’m watching. And, finally, Hulu has added Season 1 of Godfather of Harlem, a 2019 Epix crime drama. Here, Forrest Whittaker(!) plays the real-life crime boss Bumpy Johnson, who returns to 60′s New York after a 10 year stint in prison, to find his Harlem neighborhood has been taken over by the Genovese crime family. But this is more than a mob story, because Johnson‘s attention is drawn to the Heroin epidemic gripping Harlem and beseeches him to help his own people. Nigel Thatch stars as Malcolm X, Ilfenesh Hadera as Bumpy‘s wife Mayme, and Vincent D’Onofrio as Italian mob boss, Vincent Gigante, and all 10 episodes of Season 1 are available to devour now. And this series gets an incredible 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com wrote “{Whitaker] holds it all together, but this is definitely an ensemble piece, and it’s smart, engaging television that only occasionally falters under the weight of its ambition to tell a few too many stories at once.” I’m definitely tuning in.
NETFLIX
Well, it’s finally here, Jane Campion‘s long awaited epic The Power of the Dog, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Cumberbatch stars as Phil Burbank, a wealthy rancher in 1925 Montana, hyper-masculine and cruel, who suddenly turns on his gentle brother George(Jesse Plemons), when he marries a widow he disapproves of Rose(Kirsten Dunst), but especially turns his guns toward her less than masculine son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Phil’s torture grows daily, leading Rose to drink, and Peter to endure increasing brutality to protect his mother, even trying to build a closer relationship with his uncle. Which changes everything. Thomasin McKenzie, Frances Conroy, Keith Carradine(!), Adam Beach and Geneviève Lemon also star, and this is Campion wrote the script as well here, adapting it from the 1967 novel of the same name by Thomas Savage. It’s slated to be a big Oscar competitor next year, and has already won multiple awards this year, including Best Film at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, the Artisan Award for cinematographer Ari Wegner at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival and Best Director for Campion at the 2021 Venice Film Festival. And it gets an astounding 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. Gary M. Kramer of Salon.com writes its “an exacting drama about masculinity, toxic and otherwise…. The strong performances and the striking visual style make this a potent piece of filmmaking.” I’m definitely watching. But Netflix also offers Elves, a 2021 Danish Christmas horror series. Here, Josefine Svane (Sonja Steen) travels to a forbidding and remote Danish island with her family for the holidays, and starts to see strange and curious things immediately, in the forest and their barn, with her parents. When she goes into town with her brother, Kasper (Milo Campanale), they are confronted with ominous warnings from the shopkeeper Karen (Ann Eleonora Jørgensen), as well. Lila Nobel, Peder Thomas Pederson, Rasmus Hammerich, Vivelill Søgaard Holm and Nina Frifelt also star, and there are 6 episodes available to enjoy now. And this series gets a 5.5/10 on IMDb. The Decider says to stream it, adding creator “Jaworski has done a good job combining the weird mysteries of the island where the Savanes are visiting with the internal family drama that the four of them are going through.” But remember, elves in Norse mythology are not the cute little creatures we see in the U.S. This is horror. Luckily for me, Netflix also has Bordertown: Mural Murders, a 2021 Finnish crime drama. Here, police investigator Kari Sorjonen(Ville Virtanen) is hunting down his arch nemesis, serial killer Lasse Maasalo(Sampo Sarkola), who is supposedly in prison, when an ominous graffito is found with his tag. He is joined by fellow investigator Detective constable Lena Jaakkola(Anu Sinisalo) as people go missing day by day .Johan Storgård, Olivia Ainali, Lenita Susi and Arttu Kapulainen also star, while Juuso Syrjä directs. and this movie gets a 6.4/10 on IMDb. I love a mystery. I’ll be watching. Also new on Netflix is The Coyotes, a 2021 Belgian thriller series. Here, a teen Kevin(Louka Minnella) at a summer scouts camp find some diamonds in an underground cavern near a lake, while on drugs, and shows them to his best friend Furet (Kassim Meestersthere). But the two soon come down to earth as they realize this isn’t as good as it seems, as someone secreted the diamonds there, and will want them back. Félix Vannoorenberghe, Steve Driesen, Valérie Bodson, Dara Tromboff and Magaly Texeiera also star, and there are 6 episodes available to enjoy now. and this series gets a 6.8/10 on IMDb. This show has been compared to Outer Banks, and Joel Keller of the Decider writes “Stream it…..it sets up a promising story about teens who get greedy and then get in way too deep.” It’s on my list. And, finally, Netflix has added Rain or Shine, a 2017 Korean series. Won Jin-ah and Lee Jun-ho star as Ha Moon-soo and Lee Kang-doo, respectively, two young people who survives a building collapse that took family members lives and left them with devastating injuries. 15 years after the accident that claimed 48 lives, another building is set to go up on the site, and the two meet again, and their shared pain draw them together. Lee Ki-woo, Kang Han-na, Kim Hye-jun, Yoon Se-ah, Yoon Yoo-sun and Ahn Nae-sang also star, and there are 16 episodes available to enjoy now. This show was nominated for numerous awards in 2018 & 19, and went on to win the Best Actress Award for Won Jin-ah at the 2018 APAN Star Awards. And it gets an astounding 8/10 on IMDb. It’s on my list.
AMAZON
Amazon has a big add this week with Harlem, their in-house comedy series. Brought to us by Girl’s Trip writer Tracy Oliver(!), this show focuses on four fast friends Harlem, with Camille, played by Meagan Good, front and center, an adjunct professor of Anthropology(!) at Colombia University, trying to advance her career and still have a social life, and Tye(Jerrie Johnson) a rising star in the tech world, with her own dating app, Q, for gay people of color. Quinn (Grace Byers), is a fashion designer who owns a boutique, and finally, there’s Angie, a perennially unemployed actress who usually camps out on Quinn’s couch, rent-free. And they meet handsome, well built men(or women) frequently, while bemoaning their need to be attached at all. Oh, and Camille is always pursuing the favor of the head of her department Dr. Elise Pruitt (Whoopi Goldberg!), with varying rates of success. Jasmine Guy(!) plays Quinn’s mom, and Rana Roy, Andrea Martin(!), Tyler Lepley, Sullivan Jones and Robert Ri’chard also star, and Malcolm D. Lee of Girl’s Trip directs the first 2 episodes! And if this reminds you of Sex and the City, have no doubt that that was part of Tracy Oliver‘s intention here, but with a lot more realism, vivacity and of course, a black cast. And she also brought an all-star, all female writing crew, which includes Njeri Brown(Dear White People), Azie Dungey(Sweetbitter) and Aeryn Michelle Williams (Umbrella Academy). And this series gets a stunning 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, with Ciara Wardlow of RogerEbet.com writing “in showcasing an entirely Black principal cast, Harlem is able to explore the diversity and complicated dynamics within Black communities in ways that are dramatically compelling and also often very funny.” I’m definitely tuning in. Amazon also offers Season 1 of The Wall, a 2019 French-Canadian mystery series. This takes place in the small northern town of Fremont, in Quebec, surrounded by a thick wall to protect it from the Arctic winds, but when the body of a young dancer is found in the wall, wearing a mask, Detective Céline Trudeau, played by Isabel Richer, is called from Quebec City to handle the case. She’s aided by local detective Alex Théberge (Alexadre Landry), but hampered by many locals, including the owner of the local mine, Jules Ricard (Marc Messier).Mélanie Langlais, Maripier Marin, Patrick Hivon, Alexa-Jeanne Dubé and Noah Parker also star, and there are 8 episodes to devour now, before this series disappears back into the PBS Masterpiece premium realm on December 31. And it gets an impressive 7/10 on IMDb. Foreign Crime Drama calls it ” compelling noir,” and I’m watching. And, finally, Amazon has made available the first season of Hostages, an 2019 Israeli thriller series, from the Topic channel. This takes place on the eve of the Israeli Prime Minister‘s surgery, when gunmen break into the family home of his surgeon Yael Danon (Ayelet Zurer), taking them all hostage. And they demand Yael kill the PM, threatening to kill every member of the household, if she doesn’t comply. Micha Celektar, Jonah Lotan, Tomer Kapon, Dar Zuzovsky, Mickey Leon and Hilda Vidor also star, and there are 10 episodes to enjoy before December 31, when this show, too, disappears into the premium channel dimension, this time to Topic. And this series was nominated for multiple awards in 2013, and went on to win Best Actress for Ayelet Zurer at the Awards of the Israeli Television Academy. And it gets an incredible 7.6/10 on IMDb, and Troy Balmayer of theMovieWaffler.com calls it “a wholly remarkable show that mixes heart and thrills in tensely orchestrated scenes, building a mysterious and dramatic story around politics, family and what you’d do for love” I’m tuning in.
So sit back and binge this weekend, on classics, old and new, on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. Enjoy!
Grownups Guide to Streaming 