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 exciting new adds this week, so let’s get started.
HULU
Okay, lets be honest, Hulu has very few notable new ads this week. And so Chief of Station, a 2024 spy thriller, gets a mention. Here, former CIA Station Chief Benjamin Malloy(Aaron Eckhart) finds the death of his wife(also a spy), Farrah(Laëtitia Eido), was not accidental, and when ugly rumors about her rise to the surface, Malloy again enters the fray. As Malloy acts to stop whoever is framing Farrah, he teams up with up with a former Russian agent, Krystyna Kowerski(Olga Kurylenko) to clear his wife’s name. But can he stay alive long enough to do so? Alex Pettyfer, Nick Moran, Isobel Wood and Chris Petrovski also star, while Jesse V. Johnson directs. But the best this movie can rate is a ‘meh,’ it’s all been seen and heard before. And so it gets a mere 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Jeffrey M. Anderson of Common Sense Media said “this generic spy thriller consists of rudimentary action and chase scenes, tons of exposition as characters explain the plot to one another, and textbook twists that lack life or spark.” Don’t bother. Luckily, Hulu also has Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song, the 2021 doc. This movie not only tells the story of Leonard Cohen‘s musical creativity and the arc of the his best known song, Hallelujah. By using Cohen‘s own archival footage, copious journals and interviews. The viewer gets a personal window into Cohen‘s creative process, the enormous amount of work required, (with 180 original verses), and the crushing blow that came when Columbia Records wouldn’t release it. Directors Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine give a journey guided by Cohen himself, in his own words, with his performance of the song included. But we also hear it’s evolution as other singers performed the song, like Jeff Buckley, John Lissauer and finally, Shrek. And this movie was nominated for Best Music Documentary at both the Hollywood Music In Media Awards (HMMA) and the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, and gets an astounding 7.6/10 on IMDb. And Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com called it “a rousing portrait of the power of expression, something that Leonard Cohen perfected more than most songwriters that ever lived.” So it’s on my list. Hulu also offers The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, a 2023 horror movie. this revolves around Vicaria, played by Laya DeLeon Hayes, a brilliant black teen agonizing over recent deaths, first of her mom, and then of her older brother, Chris(Edem Atsu-Swanzy), by gun violence. Convinced that ‘death is a disease,’ Vicaria goes to work on Chris‘ body, hoping to cure, and so, revive him. But, of course, things do not work out as planned, and Chris sees to return as a monster, that will terrorize Vicaria and her neighborhood . Denzel Whitaker, Chad L. Coleman, Reilly Brooke Stith, and Keith Holliday also star, and Bomani J. Story directed, along with writing the script. And this movie was nominated for many awards in 2023 , and went on to win Best Horror / Sci Fi at the Jim Thorpe Independent Film Festival, and Best Narrative Feature at the Calgary Underground Film Festival. And it gets an impressive 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Peyton Robinson of RogerEbert.com said “in a tight 92-minute runtime, the film takes us through a community as a microcosm of culture, delivers shivering gore, and crafts characters worth caring about.” But its too heartbreaking for me. And, finally, Hulu has added No Way Out: The Roulette, a 2024 Disney+ K-drama thriller series. This begins with the release of notorious criminal, Kim Gukho(Yoo Jae-myung), and the ensuing bounty of 15 million dollars offered by a nameless source for him. Police officer Baek Joonsik(Cho Jin-woong) is assigned to protect Gukho at all costs, but Joonsik is also swimming in debt. so as the violent threats to Gukho rise, is it certain that he can trust his protector? Kim Mu-yeol, Yum Jung-ah, Sung Yoo-bin and Greg Hsu also star, and there are 2 episodes available for streaming now, with more to come. And this series gets a 6.9/10 on IMDb, and Pierce Conran of the South China Morning Post calls it “morally and stylistically dark, although never so much as to be dour, No Way Out: The Roulette is the kind of thrilling and satisfying television where the next scene.” So I’m watching.
NETFLIX
Netflix also has few big adds this week, but they do have interesting gems like Breaking and Re-entering, a 2024 thriller. Here, Chang Bo-chun (Chen Bolin) is hired, along with his three compatriots, to rob a bank, and it goes off without a hitch. They think. But on their way home, they find their client actually intends for them to be caught, and to blame it all on his employee, Shen Shu-wen (Cecilia Choi). Who just happens to be an old love of Chang‘s, from he has never recovered, and so they hatch another plan- to put the money back. Which is, of course, more easily said than done. Kent Tsai, Frederick Lee, Wu Kang-ren and J. C. Lin also star, and Ding-Lin Wang directs. and this movie gets an respectable 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Rob Hunter of FilmSchool Rejects says it “might be the closest thing you’ll find to a Steven Soderbergh Ocean’s film that isn’t actually a Steven Soderbergh Ocean’s film.” So I’m definitely watching. Netflix has Lolo and the Kid, 2024 Filipino drama. Joel Torre plays Lolo, here, an older homeless man who takes Kid, played by Euwenn Mikael Aleta, just Kid, a 6 or7 homeless child. And so, the pair grift their way through the streets of Manilla, tempting childless couples with adoption of the winsome boy, who later robs them of their valuables, and escapes (with Lolo) into the night. But when the dangers of the street life almost take Kid‘s life, Lolo is faced with the excruciating choice of keeping the child, or giving him a home in a safer place. Juan Karlos Labajo, Iza Calzado, Meryll Soriano and Joem Bascon also star, and Benedict Mique directs, along with writing the script. And this movie gets a 7.1/10 on IMDb, with John Serba of the Decider saying to stream it, adding “its depiction of a grandfather/grandson dynamic is nice enough to warrant a very mild recommendation.” So its on my list. Netflix has also added Inside the Mind of a Dog, a 2024 documentary. This doc gives us a full scope of the history of dogs, with how they began as wolves, trailing human encampments in lust of their food scraps, and gradually becoming more friendly. And this friendliness paid off (bigly) for dogs, with a boom dog populations and survival, leading to the idea of “survival of the friendliest,” for canines, at least. We also get the science behind Puppy Dog Eyes, and delve into the training of service dogs, and how dogs can scent out just about anything for their human friends, like cancer or diabetes. We also get insights into the many canine facial expressions, 16 so far discovered, and doggie nose prints, as individual as human fingerprints. And , oh yeah, we get tons of cute! All narrated by Rob Lowe, and directed by Andy Mitchell, this doggie doc gets an extraordinary 7.2/10 on IMDb. and John Serba of the Decider says “you’ll learn plenty of other things about dogs and how they interact and communicate with humans, and that’s the whole point of this engaging and fascinating doc.” So I’m tuning in. Netflix has also added Mission: Cross, a 2024 S. Korean action/thriller. Hot-shot police detective Kang Mi-seon(Yum Jung-ah) is convinced her ex-spy, now house husband, partner, Park Kang-mu(Hwang Jung-min) is having an affair, after seeing him with another woman . So Mi-seon investigates her husband surreptitiously, but Kang-mu has actually come the aid of an old female friend (and spy) desperately in need of help. And so the pair meet up in the cross hairs of a dangerous plot, that may just save their marriage...if they survive. Jeon Hye-Jin, Jeong Man-Sik and Ok Ja-Yeon also star, while Lee Myung-Hoon directs, along with writing the script. and this movie gets a 6/10 on IMDb, but a 7.5/10 on MyDramaList. And Daniel Hart of Ready Steady Cut says it “never slows down. The mysteries surrounding the criminal conspiracy never ebb away and remain even in the third act.” So I’m tuning in. And, finally, Netflix has Ties of Shooting Stars, a 2024 Japanese series. Here, 3 siblings, Koichi(Kazunari Ninomiya), Taisuke(Ryô Nishikido), and Shizuna(Erika Toda) dream of avenging the murder of their parents since childhood, so as adults, (and grifters) they go into action. As Taisuke caught a glimpse of the murderer before they escaped, and having found a suspect, a restauranteur named Yukinari, the trio plan to frame her, while they can still be tried for murder. But then Shizuna gets to know Yukinari, and find things are not what they seemed. But can they undo their original plot, and still find the real murderer? Toshinori Omi, Akira Emoto, Ryo and Jun Kaname also star, and there are 10 episodes available now. And this series gets an amazing 7.4/10 on IMDb, and Live Journal called this series “simply great.” So I’m tuning in.
AMAZON
Amazon‘s biggest add this week is probably French Girl, a 2024 romcom starring Zach Braff. But that got roundly panned by critics and viewers alike. But Amazon has also added No One Will Miss Us, a 2024 Mexican drama series. Also called Nadie nos va a extrañar, this tells of 5 high school students in the 90’s , picked on and unpopular, who come up with the idea to write papers and assignments for a price. At first, it’s easy to keep their illicit work under the radar, but as their business booms, and so too, their popularity, the faculty begins to smell a rat. And when a sudden death occurs, everything is thrown into chaos. Nicolás Haza, Tiaré Scanda, Axel Madrazo and Camila Calónico also star and there are 8 episodes available for streaming now. And this series gets a whopping 9/10 on IMDb, so though I can find no reviews as yet, I’m tuning in to this engaging new show. Amazon has also added The Mallorca Files, a BBC crime drama/mystery series. Here, British police officer DC Miranda Blake(Elen Rhys) is sent to Mallorca, to escort Niall Taylor ( Aidan McArdle), due to be repatriated on the island after testifying against his accomplices. but when they arrive at island’s airport, everything goes wrong, and so, Miranda decides to stay and investigate what went wrong. When she is assigned Lt. Max Winter(Julian Looman) as a helpmate, she finds him insufferable, but they do solve the crime. And so she ends up staying on and a powerful partnership is born. Maria Fernandez, Nacho Aldeguer, Tábata Cerezo and Tanya Moodie also star, and there are 3 seasons available, with 24 episodes in all. and this diverting series gets a 6.7/10 on IMDb, and Vikas Yadav of the Midgard Times says “there is so much to admire here, …I enjoyed The Mallorca Files.” And I love a mystery, so I’m tuning in. And, finally, Amazon has added The Eternal Daughter, the acclaimed 2022 drama. Tilda Swinton(!) stars here, as filmmaker Julie (Swinton) takes her aging mother, Rosalind(also Swinton) to an aging Welsh manor , where Rosalind had once stayed during the Blitz. But what Julie thought was a happy place, begins to turn into something else, as the shadows rise, and her mother speaks of a strange foreboding and chill the hotel had. And as Julie hears bumps in the night, can’t sleep and sees things that can’t be there, she wonders if the trip was a mistake. Carly Sophia Davies, Joseph Mydell and Zinnia Davies-Cooke also star, while Joanna Hogg directed. and this movie was nominated for numerous awards in 2022, like Best Lead Performance for Swinton at the British Independent Film Awards, and Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, and was named one of the Top Ten Independent Films of 2022 by the National Board of Review. And it gets an smashing 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Manohla Dargis of the New York Times called it “a lovely and haunted dream of a movie…” And I’m watching.
So sit back and binge this weekend, on classics, old and new, on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. Enjoy!
Grownups Guide to Streaming 