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
Hulu has added plenty of horror, like Late Night with the Devil, a 2024 horror movie. This takes place on Halloween night, in 1977, when a popular late night show host, Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian), decides to invite parapsychologist Dr. June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon)and her supposedly possessed young patient, Lily. As he insists on continuing the show, despite the objections of others, trouble begins to brew. And this show cleverly incorporates color scenes , from when the show is live, and black and white, for ‘commercial breaks, ‘ when things get terribly out of hand. Ian Bliss, Fayssal Bazzi, and Ingrid Torelli also star, and Colin Cairnes and Cameron Cairnes co-direct. And this won numerous awards last year, including the Victoria & Tasmania Silver Award at the Australian Cinematographers Society and Best Horror at the Golden Trailer Awards. And it gets a smashing 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and Philip De Semlyen of Time Out calls it “wonderfully creepy and unnervingly familiar, like Alan Partridge by way of The Exorcist. If that doesn’t automatically enter it into the pantheon of classic midnight movies, I don’t know what does.” So you know I’m not watching. But Hulu also offers Don’t Turn Out the Lights, a 2024 horror flick. This finds a group of old high school friends, now in college, reuniting for the birthday of a friend , for a road trip in an RV, to a music festival. But , of course, the RV breaks down, and the friends are stranded on a rural road, far from nowhere. And begin to see things that couldn’t possibly be there, that refuse to leave. Bella DeLong, Amber Janea, Ana Zambrana, John Bucy and Crystal Lake Evans also star, and Andy Fickman directs. And, though it gets only a 60% on Rotten Tomatoes, and lots of bad reviews, Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com called it a “lightly metaphysical body count movie set primarily in a beat-up recreational vehicle, it meanders more than it purposefully goes anywhere. That’s a compliment, mostly.” You decide. Hulu has also added Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, a 2024 biographical documentary. This tells of Springsteen‘s career, but especially focuses on his live concerts, and the one he planned to celebrate with his fans, for the end of Covid lockdown. There’s tons of archival footage, but also new songs featured, here, as well as interviews with those that know him best. And director Thom Zimny, with his third Springsteen doc here, knows Springsteen well enough to offer an intimate depiction of the artist, and the E-Street band, but with his fans included. And this movie won the Audience Award at the 2024 Calgary International Film Festival, and gets a whopping 8/10 on IMDb. And Steve Pond of TheWrap says it “takes a Springsteen concert as a template of sorts, which means it mixes joy and dread and love and regret and exuberance and silliness and seriousness.” So I’m watching. And, finally Hulu has Pedro El Escamoso: Mas Escamoso Que Nunca, a 2024 Disney+ Colombian comedy series. The title translates to Pedro the Scaly: More Scaly than Ever, and finds the disreputable Pedro Coral Tavera(Miguel Varoni) deported to Colombia, and his businessman son, Pedro Coral Jr. (Carlos Torres ), forced to take him in. But Junior is the VP at a successful company, and wants his father to fit in, and not cause trouble Unfortunately, his father falls in love with Junior‘s boss Fernanda, and though he tries to silence his feelings, when his old girlfriend shows up, all bets are off. Ana Maria Trujillo, Eduardo Perez, Melani Dell Olmo and Alisson Joan also star, and there are 23 episodes available now. And this series gets an incredible 8/10 on IMDb, so though I can find no online reviews of this series, yet, I am tuning in.
NETFLIX
The biggest title on Netflix this week might be Don’t Move, a 2024 thriller. Kelsey Asbille plays Iris, a bereaved and possibly suicidal mother visiting the mountaintop memorial of her a 6 year-old son, who suddenly meets a nice young man, Richard(Finn Wittrock). His care and concern for her saves her, but on her way down, she finds he has sinister plans for her. For Richard is a serial killer and has drugged her with an immobilizing drug. So Iris has to find the will to survive, while conniving her escape from the killer, when she can’t move. Moray Treadwell, Dylan Beam and Daniel Francis also star, and Adam Schindler and Brian Netto co-direct. And this movie gets a respectable 72% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Charles Hartford of But Why Tho? says it “delivers on everything it sets out to. It crafts a unique scenario that it fluidly utilizes to create tension through unique moments.” But I’d rather watch Territory, a 2024 Australian drama series. This takes place in the Northern Territory, , on the huge cattle ranch, Marianne Station, run by the Lawson family. But when the head of the family Daniel Lawson, dies, with no apparent successor, the family is in turmoil. And members of the family vie to lead the big money ranch, while also fighting to keep their power over indigenous people that have the real right of ownership. And the chaos grows, as Emily(Anna Torv)Lawson runs the station, while younger, male Lawsons attempt to seize the throne. Michael Dorman, Sam Corlett, Philippa Northeast, Clarence Ryan and Hamilton Morris also star, and there are 6 episodes available now. And this series gets a 71% on Rotten tomatoes, and Amanda Yeo of Mashable says it ” Yellowstone meets Succession in the Australian outback…it puts in the effort to set itself apart by embracing its distinctly Australian characteristics, making it different enough to be intriguing while still familiar enough to be comfortable.” So I’m watching. Netflix also has Daddio, the 2023 drama starring Sean Penn. Penn stars, here, as cab driver, Clark, who picks up ‘Girlie,’ played by Dakota Johnson, at JFK, and takes her back into Manhattan. On the way, there’s a car wreck that ties up traffic, and so the pair get to talking. Clark guesses that ‘Girlie‘ is seeing a married man, and as they get to talking, their two worlds collide. And, surprisingly, they become friends, each seeing into the life of the other with clarity. Marcos A. Gonzalez, Zola Lloyd and Shannon Gannon also star, and Christy Hall directed, along with writing the script. and this movie won the ReFrame Stamp award at this year’s ReFrame awards, and gets a 77% on Rotten Tomatoes. And Sheila O’Malley of RogerEbert.com said “Hall’s dialogue compels you to listen, to lean in, but Johnson and Penn draw us into their separate worlds and histories, each face telling a million stories.” I agree, and I’m tuning in. Netflix has also added The Last Night at Tremore Beach, a 2024 Spanish psychological thriller limited series .Here, our story revolves around Alex (Javier Rey), a gifted pianist and film composer, whose life was shattered when he broke his hand a year ago. So, he retreats to the small town of Tremore, and tries to rebuild his life, heartened after getting an new script from his agent. But when he is hit by lightning, Alex faces a new obstacle, as he finds he has horrible visions, that might foretell the future. As Alex tries to escape his fate of horrible visions, the only one that can help him is the woman he sees in his visions. Ana Polvorosa, Annick Weerts and Pilar Castro also star, and there are 8 episodes now. And this creepy thriller series gets a 6.7/10 on IMDb, and Juan Pablo Russo of EscribiendoCine calls it a “daring story about the limits of perception and the thin line that separates sanity from madness. ” So I’m watching, if its not too scary. And, finally, Netflix has Kill Me, Love Me, a 2024 historical epic series. Based on the book Weariness of Spring Flowers, this takes place in the early history of China, with the War of the Three Kingdoms, and the city of Qingzhou being burned by the ‘Butcher General‘, Prince Murong Jinghe(Baron Chen). Mei Lin, played by Wu Jinyan, survived the flames, but her parents did not, and so she joins the Shadow Works, to train as an assassin, and kill the Prince. But he knows of her plan, and so, as their battle of wits continues, who will survive is anyone’s guess. Bi Wenjun, Zhao Xiaotang, Huang Riying and Liu Xueyi also star, and there are 5 episodes available now, with 17 more to come. And this series gets a stunning 8.1/10 on IMDb, so, though I can find no online reviews, as yet, I am tuning in.
AMAZON
Amazon has added Canary Black, a 2024 spy thriller . Kate Beckinsale stars here as Avery Graves, a CIA operative living in Croatia, when her husband David (Rupert Friend), is kidnapped. And, it turns out his kidnappers want her to steal a file for them, Canary Black, in exchange for his life. But the kidnappers are terrorists, and so the file is only the beginning, and Graves realizes she will have to go to the ends of the earth, to save he husband. Ray Stevenson, Jaz Hutchins and Romina Tonkovic also star, and Pierre Morel directs. But this is definitely tired, stale stuff, with little of value. And so it gets only a 27% on Rotten Tomatoes, and William Bibbiani of TheWrap calls it a “hackneyed Kate Beckinsale thriller…..a cheeseburger on Amazon Prime’s value menu, but they left out the cheese. And the meat. It’s a showcase for an action movie star with zero interest in letting her cut loose.” And I’m so not watching. Luckily, Amazon has also added Culte, a 2024 French comedy/drama series. This take s place in 2001,with French TV trying to launch its first reality series, Loft Story, and Isabelle, Raphaël, Karim, and their teams are put in charge. But they’ve only got 4 months to do it, and the gaffs and missteps are so many, the show may not get on the air at all. Anaide Rozam , César Domboy and Sami Outalbali also star, and there are 6 episodes available now. And this series gets an impressive 7.2/10 on IMDb, and Greg Wheeler of the Review Geek calls it an “intriguing French drama on Amazon, bringing a unique story and interesting characters into this eclectic miniseries.” So I’m tuning in. And, finally, since the pickings are slim on Amazon, and it’s almost Halloween, you can watch Apartment 7A on Paramount+ with a trial 7-day membership. Intended as a prequel to Rosemary’s Baby, this tells the story of infamous Bramford apartment building, and its two tenants, Minnie and Roman Castevet. Julia Garner stars as Terry Gionoffrio, a dancer in NYC, who breaks her ankle in a Broadway Kiss Me Kate production, and so, finds herself back at the starting block. During the endless(and unsuccessful) auditions, she meets a producer, who takes her to his home in the Bramford, where she meets the Castevets, who offer her a rent-free apartment. Which is, of course, an ominous start to a stay at one of the most sinister apartment buildings anywhere. Dianne Wiest(!) stars as Minnie Castevet, and Jim Sturgess, Marli Siu and Kevin McNally also star, while Natalie Erika James directs. And though this movie gets a mere 42% on Rotten Tomatoes, Randy Myers of San Jose Mercury News said the “1965-set preshow to the Mia Farrow main event is effective, even chilling as a new chew toy for the oh-so seemingly nice devil-worshiping neighbors enters the lair of a New York apartment building.” And you can get your free trial to Paramount + on Amazon here. And I’ll be under the bed.
So sit back and binge this weekend, on classics, old and new, on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. Enjoy!
Grownups Guide to Streaming 