What's new for home viewing on video-on-demand and Netflix, Amazon Prime, and other streaming services.
Top streams for the week
Amazon Prime's new original series "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" stars Rachel Brosnan as a driven Upper West Side housewife who lands in the stand-up comedy culture of late 1950s Greenwich Village. It's from Amy Sherman-Palladino, creator of "Gilmore Girls," and offers a bracing heroine in an overwhelming male culture and an alternate perspective on American social culture from "Mad Men." 8 episodes on Amazon Prime.
The first Netflix original series from Germany, "Dark" is a blend of supernatural thriller, science fiction, and crime drama with a mystery tangled up a nuclear power plant and events that reach back many generations in the gloomy, remote town. 10 episodes on Netflix, with subtitles.
Martin Scorsese's "Silence" (2016, R), adapted from the novel by Shûsaku Endô, stars Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver as Jesuit missionaries from Portugal in 17th century Japan, where Christianity has been outlawed. Scorsese grapples with faith in the face of persecution in an austere, introspective production on a magnificent canvas. On Amazon Prime and Hulu.
Pay-Per-View / Video-On-Demand
Channing Tatum and Adam Driver play brothers who defy the "Logan Lucky" (2017, PG-13) family curse when they hatch a plan to rob a North Carolina NASCAR track in Steven Soderbergh's red state heist comedy. Riley Keough, Katie Holmes, and Daniel Craig co-star. Also on DVD and Blu-ray.
Also new: historical drama "Tulip Fever" (2017, R) with Alicia Vikander and Christoph Waltz, romantic comedy "I Do… Until I Don't" (2017, R) from director/star Lake Bell, and thriller "Woodshock" (2017, R) with Kirsten Dunst.
Netflix
Emily Blunt is "The Young Victoria" (2009, PG) in the drama about the early years of the British queen.
Foreign affairs: Moviemaking comedy "The Queen of Spain" (Spain, 2017, not rated, with subtitles) stars Penelope Cruz as an international movie star who returns from Hollywood to make a costume epic in 1956 Spain. Also new: "My Happy Family" (Georgia, 2017, not rated, with subtitles) follows a woman who strikes out for independence in a male-dominated culture.
Also new:
"The Wackness" (2008, R) with Josh Peck and Ben Kingsley; "V for Vendetta" (2005, R) based on Alan Moore's graphic novel; Clive Cussler adventure "Sahara" (2005, PG-13) with Matthew McConaughey;
"8 Mile" (2002, R) with Eminem in an autobiographical role; comedies "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" (1994, PG-13) and "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" (1995, PG-13) with Jim Carrey
True stories: "Voyeur" (2017, not rated) follows journalist Gay Talese on the trail of a fascinating story that takes an unexpected turn and draws the author into the spotlight. Also new: "Forbidden Games: The Justin Fashanu Story" (2017, not rated), about the first professional soccer player to come out as gay, and "The Farthest: Voyager in Space" (2017, not rated) about the historic space probe.
Streaming TV: "TURN: Washington's Spies: Season 4" brings the Revolutionary War espionage drama to its conclusion. Also new: Netflix original comedy "Easy: Season 2," acclaimed British crime drama "Broadchurch: Season 3" with David Tennant and Olivia Colman, and Australian sci-fi thriller "Glitch: Season 2," plus the Telemundo musical drama "Guerra De Idolos: Season 1" from Mexico, "Prison Playbook: Season 1" from South Korea, and "Good Morning Call: Season 2" from Japan.
For kids there's "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Season 7 Part 2," "All Hail King Julien: Season 5," and the holiday specials "DreamWorks Home: For the Holidays" and "A StoryBots Christmas."
Amazon Prime Video
Any resemblance between "The Circle" (2017, PG-13) and the culture of Google and Facebook is purely intentional in this adaptation of the Dave Eggers satire with Emma Watson and Tom Hanks.
"Gremlins 2: The New Batch" (1990, PG-13), the rare sequel funnier than the original, is a veritable live-action cartoon with a sneaky wit and absurdist humor.
Foreign affairs: Jean Rochefort and Johnny Hallyday are unlikely friends in Patrice Leconte's elegiac crime drama "Man on the Train" (France, 2004, R, with subtitles).
Also new:
Coming out comedy "In & Out" (1997, PG-13) with Kevin Kline;
Paul Schrader's "Light Sleeper" (1992, R) with Willem Dafoe;
"At Close Range" (1986, R) with Sean Penn and Christopher Walken.
True stories: "The Incomparable Rose Hartman" (2016, not rated) profiles the American photographer who chronicled culture and fashion in New York City for decades. Also new: "Ogar: Will Of Steel" (2017, not rated) on paralyzed CrossFit athlete Kevin Ogar and "Manny" (2015, not rated) on Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, and "Razing the Bar" (2014, not rated), which profiles Seattle's iconic punk rock venue The Funhouse.
Amazon Prime and Hulu
The delightful romantic drama "Moonstruck" (1987, PG) earned Oscars for Cher as a superstitious Brooklyn widow who falls for her fiancé's estranged brother (Nicolas Cage), supporting actress Olympia Dukakis as her mother, and author John Patrick Shanley for his original screenplay (Amazon Prime and Hulu).
Three "Best Picture" Oscar-winners arrive this month: "Rocky" (1976, PG) with Sylvester Stallone (plus four sequels) (Amazon Prime and Hulu), "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991, R) with Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins (Amazon Prime and Hulu), and "Titanic" (1997, PG-13) with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet (Amazon Prime and Hulu).
Also new:
"The Brothers Grimm" (2005, PG-13) with Matt Damon and Heath Ledger (Amazon Prime and Hulu);
"Buffalo 66" (1998, R) with Vincent Gallo and Christina Ricci (Amazon Prime and Hulu)'
"Searching for Bobby Fischer" (1993, PG) with Joe Mantegna and Ben Kingsley (Amazon Prime and Hulu);
"The Weight of Water" (2002, R) from director Kathryn Bigelow (Amazon Prime and Hulu).
Hulu
Michael Pfeiffer is an aging courtesan in La Belle Epoque Paris in "Cheri" (2009, R), a bittersweet romantic drama that reunites her with "Dangerous Liaison" director Stephen Frears and screenwriter Christopher Hampton.
Steve Martin and Michael Caine are "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (1988, PG) in the con man comedy set on the French Riviera.
True stories: "Searching for Sugar Man" (2012, PG-13) tells the touching true story of forgotten Detroit singer / songwriter Rodriguez.
Also new:
"Downhill Racer" (1969, PG) with Robert Redford and Gene Hackman;
Seventies cop drama classis "Serpico" (1973, R) with Al Pacino;
"The French Lieutenant’s Woman" (1981, R) with Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons;
Old west espionage thriller "Breakheart Pass" (1975, PG) with Charles Bronson;
Francis Ford Coppola's modern musical "One from the Heart" (1982, R).
HBO Now
It's Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, and Brie Larson against a giant ape in "Kong: Skull Island" (2016, PG-13), set on a remote tropical island in the early 1970s.
Also new: action fantasy "Warcraft" (2016, PG-13), based on the humans-vs-Orcs video game, and crime thriller "Marauders" (2016, R) with Bruce Willis, plus the original documentary "Meth Storm" (2017, not rated) about the addiction crisis in rural America.
Arriving Saturday night is the thriller "Unforgettable" (2017, R) with Rosario Dawson and Katherine Heigl.
FilmStruck / Criterion Channel
FilmStruck adds five films based on the stories of Graham Greene, including the hard-edged crime drama "Brighton Rock" (1947) with young Richard Attenborough as a sociopath and "The Third Man" (1949) with Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, and Orson Welles as Harry Lime.
Also new: six films from French director Catherine Breillat, including her recent fairy tale twists "Bluebeard" (France, 2009, with subtitles, not rated) and "Sleeping Beauty" (France, 2010, with subtitles, not rated) and her quasi-autobiographical "Abuse of Weakness" (France, 2013, with subtitles, not rated) with Isabelle Huppert.
Other streams
New on disc this week:
"Logan Lucky," "I Do… Until I Don't," "Tulip Fever," "Rememory"
Now available at Redbox:
"Kidnap," "I Do… Until I Don't," "Tulip Fever," "We'll Never Have Paris
Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. His reviews of streaming movies and TV can be found at http://streamondemandathome.com.
