Best friends (Stephen Odubola and Micheal Ward) who live in different South London boroughs but attend the same high school find themselves on rival sides of a brewing gang war in "Blue Story" (2019, R), an urban drama with a Romeo and Juliet twist. (Amazon Prime and Hulu)
https://youtu.be/9H7hy7jZII0
Pedro Pascal ("The Mandalorian") stars in a different kind of sci-fi frontier thriller in the indie "Prospect" (2018, R), trying to survive a hostile planet with the help of a young pioneer woman (Sophie Thatcher). (Netflix)
https://youtu.be/Bt81Q-6BigI
"Titans: Seasons 1 & 2" (2018-2019, TV-MA), the DC Universe original series about the young adult superhero team led by Nightwing (Brenton Thwaites), formerly Batman's sidekick Robin, now streams on HBO Max, where the third season is slated to debut next year.
https://youtu.be/vUfI2w-K3RE
Celebrate the legacy of Sean Connery, the original big screen James Bond, with "From Russia with Love" (1964), the second 007 film and one of the best. If you need addition Connery action, you can also stream the gadget-laden "Thunderball" (1965) and "You Only Live Twice" (1967). (Hulu)
Classic pick: The powerhouse pairing of John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara drive "The Quiet Man" (1952) John Ford's sweet and sentimental drama about strapping American ex-boxer who tries to rebuild a life in Ireland. Ford turns Wayne into a romantic hero and populates the shamrock green Irish village with figures full of blarney and charm, among them Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond, Mildred Natwick, and Victor McLaglen as O’Hara’s snarl of a brother. (Amazon Prime)
Pay-Per-View / Video on Demand
"Possessor" (2020, R), a mix of sci-fi and horror from filmmaker Brandon Cronenberg, stars Andrea Riseborough and Christopher Abbott as people who hijack the bodies of others.
"They Reach" (2020, not rated), an indie production about a trio of young demon hunters shot in Washington with local talent, pays tribute to 1970s horror movies. Also new:
"Proxima" (2019, not rated), science fiction drama with Eva Green and Matt Dillon;
documentary "Higher Love" (2020, not rated), which won the Slamdance Film Festival Grand Jury Award;
The British thriller "The Informer" (2019, R), starring Joel Kinnaman as a deep cover agent infiltrating the mob at a maximum security prison, makes its stateside debut on Premium VOD.
Netflix
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is disillusioned idealist Edward Snowden in "Snowden" (2016, R), Oliver Stone's drama about the NSA whistleblower who leaked thousands of classified documents revealing illegal government surveillance.
Streaming TV: Kevin Williamson followed the "Scream" horror films with the semi-autobiographical young adult series "Dawson's Creek: Complete Series" (1998-2003, TV-14), which launched the careers of Michelle Williams, Katie Holmes, and Joshua Jackson. Also new:
reality series "Country Ever After: Season 1" (not rated) with Coffey and Ciscilla Anderson;
Australian limited series "Wrong Kind of Black" (not rated) set in the music scene of Melbourne in the 1960s and 1970s.
International Passport: Based on a true story, the thriller "Mother" (Japan, 2020, not rated, with subtitles) follows the toxic relationship between an abused son and his controlling, erratic mother (Masami Nagasawa). Also new:
"The 12th Man" (Norway, 2017, not rated, with subtitles), a World War II thriller based on a true story;
"The Endless Trench" (Spain, 2019, not rated, with subtitles), the story of a man in hiding during the Spanish Civil War who remains hidden for decades.
International TV: The supernatural series "Paranormal: Season 1" (Egypt, with subtitles) follows a skeptic (Ahmed Amin) who inadvertently becomes the go-to guy for paranormal events. Also new:
"Love and Anarchy: Season 1" (Sweden, TV-MA, with subtitles), a comedy about the flirtation between a high-powered exec and a young IT tech;
mystery series "The Good Detective: Season 1" (South Korea, with subtitles).
True stories: The limited series "Carmel: Who Killed Maria Marta? (Argentina, TV-MA, with subtitles) investigates an unsolved death.
The holiday romances start rolling out this week on Netflix. There's the holidays in the South Seas comedy "Operation Christmas Drop" (2020) with Kat Graham and Alexander Ludwig;
"A Christmas Catch" (2020), crime drama with a romantic turn;
"Christmas with a Prince" (2020), which seems fairly self-explanatory;
and "A New York Christmas Wedding" (2020), which offers an LGBTQ romantic drama.
Kid stuff: "The Indian in the Cupboard" (1995, PG), a fantasy about a nine year old boy who magically brings his three-inch toy Indian to life.
Stand-up: "Felix Lobrecht: Hype" (2020, TV-MA).
Amazon Prime Video
"Wayne: Season 1" (2019, TV-MA), an action comedy from the producers of "Deadpool" and starring Mark McKenna as a teenage hero on a dirtbike, comes to Amazon from YouTube Premium.
International passport: the documentary series "Ferro: Season 1" (Italy, with subtitles) follows the private and professional life of the Italian music superstar Tiziano Ferro.
Streaming TV: For the month of November only you can stream the first seasons of the British series "Delicious" (2016, TV-14) and "The Restaurant" (Sweden, 2017, not rated, with subtitles), two dramas of family and cuisine.
Cult: "Winter Kills" (1982, R) with Jeff Bridges and John Huston reimagines the JFK assassination as a wild conspiracy thriller.
Music: the witty documentary "Hype!" (1996, not rated) looks at the Seattle music explosion of the 1990s.
Amazon Prime and Hulu
Sylvester Stallone gathered a crew of again action stars for the mercenaries-on-a-mission-of-redemption adventure "The Expendables" (2010, R) (Amazon Prime and Hulu), which spawned the sequels "The Expendables 2" (2012, R) with guest stars Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme (Amazon Prime and Hulu) and "The Expendables 3" (2014, PG-13) with Harrison Ford and Mel Gibson (Amazon Prime and Hulu).
Hulu
"Slumdog Millionaire" (2008, R), Danny Boyle's Dickensian underdog movie about a slum kid (Dev Patal) in India who defies all odds, won eight Academy Awards.
The award-winning British young adult drama "Skins: Complete Series" (2007-2013, TV-MA) follows the messy lives of teenage friends in Bristol.
More streaming TV: the fourth season of the animated Adult Swim series "Rick & Morty" (TV-MA) continues the wild adventures of a kind and his reckless inventor grandfather.
Matt Damon is the anti-Bond of Hollywood action cinema in "The Bourne Identity" (2002, PG-13) and the sequels "The Bourne Supremacy" (2004, PG-13) and
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (2007, PG-13).
HBO Max
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2012 and nominated for four Oscars, "Beasts of the Southern Wild" (2012, PG-13) is an imaginative and vibrant film that rolls out like a stream of consciousness poem from the mind of a little girl who intermixes fantasy and reality. (All HBO platforms)
Kid stuff: "The Iron Giant" (1999, PG) is a magnificent and sweet sci-fi fairy tale of a boy and his giant robot buddy in comic book color and the fantasy adventure "The Neverending Story" (1984, PG) got a call-out in the last season of "Stranger Things." (HBO Max)
A quartet of "Sesame Street" specials also debut: "Elmo's Playdate" (2020, TV-Y), "Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration" (2019, TV-Y), "When You Wish Upon A Pickle" (2018, TV-Y), and "Once Upon A Sesame Street Christmas" (2016, TV-Y). (HBO Max)
Two of Woody Allen's loveliest comedies, the nostalgic "Radio Days" (1987, PG) and the offbeat "Broadway Danny Rose" (1984, PG), are now streaming. (HBO Max)
American classics arriving this month include the savage satire of demagoguery "A Face in the Crowd" (1957) with Andy Griffith;
Oscar winning drama "East of Eden" (1955) with James Dean;
the Charles Dickens adaptations "A Tale of Two Cities" (1935) with Ronald Colman and "David Copperfield" (1935) with W.C. Fields and Freddie Bartholomew;
singing sailor musicals "On The Town" (1949) and "Anchors Aweigh" (1945) with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. (all HBO Max)
Cult: "Quadrophenia" (1979, R) turns Pete Townsend's rock opera into a gritty drama of identity and rebellion in 1960s England. (HBO Max)
Other streams
Jane Levy stars in the short-lived "There's… Johnny!" (2017, TV-MA), a comedy set behind the scenes of "The Tonight Show" in 1972. (Peacock)
Julia Stiles returns in "Riviera: Season 3" (TV-MA) as a widow searching for her husband's killer in the European underworld. New episodes each Thursday. (Sundance Now)
"Dad’s Army: Complete Series" (1968-1977) and "‘Allo ‘Allo!: Complete Series" (1982-1992), two British sitcoms set during World War II, are now streaming on BritBox.
David Thewlis and Luke Wilson star in "Guest of Honour" (2019, not rated) a drama by Atom Egoyan that makes its streaming debut on Criterion Channel. Also new this week:
"Frame of Mind: Psychiatry On-Screen," a collection of sixteen features including the melodrama "The Cobweb" (1955) with Lauren Bacall and Richard Widmark, the sixties satire "The President’s Analyst" (1967) with James Coburn, and Robert Redford's Oscar-winning drama "Ordinary People" (1980) with Timothy Hutton, Donald Sutherland, and Mary Tyler Moore;
David Lynch's Oscar-nominated "The Elephant Man" (1980, PG) featuring supplements from the special edition disc;
- "Old Boyfriends" (1979, R) with a new introduction by director Joan Tewkesbury;
thirties weird horror double feature "Mad Love" (1935) with Peter Lorre and "The Devil-Doll" (1936) with Lionel Barrymore.
Visit the paper's website online for more options and recommendations.
Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. His reviews of streaming movies and TV can be found at http://streamondemandathome.com.
