Stream on Demand: Family-friendly fare ‘Pete’s Dragon,’ ‘BFG’ and ‘Jungle Book’ come home to digital

Fri., Dec. 2, 2016

By Sean Axmaker Correspondent

New on DVD

“Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life”: Catch up with what has been going on in Stars Hollow.

“The Wild Life”: Animated tale of Robinson Crusoe, who teams up with some weird animals to battle two cats.

“A Chef’s Life, Season 4”: Self-professed “Collard Queen” cooks cabbage and crowns it king.

“Soundbreaking: Stories from the Cutting Edge of Recorded Music”: Eight-part series includes more than 150 exclusive and original interviews.

“NOVA: 15 Years of Terror”: Examination of terrorism in the age of the internet: crowd-sourced violence.

“Brief Encounters”: A 1980s-set British dramedy starring Penelope Wilton.

“NOVA: Super Tunnel”: Team of more than 10,000 construction workers races to build a brand new metro line in London.

“House of Lies: Final Season”: Kaan & Associates look to stay on top.

“Baked in Brooklyn”: Recent college graduate decides to sell marijuana on the streets after losing his job.

Tribune News Service

What’s new for home viewing on video-on-demand and Netflix, Amazon Prime and other streaming services.

Pay-Per-View / Video-On-Demand

“Pete’s Dragon,” a live-action remake of the animated Disney film, is a warmhearted family adventure of a lost boy adopted by a furry forest dragon, and a modern fairy tale grounded in human emotions. Bryce Dallas Howard and Robert Redford star (PG). Also on DVD and Blu-ray and at Redbox.

Steven Spielberg adapts the Roald Dahl storybook fantasy “The BFG,” about an orphaned girl and a big friendly giant (Mark Rylance), with a sense of wonder and a playfully childish sense of humor (PG). Also on DVD and Blu-ray and at Redbox.

Also new: “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie,” the big-screen version of the cult British comedy starring Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley (R), and the horror film “Don’t Breathe” with Jane Levy (R).

Available same day as select theaters nationwide is the drama “Run The Tide” with Taylor Lautner and Constance Zimmer (not rated), satirical thriller “Pocket Listing” with Rob Lowe and Burt Reynolds (not rated), and the horror film “The Eyes of My Mother” (R).

Netflix

“The Jungle Book” (2016) remakes Disney’s animated classic as a live-action films with Mowgli (Neel Sethi) in a magnificent computer-generated jungle kingdom of animals voiced by Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray and others (PG).

Also new: American indie comedy “Rainbow Time” (2016, not rated), dramas “White Girl” (2016, not rated) and “Wildflower” (2016, PG-13), and documentary “For the Love of Spock” (2016), directed by Leonard Nimoy’s son Adam (not rated).

Streaming TV: “Pacific Heat,” an animated parody of action team shows, and the four-part documentary series “Hip Hop Evolution” debut.

Amazon Prime Video

“The Lobster” (2015) is a melancholy love story with Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz in a strange alternate reality where single people are transformed into animals (R).

“The Intervention” (2016) is a “Big Chill” for the 30-something crowd with a terrific cast that includes Melanie Lynskey, Jason Ritter, Natasha Lyonne and Cobie Smulders (R).

Streaming TV: the final season of the BBC drama “Mr. Selfridge” with Jeremy Piven and the first complete season of the animated kids’ series “Lost in Oz.”

Hulu

The Coen brothers’s “No Country for Old Men” (2007), starring Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem, earned four Oscars, including best picture (R).

HBO Now

“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016) pits the Dark Knight (Ben Affleck) against the Man of Steel (Henry Cavill) and introduces Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) in a proto-”Justice League” team-up (PG-13).

At Redbox

“Pete’s Dragon,” “The BFG,” “The Intervention,” “Anthropoid,” “Nine Lives”

Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. His reviews of streaming movies and TV can be found at http://streamon demandathome.com.