Stream on Demand: FilmStruck, a new streaming service, launched for fans of classic movies
What’s new for home viewing on video-on-demand and Netflix, Amazon Prime and other streaming services.
Introducing FilmStruck
Love foreign films and American classics? FilmStruck, a new streaming service from Turner Classic Movies and The Criterion Collection, has some of the greatest movies ever made from around the world and offers a 14-day free trial, with a subscription beginning at $6.99 a month. Now available via desktop, Android and iPhone/iPad, and Amazon Fire TV, with Roku, Chromecast, and Apple TV to come. Browse the library at the FilmStruck website, www.filmstruck.com/.
Pay-Per-View / Video-On-Demand
“Star Trek Beyond” delivers a colorful, warp-speed adventure with solid character chemistry. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Karl Urban lead the crew, and Sofia Boutella is marvelous as warrior woman Jaylah (PG-13). Also on DVD and Blu-ray.
“Bad Moms” lets Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Christina Applegate escape the kids and let loose for a night of R-rated antics. Also on DVD and Blu-ray.
Also new: the true-life World War II thriller “Anthropoid” (R), the family comedy “Nine Lives” with Kevin Spacey (PG), the documentary “Miss Sharon Jones!” (not rated), and the tongue-in-cheek animated feature “Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders” (PG).
Available same day as select theaters nationwide is the comedy “My Dead Boyfriend” with Heather Graham on an odyssey of self-discovery while disposing of her boyfriend’s ashes (R), plus the black comedy “Trash Fire” from director/star Adrian Grenier (R) and the horror film “The Charnel House” (not rated).
Netflix
“Downton Abbey” fans, take note. Claire Foy plays Queen Elizabeth II in “The Crown,” a lavish new series about the young monarch learning to balance public and private life after her coronation in 1953. Created by Peter Morgan (who wrote “The Queen”), it co-stars Matt Smith as Prince Philip. Ten episodes available to stream.
More streaming TV: the British mystery “The Fall: Season 3” with Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan, the British family comedy “Chewing Gum: Season 1,” and the animated kids series “World of Winx: Season 1.”
True stories: “The Ivory Game” (2016) looks at the efforts to end the illegal trade in elephant ivory (not rated). Also new: career portraits of “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You” (2016) and Disney animator “Floyd Norman: An Animated Life” (2016) and the Mexican wrestling documentary “Lucha Mexico” (2016) (all not rated).
Humphrey Bogart won his only Oscar starring with Katharine Hepburn in “The African Queen” (1951), the classic adventure directed by John Huston.
Also new: the comedy “Meet the Blacks” (2016) with Mike Epps (R) and the frontier horror film “Ravenous” (1999) with Guy Pearce (R).
Stand-up: “Dana Carvey: Straight White Male, 60” (not rated).
Amazon Prime Video
The drone warfare drama “Eye in the Sky” (2016) stars Helen Mirren and Alan Rickman in his last screen performance (R).
“Equals” (2016) is a love story in a science fiction parable starring Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult (PG-13).
Also new: Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation” (1974) with Gene Hackman as a paranoid surveillance expert (PG) and “Erin Brockovich” (2000) with Julia Roberts in her Oscar-winning performance (R).
Amazon Prime and Hulu
The new month brings a new batch of older releases: the Oscar-winning “Good Will Hunting” (1997) with Matt Damon and Robin Williams (R), “Get Shorty” (1995) with John Travolta (R), “Up in the Air” (2009) with George Clooney (R), the Oscar-winning “Rocky” (1976, PG), and the comedies “Barbershop” (2002, PG-13), “Death at a Funeral” (2007, R), and “Major League” (1989, R).
And there’s another batch of classic James Bond films cycling through, from Sean Connery in “From Russia with Love” (1963, PG) and “Goldfinger” (1964, PG) to George Lazenby in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” (1969, PG) to Roger Moore in “Live and Let Die” (1973, PG) to Pierce Brosnan in “Goldeneye” (1995, PG-13).
Hulu
How timely: “Election” (1999) satirizes American politics in the context of a high school election (R).
Also new: “Fargo” (1996) from the Coen brothers, “Punch-Drunk Love” (2002) with Adam Sandler (R), and the original “Mad Max” (1979) with Mel Gibson (R).
HBO Now
“Poltergeist” (2015), the remake of the 1980s horror classic, is presented in an extended version (PG-13). Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt star.
Also new: the video game thriller “Hitman: Agent 47” (2015) with Rupert Friend and the horror film “Insidious: Chapter 3” (2015) with Dermot Mulroney (PG-13).
At Redbox
“Star Trek Beyond,” “X-Men Apocalypse,” “Imperium,” “The Sea of Trees”
Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. His reviews of streaming movies and TV can be found at http://streamondemandathome.com.