What’s new for home viewing on Video on Demand, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and other streaming services.
Top streams for the week
The new streaming service Peacock launches this week – but not for everybody. Poised to be a major force in the streaming wars, this service from NBC/Universal is available for free to Comcast cable subscribers and Xfinity customers before going out wide to the streaming world in July. Available now are series such as “30 Rock,” “Friday Night Lights” and Dick Wolf’s “Law and Order” and “Chicago” shows and classic and contemporary movies like “Jaws,” “E.T.,” “Back to the Future” and the “Fast and Furious,” “Bourne” and “Despicable Me” series. The lineup will eventually include original programs along with more than 600 movies and 400 TV shows (including “The Office”). Free with commercials, or get the premium version with no commercials and additional exclusive content for $4.99/month. More at PeacockTV.
Cate Blanchett is conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly and Rose Byrne feminist icon Gloria Steinem in “Mrs. America” (2020, TV-MA), a limited series centered on the battle over the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. Created by Dahvi Waller (a veteran of “Mad Men” and “Desperate Housewives”) and co-produced by Anna Bolden and Ryan Fleck (who also directes four episodes), this sprawling show packs a lot of history into 10 episodes. Uzo Aduba, Elizabeth Banks, Margo Martindale, Sarah Paulson and Tracey Ullman also star. Three episodes now available on Hulu, new episodes each Wednesday.
Titus Welliver is back as LAPD Homicide Detective Harry Bosch in “Bosch: Season 6” (TV-MA), the terrific crime drama adapted by author Michael Connelly from his series of novels with producer Eric Overmeyer. It is now the longest-running original series on Amazon Prime Video, and one of its most popular, and is set to end next year with the seventh season. 10 episodes on Amazon Prime Video.
A group of teenagers hunt for lost gold in the young adult series “Outer Banks: Season 1” (not rated), a mix of adventure, thriller, and teen melodrama featuring shipwrecks and a haunted house, all set in the Barrier Islands of North Carolina. Ten episodes streaming on Netflix.
Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson go stir crazy during their three-month stint manning “The Lighthouse” (2019, R) off the stormy Atlantic coast in the stylized, somewhat hallucinatory second feature from director Robert Eggers. It earned an Oscar nomination for its unsettling cinematography. Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
“Sergio” (2020, R) tells the story of Sérgio Vieira de Mello (played by Wagner Maura), the U.N. diplomat who devoted his life of humanitarian efforts and was killed in a terrorist attack in Iran in 2003. Ana de Armas, Garret Dillahunt and Bradley Whitford also star. Streaming on Netflix.
Madison Lintz and Titus Welliver in the sixth season of “Bosch.” (Saeed Adyani / Amazon Studios)
Free pick:“Mr. Holmes” (2015, PG) stars Ian McKellen as the iconic detective in retirement at age 93 trying to recall his fateful final case while tending his bees and facing his greatest challenge ever: old age and memory loss. Available on Kanopy and Hoopla, free streaming services available through most library systems.
Pay-Per-View / Video on Demand
Guy Ritchie’s British gangster comedy “The Gentlemen” (2020, R) stars Matthew McConaughey as an American crime boss in London under attack as he plans his retirement. Charlie Hunnam, Hugh Grant, Colin Farrell, Henry Golding and Michelle Dockery also star.
Available direct to VOD is family drama “Abe” (2020, not rated), which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, and crime drama “The Quarry” (2020, not rated) with Michael Shannon and Shea Whigham.
Netflix
Kenya Barris and Rashida Jones star in “#blackAF: Season 1” (not rated), a family comedy series inspired by Barris’ life.
The documentary limited series “The Innocence Files” (2020, not rated) focuses on eight cases undertaken by the Innocence Project, which takes on the plight of people who may have been wrongly convicted.
“Code 8” (2019, TV-MA) is a superhero drama in a world where powers are a curse starring Robbie Amell and Stephen Amell, who have both played superheroes on the small screen.
George Clooney and Josh Brolin star in “Hail, Caesar!” (2016, PG-13), a Hollywood satire from the Coen Brothers.
International cinema: Two buddies get rich on real estate speculation only to sink into temptation in “Rising High” (Germany, 2020, not rated, with subtitles), a drama based on a true story. Also new:
Murder mystery “The Legacy of the Bones” (Spain, 2019, not rated, with subtitles), a sequel to “The Invisible Guardian” with Marta Etura as Inspector Amaia Salazar;
Crime thriller “Earth and Blood” (France, 2020, TV-MA, with subtitles).
International TV:“The King – Eternal Monarch: Season 1” (South Korea, with subtitles) is a romantic fantasy with new episodes each week. Also new is action thriller “Fauda: Season 3” (Israel, TV-MA, with subtitles).
More streaming TV: Sexy young singles meet in “Too Hot to Handle: Season 1” (TV-MA), a new reality-TV dating/competition show.
More kid stuff: M. Night Shyamalan directs “The LastAirbender” (2010, PG), the big-screen version of the hit animated series. Also new is “The Last Kids on Earth: Book 2” (TV-Y7), an animated adventure for young viewers.
Standup: Along with “ChrisD’Elia: No Pain” (2020, TV-MA) arrives international specials “Fary: Hexagone - Part 2” (France, 2020, TV-MA, with subtitles) and “MauricioMeirelles: Generating Chaos” (2020, Brazil, not rated, with subtitles).
Amazon Prime Video
High school cliques collide in “Selah and the Spades” (2020, R), an indie drama of power and bad behavior set at an exclusive boarding school.
“Piranhas” (Italy, 2019, not rated, with subtitles) follows a group of young wannabe mobsters who form their own gang to take back their neighborhood.
Kid stuff:“Dino Dana: Season 3B” (TV-Y) brings more episodes of the live-action series about a dinosaur-obsessed girl.
Prime Video and Hulu
“Vault” (2019, R) dramatizes the real-life story of how a couple of small-time hoods (Theo Rossi and Clive Standen) stole $30 million from the Mob (Prime Video and Hulu).
Hulu
Along with the Oscar-winning “Parasite,” Hulu has made three earlier Bong Joon-ho films available: the dark comedy “Barking Dogs Never Bite” (2000, G) with Doona Bae, the searing crime drama “Mother” (2009, R) and “The Host” (2007, R), a monster movie with a streak of social commentary. All from South Korea with subtitles.
Ben Foster is “The Messenger” (2009, R), an American soldier tasked with informing family members of fallen soldiers, in the drama also starring Woody Harrelson and Samantha Morton.
You can now stream the series debut of the ABC romantic comedy “Baker and the Beauty” and the season debut of the FX comedy “What We Do in the Shadows: Season 2” (TV-MA). Other new network shows streaming after their respective debuts:
“Run: Season 1” (TV-MA), starring Merritt Wever and Domhnall Gleeson as college lovers who reunite years later for an impulsive getaway, is a romantic adventure set at a breakneck pace. New episodes each Sunday. Also new:
Comedy “Insecure: Season 4” (TV-MA) with Issa Rae (new episodes each Sunday);
“It: Chapter 2” (2019, R), the conclusion of the two-part adaptation of the Stephen King horror novel, starring Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy and Bill Hader.
Other streams
Quibi continues to roll out shows to be watched on your phone. Among the “movies in chapters” launching this week are the rideshare thriller “The Stranger” with Maika Monroe and Dane DeHaan and drama “#FreeRayshawn” with Laurence Fishburne and Stephan James, while the anthology “50 States of Fright” turns urban legends into short horror stories.
Meryl Streep narrates the animated short film “Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth” (2020, TV-G), about a 7-year-old learning about the wonders of the planet. Streaming on Apple TV+.
BritBox offers the U.S debut of the Britcom “Scarborough” (2019, not rated) with Jason Manford and Catherine Tyldesley.
An 11-year-old tomboy (Royalty Hightower) joins a dance company that is suddenly overcome with mysterious fainting spells in the American indie drama “The Fits” (2015, not rated). It’s new to Criterion Channel with optional audio commentary featuring director Anna Rose Holmer, writer-producer Lisa Kjerulff and writer-editor Saela Davis.
