Stream on Demand: Imaginary and real-life monsters populate new streaming options

What’s new for home viewing on Video on Demand and Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max and other streaming services.

Top streams for the week

The two biggest movie monsters around go toe-to-claw in “Godzilla vs. Kong” (2021, PG-13) after the lizard king attacks Florida and the giant ape is set free from Skull Island for the inevitable clash of the titans. Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Kyle Chandler and Rebecca Hall lead the human cast in the fourth film in the MonsterVerse from Legendary Entertainment. Streams the same day it opens in theaters and is available for 31 days. (HBO Max)

Idris Elba is the “Concrete Cowboy” (2021, R) of this drama of a troubled teen (Caleb McLaughlin) who spends the summer with his estranged father, who introduces the boy to the Black urban horseback-riding community of North Philadelphia. The film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, offers a coming-of-age story in a culture rarely seen on screens. Lorraine Toussaint, Jharrel Jerome, and Method Man costar.(Netflix)

Tahar Rahim plays real-life serial killer Charles Sobhraj, who preyed upon tourists on the “hippie trail” through Thailand, Nepal and India in the mid-1970s, in the limited series “The Serpent” (TV-MA). Jenna Coleman plays his girlfriend and partner in the British crime drama. (Netflix)

The satirical comedy “Made for Love” (2021, TV-MA) stars Cristin Milioti as a woman fleeing her controlling tech-mogul husband (Billy Magnussen) and the tech paradise he has turned into a prison. It’s a romantic comedy turned dystopian thriller. Three episodes available, new episodes on Thursdays. (HBO Max)

The documentary “Tina” (2021, TV-14) explores the dramatic life and career of Tina Turner, from her collaboration with her increasingly controlling and ultimately abusive husband Ike Turner to her reinvention as a solo star in the 1980s. (HBO Max)

“WeWork: Or The Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn” (2021, TV-MA) charts the spectacular flame-out of the multibillion-dollar start-up under the leadership of its big-spending, megalomaniacal co-founder Adam Neumann, a would-be tech visionary with a messianic complex. (Hulu)

Classic Pick: Jimmy Stewart is all awed reverence and small-town naiveté as the Boy Scout of a Senator who collides with political corruption in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939). Frank Capra’s populist classic turns an old-school talking filibuster into high drama. (HBO Max)

Pay-Per-View / Video on Demand

Gal Gadot returns as the screen’s greatest Amazon warrior in “Wonder Woman 1984” (2020, PG-13), where she’s roused to action by a magical ancient artifact and a supervillain named Cheetah (Kristen Wiig). Also on DVD and at Redbox.

“Every Breath You Take” (2021, R) is a psychological thriller starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan and Sam Claflin.

Netflix

Willem Dafoe earned an Oscar nomination playing Vincent Van Gogh in “At Eternity’s Gate” (2018, PG-13), a biographical drama from visual artist turned filmmaker Julian Schnabel.

“Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” (2013, PG-13) stars Idris Elba as Nelson Mandella in the story of his life.

International passport: Based on a true story, “Madame Claude” (France, 2021, TV-MA, with subtitles) stars Karole Rocher as a brothel keeper who built a base of wealth and power through her client base. Also new is the crime thriller “Sky High” (Spain, 2020, TV-MA, with subtitles), about a mechanic from the Madrid suburbs who begins pulling criminal heists.

True stories: People share stories about the clothing that means the most to them in the limited series “Worn Stories” (TV-MA).

Amazon Prime Video

Jessie T. Usher stars as a young basketball player struggling with sudden stardom in the sports dramedy “Survivor’s Remorse” (2014-2017, TV-MA), originally made for Starz.

Available on Amazon Prime for the month of April only is the horror series “Creepshow” (TV-MA), family drama “The Restaurant” (Sweden, TV-14, with subtitles), and the provocative “Rectify” (TV-14), about a man learning to cope with life outside prison after his conviction is overturned.

Amazon Prime and Hulu

“A Hologram for the King” (2016, R), based on a novel by Dave Eggers, stars Tom Hanks as a former corporate hotshot with one last shot to redeem himself after a disastrous business decision left him a pariah. (Amazon Prime and Hulu)

Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany star in “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” (2003, PG-13), Peter Weir’s sweeping nautical adventure. (Amazon Prime and Hulu)

HBO Max

The short documentary “The Last Cruise” (2021, TV-14) tells the story of the Diamond Princess cruise ship and the passengers who were quarantined aboard in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, using footage shot by the passengers and crew members themselves.

Martin Scorsese’s “GoodFellas” (1990, R), the greatest American gangster film since “The Godfather,” stars Robert DeNiro, Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci in an Oscar-winning performance.

Classics: Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and a cheetah star in the screwball romantic comedy “Bringing Up Baby” (1938);

• “Now, Voyager” (1942) stars Bette Davis as a spinster emboldened to an independent woman;

• Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn are married profession turned courtroom rivals in “Adam’s Rib” (1949);

• “Easy Rider” (1969, R) made Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper counterculture icons.

Disney+

Long unavailable “Star Wars” spinoffs debut this month: The live-action TV movie “Ewoks: The Battle for Endor” (1985, TV-G) with Wilford Brimley; the animated prequel “Ewoks” (1985-1986); and the rare animated short “The Story of the Faithful Wookiee” (1978), originally produced for the infamous (and still unavailable) “The Star Wars Holiday Special.”

Peacock

Viola Davis won an Academy Award for her performance opposite Denzel Washington in “Fences” (2016, PG-13), adapted from the play by August Wilson and directed by Washington.

Other streams

The docuseries “Moment of Truth” (TV-PG) looks at the never-before-seen story behind the murder of Michael Jordan’s father, James Jordan. (IMDb TV)

A team of desperate folks go in search of a fortune in a zombie no man’s land in “Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula” (South Korea, 2020, not rated, with subtitles). Streaming on both AMC+ and Shudder, as is the second season of the horror anthology “Creepshow” (TV-MA). (AMC+ and Shudder)

Steve Coogan reprises the role of Alan Partridge, TV’s worst talk show host, in the British comedy “This Time With Alan Partridge” (2019, not rated). (BritBox)

MHz adds two non-English language shows from the UK: Scottish drama “Bannan” (TV-PG, with subtitles) in Gaelic and Irish thriller “Grace Harte” (TV-PG, with subtitles) in Irish Gaelic. New episodes each Tuesday. Also recently added:

• Espionage thriller “Agent Hamilton” (Sweden, TV-14, with subtitles), about a CIA-trained Swedish agent;

• “Inspector Dupin” (Germany, TV-14, with subtitles) about a Parisian homicide inspector in Brittany.

The seventh season of the offbeat New Zealand mystery series “The Brokenwood Mysteries” (not rated) is underway, with new episodes each Monday. (Acorn TV)

Second 2 of the Boston police drama “City on a Hill” (TV-MA) is underway with new episodes each Sunday. (Showtime)

Christina Ricci and Kelly Garner are globetrotting stewardesses in the early 1960s in “Pan Am” (2011, TV-PG), which also features Margo Robbie in her U.S. debut. (AMC+)

Ten films “Starring Dirk Bogarde,” from the World War II survival drama “The Sea Shall Not Have Them” (1954) to Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s thriller “Despair” (1978), based on the novel by Vladimir Nabokov, get a spotlight at Criterion Channel. Also new:

• Two films “Directed by Ursula Meier,” “Home” (France, 2008, with subtitles) with Isabelle Huppert and Olivier Gourmet and “Sister” (France, 2012, with subtitles) with Léa Seydoux;

• The first two independently made features by Ramin Bahrani, “Chop Shop” (2007, unrated) and “Man Push Cart” (2005, not rated), both set on the margins of society, presented with supplements from the recent special edition disc releases.

New on disc and at Redbox

“Wonder Woman 1984”

Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. His reviews of streaming movies and television can be found at streamondemandathome.com.