Stream on Demand: ‘No Sudden Move,’ ‘Tomorrow War’ find streaming homes
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
Don Cheadle and Benicio Del Toro star as small-time criminals in 1954 Detroit who end up in the middle of a tangled conspiracy in “No Sudden Move” (2021, R), a rapid-fire crime thriller from Steven Soderbergh. David Harbour, Amy Seimetz, Jon Hamm, Kieran Culkin, Brendan Fraser and Ray Liotta also star. It’s available to stream this month. (HBO Max)
The future is in the hands of today’s civilians in “The Tomorrow War” (2021, PG-13), starring Chris Pratt as a schoolteacher who travels 30 years into the future to battle an alien invasion. Yvonne Strahovski, Betty Gilpin and J.K. Simmons also star in the science-fiction action thriller from “The Lego Batman Movie” director Chris McKay. Originally intended for theaters, it debuts as a streaming exclusive. (Amazon Prime)
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson makes his directorial debut with documentary “Summer of Soul” (2021, PG-13), featuring performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips and others from the Harlem Cultural Festival from the summer of 1969. It won awards at Sundance and streams the same day it opens in theaters. (Hulu)
Also streaming the same day as theaters is the animated sequel “The Boss Baby: Family Business” (2021, PG) featuring the voices of Alec Baldwin and James Marsden as the now-adult brothers facing a new boss baby. (Peacock)
“Bill and Ted Face the Music” (2020, PG-13) reunites Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter as the fun-loving duo as middle-aged fathers in arrested adolescence who go on a new excellent adventure with their teenage daughters (Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine). It’s as sweet, whimsical and fun as the original comedies. (Hulu)
Lakeith Stanfield stars as a career thief who agrees to turn informant in “Judas and the Black Messiah” (2021, R), a drama based on the true story of the FBI’s infiltration of the Black Panthers and the murder of Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya). Previously available for a 31-day window, it returns to HBO Max.
Last chance: “In the Heights” (2021, PG-13) streams for one more weekend before leaving HBO Max.
Classic picks: Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” (1954) is one of his most entertaining thrillers, and “Vertigo” (1958) was voted the greatest film ever made in an international poll. Both star James Stewart. (Amazon Prime)
Netflix
The raunchy, silly animated comedy “America: The Motion Picture” (2021, TV-MA) salutes Independence Day with a mangled history lesson featuring the voices of Channing Tatum as a chainsaw-wielding George Washington, Andy Samberg as a werewolf Benedict Arnold and Olivia Munn as Ben Franklin.
“Fear Street Part 1: 1994” (2021, TV-MA) is the first of three young adult horror films adapted from R.L. Stine books. Maya Hawke (“Stranger Things”) stars in the first film; subsequent installments roll out each Friday.
Marc Maron stars in “Sword of Trust” (2019, R), the final film directed by Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton.
Judi Dench is “Red Joan” (2018, R) in the drama based on the real-life story of the KGB’s longest-serving British spy.
Streaming TV: The reality series “Big Timber” (TV-MA) follows a team of logger on Vancouver Island in Canada.
International passport: A monk hunts an ancient evil spirit in the fantasy thriller “The 8th Night” (South Korea, 2021, TV-MA, with subtitles).
International TV: The young adult drama “Young Royals” (Sweden, not rated, with subtitles) follows a royal prince discovering himself at a prestigious new boarding school. Also new:
• Romantic drama “Generation 56k” (Italy, not rated, with subtitles) about friends who reconnect after 20 years;
• Crime drama “Somos” (Mexico, not rated, with subtitles) set in a Mexican border town.
True stories: The limited series “Sophie: A Murder in West Cork” (not rated) is a true crime documentary on the investigation of a French producer on vacation in Ireland in 1996.
Animation: “Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway” (Japan, 2021, TV-14) is a new entry in the epic series of animated science fiction shows and features.
Amazon Prime VideoTilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston are eternal vampire soulmates in “Only Lovers Left Alive” (2013, R), a dreamy, romantic horror film from Jim Jarmusch.
Ron Perlman plays “Hellboy” (2004) in the original film directed by Guillermo del Toro from the comics by Mike Mignola.
“Patton” (1970, PG), the military epic starring George C. Scott, won seven Academy Awards, including best picture, director, actor and screenplay.
Amazon Prime and Hulu
Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara take the leads in the American version of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (2011, R), directed by David Fincher.
Hulu
Rami Malek won an Academy Award playing Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in the rock biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” (2018, PG-13).
Kristen Stewart is an American “Personal Shopper” (France, 2016, R, with subtitles) to a French celebrity in Paris in the enigmatic ghost story/murder mystery from filmmaker Olivier Assayas.
“Dear White People” (2014, R), the feature debut of filmmaker Justin Simien, uses humor and provocation to explore issues of race and race relationship at a private college.
”Whip It” (2009, PG-13), the directorial debut of Drew Barrymore, stars Elliot Page as a Texas high school kid who rebels by joining a roller derby team.
True stories: The documentary “Stray” (2020, not rated) follows the lives of homeless dogs living on the streets of Istanbul.
HBO Max
True stories: “The Legend of the Underground” (2021, TV-MA) follows a group of non-conforming Nigerians escaping punitive laws in safe houses in Lagos and Harlem.
Before the TV series, there was Michael Crichton’s movie “Westworld” (1973, PG) starring Yul Brynner and Richard Benjamin.
Go ape! The original “Planet of the Apes” (1968, G) with Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowell, which has been remade twice already, and the sequels “Beneath the Planet of the Apes” (1970, G), “Escape from the Planet of the Apes” (1971, G) and “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes” (1972, PG) are ready to binge.
Other streams
The limited series “Smother” (not rated) is a crime drama set on the rugged coast of Ireland, stars Dervla Kirwan as a woman discovering family secrets as she investigates the murder of husband. All six episodes available. (Peacock)
The documentary feature “Rebel Hearts” (2021, not rated) chronicles the story of the nuns who protested for social justice and fought the Vatican for their autonomy in 1968 Los Angeles. Streams days after its limited theatrical release. (Discovery+)
The true crime limited series “Relentless” (TV-MA) follows the year-long search for a missing woman in Missouri. Three episodes available, new episodes on Mondays. (Discovery+)
Idris Elba stars as maverick detective John Luther in the gritty British crime drama “Luther” (2010-2015, TV-MA). (Britbox)
The award-winning “No. 7 Cherry Lane” (Hong Kong, 2019, not rated, with subtitles), an animated romantic drama set against the 1967 anti-British riots in Hong Kong, makes its streaming premiere on Criterion Channel. It toplines an impressive 30-film “Art-House Animation” festival that encompasses over 70 years of films, from the fabulist German features of Karel Zeman to Martin Rosen’s screen versions of Richard Adams’ “Watership Down” (1978, PG) and “Plague Dogs” (1982, PG-13) to the allegorical stop-motion fantasies of Czech filmmaker Jan Švankmajer. (Criterion Channel)
Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. His reviews of streaming movies and television can be found at streamondemandathome.com.