Weekend’s streaming menu serves up escapism and more
Oscar-worthy acting and popcorn-worthy action lead your many viewing options.
New streaming movies are coming to entertain you and your family during socially distanced times.
This weekend, Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman headline an Oscar-ready Netflix period musical drama based on an August Wilson play, Gerard Butler tries to save his family from apocalyptic doom in a disaster movie, Steve McQueen rolls out his last “Small Axe” anthology film on Amazon Prime, and there’s a trio of art-house sci-fi action films, including one featuring none other than Bruce Willis.
If you’re feeling the itch to get back to the movies in person, and there’s a drive-in or it’s safe enough to return to your local theater, the thriller “Fatale” stars Hilary Swank as a police detective and Michael Ealy as the sports agent who is entangled in her new investigation. Plus, Milla Jovovich is back to being an action heroine in Paul W.S. Anderson’s video-game adaptation “Monster Hunter.”
But if you’d rather stick closer to home, here’s a rundown of new movies hitting streaming and on-demand platforms this week:
If you’re mourning Chadwick Boseman: ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’
George C. Wolfe’s adaptation of the Wilson play stars Davis as the strongwilled blues singer who wants things done her way at a 1927 recording session with her band, though her self-centered cornet player (Boseman) has big ambitions of his own. As a character whose charming personality belies a deep and roiling anger, Boseman turns in a stunning, award-worthy final performance.
● Where to watch: Netflix
If you don’t think this year’s been crazy enough: ‘Greenland’
COVID-19 hasn’t been fun, but at least it’s not as deadly as a planet-killing comet. Butler stars in the disaster film as an architect navigating all manner of bad luck while desperately trying to get his family (Morena Baccarin and Roger Dale Floyd) to safety before it’s too late. The movie nicely focuses more on human trauma than end-of-the-world spectacle, though it does feature seriously gnarly (and impressively done) apocalyptic visuals.
● Where to watch: Apple TV,Vudu, Fandango Now
If you enjoy Mads Mikkelsen and day drinking equally: ‘Another Round’
In the engaging, bittersweet Danish dramedy, Mads Mikkelsen shines as an uninspiring history teacher who, with his friends, reads about how keeping a certain level of drunkenness throughout the day will improve one’s life. They decide to give it a go, with a lot of alcohol involved, and learn that the negatives outweigh the positives.
● Where to watch: Apple TV, Vudu, Fandango Now
If you’d like to rage against the machine: ‘Education’
The touching, coming-of-age finale of McQueen’s decades-spanning look at London’s West Indian community centers on racial bias in the 1970s British educational system. Kingsley (Kenyah Sandy), a 12-year-old who loves astronomy but has trouble reading, is one of several disproportionately Black students deemed “educationally sub-normal” and transferred out of mainstream schools, and he ultimately finds important support amid adults fighting the injustice.
● Where to watch: Amazon Prime
If you want to see something truly bonkers: ‘Hunter Hunter’
The thriller stars Devon Sawa as a fur trapper so obsessed with killing a rogue wolf that he leaves his wife (Camille Sullivan) and teen daughter (Summer H. Howell) alone in their wilderness home when they’re visited by an injured mystery man (Nick Stahl). It’s a decently tense film – at least until the jaw-droppingly brutal last five minutes that have to be seen to be believed.
● Where to watch: Apple TV, Vudu, Google Play
If you’re a fan of absolutely dysfunctional weddings: ‘Sister of the Groom’
Good luck finding anyone close to likable in this dramedy. Alicia Silverstone plays a woman who travels to her childhood Hamptons home to watch her brother (Jake Hoffman) get hitched, but she tries to break up the couple after meeting his bohemian and rude French fiancée (Mathilde Ollivier). Best to RSVP a no to this party.
● Where to watch: Apple TV, Vudu, Fandango Now
If you’re a Bruce Willis completist: ‘Breach’
After the annual viewing of Christmas classic “Die Hard,” tuck into this sci-fi thriller if you’re still feeling Bruce-y: Set in the far-flung future where a plague’s devastated the planet, an interstellar ark takes what’s left of humanity (including Willis as a crusty mechanic) to New Earth. That’s if they survive the trip, since crew members have to deal with a shapeshifting alien possessing their co-workers.
● Where to watch: Apple TV, Vudu, Fandango Now
If you dig cool aliens and stuff blowing up: ‘Skylines’
The third and final film in the “Skyline” sci-fi franchise is set 15 years after the initial alien invasion – don’t worry, they catch you up if you haven’t seen the other two – and a group of soldiers head to the extra-terrestrial’s home planet to save mankind. No, it doesn’t make a ton of sense, but the aliens are fun to look at and the effects aren’t terrible for those needing an escapist action film.
● Where to watch: Apple TV, Vudu, Fandango Now
If you live for cheesetastic 1980s nostalgia: ‘Max Cloud’
For those who thought “Ready Player One” was overly subtle with its retro love, there’s this bizarre sci-fi action comedy mashing up “Jumanji” and “Tron.” Teen gamer Sarah (Isabelle Allen) gets magically sucked into her 16bit console and has to play sidekick to a dim-bulb, universe-saving space captain (martial-arts guru Scott Adkins).
● Where to watch: Apple TV, Vudu, Fandango Now