Here’s what’s new on Video on Demand, Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, and other services.
Top streams of the week
“Women Talk” (2022, PG-13; read our review here), Sarah Polley’s film adaptation of Miriam Toews’ novel, gives voice to a group of women in an isolated Mennonite community who have gathered to decide their future in the aftermath of years of systematic abuse. It’s a soft and often poetically beautiful film, set against an idyllic, sun-drenched prairie landscape, for such a traumatic subject, and Polley lets her ensemble’s words and passions bear the weight of their decision. Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley and Judith Ivey lead the superb ensemble, and the film earned Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay. (Prime video)
Idris Elba returns as the brilliant but haunted police detective “Luther: The Fallen Sun” (2023, R), a feature-length British crime drama sequel that ended in 2019. The film opens with DCI John Luther in prison and a flamboyant serial killer (Andy Serkis) taunting him as he terrorizes the city, prompting Luther to escape to claim his own justice. (Netflix)
In a less serious vein, Mel Brooks brings a sequel 40 years in the making “History of the World, Part II” (TV-14), a limited-edition sketch comedy that uses kid humor and raunchy jokes to poke fun at historical events. Wanda Sykes, Nick Kroll and Ike Barinholtz write and co-star. You can also stream the original “History of the World, Part I” (1981, R). (Hulu)
In the second season of “Perry Mason” (TV-MA), the private investigator wrestling with his attorney (Matthew Rhys) defends two Latino brothers charged with the murder of an oil baron’s son and finds himself caught in the middle of a neighborhood demolition conspiracy. New episodes Monday. (HBO Max)
Vicky Krieps won the acting award at Cannes for her role of Empress Elisabeth of Austria in “Corsage” (Austria, 2022, unrated, with subtitles; read our review here), a fictional drama about the beloved monarch turning 40. The unusual, sometimes eccentric portrait explores her struggle with the limiting expectations of her position and her desire to expand her world. (AMC+)
Netflix
Brad Pitt travels the world in search of a cure for the zombie virus “World War Z” (2013, PG-13).
Hulu
Kerry Washington plays a single mother and Delroy Lindo is her father, who moves into the sitcom after his release from prison “UnPrisoned: Season 1” (TV-MA).
HBO max
A single mother (Daisy May Cooper) on the fringes of society struggles to give her daughter a stable home in the British drama series “Rain Dogs: Season 1” (TV-14).
Largest +
A teenager (Peyton List) is trapped in the afterlife “School Ghosts: Season 1” (TV-MA), a high school drama with a supernatural twist.
Other streams
The limited series “The Confessions of Frannie Langton” (not rated) follows the odyssey of an enslaved woman (Karla-Simone Spence) from a plantation in Jamaica to London. (BritBox)
The police sergeant (Conleth Hill) of a small Irish town unravels the secrets of his community as he investigates his first murder in “Keep: Season 1” (not judged). (Acorn TV)
Sean Axmaker
is a film critic and writer from Seattle. His reviews of streaming movies and TV can be found at streamondemandathome.com.