A list of titles available for home viewing on video-on-demand and Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Now and Hulu, beginning the week of Friday, Oct. 2.
Here’s what’s new for home viewing on video-on-demand, Netflix, Amazon Prime and other streaming services beginning the week of Friday, Oct. 2.
Pay-Per-View / Video-On-Demand
Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron” crams more heroes and villains and exposition into the Marvel Universe than any film before it. The fact that it’s fast-moving fun with a sense of humor and coherence is testament to writer-director Joss Whedon, though it is awfully overstuffed. PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence, but Captain America keeps the language clean. Also on Blu-ray and DVD.
Melissa McCarthy becomes an unlikely “Spy” in the secret-agent comedy co-starring Jude Law, Rose Byrne and a hilarious Jason Statham. Rated R for language, violence and brief nudity, plus there’s a longer “unrated” version. Also on Blu-ray and DVD.
Also new: the big-screen sequel to the HBO series “Entourage” (R); the remake of “Poltergeist” (PG-13); the French crime drama “The Connection,” starring Jean Dujardin (R, in French with subtitles); and the offbeat documentary “Finders Keepers,” which also opens in select theaters nationwide (R; it’s scheduled to open in Seattle Oct. 9).
Netflix
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“Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” (2013) charts the life and transformation of Nelson Mandela (Idris Elba) from inspirational activist to the first democratically elected president of South Africa. PG-13.
Clint Eastwood earned his second Oscar double-play (best director and best picture) for “Million Dollar Baby” (2004) and directed co-stars Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman to Oscars as well. PG-13.
Also new this month: Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins” (2005; PG-13) and Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights” (1997; R).
“The Walking Dead: Season 5,” the top-rated series on commercial cable, arrives a week before the new season premieres on AMC.
More streaming TV: the lighthearted procedural “Bones: Season 10,” royal soap opera “Reign: Season 2,” supernatural soap opera “The Vampire Diaries: Season 6” and the British import “Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Series 12.”
Amazon Prime Video
The sad, funny and imaginative “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004) features the least affected performance of Jim Carrey’s career. R for language and drug and sexual references.
The Oscar-winning nature documentary “March of the Penguins” (2005), narrated by Morgan Freeman, is rated G, as is the 1993 version of “The Secret Garden,” still considered the finest screen adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s beloved novel.
Streaming TV: the supernatural series “Grimm: Season 4” is available a month before the new season begins on NBC.
Hulu
Hulu picks up many of the films that Netflix lost this month, among them “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” (2013), “Nebraska” (2013), “Star Trek Into Darkness” (2013), “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013) and “World War Z” (2013). They’re also available on Amazon Prime.
New on disc this week
“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Spy,” “Entourage: The Movie,” “Poltergeist” (2015), “Cop Car,” “Jane the Virgin: The Complete First Season.”
Now available at Redbox
“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” “Cop Car,” “Aloft.”