What’s new on Netflix, Crave, Prime and Criterion this week

A weekly roundup of the new movies and TV series on Netflix, Crave, Prime and Criterion.

The Lovebirds is not exactly the first film to see its release “adjusted” due to the pandemic, but it’s the first film acquired by Netflix for those reasons. Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae star as a couple who accidentally witness a murder and are forced to go on the run. The film is directed by The State’s Michael Showalter, who also directed Nanjiani in The Big Sick. Comedian Hannah Gadsby follows up the smashing success of her love-it-or-hate-it special Nanette with Douglas, which drops on May 26.

Several new seasons of series are dropping this week, though not many of them are that prestigious. I don’t really think that The 100, Dynasty, Heartland, Selling Sunset or Animal Kingdom set the water cooler conversation ablaze, though I’m willing to be proven wrong. The award-winning Mexican cartel drama I’m No Longer Here also drops, on May 27.

New on Crave

Crave TV has one of the big critical and commercial hits of the year, Joker, streaming as of today, May 22. Even though I’m admittedly no fan of the Clown Prince of Crime’s latest outing, I’m certainly in the minority… and it’s probably worth seeing for Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscar-winning performance if you haven’t already. Fantasia 2019 selection Come to Daddy, starring Elijah Wood and Stephen McHattie, also drops today alongside the truly baffling Cross: Rise of the Villains, a 10-years-later second sequel to a cheap-ass direct-to-video superhero movie starring Brian Austin Green and Danny Trejo. I have, for reasons that are too long to get into, seen the original Cross, and I cannot for the life of me fathom why this is happening again. Later this week you can also catch up with Glass Houses, a TV-movie melodrama starring Bree Turner (Grimm) from local melodrama-mongers Incendo productions, in case you have streamed everything there is to stream.

New on Amazon Prime

Two big series drop on Amazon today, May 22. First up: the second season of Homecoming, based on the podcast of the same name. Season 1 star Julia Roberts is being replaced by Janelle Monáe as a woman who wakes up in a canoe with no sense of who she is or was in the past. Chris Cooper and Stephan James co-star. Reese Witherspoon, newly-minted queen of the heightened small-screen melodrama, stars in Little Fires Everywhere, a miniseries adaptation of the book of the same name. Witherspoon plays a well-to-do suburban mom whose life is upended with the introduction of a mysterious woman played by Kerry Washington. The show is coming to Amazon after dropping on Hulu in the States a couple of months ago, where it was met with mostly positive reviews. The show is also notable as the last work of director Lynn Shelton, who passed away of a blood disorder last week; Shelton directed four of the eight episodes.

New on Criterion Channel

Criterion Channel’s big retrospective this week is a sizable look at a wide swath of feminist filmmaking from the 1970s to now. Extremely rare works of all kinds (documentary, shorts, avantgarde) are streaming alongside more recognizable works from Claire Simon and Chantal Akerman. This week also sees two new installments in the “Three By…” format that sees Criterion present a triumvirate of films from noted filmmakers. This week, it’s Nicole Holofcener and Jacques Rivette. ■

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See what’s new on Criterion Channel here.

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A weekly roundup of the new movies and TV series on Netflix, Crave, Prime and Criterion.