This week brings a wealth of new choices from Netflix and Fandor, including a recent award-winning indie, a few Oscar winners, some acclaimed classics from legendary directors, and a Netflix holiday special starring Bill Murray. Read on for details:
This noirish thriller follows a down-on-his-luck man who gets ensnared by a con artist who preys on seniors.
Available now on: Netflix
This Certified Fresh indie darling focuses on one wild day in the lives of two transgender sex workers, one of whom has just finished a short stint in jail, only to find out her pimp boyfriend has been cheating on her.
Available now on: Netflix
Hugh Grant and Nicholas Hoult star in Paul and Chris Weitz’s Certified Fresh comedy about an underachieving womanizer who meets his match in the form of his latest conquest’s precocious 12-year-old son.
Available now on: Netflix
This bold film from Germany chronicles a teenage girl’s preparation for her Catholic confirmation, hoping her increasingly severe sacrifices will help cure her autistic brother.
Available now on: Netflix
Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening headline an ensemble cast in Sam Mendes’ Certified Fresh Best Picture winner about a pair of families whose seemingly perfect suburban lives mask deep unrest in different ways.
Available now on: Netflix
Liam Neeson stars in Sam Raimi’s Certified Fresh hero tale about a scientist who receives superhuman powers in a criminal explosion and sets about getting his revenge.
Available now on: Netflix
Jamie Foxx earned a Best Actor Oscar for his work as Ray Charles in Taylor Hackford’s Certified Fresh biopic, which chronicles 30 years in the legendary artist’s life.
Available now on: Netflix
Howard Stern stars as himself in this Certified Fresh biographical comedy, based on his own book about himself. It sounds ridiculous, we know, but the film is actually well crafted and endearing, not to mention hilarious.
Available now on: Netflix
Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Rosie O’Donnell, Madonna, and Tom Hanks star in this fictionalized account of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
Available now on: Netflix
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman star in Stanley Kubrick’s psychological thriller about a married man who embarks on a dreamlike sexual odyssey one night after learning his wife once contemplated having an affair.
Available now on: Netflix
Bill Murray stars in Netflix’s original holiday special, directed by Sofia Coppola, in which the amiable comedian signs on to do a Christmas TV special but needs to think fast when a snowstorm prevents any of the scheduled stars from appearing. The parade of cameos includes George Clooney, Amy Poehler, Miley Cyrus, Chris Rock, and more.
Available now on: Netflix
Jean Renoir’s period drama centers on the star of an Italian theatre troupe touring in Peru who catches the eye of the local viceroy.
Available now on: Fandor
Ingmar Bergman’s semi-autobiographical film follows 10-year-old Alexander, whose life is upended when his father suddenly dies and his mother remarries, this time to a strict clergyman.
Available now on: Fandor
This documentary tells the story of Peter Anton, an 82-year-old man who has spent several decades chronicling his own life in autobiographical artwork.
Available now on: Fandor
Another recent documentary that profiles an artist, this film focuses on Bahman Mohassess, whose paintings and sculptures from pre-revolutionary Iran earned him the nickname “Persian Picasso.”
Available now on: Fandor
Ingmar Bergman’s oft-referenced meditative fantasy masterpiece stars Max von Sydow as a medieval knight in Sweden who returns from war and engages Death in a game of chess.
Available now on: Fandor
Louis Malle’s unconventional film revolves around a single dinner conversation between actor/playwright Wallace Shawn and theater director Andre Gregory.
Available now on: Fandor
François Truffaut’s drama set in Paris during the Nazi occupation stars Catherine Deneuve as a theater actress compelled to keep the show going, even as her Jewish husband hides out in the theater.
Available now on: Fandor
Vincent Cassel stars in the first of two films about Jacques Mesrine, a former soldier in 1960s Paris who embraces the criminal lifestyle and quickly moves up the ladder.
Available now on: Fandor
Vincent Cassel returns as the titular gangster, now in police custody and facing prison, who escapes and reinvents himself as public anti-hero with celebrity status.
Available now on: Fandor
Rupert Friend stars in this action thriller as a deadly, genetically engineered assassin who sets out to stop an evil corporation from using the same technology to create an army of its own.
Available Dec. 11 on: Amazon, Google Play, iTunes
