New on Streaming Week of Mar 04, 2013 - Movies Streaming/On Demand This Week: ‘Breaking Dawn-Part 2,’ ‘Red Dawn’ & More

All you Twihards out there, this week is a big one. The final installment, “Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2,” is now On Demand and streaming. If that’s not your thing, also out is the latest Gerard Butler romantic comedy, “Playing for Keeps,” and a reboot of the ‘80s invasion thriller, “Red Dawn.” Plus a couple of titles available same day as it opens in theaters.

NEW RELEASES

‘Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2'
The saga that has kept tweens and housewives equally enthralled since 2008 comes to an end with this final film, which brings Bella, Edward, Jacob and little Renesmee up against the Volturi.
Why Watch It: You’ve come this far, time to finish it.
Available On: Cable On Demand, iTunes, VUDU, Amazon Instant

‘Playing for Keeps’
Gerard Butler plays a washed up soccer star looking for a new career. He attempts to become a more responsible adult when he begins coaching his son’s soccer team, but with the soccer moms flocking to him things get a little difficult.
Why Watch It: You know you can’t resist a bit of that Gerard charm.
Available On: Cable On Demand, iTunes

‘Red Dawn’
A remake of John Milius’ 1984 Red Scare thriller, this time around heartthrobs Chris Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Isabel Lucas (and Tom Cruise’s son Connor) star as the teens who take it upon themselves to strike back after North Korean soldiers invade their town.
Why Watch It: Not as gritty as the original but still a worthy remake.
Available On: Cable On Demand, iTunes, VUDU, Amazon Instant

‘Lay The Favorite’
From The Queen director Stephen Frears, Bruce Willis, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Joshua Jackson are just some of the stars that pop up in this comedy about a naïve cocktail waitress (Hall) who becomes a gambling prodigy.
Why Watch It: Nice to see Rebecca Hall step away from the dramatic roles for a sec to play a fun role.
Available On: iTunes, VUDU, Amazon Instant, YouTube, Google Play

‘It’s A Disaster’
This dark comedy follows four couples meeting for brunch who begin to unravel in different ways when they learn that the apocalypse may be a few hours away. David Cross, America Ferrera and Julia Stiles round out the diverse cast.
Why Watch It: A festival hit with some great laughs.
Available On: Cable On Demand [Opens In Theaters 4/12]

‘A Place At The Table’
With millions of Americans going hungry, documentary filmmakers Kristie Jacobson and Lori Silverbush look at this epidemic by highlighting three people who don’t know where their next meal is coming from. The film, also out in theaters, is highlighted by appearances from Jeff Bridges, Raj Patel and Tom Colicchio.
Why Watch It: An important film that can hopefully change our policies on what we eat.
Available On: Cable On Demand, VUDU

’6 Souls’
Also available same day as it hits theaters, Julianne Moore stars in this thriller produced by the twisted souls who brought us “The Ring.” Moore plays Cara, a forensic psychologist who discovers that her patient (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) has multiple personalities of murder victims. Now Cara is on a search for what happened to them.
Why Watch It: Moore and Meyers elevate a typical horror.
Available On: Cable On Demand, VUDU

‘Gun Hill Road’
This Sundance favorite from 2011, Enrique (Esai Morales) has returned home after a three-year stint in prison to find his son, now a teen, living a lifestyle he does not approve of. As Enrique tries to rebuild his life he also attempts to reconnect with the son he barely knew.
Why Watch It: A moving story that highlights the talents of its director, Rashaad Ernesto Green.
Available On: iTunes

OLDIES BUT GOODIES

‘The Apartment’
Billy Wilder wins director and screenwriting Oscars for his classic that stars Jack Lemmon as C.C. Baxter, a shy company man trying to raise up the ladder by letter his executives use his apartment for their extra-marital affairs. But things get tricky when C.C. falls for one of the girls (Shirley MacLaine).
Available On: iTunes, VUDU, Amazon Instant, YouTube, Google Play

‘Lolita’
Stanley Kubrick tests the limits of 1960s censorship with his adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s streamy novel of a relationship between a literature professor (James Mason) and a teenage girl (Sue Lyon).
Available On: iTunes, VUDU, Amazon Instant, YouTube, Google Play

‘Stevie’
Known for his landmark documentaries like “Hoop Dreams” and most recently “The Interrupters,” Steve James’ most personal work is this 2002 release which follows the director as he attempts to reconnect with the boy he was a big brother of ten years prior. Now an adult with a rap sheet, little Stevie is not looking for fatherly advice.
Available On: iTunes, VUDU

Categories: Columns, New on Streaming This Week, Streaming, Streaming/On Demand

Tags: 6 Souls, A Place at the Table, America Ferrera, Billy wilder, Bruce willis, Catherine zeta-jones, Chris Hemsworth, David Cross, Gerard butler, Gun Hill Road, Isabel Lucas, It's A Disastert, Jack lemmon, James mason, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Josh hutcherson, Joshua jackson, Julia Stiles, Julianne moore, Lay the favorite, Lolita, Playing for Keeps, Rebecca hall, Red dawn, Shirley maclaine, Stanley Kubrick, Steve James, Stevie, Sue Lyon, The Apartment, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 2

Movies Streaming/On Demand This Week: ‘Taken 2,’ ‘Paranormal Activity 4′ & More

As we continue to trudge through the cold month of January and its lackluster crop of new releases, we suggest you curl up with a few of these titles. Liam Neeson return as the father who can kick anyone’s ass in “Taken 2.” For those found footage fans, the fourth installment of the “Paranormal Activity” franchise is now streaming. And we’ve got a few great titles you can see for free.

NEW RELEASES

‘Taken 2'
Following up the unlikely success of the original, Liam Neeson returns for a new ass-kicking foreign excursion. This time around, Bryan Mills (Neeson) and his wife (Famke Janssen) are kidnapped by the father of the kidnapper Mills killed to rescue his daughter in the first film. Let’s just say the odds are always in Mills’s favor.
Why Watch It: Neeson just has a knack for playing the ruthless type, even when he’s the one who’s the hostage.
Available On: iTunes, Cable On Demand, VUDU, Amazon Instant, YouTube, Google Play

‘Paranormal Activity 4'
After going to the VHS-era of the ’80s in “PA3,” we’re now back in the present for the fourth edition of this found-footage franchise. Five years after the events of “PA2,” things get a little strange for a teenage girl and her family when a woman and child move in next door.
Why Watch It: Just when you think you’ve seen everything in this franchise, they go and show they still have a few more tricks.
Available On: iTunes, VUDU [On Demand: 1/29]

‘The Possession’
If found footage isn’t your thing, this more traditional thriller is about a little girl who starts acting really strange after her newly divorced father (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) buys her an old wooden box at a yard sale.
Why Watch It: Crazy CGI makes easier to tolerate the watered-down plot.
Available On: Cable On Demand

‘The House I Live In’
Documentary filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (“Why We Fight,” “The Trials of Henry Kissinger”) looks at the U.S. drug war from all possible angles and comes to the conclusion that it’s hardly about drugs.
Why Watch It: This Grand Jury prizewinner at last year’s Sundance is a disturbing look at how our country handles illegal drugs.
Available On: iTunes, Cable On Demand, VUDU

‘Detropia’
From the directors of “Jesus Camp,” this stirring documentary examines the downsizing of Detroit and how its closed schools, abandoned buildings and struggling economy epitomizes what’s going on throughout the country.
Why Watch It: It opens your eyes to the harsh reality of what our country is dealing with in some of its poorest areas.
Available On: iTunes, Cable On Demand

‘Won’t Back Down’
Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal play two mothers who are determined to transform their children’s failing inner-city school. But the bureaucracy of the school system could put at risk everything they’re trying to do.
Why Watch It: It’s an inspiring movie with great performances from Davis and Gyllenhaal.
Available On: Cable On Demand, VUDU, Amazon Instant, YouTube, Google Play

OLDIES BUT GOODIES

‘The Blob’
There’s nothing better than super cool Steve McQueen running away from a slow-moving blog of jelly. A drive-in classic from the ’50s, this cheesy horror starts with a meteor falling from the sky that oozes a large, growing goo. If you need a good laugh, this is the one for you.
Available On: Hulu (free)

’1941'
Riding high after the success of “Jaws” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” Steven Spielberg was untouchable when he put together this comedy. And that was probably the problem. It was a critical disaster when it opened in 1979, and watching it now is fun because of all the great cameos like Slim Pickens, Christopher Lee and Mickey Rourke. And at home in all the chaos is John Belushi.
Available On: YouTube (free)

The ‘Paradise Lost’ Trilogy
These three landmark documentaries by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky about the wrongful conviction of three teens (better known as the West Memphis Three) for the grisly murders of three boys in Arkansas in the mid ’90s. For years, activists and celebrities came to the aid of the WM3, until finally they were released on an Alford plea two years ago. In all three films, we learn new evidence while watching the three boys grow up behind bars.
Available On: iTunes

Categories: Columns, Streaming/On Demand

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