The 11 Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘Parasite,’ ‘Harriet,’ ‘Terminator’

Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on-demand, vintage and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalog titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This weekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching. 

This week brings us three new Oscar nominees, an early Oscar hopeful, a pair of first-rate biopics, two new additions to the Criterion Collection, catalog and genre oddities, and somehow, even more.

Let’s dig in!

ON NETFLIX:
Steve Jobs”: Aaron Sorkin was already curdling into a parody of his former, sharper self when he penned this unconventional biographical sketch of the Apple co-founder, providing a foghorn-loud reminder of the power of his gifts when properly applied. Danny Boyle proves an unexpectedly adept collaborator, finding ingenious visual counterparts for Sorkin’s clever three-act structure, Michael Fassbender crafts the title character as a compelling complement of obliqueness and passion, and the supporting cast (particularly Seth RogenKate Winslet, and Michael Stuhlbarg) are aces. This one came and went without much fanfare back in 2015; it’s new on Netflix, and worth catching up with. 

ON AMAZON PRIME / PBS:
For Sama”: A nominee for this year’s Best Documentary Oscar (and a production of “Frontline,” which is also streaming it), this thorny and powerful first-person documentary from directors Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts focuses on al-Kateab, a journalist raising her new daughter in war-torn Aleppo. She frames the film as a letter to little Sama, delivered in voice-over, in which she hopes to help her daughter understand why her parents made the choices she made. It’s a good framing device, but deceptively simple; this is a complicated narrative, eventually questioning the very morality of even bringing a child into this world. It takes nerves of steel to watch, filled as it is with emotionally overwhelming images of injured children and dead bodies, heart-wrenching scenes of grief, capturing these people at their most vulnerable. But from her years of footage, al-Kateab constructs an invaluable dispatch from the trenches, chronicling the unthinkable difficulties of trying to live a normal life – of love, of family, of warmth – in a war zone.

ON 4K/ BLU-RAY / DVD / VOD:
Terminator: Dark Fate”: No one is more tired of terrible “Terminator” sequels than yours truly, so no one is more surprised to report that this one works, often splendidly. Director Tim Miller (“Deadpool”) moves things along at a good clip, introducing new characters and a new aesthetic, and the script (by David S. GoyerJustin RhodesBilly Ray, and a host of “story” writers, including James Cameron) pushes more buttons than you might expect. But its pleasures are mostly in its casting: Mackenzie Davis is fierce, Natalia Reyes is charismatic, and it’s hard to overstate the joy of watching Linda Hamilton back in action. It’s much more her movie than Arnold Schwarzenegger’s – he doesn’t show up until past the halfway point, but his character arc and filler story are strangely moving. Things get a little goofy in the clutch, and like so many would-be blockbusters, it’s got about three too many endings. But it’s a worthy entry in the franchise, and I frankly never thought I’d write those words again. (Includes deleted scenes, extended scenes, and featurettes.)

ON BLU-RAY / DVD / VOD:
Parasite”: The escalation of Bong Joon-ho’s latest from dagger-sharp class and culture commentary to worldwide cinematic sensation is one of the true joys of the previous months, proving once again that the right storyteller, with the right eye and focus, can gleefully burst borders. Second (and third, and fourth) viewings only underscore the startling craft at work here: the crispness of the production design, the mastery of the movements, and the multiple levels of role-playing in the key performances (even the characters who aren’t literally impersonating other people). By the time the blood spurts (and boy, does it ever), it’s hard not to marvel at how exquisitely Bong has placed us in the palm of his hand – and how ruthlessly he proceeds to squeeze. (Includes Q&A.)

Harriet”: This long-overdue Harriet Tubman biopic could’ve been a paint-by-the-numbers affair, and at times, it is. But two key elements keep things lively. The lyrical, often dreamlike direction is by Kasi Lemmons, conjuring up a sense of rough magic co-existing with down-to-earth reality, not far removed from her remarkable “Eve’s Bayou.” And the leading performance by Cynthia Erivo (deservedly Oscar-nominated) holds the picture together even when it veers into pablum or pageantry; she plays this extraordinary woman as a living, breathing person, and not just an icon from a history book. The result is an uncommonly urgent and energetic biographical portrait, capturing both the triumphs and tragedies of this incredible life. (Includes audio commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes.)

Motherless Brooklyn”: Edward Norton’s decades-long passion project, fusing Jonathan Lethem’s ‘90s-set novel with Robert Caro’s New York history “The Power Broker,” was summarily dismissed by critics and audiences last fall, and that’s a shame; it’s the kind of big-swing literary adaptation that’s increasingly hard to find in the tentpole-driven cinematic landscape. Norton’s lead performance is, surprisingly, its weakest link (he’s aged out of the role, for starters), but his screenwriting is forceful and his direction assured, wrestling with the seemingly incongruent elements of his dueling adaptations to create something approximating a Gotham-set “Chinatown.” And he’s got a real gift for casting and directing his actors; this is the best work Alec Baldwin or Bruce Willis have done in years, while Gugu Mbatha-RawWillem DafoeCherry Jones, and Michael Kenneth Williams are the busy ensemble’s stand-outs. It spins out of his control occasionally, and some of the white savior elements are dubious. But it’s an ambitious piece of work, and an engaging one as well. (Includes audio commentary, featurette, and deleted scenes.)

ON BLU-RAY:
All About My Mother”: A mere seven days after the Blu-ray release of his latest masterpiece, Criterion treats us to a gorgeous new restoration (those colors!) of one of Pedro Almodóvar‘s finest works. It’s a story of mothers and children, several of them interlocking and interacting, explicitly steeped in classic melodrama (early scenes find characters watching “All About Eve” on television and attending a production of “A Streetcar Named Desire”). These characters have holes in their lives where family should be, so in lieu of biological families, they form spiritual ones. As ever, Almodóvar makes you laugh and breaks your heart, but more than ever, the work vibrates with the love and empathy he feels, to his soul, for all of these women. (Includes documentary, archival interviews and Q&A, and an essay by Emma Wilson.)

Fail-Safe: Some mistake Sidney Lumet’s journeyman tendencies and genre curiosity for a kind of stylistic invisibility, an argument easily refuted by this 1964 Cold War thriller (also new from Criterion). It’s an even more claustrophobic effort than his “12 Angry Men,” with frightened men in small rooms determining nothing less than the fate of the human race, and Lumet (and cinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld) crank up the intensity with tight close-ups in stark black and white. Walter Bernstein’s whip-smart screenplay meticulously works through the complications and conundrums of its whoopsie-doodle doomsday scenario, with particular emphasis on consequences both logistical and moral. Most strikingly, Lumet does all this without the help of a musical score, leaning instead on the unsettling quiet of absolute chaos. (Includes audio commentary, featurette, interview with J. Hoberman, and an essay by Bilge Ebiri.)

Gregory’s Girl”: The great Scottish director Bill Forsyth had his first international hit with this breezy, wry, funny story of a teen footballer who develops an overwhelming crush on the team’s new player, a (gasp) girl. It presumably crossed over thanks to an undeniable universality; the gangly awkwardness of every boy in it, for example, transcends continents (they’re all such a mess, it’s sort of endearing), and everyone can relate to the soul-crushing power of first love (or, at least, first crush). Forsyth’s script is sweet and his leads are charming, and his specific brand of deadpan absurdity meshes with the traditional coming-of-age elements nicely.  (Includes audio commentary, archival featurettes, and dubbed versions.)

Black Angel”: Arrow Video’s carved out a fine niche for themselves with their genre restorations (see below), but they’ve also quietly been doing the Lord’s work with their HD releases of Universal film noir classics. It starts with a classic noir set-up – the innocent man, wrongly accused – with the wrinkle of his wife reinvestigating the murder herself, and with the surprising assistance of the victim’s widower. It’s a good, juicy premise, and makes for a tight, clever thriller (with, as an added bonus, a supporting by an exceptionally himself Peter Lorre). And at risk of giving anything away, the narrative bait-and-switch is masterful, accumulating to an ending that completely blindsided this viewer. (Includes audio commentary, featurette, and the original trailer.)

Edge of the Axe”: This Spanish-American co-production (also new from Arrow) dates to 1988, and features all the expected indicators of that era: synth music, power ballads, arcade gaming, primitive personal computers, and copious cans of Sunkist. But slasher movie fans will eat all that up, as well as the ingenious kills and buckets of blood – it’s a brutal, grisly piece of work, offsetting its unfortunate overacting with some genuine shocks and wild photographic choices. And, like “Black Angel,” its twist ending is a real shocker. (Includes English and Spanish versions, audio commentaries, new interviews, and the original trailer.)