What to stream: ‘Strange World’ on Disney+, ‘White Noise,’ a ‘Matilda’ musical, and ‘Treason’ on Netflix

Here’s what’s new and ready to stream now on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+, Amazon Prime, video-on-demand, and other streaming services …  

The animated adventure Strange World (2022, PG) sends a multi-generational family of explorers (along with their three-legged dog) into an weird and wonderful underground world that channels Jules Verne by way of Dr. Seuss. This odyssey from Disney also features an environmental message and a multi-cultural world along with the family drama and fantastical adventure. Features the voices of Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-Whit, and Gabrielle Union. (Disney+)

Noah Baumbach tackles Don DeLillo’s dense 1985 satirical novel of academia, post-modernism, and consumerism in White Noise (2022, R). Adam Driver stars as college professor specializing in Hitler Studies and Greta Gerwig is his suburban wife and mother of four, both struggling to hold it together when disaster strikes outside of their college town. It’s an absurdist portrait of America on the verge of self-destruction adapted from a novel considered unadaptable. Don Cheadle, Jodie Turner-Smith, and André L. Benjamin costar. (Netflix)

A bright, gifted young girl (Alisha Weir) takes on her cruel school headmistress (Emma Thompson) and her crooked parents (Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough) in Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical (2022, PG). The screen adaptation of the hit stage musical celebrates imagination and compassion in a world that seems intent on crushing the spirit of youthful creativity. Lashana Lynch costars as a supportive teacher. (Netflix)

Charlie Cox plays a high-ranking MI6 agent who gets tangled in a complex plot in the limited series Treason (TV-MA). Olga Kurylenko costars in the British spy thriller as a Russian assassin who has a history with our hero. (Netflix)

True stories: Wildcat (2022, R) follows the journey of a young, traumatized British Army veteran who finds purpose and healing helping a young woman run a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center in the Amazon and raise an orphaned baby ocelot. (Prime Video)

Holiday highlights

On Saturday night you can experience Lizzo: Live in Concert (2022, TV-MA) with special guests Cardi B, SZA and Missy Elliott. (HBO Max)

For the Saturday New Year’s Eve festivities you can stream New Year’s Eve: Times Square Ball Drop 2022 live on Hulu, New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash on Paramount+, and Fireworks Around the World on Peacock.

Netflix

Michelle Yeoh stars inThe Witcher: Blood Origin (TV-MA), a limited series prequel set a thousand years before the events of the hit series starring Henry Cavill. Sophia Brown, Laurence O’Fuarain, and Lenny Henry costar. (Netflix)

International passport:Stuck with You (France, 2022, TV-MA, with subtitles) is a romantic comedy about two strangers stuck in an elevator on New Year’s Eve and Margherita Buy stars in the murder mystery 7 Women and a Murder (Italy, 2022, TV-MA, with subtitles).

International TV: From South Korea comes the revenge thriller The Glory: Season 1 (TV-MA, with subtitles) with “Descendants of the Sun” star Song Hye-kyo and romantic drama The Fabulous: Season 1 (TV-14, with subtitles) set in the world of high fashion.

Stand-up: Chelsea Handler: Revolution (TV-MA)

Hulu

A superstar cop (Charlie Hunnam) is lured out of retirement to solve a celebrity murder in the action comedy Last Looks (2021, R), costarring Mel Gibson and Morena Baccarin.

The eleventh season of the cult Canadian small town comedy Letterkenny (TV-MA) arrives.

International TV: an urban cop relocates to a remote mountain village and uncovers a deadly secret in Gannibal: Season 1 (Japan, not rated, with subtitles).

Ridley Scott’s visionary science fiction classic Blade Runner: The Final Cut (1982, R) with Harrison Ford arrives along with Denis Villeneuve’s sequel Blade Runner 2049 (2017, R) starring Ryan Gosling.

HBO Max

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015, PG-13), the big screen revival of the 1960s secret agent series, plays with sleek sixties spy movie style with stars Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer.

True stories: journalist Andrew Callaghan looks into the undercurrents that led to the January 6 Capitol Riot in This Place Rules (TV-14).

Disney+

Encanto at the Hollywood Bowl (2022, not rated) reunites the original voice cast of the animated Disney musical for a live concert of the film’s original songs.

Amazon Prime Video

Based on a story by Joe Hill, Scott Derrickson’s horror film The Black Phone (2022, R) stars Ethan Hawke as the villain and Mason Thames as a child who can speak to his earlier victims from a disconnected telephone.

The animated martial arts comedy Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (2022, PG) is a family friendly remake of “Blazing Saddles” featuring the voices of Michael Cera, Samuel L. Jackson, and George Takei.

Streaming TV: before playing a superhero in the “Shazam!” movies, Zachary Levi played a computer geek with government secrets uploaded into his brain in the action comedy Chuck: Complete Series (2008, TV-14).

Apple TV+

Author and artist Charley Macksey codirects The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse (2022, TV-G), an animated short film adapted from his best-selling illustrated children’s book with hand-drawn animation. Features the voices of Tom Hollander, Idris Elba, Gabriel Byrne, and newcomer Jude Coward Nicoll as The Boy.

Paramount+

Jamie Foxx is Django Unchained (2012, R) in Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar-winning spin on the spaghetti western. Christoph Waltz, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, and Leonardo DiCaprio costar.

James Arness is Marshall Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke (1955-1969, TV-PG), the longest-running TV western of all time. The first 14 seasons are now streaming.

Acorn TV

Farewell Doc Martin (2022, not rated) pays tribute to the beloved British series as the Christmas-themed finale brings the long-running show to its conclusion.

The Criterion Channel

Atom Egoyan’s psychological thriller Exotica (1994, R) is presented with optional commentary by the director and composer, bonus interviews, and bonus films from the special edition disc release.

MUBI

Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher (1996) and the two sequels With Blood on My Hands: Pusher II (2004) and I’m the Angel of Death: Pusher III (2005) are all now streaming. All three from Denmark, not rated, with subtitles.

The weekly column is featured in The Seattle Times, The Spokesman-Review, and other newspapers.

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Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. He writes the weekly newspaper column Stream On Demand and the companion website, and his work appears at RogerEbert.com, Turner Classic Movies online, The Film Noir Foundation, and Parallax View.

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