What to stream this weekend: Netflix's 'Army of the Dead,' Amazon Prime's Pink documentary
Movie theaters are reopening for the summer season, but new streaming films are still coming home to entertain you and your family during socially distanced times.
This weekend, "Guardians of the Galaxy" star Dave Bautista heads up an epic heist in undead Las Vegas in Zack Snyder's Netflix zombie flick; pop star Pink's life on the road is chronicled in an Amazon Prime documentary; Eric Bana investigates a murder case in an Australian mystery thriller; Mads Mikkelsen is out for revenge in a Danish action comedy; and Christoph Waltz directs and stars in a true-life drama about Washington, D.C., social circles.
If you're planning to return to your local theater, the documentary "Final Account" interviews the last living generation involved in Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich, from former SS members to civilians, about their memories and personal appraisals living in that dark time period.
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But if you'd rather stick closer to home, here's a rundown of new movies hitting streaming and on-demand platforms this weekend, for every cinematic taste:
If you enjoy the gloriously absurd: 'Army of the Dead'
Snyder delivers on everything one could hope for in two and a half hours of a movie involving undead showgirls and one hungry zombie tiger. Bautista stars as the main man on a mission to steal $200 million from a Vegas casino with his motley crew, and there is plenty of blood, gore, betrayal and gallows humor to go around. It's plenty nonsensical, but Snyder wins the day by giving members of his man-eating horde personality, and you often care more for the zombie characters than their human counterparts.
Where to watch: Netflix
If you're all about pop-star moms: 'Pink: All I Know So Far'
"My whole family’s crazy. I’m the normal one," Pink says in her new documentary about life on the road, though you wonder about the singer's sanity flipping, flying and singing on a high-wire during a stadium concert. Entertaining, albeit fairly drama-free, the film follows Pink and her family through a couple of weeks in Europe during 2019 as she balances being a parent to her adorable kids – with some backstory to her own childhood – and the boss of a complicated show that needs to be tweaked on the fly.
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
If you want to see a detective story, Australian style: 'The Dry'
Based on the bestselling Jane Harper novel, the imperfect yet undeniably intriguing Down Under mystery features Bana as a federal agent returning to his hometown, where it hasn't rained in nearly a year and he still wouldn't be welcomed even with a sprinkler. An old pal and his family are dead as part of an apparent murder-suicide, and the visiting cop takes the lead on the investigation, which brings up a cold case that still haunts him from his childhood.
Where to watch: Apple TV, Vudu, Google Play
If you're not already a Mads Mikkelsen super-fan: 'Riders of Justice'
Those who enjoyed Mikkelsen's last film, the excellent Oscar winner "Another Round," are bound to love this other genre-exploding delight. The usual revenge thriller gets a mighty tweaking in this action dramedy starring Mikkelsen as a deployed Danish soldier who has to return home to take care of his daughter after a tragic train accident kills his wife. But when some math nerds show up saying there might be some foul play afoot, our grieving hero sets violent sights on a high-profile street gang.
Where to watch: Apple TV, Vudu, Fandango Now
If you've been missing Vanessa Redgrave: 'Georgetown'
Waltz's directorial debut comes from a bonkers real-life story of wealth and political intrigue, and it's a shame the cinematic satire – that teams him with the legendary Redgrave and Annette Bening – is so very chatty and dull. A middle-age German social climber (Waltz) marries an elderly D.C. socialite (Redgrave) for a marriage of mutual convenience, but when she's found dead one night after a soiree, the woman's daughter (Bening) suspects her extremely eccentric new stepdad.
Where to watch: Apple TV, Vudu, Fandango Now
If you dig teen chillers with a twist: 'Seance'
Simon Barrett, writer of the fabulous one-two punch of "You're Next" and "The Guest," also directs this enjoyably sinister horror film set at a prestigious boarding school. A ritual to connect with the campus ghost goes fatally wrong for a crew of mean girls when one of them is found dead, and the feisty new student (Suki Waterhouse) ends up embroiled in the mystery, too, as more members of the clique start dropping.
Where to watch: Apple TV, Vudu, Fandango Now
If you yearn for a different kind of horror villain: 'Sound of Violence'
A nifty, trippy take on a killer origin story full of self-discovery and "Saw"-level gore, the thriller stars Jasmin Savoy Brown ("The Leftovers") as a music teacher who, as a 10-year-old deaf child, recovered her hearing after watching her parents brutally murdered. However, the sounds of the traumatic event created a euphoric sensory high for her, one that she tries to re-create as an adult with increasingly gruesome experiments as part of her symphony of terror.
Where to watch: Apple TV, Vudu, Fandango Now