The Princess Switch: Switched Again (Streaming November 19 on Netflix)
Distributed by Netflix, this Hallmarkish, romantic fantasy sequel, continues the saga of doppelgangers Stacy De Novo (a talented baker) and Lady Margaret (a royal of the fictional Belgravia). Vanessa Hudgens returns in both roles, plus one. As Lady Margaret takes Stacey’s place in order to assess her feelings for handsome baker, Kevin (Nick Sagar), Margaret's lookalike cousin Fiona (remember Serena on “Bewitched”?) impersonates the princess, leaving Stacey attempting to defend the throne. Meanwhile, handsome Prince Edward (Sam Palladio), finds Stacey delightful—and the feeling may be mutual. Happy, sappy, holidays. (Lisa Miller)
Run (Streaming November 20 on Hulu)
This thriller-horror builds on the infamous Munchhausen by proxy case of Gypsy Rose Blanchard — employing a neat set of “what ifs?” Writer-director Aneesh Chaganty casts ever-reliable Sarah Paulson as a desperately possessive mother. Kiera Allen appears as Chloe, her wheelchair bound, 17-year-old daughter. Home-schooled and cared for by Mum, isolated Chloe means to win her independence. She stubbornly ignores the obstacles until discovering Mom is chronically over-medicating her. A battle royale is enjoined. Well-defined characters smooth out this tonally challenged script that functions as anti-Thanksgiving programming. (Lisa Miller)
Secret Zoo (Capelight Pictures)
Although humor often travels with difficulty over borders, audiences elsewhere in the world will get the joke of this 2020 South Korean comedy. Dubbed in English for its U.S. DVD release, Secret Zoo shows what happens when eager law intern Tae-soo is given his career-making assignment. When his firm’s transnational hedge fund client takes over a bankrupt zoo, Tae is installed as the zoo’s director and given three months to make it profitable. Problem: the animals have already been sold off. Secret Zoo satirizes the rapacious capitalism that strip mines assets and divides the people in two categories: winners and losers. (David Luhrssen)
Warning from Space (Arrow Video)
As an essay in the Blu-ray’s release stresses, Japanese surrealist Taro Okamato designed the starfish-shaped aliens in Warning from Space. The 1956 film from director Koji Shima is restored to reveal beautiful cinematography of nighttime Tokyo as well as depictions of environmental devastation from radiation as a plant races toward the Earth (and certain destruction!). Turns out the aliens are trying to warn humanity—whether of the danger of atomic weapons or to use them to deflect the oncoming planet is a question in a screenplay that seems confused and at times infantile (at least as dubbed into English). The evacuation of cities and the flight of people into underground shelters, as sirens wail, is suffused with Japanese memories of World War II. (David Luhrssen)
