October is a diverse month for new arrivals on Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime, and Paramount+ with the streaming debuts of titles both well-known and obscure.
‘The Departed’ (2006, HBO)
This Boston-set crime procedural delivers Martin Scorsese his first and only Best Director and Best Picture Academy Awards. It sports a packed, all-star cast—Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Jack Nicholson, and Vera Farmiga—and is the only Best Picture winner that is a remake.
Based on the even better 2002 Hong Kong thriller “Infernal Affairs” (which is also available on HBO), “The Departed” is far from Scorsese’s best effort. Instead, it serves as a make-up, of sorts, from the overlooked classics “Raging Bull,” “The Age of Innocence,” and “GoodFellas.”
‘Ad Astra’ (2019, Netflix)
Co-written and directed by James Gray, this sci-fi thriller stars Tommy Lee Jones and Brad Pitt as space explorers. Despite being a bit too high concept, the film scored big with audiences and critics and has evolved into a cult favorite.
After his father (Jones) went missing 16 years earlier, McBride (Pitt) heads out on a follow-up mission to find and rescue him.
Most closely resembling “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “The Martian,” the movie isn’t for all tastes, but those who like it will be hooked.
‘The Prestige’ (2006, Netflix)
One of director Christopher Nolan’s most underrated and underappreciated efforts, this period mystery is set in the late 19th century. The film centers on an ongoing feud between rival fictional magicians, played by Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman.
Co-starring Scarlett Johansson, Piper Perabo, and Rebecca Hall as romantic interests, it also features an extended cameo from David Bowie as Serbian American inventor Nikola Tesla.
Neither Bale nor Jackman’s characters are portrayed as likeable or sympathetic. The bottom-line message from screenwriters Nolan and his brother Jonathan could be perceived as professional rivalries can go too far.
‘A Simple Plan’ (1998, Paramount+)
Easily one of the best movies of the 1990s, this low-key, neo-noir crime thriller finds director Sam Raimi stepping outside his safe and familiar blockbuster “Spiderman” turf. This morality tale lingers long after the closing credits.
In the dead of a midwestern winter, brothers Hank (Bill Paxton), Jacob (Billy Bob Thornton) and their friend Lou (Brent Briscoe) stumble upon the wreckage of a downed plane with a dead crew and over $4 million in cash.
They quickly determine that it’s dirty drug money, hide it, and plan on sitting tight until any follow-up search is over before splitting it. Human nature kicks in, aided by Hank’s impatient wife, Sarah (Bridget Fonda), greed takes over, and everything starts to unravel.
‘We Were Soldiers’ (2002, Paramount+)
Arriving near the end of Mel Gibson’s “golden period” (1995–2003), “We Were Soldiers” bore less of a resemblance to the Vietnam era it depicted and more to a John Wayne World War II movie.
The film received tepid critical response and just moderate box office success upon its initial release. However, the movie grew in stature and popularity as the years passed and is now considered one of the most beloved war movies ever made.
Although Gibson didn’t “direct” it (that would be his “Braveheart” co-writer Randall Wallace), it’s got his fingerprints all over it.
‘Crazy Rich Asians’ (2018, HBO)
After decades of trying, Hollywood finally hit pay dirt with a mostly Asian cast comedy. Wisely avoiding the typical cringe “yellow face” stereotypes, director Jon M. Chu and his two screenwriters were still able to introduce a distinct far eastern mood without slamming the West in the process.
Featuring an electrifying central performance from future Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh as Eleanor, the demanding matriarch of a wealthy matriarch and mother to Nick (Henry Golding). An affable and eligible bachelor, Nick eventually falls for Rachel (Constance Wu); through no fault of her own, she gets on Eleanor’s bad side.
‘The Housemaid’ (2025, HBO)
Based on the best-seller by paperback novelist Freida McFadden, this “guilty pleasure” psychological thriller stars Amanda Seyfried as wealthy housewife Nina who hires down-on-her-luck ex-con Millie (Sydney Sweeney) to do general cleaning and cooking.
Of course, nothing is as it seems, particularly with Nina’s wealthy husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar); he initially seems more “kept” than the man of the house.
Not striving to be high art, it recalls similarly exploitative 1990s mysteries such as “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.”
‘The Death of Robin Hood’ (2026, HBO)
With close to 200 previous incarnations of the centuries-old folk story already in the can, one might think there would be little left to mine from the “Robin Hood” myth. That would be wrong.
The bright and colorful palette featured in previous light-hearted “Robin Hood” movies is replaced with a blanched, almost scorched backdrop that more than hints at the central theme.
After a lifetime of robbery and murder, Robin (Hugh Jackman) is facing his final days and is determined to admit that his was a life largely wasted.
Robin decides to end it all on an upnote by coming to the aid of Sister Brigid ( Jodie Comer), who operates an orphanage on a remote island and has a connection to his past.
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