To the Arctic ★ ★ ½
(Comcast Movie Collections: All New Movies) The latest IMAX nature documentary stars Meryl Streep as a real live polar bear. OK, I made that up. But do any of us doubt that she could have played the mama bear if she’d wanted? Instead, Streep narrates — delivering pious lines aimed at Prius owners — and we wonder what she might have made of a script better matched to the unforced drama of the cinematography. (G; runs through
Aug. 25)
The Pianist ★ ★ ★ ★
(Showtime on Comcast) The true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody), a Jewish classical pianist, who survived World War II by hiding under the Nazis’ noses in Warsaw. There will be those who want more of a triumph of the spirit, but Roman Polanski knows better, and the director’s return to form is a brutal and profoundly moving tale of an artist bobbing on the currents of fate. (R; runs through Aug. 25)
Silent House ★ ★
(Comcast Free Movies) A horror movie in which Elizabeth Olsen does a lot of hiding under tables and shivering in corners. Something is chasing her from room to room — teasingly, so it stretches to an hour and a half. What/who is after her is more traumatic than it appears, but in a deadeningly cerebral way. This is a horror movie that feels like an assignment for a women’s studies class. (R; runs through Aug. 27)