The Namesake ★ ★ ★ ½
(Comcast Free Movies) Mira Nair’s adaptation of the much-praised Jhumpa Lahiri novel is mysterious, ordinary, insightful, rambling, and altogether unexpected -- a quietly profound successor to the director’s 2001 hit “Monsoon Wedding.” Kal Penn (“Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle”) comes into his dramatic own as an American-born Bengali negotiating the ironies of bicultural existence. In English, Bengali and Hindi, with subtitles. (PG-13; runs through Dec. 10)
The Brood ★ ★ ★
(Showtime on Comcast) David Cronenberg’s wry sophistication gives this horror film a surprising intelligence. He dresses his maniacal munchkins in pale blue and yellow Dr. Dentons and gives them Samantha Eggar as an unearthly mother. Genuinely horrifying. (R; runs through Dec. 3)
12 Monkeys ★ ★ ★
(Starz on Comcast) Fans of director Terry Gilliam (”Brazil,” “The Fisher King”) know to expect visionary settings and a certain looseness of story. They won’t be disappointed in his rotting-civilization tale starring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, and a wired Brad Pitt. The plot? Time travel, an attempt to save the world from viral plague, and a great deal of uncertainty about who’s crazy here. (R; runs through Dec. 5)
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