— “Pirates! Band of Misfits”: Aardman
Animations has been reliably churning out
delights, from “Wallace and Gromit” to “Shaun
the Sheep,” for decades. “Pirates! Band of Misfits”
(2012) came and went somewhat quietly and
didn’t spawn a franchise. But the Aardman
charm is there on the high seas, too. Streaming
on Hulu.
— “Boy”: Taika Watiti does kids better than any
working filmmaker today. Well before his Oscar-
nominated “Jo Jo Rabbit,” Waititi was making
comic and big-hearted films about childhood,
including his Oscar-nominated short, “Two Cars,
One Night,” and this semi-autobiographical
sophomore feature, inspired by that short.
James Rolleston stars as an 11-year-old Maori
boy and Michael Jackson fan whose dimwitted
ex-convict father (a mulleted Waititi) returns
home. Available on the free, public library
streaming service Kanopy.