Now streaming and on DVD: 'Ordinary Angels,' 'Madame Web' follow familiar paths

Now, she’s tilting at windmills as a hairdresser in “Ordinary Angels," working to help a 5-year-old get a liver transplant.

Based on a true story, the film helps mask some of the plot flaws, but it’s also one of those four-hankie tearjerkers that shoehorn Swank into a niche.

Like Norma Rae, Erin Brockovich and other memorable film crusaders, Swank’s Sharon Stevens sees a need and forges ahead. She’s Shirley MacLaine at one point, trying to cut through hospital red tape. She’s one of the “Steel Magnolias” at another, attempting to get her way by sweet-talking.

It’s an interesting vibe, particularly since Swank made a name for herself in this category in the unvarnished “Boys Don’t Cry.”

Here, the character is a bit more predictable, a little less raw.

She has fine scenes with Alan Ritchson as the child’s father and moments in the beauty shop that ring true.

But “Ordinary Angels,” directed by Jon Gunn, tries too hard to be a “wrap it up with a bow” drama. It ignores some of the realities of the story (there were two daughters with the same condition) and lets characters traffic in cliches.

Where it succeeds is in letting Swank find a believable way into the circumstances. She’s an exceptional actress who should be given better scripts – ones that don’t need to be “Swank”-ified to work.

'Madame Web' can't connect

Also this week, you’ll get a chance to see how dreadful “Madame Web” really is and where all those Marvel television series appear to be headed.

For all its faults (and there are many), “Madame Web” is a good indication how far afield the company has gotten with its interconnecting superheroes.

Starring Dakota Johnson, it’s like a committee decided it had to introduce the character in order to be able to weave a web of Spider-Man adjacent stories. Unfortunately, it didn’t consider plot or dialogue when spinning it out. Johnson plays a clairvoyant who doesn’t quite know what to do with her skills – which would make her a great director for superhero films. “Madame Web” twists and turns in all the wrong ways and, likely, will wind up swept out of the Spider-Verse in the future.

The first seasons of “Moon Knight” and “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” get released this week as well. They’re not missing links, either, and could appeal solely to those who liked the series.