On demand picks

(Starz on Comcast) Julianne Moore tends to be at her best when the world is at its worst. And things are pretty bad in “Blindness,’’ a perversely enjoyable, occasionally harrowing adaptation of José Saramago’s 1995 disaster allegory. She remains calm for a lot of the film, the crisis not entirely being hers. A mysterious epidemic has left an entire city sightless - Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover, Gael Garcia Bernal - except her. This is a movie whose sense of crisis feels right on time. Director Fernando Meirelles ensures that the obviousness of the symbolism (in the global village we’re all blind!) doesn’t negate the power of either what it’s symbolizing or what Moore has to do. (R; runs through Feb. 25)

(Encore on Comcast) Nominally, it’s about an extended family rallying around a Berkeley graduate student (Winona Ryder) who retreats to her grandmother’s Northern California home to decide what to do next with her life. Sometimes too soft and cozy, it is nonetheless a wonderful ensemble celebrating women’s strengths. (PG-13; runs through April 8)