Each week on Polygon, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week, Nosferatu, the gothic horror film from director Robert Eggers starring Bill Skarsgård and Lily-Rose Depp, emerges from the shadows and onto VOD. That’s not all; Sonic the Hedgehog 3 also hits VOD this week alongside Paul Schrader’s new drama starring Richard Gere (Chicago) and Jacob Elordi (Saltburn). There’s plenty of new releases on streaming as well. Saturday Night arrives on Netflix, the Korean horror thriller Sleep on Hulu, Gladiator II on Paramount Plus, and Oscar-nominated animated film The Wild Robot on Peacock.
Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!
New on Netflix
Saturday Night
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Genre: Comedy dramaRun time: 1h 49mDirector: Jason ReitmanCast: Gabriel LaBelle, Cooper Hoffman, Rachel Sennott
This biographical comedy follows the 90 minutes leading up to premiere of Saturday Night Live, with an ensemble cast playing some of the iconic comedians in the inaugural SNL lineup. We’ve got Gabriel Labelle as Lorne Michaels, Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster, Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase, Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner, Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, and more. The movie comes from Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire duo Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan, but critic reviews indicate it’s much better than those two.
New on Hulu
City of Dreams
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Genre: DramaRun time: 1h 54mDirector: Mohit RamchandaniCast: Adriana Paz, Jason Patric, Paulina Gaitan
Inspired by a true story, City of Dreams is about Jesús, a young Mexican boy who dreams of becoming a soccer player. His father promises him the chance to attend a soccer camp in Los Angeles — but instead, Jesús is sold to a sweatshop. He finds comfort in his friendship with another worker, but when she goes missing, he has to plan a daring escape from his brutal boss.
Sleep
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Genre: Horror mysteryRun time: 1h 35mDirector: Jason YuCast: Jung Yu-mi, Lee Sun-kyun, Kim Gook-hee
This Korean horror mystery follows Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi) and Hyeon-soo (Lee Sun-kyun), a newlywed couple whose domestic life is threatened by the latter’s bizarre behavior while sleepwalking. Fearing for the life of their newborn child, Soo-jin must search for a cure for her husband’s condition before something terrible happens.
New on Max
Your Monster
Where to watch: Available to stream on Max
Genre: Rom-com horrorRun time: 1h 43mDirector: Caroline LindyCast: Tommy Dewey, Melissa Barrera, Edmund Donovan
Monster lovers out there — this one’s for you. A soft-spoken young actress going through a rough time in her life ends up falling for the literal monster in her closet. Well, at first, he’s a bit of a prickly asshole à la Beast from Beauty and the Beast, but the two eventually become confidants before a romance sparks between them. It’s based on director Caroline Lindy’s short film of the same name.
New on Paramount Plus
Gladiator II
Where to watch: Available to stream on Paramount Plus
Genre: Period epicRun time: 2h 28mDirector: Ridley ScottCast: Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal
Ridley Scott finally returns with a sequel to his Oscar-winning historical epic Gladiator. Paul Mescal (Aftersun) stars in Gladiator II as Hanno, a Numidian warrior who is enslaved and taken to Rome after his home is sacked and conquered. After being discovered by Macrinus (Denzel Washington), a former gladiator turned nobleman, Hanno is promised he’ll be granted his revenge against General Acacius (Pedro Pascal) in exchange for his victories in the arena.
New on Peacock
The Wild Robot
Where to watch: Available to stream on Peacock
Genre: Sci-fi adventureRun time: 1h 42mDirector: Chris SandersCast: Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor
The Wild Robot is probably the best and certainly the most gorgeous animated movie of the year. It’s deeply emotional without ever being overly didactic, and the animation style is so evocative and distinct that I want to touch it and cry. From Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon director Chris Sanders, The Wild Robot follows a robot named Roz (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o), who finds herself stranded on a remote island, as she takes care of a young gosling through the seasons.
From our review:
Beautiful animation is one thing, but The Wild Robot is built on a damn good story. Robots going against their programming and unlikely parent-child-esque relationships are common tropes, but Sanders isn’t afraid to drill down to the emotional core, even if that means not flinching away from sadder moments. His script homes in on Roz and Brightbill’s connection, threading in moments like Roz letting the little gosling help build shelter, even though the tiny branches he carries don’t really assist her current directive, or Brightbill curling up right under Roz’s neck joint when she powers down and he falls asleep. But it also pulls back to show how their blossoming dynamic impacts the rest of the forest. For a story that’s so intrinsically tied to its environment, that’s a necessity.
New on Mubi
The Girl with the Needle
Where to watch: Available to stream on Mubi US
Genre: DramaRun time: 2h 3mDirector: Magnus von HornCast: Vic Carmen Sonne, Trine Dyrholm, Besir Zeciri
The Girl with the Needle centers on Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne), a newly pregnant factory worker struggling to survive in post-WWI Copenhagen. After being taken in by Dagmar (Trine Dyrholm), the charismatic leader of an underground adoption agency, Karoline is given the chance to work as a wet nurse. It’s not long after, however, that she begins to suspect that something sinister is afoot at the agency.
New to rent
Sonic The Hedgehog 3
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Action-adventure comedyRun time: 1h 50mDirector: Jeff FowlerCast: Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, Krysten Ritter
Every Sonic movie has just gotten better, because each Sonic movie adds a new Sonic character to the lineup. This time edgy Shadow the Hedgehog joins the cast, perfectly voiced by the equally awesome Keanu Reeves. He’s got a wonderfully tortured backstory and there’s just something deeply charming about having a four-foot tall hedgehog with red highlights talking about his deep pain and anguish. The rest of the gang — Knuckles, Tails, and Sonic himself — are brilliant as ever. Jim Carrey also pulls off some impressive acting with himself as he plays both Dr. Ivo and Gerald Robotnik. It’s just a delightful time!
From our review,
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is still a speedrun through the franchise scrapyard. There’s some abbreviated Marvel-style mythology (including, yes, multiple credits scenes), a discount Mission: Impossible break-in sequence that makes an obvious Tom Cruise joke, and all of those third-tier DreamWorks cartoon wisecracks that issue from Sonic himself. James Marsden and Tika Sumpter, as the human guardians of Sonic and company, still have thankless jobs to do, and the way the movie needlessly incorporates additional past human cast members is confusing at best. For that matter, what newcomer Krysten Ritter is doing in this movie seems unclear, even (or especially) to the filmmakers. But director Jeff Fowler, who also made the first two movies, has further streamlined the pacing, and the film flies by in a silly, agreeable blur.
Nosferatu
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Gothic horrorRun time: 2h 12mDirector: Robert EggersCast: Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp
Director Robert Eggers (The Witch) returns with his most ambitious project to date: A remake of F. W. Murnau’s seminal vampire horror film, based unofficially on Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula. Set in 1830’s Wisburg, Germany, Eggers’ film centers on Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) and Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult), a newly-wed couple who are ensnared in the machinations of Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), a reclusive nobleman and vampire who lusts after Ellen.
From our review,
The key creative pact in any Dracula movie, though, is between the director and his vampire. (E. Elias Merhige playfully explored this topic in his 2000 film Shadow of the Vampire, in which John Malkovich plays a fictionalized Murnau, with Dafoe as a version of Schreck who might actually be a vampire.) This is the one area where Eggers and Skarsgård diverge sharply from the original film. Skarsgård’s Orlok is still ancient, corpse-like, and heavily taloned. But where Schreck was twisted and withered, Skarsgård’s version is towering and hairy, swathed in furs, with a long mustache and a barbaric aspect. Even his looming physicality is dwarfed by his voice; Skarsgård speaks outrageously slowly in a cartoonish Transylvanian accent, rolling his R’s for days, and the sound mix gives his every utterance a booming, subsonic resonance that rattles the theater. It’s a choice; it may be too much for some, but it couldn’t be any more Gothic.
Oh, Canada
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: DramaRun time: 1h 31mDirector: Paul SchraderCast: Richard Gere, Jacob Elordi, Uma Thurman
Paul Schrader’s latest film stars Richard Gere as Leonard Fife, a beloved yet ailing filmmaker who reminisces on his formative experience as a draft dodger and his assorted love affairs in a tell-all documentary of his life and career. Jacob Elordi plays Fife’s younger self, a man whose past is rife with secrets and long-buried regrets.
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