Greetings, Polygon readers! Each week, 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, Kung Fu Panda 4, the new animated action comedy starring Jack Black, arrives on VOD following its theatrical run last month. There’s tons of other exciting releases this week, too, like the satirical spy thriller Argylle on Apple TV Plus, a new action thriller starring Aaron Eckhart as a former CIA agent landing on Netflix, the new romantic fantasy film The Greatest Hits on Hulu, and much more. And then there’s Mayhem!, one of the best action movies of the year so far, now streaming on AMC Plus.
Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!
New on Netflix
Strange Way of Life
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Genre: Western dramaRun time: 31mDirector: Pedro AlmodóvarCast: Ethan Hawke, Pedro Pascal
This Western short from legendary Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar (Volver, Pain and Glory) follows the story of two gunslingers (and former lovers) who reunite after 25 years apart.
The Bricklayer
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Genre: Action thrillerRun time: 1h 50mDirector: Renny HarlinCast: Aaron Eckhart, Nina Dobrev, Tim Blake Nelson
The latest in a long tradition of “action movies with odd profession titles,” The Bricklayer follows a former CIA agent (Aaron Eckhart) needed by his former agency when journalists start dying. The movie has a bit of pedigree behind it, as Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger, Die Hard 2) directs.
New on Hulu
The Greatest Hits
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Genre: Musical romanceRun time: 1h 34mDirector: Ned BensonCast: Lucy Boynton, Justin H. Min, David Corenswet
After suffering the loss of her boyfriend in a car accident, a young woman named Harriet (Lucy Boynton) inadvertently discovers that she has the power to go back in time to various points in their relationship by listening to his old record collection. When Harriet meets a new love interest named David (Justin H. Min), she struggles between her desire to correct the past to resurrect her boyfriend or pursue the possibility of newfound love in the present.
New on Prime Video
The Exorcist: Believer
Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video
Genre: HorrorRun time: 1h 51mDirector: David Gordon GreenCast: Leslie Odom Jr., Ellen Burstyn, Ann Dowd
David Gordon Green’s new entry in the Exorcist franchise arrives this week on streaming. It’s a bizarre twist on the franchise, per our review:
Up until this most recent movie, the title The Exorcist carried some weight. While its role as a representation of quality was up for debate, its mark as a sign of ambition was not. Since the original Exorcist, the series has provided some of American cinema’s best and most interesting artists with space to ruminate on faith and evil. Believer lacks the ambition that’s meant to define an Exorcist movie. This is the most profound statement the movie has to offer, seemingly by accident: If the result of moving past God is that everything in the world will feel as empty and pointless as The Exorcist: Believer, we should cling to faith forever.
New on Apple TV Plus
Argylle
Where to watch: Available to stream on Apple TV Plus
Genre: Action comedyRun time: 2h 19mDirector: Matthew VaughnCast: Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell
What happens when you take the meta-fictional irreverence of Stranger than Fiction and smash it together with a premise similar to Matthew Vaughn’s 2014 movie Kingsman: The Secret Service?
You get Argylle, an action satire of spy novels à la 1984’s Romancing the Stone that follows Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), an introverted novelist who is dragged kicking and screaming into a world of international espionage when it turns out that her popular spy novels are predicting the future. Who is the real agent Argylle? You’ll have to watch in order to find out.
From our review:
Argylle is too winking, too keen to show that it’s in on its own joke, to admit any real romantic feeling or any excitement that runs deeper than the surface level of its flashy choreography. Vaughn, the impish ringmaster, delights in challenging the audience to figure out what’s real and what’s fictional within his stylized, nested worlds. It’s just that he never really answers the question: Why should we care? With Argylle, he mounts a playful, rollicking thriller with an all-star cast and some dazzling action — but then holds the audience at arm’s length from it, just to show how clever he’s been in putting it together. The truly clever thing would have been to let the dumb film be joyously dumb, and invite the audience to lose themselves in it instead.
New on Peacock
Drive-Away Dolls
Where to watch: Available to stream on Peacock
Genre: Road comedyRun time: 1h 24mDirector: Ethan CoenCast: Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein
Ethan Coen’s first narrative feature without his brother Joel is an offbeat crime comedy about a pair of young women who embark on an impromptu road trip. Things get dicey after the two cross paths with a group of incompetent criminals sent to retrieve a mysterious briefcase on behalf of their shady employer.
From our review:
Drive-Away Dolls’ well-worn beats are buttressed by tremendous style, a deep care taken with the film’s production and costume design. All that attention to the era that isn’t fully present in the script comes out in the visuals instead. There isn’t much narrative texture to Marian and Jamie’s various stopovers — in particular, there isn’t much for Jamie or Marian to connect with. While the pair have frequent and funny interactions on their trip, the people they meet are more or less cartoon characters setting up a gag.
New on Paramount Plus
Bob Marley: One Love
Where to watch: Available to stream on Paramount Plus, MGM Plus
Genre: Biographical musicalRun time: 1h 47mDirector: Reinaldo Marcus GreenCast: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch, James Norton
This biopic follows the story of cultural icon Bob Marley, portrayed by Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night in Miami…). The film follows Marley from his rise to fame in the ’70s up until his death in 1981.
New on AMC Plus
Mayhem!
Where to watch: Available to stream on AMC Plus
Genre: Action thrillerRun time: 1h 49mDirector: Xavier GensCast: Nassim Lyes, Loryn Nounay, Olivier Gourmet
An early contender for one of this year’s best action films, Mayhem follows Samir (Nassim Lyes), an ex-con and martial artist, who flees from France to Thailand to escape his former gang. Struggling to build a new life, Samir finds himself once again dragged into a world of deceit and violence when a powerful real estate tycoon kidnaps a member of his family.
From our review:
Mayhem’s action is brutal and kinetic, with inventive kills, strong location work, and realistic choreography that makes the most of Lyes’ kickboxing pedigree. It’s a true star-making performance for him, as he juggles the role’s demanding physical requirements with a deep well of sorrow that permeates the entire affair, even as he dispatches foe after foe.
New to rent
Ennio
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: DocumentaryRun time: 2h 36mDirector: Giuseppe Tornatore
Cinema Paradiso director Giuseppe Tornatore made a documentary on renowned film composer Ennio Morricone, one of the most accomplished people in that stacked field. The documentary includes Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Bruce Springsteen, and many more luminaries from the entertainment world.
Glitter & Doom
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Musical romanceRun time: 1h 55mDirector: Tom GustafsonCast: Alex Diaz, Alan Cammish, Ming-Na Wen
A musical set to the songs of the Indigo Girls, Glitter & Doom follows a summer romance between a musician committed to this craft (Alan Cammish) and a “free-spirited circus kid” (Alex Diaz).
Io Capitano
Where to watch: Available to rent on Apple and Vudu
Genre: FantasyRun time: 2h 1mDirector: Matteo GarroneCast: Seydou Sarr, Moustapha Fall, Issaka Sawadogo
Desperate for an escape out of poverty, two cousins leave their hometown of Dakar, Senegal, to journey to Italy in search of a better life. Trekking across the hazards of the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Ocean, the pair are met with sights and wonders beyond their wildest imaginations.
Kung Fu Panda 4
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Martial arts comedyRun time: 1h 34mDirector: Mike MitchellCast: Jack Black, Awkwafina, Bryan Cranston
The fourth entry in the Kung Fu Panda saga sees Po taking on a new apprentice to succeed him as the Dragon Warrior. When a mysterious sorceress plots to resurrect Po’s past adversaries, he’ll need to call upon all his strength and allies to save the day.
From our review:
While the individual scenes and moments in Kung Fu Panda 4 are entertaining (and sometimes even great), it never quite gels as an enjoyable movie on its own. The message of change tying it together is flimsy, and the plot feels strung along, trying to get the characters in the right place to launch a few seconds of cool action. After four movies, it isn’t really a surprise that the Kung Fu Panda machine is running out of steam — thankfully, though, it has just enough power left to churn out some genuine laughs at the end.
One Life
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Biographical dramaRun time: 1h 50mDirector: James HawesCast: Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Flynn
Anthony Hopkins stars in a dramatization of the life of Sir Nicholas “Nicky” Winton, a London broker and humanitarian who rescued the lives of 669 Jewish children in the months leading up to World War II. Hopkins portrays Winton in his late ’70s, while actor-musician Johnny Flynn portrays him during his youth in the late 1930s.
Sleeping Dogs
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Crime thrillerRun time: 1h 50mDirector: Adam CooperCast: Russell Crowe, Karen Gillan, Marton Csokas
After being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, retired homicide detective Roy Freeman (Russell Crowe) is motivated to reopen an investigation into the murder of a college professor when a mysterious new witness comes forward with a compelling piece of evidence. As he works to track down the true culprit, he’ll have to fight to convince those around him to trust his intuition and theories.
The post Kung Fu Panda 4, Argylle, Netflix’s The Bricklayer, and every new movie to watch this weekend appeared first on Polygon.
