Oppenheimer, Good Burger 2, Netflix’s Leo, and every new movie to watch this weekend
Greetings, Polygon readers!
Each week we round up the hottest releases new to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week, Oppenheimerthe historical biopic starring Cillian Murphy as the so-called “Father of the Nuclear Bomb,” finally hits streaming after its critically and commercially successful theatrical debut earlier this year. Lionthe new animated comedy starring Adam Sandler as a talking lizard, premieres this week on Netflix alongside the scripted documentary Stamped from the start based on the book by Ibram X. Kendi. There are plenty of exciting releases this week, like Paul Schrader’s Master Gardener on Hulu, Good hamburger 2 on Paramount Plus, the fantasy comedy Spirit with Melissa McCarthy in Peacock, and more.
Here’s everything new to watch this week.
New on Netflix
Lion
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Netflix
Genre: Musical comedy
Duration: 1h 42m
Directors: Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel, David Wachtenheim
Form: Adam Sandler, Bill Burr, Cecily Strong
Adam Sandler’s latest Netflix project is also co-written by the comedian. He plays a lizard named Leo, who along with a turtle (Bill Burr) are the pets for a fifth-grade classroom. The two try to escape the classroom and live on their own terms.
Stamped from the start
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Netflix
Genre: Documentary
Duration: 1h 31m
Director: Roger Ross Williams
Form: Angela Davis, Alexa Rachelle Jennings, Ibram X. Kendi
A hybrid documentary/feature film, adapted from the book by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the start digs into America’s pervasive anti-black racism and its history as a strategic tool.
New on Hulu
Master Gardener
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu November 23
Image: Bonnie Marquette/Magnolia Pictures
Genre: Drama
Duration: 1h 51m
Director: Paul Schrader
Form: Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver, Quintessa Swindell
The third film in Paul Schrader’s ‘accidental trilogy’ of thematically linked films stars Joel Edgerton (The underground railway) as Narvel Roth, a horticulturist with a dark past who is tasked with taking on the wayward grandniece (Quintessa Swindell) of his wealthy benefactor (Sigourney Weaver). As the two grow closer, Narvel’s history slowly comes to light, threatening to uproot the simple life he has so carefully cultivated.
The last rider
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Image: Roadside attractions
Genre: Documentary
Duration: 1h 38m
Director: Alex Holmes
Form: Perico Delgado, Laurent Fignon, Cyrille Guimard
This documentary follows the story of Greg LeMond, the first non-European cyclist to win the Tour de France. The last rider charts LeMond’s early career as a professional cyclist, his life-threatening brush with death while turkey hunting with his family, and ultimately his victory at the 1986 Tour de France.
New on Max
Little Richard: I am everything
Where to watch: Available to stream until November 23rd
Genre: Documentary
Duration: 1h 41m
Director: Lisa Cortes
Form: Billy Porter, John Waters, Tom Jones
This documentary chronicles the life and career of Little Richard, one of rock ‘n’ roll music’s first stars, as well as the black queer origins of the genre itself. Featuring performances by Billy Porter, John Waters and Nile Rodgers and archival footage of Little Richard’s performances, this film unravels the complex and enduring legacy of this American musical pioneer.
New on Apple TV Plus
The Velvet Rabbit
Where to watch: Available to stream on Apple TV Plus
Image: Apple TV Plus
Genre: Fantasy drama
Duration: 44m
Directors: Jennifer Perrott, Rick Thiele
Form: Helena Bonham Carter, Nicola Coughlan, Alex Lawther
Based on the children’s book by Margery Williams, this short film follows the story of a 7-year-old named William (Phoenix Laroche) who receives a stuffed bunny for Christmas that leads him to a world of fantastic splendor.
New on Paramount Plus
Good hamburger 2
Where to watch: Available to stream on Paramount Plus
Image: Paramount Plus
Genre: Comedy
Duration: 1h 46m
Director: Phil Trail
Form: Kenan Thompson, Jillian Bell, Lil Rel Howery
Twenty-six years after the events of the first film, Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell reprise their roles as Dexter Reed and Ed, who come together to save Good Burger from a nefarious mega-corporation that wants to automate its workforce.
New at Pauw
Spirit
Where to watch: Available to stream on Peacock
Image: Peacock
Genre: Fantasy comedy
Duration: 1h 33m
Director: Sam Boyd
Form: Melissa McCarthy, Paapa Essiedu, Denée Benton
Workaholic father Bernard (Paapa Essiedu) can’t seem to find a healthy balance between his professional life and his family. That changes after he accidentally awakens a ghost named Flora (Melissa McCarthy), who helps him understand what really matters during a shenanigan-filled adventure through New York City.
New on AMC Plus
What comes around it
Where to watch: Available to stream on Paramount Plus November 24
Genre: Thriller
Duration: 1h 25m
Director: Amy Redford
Form: Summer Phoenix, Grace Van Dien, Kyle Gallner
After a young woman (Grace Van Dien) is seduced online by an older and controlling man, a rift opens between the woman and her mother (Summer Phoenix) in this psychological drama thriller.
New on Criterion Channel
A fire
Where to watch: Available to stream on Criterion Channel
Image: The Criterion Channel
Genre: Romantic drama
Duration: 1h 42m
Director: Christian Petzold
Form: Thomas Schubert, Paula Beer, Enno Trebs
During a holiday on the Baltic Sea, four young people meet by chance while staying in the same holiday home. As a nearby forest fire steadily approaches, the group becomes trapped together as tensions and passions reach a fever pitch.
New for rent
Oppenheimer
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple and Vudu
Image: Universal images
Genre: Historical biopic
Duration: 3 hours
Director: Christopher Nolan
Form: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon
Cillian Murphy stars as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the so-called “Father of the Atomic Bomb,” in Christopher Nolan’s biopic, which chronicles the scientist’s tenure at a clandestine research facility in Los Alamos, New Mexico, to his controversial reputation and public shame in the years that followed. World War 2.
From our review,
In his last piece, Oppenheimer uses the political campaign to discredit the physicist and unravel his legacy as a way to get under the skin of a man whose position on his terrible creation persisted contradictory and enigmatic. After the sweeping bombshell sequences, this is a surprisingly subtle and complex approach for Nolan, but it works because the story is driven by the historical record and the characters, rather than dogma, with the dire moral consequences emerging naturally from the details come. Nolan isn’t one to let any audience miss his point, and the film’s final scene nails it. But first he builds the web of ambition, compromise, dreams, politics, jealousy and inspiration – in a word, humanity – that unleashed the forces he stands in awe of. In Oppenheimerman is the most terrible machine of all.
The daughter of the Swamp King
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple and Vudu
Image: Lionsgate Films/STX Entertainment
Genre: Psychological thriller
Duration: 1h 49m
Director: Neil Burger
Form: Daisy Ridley, Ben Mendelsohn, Brooklynn Prince
Daisy Ridley stars in this psychological thriller based on the novel by Karen Dionne as Helena, a woman with a troubled past who travels through the swamps of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in pursuit of her father (Ben Mendelsohn) who has escaped police custody. Knowing that he will eventually terrorize her family, Helena arms herself to kill or capture him before he hurts anyone else.