Good news everyone: it’s a busy week of new movies to watch at home.
Despite the fall Asteroid City over the summer, Wes Anderson released another new film, this time direct to Netflix (and running just under 40 minutes). This is the first of several Anderson projects for Netflix due out this week, and early responses have been very positive. Some of the summer blockbusters are also streaming at home: The Meg 2 splashes Max, while Blue beetle And Gran Turismo head to VOD.
Those are the main highlights, but there are plenty of other options for people looking to watch new movies at home this weekend. Let’s go.
New on Netflix
Wes Anderson Shorts
Where to watch: Available for streaming on Netflix
Image: Netflix
Gender: Comedy
Duration: 39m
Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, Rupert Friend
Wes Anderson’s second film of the year, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, is the first in a group of Netflix short films he made adapting Roald Dahl’s stories. A new Wes Anderson is always an event, and this one sees new friends (Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley) and old ones (Ralph Fiennes) for the one-of-a-kind filmmaker. The other three short films — The Swan, The rat catcherAnd Poison – are also all available on the platform this week, with the last one being broadcast on Saturday.
Reptile
Where to watch: Available for streaming on Netflix
Photo: Kyle Kaplan/Netflix
Gender: Crime thriller
Duration: 2h 14min
Director: Grant Singer
Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Justin Timberlake, Eric Bogosian
Benicio Del Toro stars in this brutal new crime thriller as Tom Nichols, a gruff detective who finds himself unnerved by a disturbing new case. The trailer plays like a cross between Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners and that of David Fincher missing girlwith a wild example of stunts in the form of Justin Timberlake as the prime suspect in his wife’s murder.
New on Max
Meg 2: The Trench
Where to watch: Available for streaming on Max.
Image: Warner Bros. Pictures
Gender: Sci-fi action
Duration: 1h 56min
Director: Ben Wheatley
Cast: Jason Statham, Wu Jing, Sophia Cai
Remember The Meg, that movie about Jason Statham fighting a gigantic man-eating Megalodon shark? Well, guess what: there are still plenty of fish in the sea, and they’re just as colossal and angry as the first one!
According to our opinion:
Two films in, the Meg series doesn’t seem to have much of an idea of what makes sharks scary, other than the fact that they’ve appeared that way in other, better films. If too many films have turned sharks into calculating forces of pure malevolence, at least these understand the primal, instinctive terror we can feel upon realizing that many parts of this planet do not belong to us. The trench of Meg 2 has no such terror attached, nor a sense of wonder. (More fantastic Warner films like Aquaman Or Godzilla vs. Kong do a better job on both counts.) Statham is an indomitable force that the film understands most of the time; the sharks, meanwhile, remain just another barely sketched villain.
New on Apple TV Plus
Flora and son
Where to watch: Available for streaming on Apple TV Plus
Gender: Musical drama
Duration: 1h 37min
Director: John Carney
Cast: Eve Hewson, Jack Reynor, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Eve Hewson (Bridge of Spies) as Flora, a young single mother who desperately tries to find common ground with her troubled son Max (Orén Kinlan). After discovering an abandoned guitar in a dumpster, Flora takes guitar lessons from an instructor (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) in an effort to bond with Max through the power of music.
New for rent
Blue beetle
Where to watch: Available for rental on Amazon, Appleand Vudu
Image: Warner Bros./DC Comics
Gender: Superhero action
Duration: 2h 7min
Director: Angel Manuel Soto
Cast: Xolo Maridueña, Bruna Marquezine, Adriana Barraza
The latest DC Comics film was intended as a direct-to-streaming project for Max. But the new management of Warner Bros. Discovery upgraded it with a theatrical release, bringing actor Jaime Reyes, Guillermo del Toro Easter Eggs and a prestigious stunt team to the big screen.
According to our opinion:
Blue beetle is a charming film, but it desperately tries to punch above its weight class, peppering its story with constant nods to the Latino experience, while also delivering the action and comic book Easter eggs expected of the superhero cinema.
Gran Turismo
Where to watch: Available for rental on Amazon, Appleand Vudu
Image: Sony Pictures
Gender: Sports drama
Duration: 2h 14min
Director: Neil Blomkamp
Cast: David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Archie Madekwe
Would you believe that a player… could become a runner? Gran Turismo does, because it’s happened in real life (several times, in fact).
The film adaptation of the mega racing franchise follows a fictionalized version of the real-life story of Jann Mardenborough, who turned pro Gran Turismo competitor to professional runner.
According to our opinion:
Gamers are no longer an oppressed minority – if they were ever in a place outside of their own heads and the media reflecting their fantasies. This kind of aggrieved posturing is not a good idea in 2023. Geek culture has won. Mardenborough’s story is real and has a much bigger dimension than victory in an imaginary gaming culture war. Gaming gave this child from a low-income family a viable and affordable path to one of the most elite sports in the world. Gran Turismo could have used this inspiring true story to show how video games open up possibilities and break down barriers in the real world. Instead, he just uses it to score points.
My big Greek wedding 3
Where to watch: Available for rental on Amazon, Appleand Vudu
Photo: Yannis Drakoulidis/Focus Features
Gender: Romantic comedy
Duration: 1h 32min
Director: Nia Vardalos
Cast: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Louis Mandylor
One of cinema’s wackiest families is back, in the most family-centric franchise this side of the Fast and Furious films. This is the first Greek wedding film since 2016, released almost 15 years after the original success. This time, star screenwriter Nia Vardalos takes on directorial duties, following on from her directorial debut in 2009. I hate Valentine’s Day.