The Best New Movies to Stream This July

July is finally here, and the summer movie release calendar is really heating up! We’ve got Long legs, WhirlwindsAnd Deadpool and Wolverine to look forward to, not to mention all the exciting recent releases coming to streaming and VOD this month, like Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, The Bikeriders, Thelmaand more! If you’re looking for great movies to watch from the comfort of your own home among this month’s biggest releases, we’ve got you covered. We’ve rounded up the best movies new to Netflix, Hulu, Max, and more in July for you to stream.

This month we have a stone-cold Steven Soderbergh classic starring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, the new animated fantasy from Studio Ghibli’s successor Studio Ponoc, a sci-fi manga adaptation about a doe-eyed cyborg from Robert Rodriguez, and a whole much more.

These are the movies to watch this month that are new to streaming services.

Editor’s Choice: Out of Sight

Where to watch: Criterion channel
Genre: Crime comedy
Director: Steven Soderbergh

Jennifer Lopez has been making a bit of a comeback as a movie star in recent years. After her critically acclaimed role as housewife Ramona Vega in ScammersLopez has starred in bad romantic comedies (Marry me, Shotgun Wedding), bad action movies (The mother, Atlas), and bad bizarre vanity projects (This is me… Now: a love story). We need to go back to when Lopez was a legitimate movie star. We need to go back to Out of sight.

Arguably the sexiest film in Steven Soderbergh’s oeuvre, Out of sight is an adaptation of an excellent novel by Elmore Leonard (as if there is another kind) about Jack Foley, a professional bank robber (George Clooney), and U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco (Lopez). After Foley escapes from prison, the two share a moment and an instant connection, and the rest of the film follows their cat-and-mouse game as she pursues him for work and they pursue each other for fun.

The chemistry between Clooney and Lopez is absolutely brilliant. They are very good at getting two extremely attractive, charismatic people on screen and letting them do their thing. Out of sight also has great supporting players for them, too — Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Steve Zahn, Luis Guzmán, Nancy Allen, Viola Davis, and even cameos from Michael Keaton and Samuel L. Jackson. This was the first of many collaborations between Clooney and Soderbergh, and a high point in Lopez’s film career that has yet to be matched. —Pete Volk

New on Netflix

The imaginary

Genre: Fantasy
Director: Yoshiyuki-momose
Form: Kokoro Terada, Rio Suzuki, Sakura Ando

Studio Ponoc, the Japanese anime production company founded by Studio Ghibli veteran Yoshiaki Nishimura (producer of When Marnie was there And The Story of Princess Kaguya), returns to feature filmmaking for the first time since 2017 with the fantasy adventure The imaginary. It’s the third great film about imaginary friends this year, and easily the best. The lyrical playtime sequences make loose use of Calvin and Hobbes energy, as her imaginary friend Rudger and his creator, a young girl named Amanda, fly through her imagination.

But it also has a bit of a Toy Story 2/Inside out vibe, as Rudger grows anxious about what will happen to him when Amanda grows up and forgets about him – and then has to go through life without her sooner than expected. It’s filmmaking in Ghibli mode, with one major exception – a villain with a real sense of menace to match his sunny, grinning disposition. More for kids than adults, but a great film to watch across generations, and worth a mention for fans of elaborate anime visual showcases. —Tasha Robinson

New on Hulu

Alita: Battle Angel

Genre: Sci-fi action
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Form: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly

I know Alita: Battle Angel became a bit of a meme, but I’m here to tell you that it ironically reigns supreme and is an absolute joy to watch. Directed by Robert Rodriguez, the film adaptation of the hit manga is set in the year 2563, in the run-down, crime-ridden slums of the last known city on Earth. Meanwhile, the social elite live safely and pampered in a floating city that hovers above the planet’s surface, separating them from the less fortunate citizens below. The film follows an amnesiac cyborg named Alita who gains incredible powers and fights to defy the fascist government’s minions who are hunting down the humans trapped on Earth.

But apart from all that plot, Alitais just a fantastically fun movie. There are great action sequences, weirdly vibey CGI that makes it look like a unique hybrid of live-action and cartoon, and a super dangerous in-universe sport that is essentially Rollerball. It’s a bizarre, messy combination that doesn’t quite make the most of the source material, but it makes for a fascinating action movie that’s weirder than any big-budget film that’s come since, and it’s more than worth your time. —Austen Goslin

New on Max

Vortex

Genre: Disaster thriller
Director: Jan de Bont
Form: Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz

There’s no easier way to date a movie than to use cutting-edge special effects as the main selling point, but sometimes it works. Upon its release in 1996, Vortex‘s dedication to realistically portraying one of the most terrifying weather conditions on the planet was all the talk of the town. A few years later, Universal Studios even opened an ‘attraction’ to show guests just how well nature’s fury could be recreated.

To his credit: Vortex still looks like Awesome. But it feels also great. Director Jan de Bont spent much of the late 90s swapping scripts with Steven Spielberg, and while Vortex lacks the kind of richness Spielberg is known for, but there’s still plenty of heart. Yes, the main attraction is a bunch of computer-generated tornadoes, but the film’s motley crew of weirdo storm chasers are what keep you hooked, and the emotional backbone of former partners (played by Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton) realizing they don’t want to go through with their divorce gives the spectacle just enough heart. With a sequel on the way, this is a good time to revisit a ‘90s classic. —Joshua Rivera

New on Prime Video

Evil Dead Rise

Genre: Supernatural horror
Director: Lee Cronin
Form: Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Morgan Davies

Did you enjoy The Last of Us Part 2? If your answer is even remotely close to “yes,” I have one more question for you: Did you enjoy the boss fight with the Rat King Infected in the basement of the Seattle hospital? If so, I have good news for you: the climax of Lee Cronin’s standalone sequel to Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead franchise features a confrontation that’s every bit as intense, brutal, and downright terrifying. For everyone else, Evil Dead Rise is still a gory and satisfying horror film worth watching.

The film centers on Beth, the estranged sister of a struggling mother of three, who is forced to defend the lives of her nieces and nephews against her sister after she is possessed by an evil spirit. Evil Dead Rise drips with as much atmosphere and tension as it does blood and bile, with gripping camerawork and disgusting practical special effects that will stay etched in your memory long after the credits roll. —Toussaint Egan

New on Kanopy

Anatomy of a Fall

Genre: Legal drama
Director: Justine Trieste
Form: Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado-Graner

One of the most talked-about films of 2023 wasn’t a huge box office success, but it stayed in theaters for months and quietly built a reputation on word of mouth alone, scooping up awards and placements on annual Best of 2023 lists. Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall begins with what seems like a straightforward thriller premise — a famous author (Sandra Hüller) loses her husband when he falls out of a window, and is later accused of murder. But the film ends up being an intricate window into the nuances of relationships, with plenty of juicy ambiguities and revelations worth discussing. It’s been compared a lot to a Hitchcock thriller, but it’s both slower and more thoughtful than his work, adding layer after layer to the story while giving Triet viewers plenty to talk about. —Tasha Robinson