Greetings, Polygon readers! Every week we round up the hottest new releases in streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week, ChallengersLuca Guadagnino’s erotic sports drama starring Zendaya (Dune: part two), arrives on VOD following its theatrical premiere last month. If watching a warring group fight and flirt with each other to one of the greatest scores ever composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross doesn’t sound like your idea of a good time, don’t worry: there are plenty of other new releases to keep you entertained. to watch. weekend. We have the serial killer crime drama He went that way on Hulu, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire on VOD, and Mrs. Web on Netflix, if you’re into that!
Here’s everything new to watch this weekend!
New on Netflix
Mrs. Web
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Sony Images
Genre: Superhero action
Duration: 1h 54m
Director: S. J. Clarkson
Form: Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced
Sony’s latest entry in the Spidey-less Spidey universe stars Dakota Johnson as Cassie Webb, a paramedic living in Manhattan who gains the ability to see visions of the future after a near-death experience. When a mysterious stranger with superpowers (who was with Cassie’s mother while she was researching spiders in the Amazon just before she died) begins hunting down a trio of young girls, Cassie takes it upon herself to protect them.
From our review:
Mrs. Web is perhaps the most shameless superhero film of all time. Far from just the cash-in it seemed a few years ago when this movie headlined by an F-tier superhero was first announced, Sony’s latest Marvel offshoot is a two-hour post-credits scene, which only occasionally is made bearable by Dakota Johnson’s underrated talent for comedy.
Thelma the Unicorn
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Netflix
Genre: Musical comedy
Duration: 1h 33m
Directors: Jared Hess, Lynn Wang
Form: Brittany Howard, Will Forte, Jemaine Clement
This animated musical comedy follows Thelma (Brittany Howard), a little pony who experiences an unexpected makeover into a pink and purple unicorn. Determined to pursue her dream of musical stardom, Thelma convinces the entire world that she is a unicorn, but a jealous narwhal named Nikki (Ally Dixon) is eager to take back the spotlight.
New on Hulu
He went that way
Where to watch: Available to stream Hulu
Image: Vertical entertainment
Genre: Crime drama
Duration: 1h 35m
Director: Jeffrey Darling
Form: Zachary Quinto, Jacob Elordi, Patrick J. Adams
Jacob Elordi (Salt burn) and Zachary Quinto (Star Trek) stars in this crime thriller about Bobby Falls, a serial killer who hitches a ride with Jim Goodwin, an animal trainer in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The trailer hints at the film’s final conclusion, as well as a suspenseful series of events including murder, theft and delicious food.
The Sweet East
Where to watch: Available to stream Hulu
Image: Utopia
Genre: Road movie
Duration: 1h 44m
Director: Sean Price Williams
Form: Talia Ryder, Earl Cave, Simon Rex
After Lillian (Talia Ryder) is separated from her classmates during a school trip, she embarks on an impromptu road trip that encounters anarchists, skinheads, film producers and other eccentric strangers.
New at Starz
The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Where to watch: Available to stream on Starz
Photo: Murray Close/Lionsgate
Genre: Dystopian action
Duration: 2h 37m
Director: Francis Laurens
Form: Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage
Francis Lawrence returns to the world of The Hunger Games to tell the story of the early years of Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth), who would later become President of Panem and Katniss Everdeen’s arch-enemy.
Set 60 years before the events of the first film, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes recalls the fateful meeting between Coriolanus and Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a District 12 tribute that would have a profound impact on his life and worldview.
From our review,
Collins’ book and Lawrence’s film do not repeat the action of the Hunger Games events; they dissect them and then force us to sit on the side of the Capitol. They want to know why we were attracted to the love triangle in the first place, the beautiful dresses, and primarily the thematic arenas. After all, we have always been spectators and have watched Katniss’ story from a safe distance. The ballad of songbirds and snakes shows us what happens when we get too carried away by propaganda, luxury and the promise of security. In that way, it’s a fitting end to the franchise – and a fitting end to the way the genre evolved into a beast in its own right.
New at Shudder
Night Watch: Demons are forever
Where to watch: Available to stream on Shudder
Image: Shudder
Genre: Horror
Duration: 1h 50m
Director: Ole Bornedal
Form: Fanny Leander Bornedal, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Alex Høgh Andersen
Years after her parents were nearly murdered by a police inspector turned serial killer, Emma (Fanny Leander Bornedal) accepts a job as a night watchman in the same forensic department where they once worked. When Emma confronts her parents’ tormentor, Emma inadvertently reignites his bloodlust, unleashing a terrible evil that threatens to destroy both her and anyone who stands in her way.
New for rent
Challengers
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Appleand Vudu
Image: MGM/YouTube
Genre: Sports drama
Duration: 2h 11m
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Form: Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, Mike Faist
Luca Guadagnino’s sensual sports drama about a love triangle in professional tennis has set certain circles of the world on fire since its release at the end of April and is one of the best films of the year. Now you can enjoy it at home.
From our review:
That script is a great three-course meal for Faist and O’Connor. They can trade facial and heel roles from scene to scene and era to era, with Art and Patrick helping and hurting each other in equal measure. But it’s an absolute smorgasbord for Zendaya, who has never been given this much room to stretch even in leading roles. Tashi is a gratifyingly rich character, both rightfully angry at the thwarting of her ambitions and cruelly angry at all the men who have the audacity to continue playing the game that was taken from her. She hungers for affection and withholds it at the same time, alternately sensually curious and coldly level-headed, ambitious and exhausted, conflicted and confident. She’s the kind of character media master’s theses are made of, and unraveling Tashi’s conflicting motives and how she integrates them will likely become a pop culture obsession in the coming months.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Where to watch: Available to rent Amazon, Appleand Vudu
Image: Warner Bros. Pictures
Genre: Monstrous action
Duration: 1h 55m
Director: Adam Wingard
Form: Godzilla, Kong, Rebecca Hall
The boys are back in town; the boys are of course Godzilla and Kong. Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard returns for this team-up movie, in which the big boys must work together to stop an invasion from Hollow Earth.
From our review:
Godzilla x Kong (yes, it’s designed that way, like a streetwear collab) goes beyond ‘good’ or ‘bad’ or ‘movies’. It’s an arena show, a professional wrestler in the squared circle screaming, chest-thumping and raising the jumbotron hype meter before doing his signature move. Through brutally efficient pacing that minimizes what the script doesn’t care about (mostly people) and maximizes what it does (giant monsters performing wrestling moves), it continually eschews disconnect in favor of escalation. It’s an achievement in absurd spectacle, a comically silly way to spend $135 million. I hope Warner Bros. money continues to burn in this way.
Sasquatch sunset
Where to watch: Available to rent Amazon, Appleand Vudu
Image: Square Peg/ZBI
Genre: Fantasy
Duration: 1h 30m
Directors: Nathan Zellner, David Zellner
Form: Riley Keough, Jesse Eisenberg, Christophe Zajac-Denek
An irreverent comedy from the Zellner brothers (Kumiko, the treasure hunter), Sasquatch sunset follows a group of four sasquatch as they attempt to reach the forest in Northern California. Along the way they encounter poisonous mushrooms, mountain lions and relentless horniness.
Lurch
Where to watch: Available to rent Amazon, Appleand Vudu
Image: Well Go USA Entertainment
Genre: Horror
Duration: 1h 32m
Director: Kiah Roache-Turner
Form: Alyla Browne, Penelope Mitchell, Ryan Corr
Alyla Browne (who plays a young Furiosa in Greg Miller’s upcoming apocalyptic action film) stars in this horror-thriller as a rebellious 12-year-old who adopts a small spider after discovering it in her apartment. Simple, right? That would be true, if only the spider were a regular, terrestrial spider and not an alien arachnid with a penchant for eating birds, small children, and grown adults. Grab the Raid Bus!
