The best movies new on Netflix, Max, Prime and Hulu this July

July is finally here and the summer movie release calendar is getting more and more exciting! We have Long legs, TwistersAnd Deadpool and Wolverine to look forward to, not to mention all the exciting new releases coming to streaming and VOD this month, like Planet of the Apes: Kingdom, The Bikers, Thelmaand more! If you’re looking for great movies to watch from the comfort of your own home among this month’s biggest new releases, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve rounded up the best movies new to Netflix, Hulu, Max, and other platforms this July for you to stream.

This month we have an ice-cold Steven Soderbergh classic with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, the new animated fantasy from Studio Ghibli successor Studio Ponoc, a sci-fi manga adaptation about a doe-eyed cyborg by Robert Rodriguez and a quite much more.

Here are the new movies on streaming services you should watch this month.

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Editor’s Choice: Out of Sight

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

Jennifer Lopez has been trying to get back on her feet as a movie star in recent years. After her critically acclaimed role as housewife Ramona Vega in HustlersLopez has starred in bad romantic comedies (marry me, Muse), bad action movies (The mother, Atlas) and bad bizarre prestige projects (This is me…now: A love story). We have to go back to the time when Lopez was a real movie star. We have to go back to Out of sight.

Undoubtedly the sexiest film in Steven Soderbergh’s oeuvre, Out of sight adapts a superb Elmore Leonard novel (as if there were another novel) about Jack Foley, a bank robber (George Clooney), and U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco (Lopez). After Foley breaks out of prison, the two share a moment and an instant connection, and the rest of the film follows their game of cat and mouse as she chases him for work and they chase each other for pleasure.

The chemistry between Clooney and Lopez is absolutely sparkling and it is a masterpiece to bring two extremely attractive, charismatic people on screen and let them do their thing. Out of sight has great supporting actors for her 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

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New on Netflix

The Imaginary

Genre: fantasy
Director: Yoshiyuki Momose
Pour: Kokoro Terada, Rio Suzuki, Sakura Ando

Studio Ponoc, the Japanese anime production company founded by Studio Ghibli veteran Yoshiaki Nishimura (producer of Memories of Marnie And The Tale of the Princess Kaguya), returns to the full-length feature film for the first time since 2017 with the fantasy adventure The Imaginary. It is the third major film this year about imaginary friends and by far the best of them. Its lyrical acting sequences are loosely based on Calvin & Hobbes energy as her imaginary friend Rudger and his creator, a young girl named Amanda, float through her imagination.

But it also has a bit Toy Story 2/from the inside to the outside mood as Rudger becomes afraid of what will happen to him if Amanda grows up and forgets him – and then has to get through life without her sooner than expected. It’s Ghibli-style filmmaking, with one major exception – a villain with a real sense of menace to match his cheerful, grinning disposition. More for kids than adults, but a great film to watch together across multiple generations, and notable for fans of rich visual anime shows. —Tasha Robinson

New on Hulu

Alita: Battle Angel

Genre: Sci-Fi Action
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Pour: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly

I know Alita: Battle Angel became a minor meme, but let me tell you that it is unironically awesome and an absolute joy to watch. Directed by Robert Rodriguez, the adaptation of the hit manga is set in the year 2563 in the run-down, crime-ridden slums of Earth’s last known city. Meanwhile, society’s elite live safe 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 has incredible powers, as she battles the underlings of the fascist government who exploit the people trapped on Earth.

But beyond all this action, Alitais just an incredibly entertaining film. There are killer action scenes, weird CGI effects that make the film look like a unique hybrid of live-action and animation, and a super-dangerous in-universe sport that is basically rollerball. It’s a bizarre, chaotic combination that doesn’t really make the most of the source material, but still makes for a fascinating action blockbuster that’s weirder than any big-budget film that’s come out since, and is absolutely worth your time. —Austen Goslin

New at Max

Twisters

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

There is no easier way to date a film than to make cutting-edge special effects its main selling point, but sometimes it works. Upon its release in 1996 Twisters‘s commitment to realistically depicting one of the world’s most horrific weather events was widely talked about, and a few years later, Universal Studios even opened a “ride” designed to show guests just how well the violence of nature could be recreated.

To his credit: Twisters still sees Great. But it feels also great. Director Jan de Bont spent much of the late 90s exchanging scripts with Steven Spielberg, and while Twisters While it lacks the kind of depth Spielberg is known for, there’s still plenty of heart. Yes, the main attraction is a couple of computer-generated tornadoes, but the ragtag group of wacky storm chasers is what keeps 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, too. A sequel is on the way, so now’s a good time to catch up on a ’90s classic. —Joshua Rivera

New on Prime Video

Evil Dead – Rise of the Dead

Genre: Supernatural Horror
Director: Lee Cronin
Pour: Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Morgan Davies

Did you like it The Last of Us Part 2? If your answer is even remotely “yes,” I have one more question: Did you “like” the boss fight with the infected Rat King 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 face-off that’s just as intense, gritty, and downright terrifying. For everyone else: Evil Dead – Rise of the Dead is still a wonderfully gory and satisfying horror film that is worth watching.

The film centers on Beth, the estranged sister of a mother of three who is in distress and must defend the lives of her nieces and nephews from her sister after she is possessed by a malevolent spirit. Evil Dead – Rise of the Dead is atmospheric and suspenseful, but also bloody and bitter, with gripping camera work and scary special effects that stay in your memory long after the credits roll. –Toussaint Egan

New to Kanopy

Anatomy of a fall

Genre: Legal drama
Director: Justine Triet
Pour: Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado-Graner

One of the most talked-about films of 2023 wasn’t a huge success at the box office, but it stayed in theaters for months and built a reputation through word of mouth alone, while garnering awards and placement on best-of-2023 lists. Justine Triets Anatomy of a fall begins with a seemingly straightforward thriller premise – a famous author (Sandra Hüller) loses her husband when he falls out of a window and is later accused of murdering him. But the film turns out to be a complicated window into the nuances of relationships, with plenty of juicy ambiguities and revelations worth discussing. It has often been compared to a Hitchcock thriller, but is both slower and more thoughtful than his work, adding layer upon layer to the story as Triet gives viewers plenty to discuss. —Tasha Robinson