This weekend, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the latest (and likely last) MCU film from DC Studios boss James Gunn is finally coming to theaters. If the adventures of Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and his merry band of vigilante mercenaries aren’t quite your pace, don’t sweat: There are plenty of new releases available to stream and rent from the comfort of your home.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, starring Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez, leads VOD listings. But The Pope’s Exorcist, How to blow up a pipelineAnd Renfield, starring Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult, are also newly available for rent. Do you want to save some money this weekend to check out? We got you: The psychological thriller Inside (not to be confused with the Bo Burnham comedy special) starring Willem Dafoe is streaming on Peacock, the comedic drama A man named Otto with Tom Hanks comes to Netflix, and the cannibal road movie romance bones and all starring Timothée “Muad’dib” Chalamet, is finally available to stream on MGM Plus.
There’s a smorgasbord of movies to choose from, so let’s dive in and see what’s on the menu next.
New on Netflix
A man named Otto
Where to see: Available to stream on Netflix
Genre: dramedy
Duration: 2h 6m
Director: Marc Foerster
Pour: Tom Hanks, Mariana Trevino, and Rachel Keller
Tom Hanks goes against the dude in this dark comedy adaptation of Fredrik Backman’s 2012 novel A man named Ove, plays a grumpy, lonely widower who—despite his own antisocial nature—inadvertently strikes up a friendship with his new neighbor and their child. Content warning: This film contains some suicide-related gags.
New to Peacock
Inside
Where to see: Available for streaming peacock
Genre: psychological thriller
Duration: 1 hr 45 mins
Director: Vasilis Katsoupis
Pour: Willem Dafoe, Gene Bervoets, and Eliza Stuyck
Willem Dafoe (Spiderman, The lighthouse) stars as a high-end art thief who gets trapped in the middle of a New York penthouse in this psychological thriller. Running out of food and with no way of communicating with the outside world, he must find a way to safety or risk dying of his own insanity.
New to MGM Plus
bones and all
Where to see: Available for streaming MGMPlus
Genre: Horror/Romance
Duration: 2h 10m
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Pour: Taylor Russell, Timothee Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg
call me by your name Director Luca Guadagnino and star Timothée Chalamet team up again for a romantic horror road movie about love and cannibalism. Chalamet stars as Lee, an intense young drifter with a hunger for human flesh, but the main focus is his fellow eater Maren (Taylor Russell) as she searches for belonging and certainty in a harsh and uncertain world.
From our review:
Aside from preparing for copious amounts of blood and some short, intense violence, bones and all is the kind of film that is better experienced in the moment than in descriptions. Each new revelation about Maren’s past and present is carefully unfolded, partly because she doesn’t really understand her own nature and has to learn it along with the audience. Screenwriter David Kajganich (a writer, producer and developer of the well-loved horror series The Terror) never feels like he’s in a hurry to get to a certain part of the story. He and Guadagnino make plenty of room for Maren, who learns through conversation, first with new acquaintance Sully (Bridge of Spies‘ Mark Rylance, disappearing into yet another incredible performance), then with a newer acquaintance, Lee (Chalamet), a sophisticated boy her own age.
New on VOD
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Where to see: Can be rented for $19.99 Amazon, AppleAnd vudu
Genre: fantasy adventure
Duration: 2h 14m
Director: Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley
Pour: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Rege-Jean Page
Chris Pine (star trek) stars as Edgin Darvis, a former bard-turned-thief who forms an unlikely band of adventurers to recover a powerful lost artifact. When the group comes face-to-face with a dangerous figure bent on world domination, Edgin and his allies must fight, run, and roll for initiative to save the day.
From our review,
The film is playful and serious throughout, focusing on the characters being in serious situations. Rodriguez’ Barbarian is still reeling from a broken relationship, and when her story pays off, it’s hilarious — but audiences are still invited to feel and empathize with her pain. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves creates no gameplay mechanics or sense of improvisation as well as, shall we say, The Legend of Vox Machina, but it’s the best Dungeons & Dragons movie we could have hoped for. It’s not only a fun fantasy movie but also a great adaptation of a gaming session. And it’s an invitation to a new and more visual take on a world that dedicated gamers already love – and the filmmakers seem to love, too.
The Pope’s Exorcist
Where to see: Can be rented for $19.99 Amazon, AppleAnd vudu
Genre: Supernatural Horror
Duration: 1h 43m
Director: Julius Avery
Pour: Russell Crowe, Daniel Zovatto, and Alex Essoe
Russell Crowe has played many larger-than-life roles throughout his career: a Roman general-turned-gladiator, a Royal Navy admiral who fought in the Napoleonic Wars, Superman’s father, that one guy who built a really big boat, Robin Hood , and so forth. In Julius Avery’s new supernatural horror film, Crowe dons the black robes and white collar of an exorcist – the Pope’s exorcist no less – as he battles the forces of the underworld to save the life of a possessed child.
How to blow up a pipeline
Where to see: Can be rented for $6.99 Amazon, AppleAnd vudu
Genre: Environmental heist thriller
Duration: 1h 44m
Director: Daniel Goldhaber
Pour: Ariela Barer, Kristine Froseth, Lukas Gage
Director Daniel Goldhaber (cam) adapts the riotous non-fiction book 2021 by Andreas Malm and follows a group of climate activists who, disillusioned with the ineffectiveness of divestment movements and the inaction of government regulation, band together to stage a politically charged act of property damage as an environmental protest: blowing up an oil pipeline in West Texas.
From our review,
How to blow up a pipeline is the rare film that effectively weapons a radical political message by fusing it with conventional genre storytelling. It feels like a game changer: the kind of film that will inspire artists and aspiring activists alike for generations to come. It’s exciting, tense entertainment with an explosive, unforgettable final line of dialogue. 2023 has been a great film year so far, but this year will be hard to beat.
Renfield
Where to see: Can be rented for $19.99 Amazon, AppleAnd vudu
Genre: comedy horror
Duration: 1h 35m
Director: Chris McKay
Pour: Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina
Nicolas Cage plays Dracula in this comedic take on the legendary vampire, in which his servant Robert Montague Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) tries to come to terms with the toxic relationship he has with his immortal boss.
From our review:
Hoult is appropriately doe-eyed and reserved as Renfield – he’s probably the most genuine part of an otherwise cynical project – but he’s the only actor who seems to have been allowed to tap into anything resembling a comedic or dramatic soul. He’s also the only one not saddled with dialogue that plays like amateur improvisation. He doesn’t like to watch. That’s the bare minimum for an actor on screen, but it’s a requirement for almost every other facet Renfield isn’t true, from its mind-numbing action that refuses to indulge in thrills or gross hilarity, to its scattered tale of a man finding ways to piss off his asshole boss. In that sense, it should be the most relatable comedy in the world. Instead, it’s just a series of disjointed images strung together by half-baked jokes that you could practically put in any other character’s mouth. The result would feel just as devastating.
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