Each week on Polygon, we circular up the most notable fresh releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best fresh movies for you to watch at home.
This week, Speak No Evil, the fresh horror thriller starring James McAvoy and Scoot McNairy, comes to streaming on Peacock. That’s not all, though; Smile 2 besides arrives this week on Paramount Plus, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice comes to Max, and The People’s Joker is available to stream on Mubi. Netflix even has a fresh animated Christmas comedy, That Christmas, starring Brian Cox as jolly ol’ St. Nick himself! There’s loads of another fresh releases on VOD this week, too, like Clint Eastwood’s courtroom drama Juror #2.
Here’s everything fresh that’s available to watch this weekend!
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Genre: Animated comedy
Run time: 1h 31m
Director: Simon Otto
Cast: Brian Cox, Fiona Shaw, Jodie Whittaker
Richard Curtis’ fresh Netflix animated Christmas movie is almost like Love Actually for kids (without, he says, the swearing and nudity). Taking place in a tiny English town by the sea, That Christmas weaves in a fewer different storylines, all based on Curtis’ own image books: A lonely boy spends a snow day with the school’s most hated teacher; a group of children get a parent-free Christmas day that they get to spend their way; and a pair of identical twins with vastly different personalities give Santa pause.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Genre: Biblical drama
Director: D.J. Caruso
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Noa Cohen, Ido Tako
Noa Cohen stars in this biblical drama as Mary of Nazareth, the parent of Jesus Christ. After giving birth to her child, Mary is forced to flee her home to defend her household from Herod (Anthony Hopkins), a vengeful king who views her boy as a threat to his insatiable desire to keep power.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Genre: Comedy-drama
Run time: 1h 45m
Director: Rich Peppiatt
Cast: Naoise Ó Cairealláin, Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, JJ Ó Dochartaigh
This irreverent comedy-drama stars the members of Kneecap, a Belfast-based hip-hop trio of native Irish-speaking rappers, recreating the communicative of how they met in the early 2010s and started making music. From run-ins with British authorities to their emergence to fame across the country, Kneecap is simply a comedy about the power of music as a form of expression and a means of shaping one’s own identity.
Bad Actor: A Hollywood Ponzi Scheme
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Genre: Documentary
Run time: 1h 27m
Director: Joslyn Jensen
Cast: Hannah Elizabeth Alexander, Zach Avery, Emily Beth Beacham
This documentary dives into the chaotic actual communicative of Zachary Horwitz, an aspiring actor who conned studios out of millions of dollars. First, he paid his way into tiny roles, then started fabricating contracts, and yet ended up getting studios to bankroll nonexistent movies. The movie comes from Joslyn Jensen in her documentary directorial debut.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 1h 35m
Director: Castille Landon
Cast: Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard, Diane Keaton
Three lifelong friends (Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard, Diane Keaton) reunite at the summertime camp they attended as children in a reunion for attendees. The sprawling ensemble cast besides includes Dennis Haysbert, Eugene Levy, Josh Peck, and Nicole Richie.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Genre: Historical drama
Run time: 1h 59m
Director: Lee Tamahori
Cast: Guy Pearce, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, Antonio Te Maioha
In this historical drama, a preacher comes to a distant outpost in fresh Zealand — only to get caught in the mediate of a war between Māori tribes. It’s based on the 2011 fresh Wulf by fresh Zealand author Hamish Clayton.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Max
Genre: Comedy horror
Run time: 1h 45m
Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega
Michael Keaton is back as Betelgeuse, and this time, he’s decided to torment mediocre Lydia Deetz’s teenage daughter Astrid (played by Gen Z Goth Queen Jenna Ortega). Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara return for this legacy sequel — and all 3 generations of Deetz women find themselves back in Connecticut on Halloween. Cue supernatural shenanigans!
There’s a real sense that the screenwriters left the building after laying down the first hr of the movie, leaving Burton to fill in the remainder of his run time with “Hey, remember that from the first film?” references. The stop-motion sandworms are back. The afterlife-as-hell-bureaucracy gags are back. The broad-shouldered, shrunken-head corpse is back, and now there are a lot more of them. Betelgeuse is inactive pulling his seen-from-behind face-exploding regular to freak people out. A kid choir sings Harry Belafonte’s “Banana Boat (Day-O)” in a setting that makes not the slightest lick of sense as anything but a callback. erstwhile again, a large lip-synched musical number is forced on a bunch of unwilling participants. It’s the laziest possible way to put together a sequel: nostalgia with only the barest minimal fresh spin on anything, right up to a climax that’s more or little the finale of the first movie with a fewer old names hastily crossed out and a fewer fresh ones scribbled in.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Apple tv Plus
Genre: Rom-com
Run time: 2h 12m
Director: Greg Berlanti
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Woody Harrelson
Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson star in a period romanticist comedy… that’s set against the anticipation of faking the moon landing. Tatum plays the launch manager at NASA, who’s determined to actually pull off the moon landing; Johansson plays the advertising executive hired to make a failsafe, just in case the moon landing doesn’t work out. Tempers flare and sparks fly between the 2 of them and their vastly different goals.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Paramount Plus
Genre: Supernatural horror
Run time: 2h 7m
Director: Parker Finn
Cast: Kyle Gallner, Naomi Scott, Lukas Gage
Parker Finn returns with a follow-up to his smash-hit horror debut, Smile. Picking up just a week after the events of the erstwhile film, Smile 2 centers on Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), a celebrated pop star recovering from a tragic car accident. erstwhile a mysterious curse is inadvertently passed on to her, Skye struggles to hold her sanity as she fights against a parasitic supernatural entity that seeks to devour her from the inside out.
Smile dodging the streaming abyss and uncovering box-office success felt like a miracle, but Smile 2 is something even rarer: a horror sequel that outdoes its predecessor in all way. alternatively than simply rehashing the original, Parker Finn pushes his clever premise to its logical utmost and builds any incredibly scary scenes to match. In fact, Finn ends Smile 2 in a place that feels like the perfect conclusion to the franchise — and the perfect jumping-off point for the career of 1 of the most breathtaking horror directors of his generation.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Peacock
Genre: intellectual horror
Run time: 1h 50m
Director: James Watkins
Cast: Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, James McAvoy
James Watkins’ remake of the 2022 Danish horror movie Speak No Evil stars Mackenzie Davis (Station Eleven) and Scoot McNairy (Argo) as Louise and Ben, an American couple vacationing in Italy with their daughter, Agnes. After befriending Paddy (James McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), a free-spirited British couple besides on vacation, Louise and Ben decide to visit the couple after being invited to their farmhouse in the countryside. It’s not long, however, before things take a turn for the worse.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Mubi US
Genre: Parody comedy
Run time: 1h 32m
Director: Vera Drew
Cast: Vera Drew, Nathan Faustyn, Kane Distler
This DC Comics parody follows the communicative of Vera, a trans female from Smallville who moves to Gotham City to break into stand-up comedy under the name “Joker the Harlequin.” Together with her friend The Penguin (Nathan Faustyn), Vera forms an anti-comedy troupe and goes head to head with her abusive partner Mr. J (Kane Distler) and a tyrannical vigilante known as the Batman (Phil Braun).
The movie isn’t entirely a comedy in-joke, nevertheless — which is good, due to the fact that the communicative of Vera/Joker’s “anti-comedy” career is the most straightforward and least memorable aspect of the film. Lengthy discussions about the function of comedians as truth-tellers between Joker and the Penguin are standard stuff for podcasts and documentaries about the art form. Comedic first-person trans coming-of-age narratives, peculiarly ones where the transition is accomplished by falling into a vat of feminizing hormones, are more rare. Dedicated “to mom and Joel Schumacher,” The People’s Joker is besides a sincere exploration of Vera’s journey toward self-realization, beginning with her childhood as a “miserable small girl” trapped in a boy’s body in Smallville.
Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point
Where to watch: Available to stream on AMC Plus
Genre: Christmas comedy-drama
Run time: 1h 46m
Director: Tyler Taormina
Cast: Matilda Fleming, Maria Dizzia, Ben Shenkman
Tyler Taormina’s Christmas comedy-drama follows the members of the Balsanos, a rambunctious extended household who come together for the final Christmas in their ancestral home. As the night wears on, tensions wear on, too, and the household goes to utmost lengths to make this year’s vacation 1 to remember.
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Drama
Run time: 1h 57m
Director: Titus Kaphar
Cast: André Holland, John Earl Jelks, Andra Day
André Holland (Moonlight) stars in painter-filmmaker Titus Kaphar’s directorial debut as Tarrell, an accomplished artist whose career is rising. After an unexpected visit from his estranged father, La’Ron (John Earl Jelks), Tarrell must learn to balance the conflicting emotions between his desire for reconciliation and his resentment toward his absent parent.
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Drama
Run time: 1h 29m
Director: India Donaldson
Cast: Lily Collias, James Le Gros, Valentine Black
This coming-of-age drama follows the communicative of Sam (Lily Collias), a teenage girl who embarks on a weekend backpacking journey in the Catskills with her father, Chris (James Le Gros), and his late divorced friend Matt (Danny McCarthy). As she mediates the clashing egos and brewing tension between the 2 men, Sam’s bond with her father is tested.
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Drama thriller
Run time: 1h 54m
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons
The latest movie from manager Clint Eastwood stars Nicholas Hoult as Justin, a young man serving on the jury of a high-profile execution trial who slow grows to fishy that he may be liable for the victim’s death.
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Action thriller
Run time: 1h 40m
Director: George Huang
Cast: Luke Evans, Sung Kang, Wyatt Yang
Luke Evans stars in this action thriller as John, a erstwhile DEA agent who is reunited with Joey (Gwei Lun-mei), a erstwhile underground operative, years after the 2 fell in love with 1 another during a fateful weekend in Taipei. erstwhile John takes an off-the-books mission to bring down a billionaire drug kingpin, his feelings for Joey are tested erstwhile it comes to light that his mark is in fact her fresh husband.