Suzume, The Creator, and all fresh movie to watch this weekend

Happy Friday, Polygon readers!

Each week, we circular up the most notable releases fresh to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best fresh movies for you to watch at home.

This week, The Creator, an first sci-fi action thriller from Rogue One manager Gareth Edwards starring John David Washington and Gemma Chan, yet comes to streaming after its theatrical debut back in September. There’s plenty of another breathtaking releases this week, with the DC superhero action movie Blue Beetle landing on Max, the civilian rights era biopic Rustin starring Colman Domingo premiering on Netflix, and the coming-of-age fantasy anime Suzume, one of the best movies of the year, now streaming on Crunchyroll. Not only that, but Barbie’s back — now at a reduced rental price! Plus, the onslaught of new Christmas movies begins.

Here’s everything fresh to watch this weekend.

New on Netflix

Best. Christmas. Ever!

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Genre: vacation comedy
Run time: 1h 20m
Director: Mary Lambert
Cast: Heather Graham, Brandy Norwood, Jason Biggs

This Christmas-themed comedy follows Charlotte (Heather Graham), a female who is sick and tired of her estranged college friend Jackie’s (Brandy Norwood) yearly newsletter about her seemingly image perfect life. So, she turns up on Jackie’s doorstep to catch her in a lie, only to find herself on a journey of humility and healing as she discovers the actual meaning of the holidays and friendship.

Rustin

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Photo: David Lee/Netflix

Genre: Biopic drama
Run time: 1h 46m
Director: George C. Wolfe
Cast: Colman Domingo, Chris Rock, Jeffrey Wright

Colman Domingo stars in this historical biopic on the life of Bayard Rustin, a civilian rights activist who mentored Martin Luther King Jr. who was instrumental in organizing the 1963 March on Washington. The movie explores Rustin’s origins in community organizing, his choice to live as a openly gay man, and the events leading up to the 1963 march.

Mutt

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Image: Strand Releasing

Genre: Drama
Run time: 1h 27m
Director: Vuk Lungulov-Klotz
Cast: Lío Mehiel, Cole Doman, Mimi Ryder

This drama follows a day in the life of Feña, a trans man, who rekindles his relation with his consecutive ex-boyfriend and his estranged father and younger sister after having lost contact with them following his transition.

New on Hulu

Black Ice

Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu

Image: Lionsgate Films

Genre: Documentary
Run time: 1h 36m
Director: Hubert Davis
Cast: P.K. Subban, Marcel Albers

This documentary chronicles the longstanding past of racism in professional hockey through the stories of both current and erstwhile Black players like Willie O’Ree, Akim Aliu, P.K. Subban, and more.

Kandahar

Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu

Image: Open Road

Genre: Action
Run time: 1h 59m
Director: Ric Roman Waugh
Cast: Gerard Butler, Navid Negahban, Ali Fazal

Gerard Butler reunites with stuntman turned manager Ric Roman Waugh (Greenland) for this multidimensional war communicative about a CIA operative trying to make his way to Kandahar, Afghanistan, after his cover is blown, with the aid of a translator (Navid Negahban, who is fantastic in this movie).

New on Paramount Plus

Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie

Where to watch: Available to stream on Paramount Plus

Image: Paramount Pictures

Genre: Action adventure
Run time: 1h 35m
Director: Cal Brunker
Cast: Mckenna Grace, Taraji P. Henson, Marsai Martin

The Paw Patrol is back — this sequel to the first movie sees the pups get superpowers in their quest to halt Mayor Humdinger from destroying Adventure City.

New on Max

Blue Beetle

Where to watch: Available to stream on Max

Image: Warner Bros./DC Comics

Genre: Superhero action
Run time: 2h 7m
Director: Ángel Manuel Soto
Cast: Xolo Maridueña, Adriana Barraza, Damián Alcázar

DC Comics’ latest movie was intended as a straight-to-streaming task for Max. But Warner Bros. Discovery’s fresh management upgraded it with a theatrical release, bringing beloved superhero Jaime Reyes, Guillermo del Toro Easter eggs, and a prestigious stunt team to the large screen.

From our review:

Blue Beetle is a charming romp of a film, but it’s desperately trying to punch above its weight class, peppering its communicative with constant nods to the Latin American experience, while besides delivering the action and comic book Easter eggs expected of superhero cinema.

New on Crunchyroll

Suzume

Where to watch: Available to stream on Crunchyroll

Image: CoMix Wave Films

Genre: Coming-of-age fantasy adventure
Run time: 2h 2m
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Cast: Nanoka Hara, Hokuto Matsumura, Eri Fukatsu

Makoto Shinkai (Your Name, Weathering With You) is back with another animated fantasy romance adventure about young people struggling with supernatural forces and the general ennui of youth. erstwhile advanced school student Suzume crosses paths with Souta Munakata, a mysterious wanderer on a quest to seal a series of magical doors around Japan to avert disaster, she joins him on his quest in an effort to save her home.

Also, Souta is transformed into a sentient chair by a malevolent cat. It’s complicated.

From our review,

Suzume is about processing trauma and yet learning to live. Even after the movie’s turning point, Suzume is inactive recklessly throwing herself into danger to save others. Like Your Name and Weathering With You, Shinkai’s latest sees its young heroes racing against time to halt an impending disaster. But any key differences in Suzume make the final act cinch together in a way that soars above the erstwhile 2 movies. Suzume has a individual connection to the looming catastrophe, 1 that snugly wraps around her full character journey. The event itself feels vast and all-encompassing, but due to the fact that the movie focuses on her alternatively of on the action, it gives the payoff more emotional impact. And erstwhile Suzume steps up to fight her battles, it’s little about making a dramatic choice or defying all odds. She simply reframes what she’s trying to do in a way that feels more individual than most action heroes’ journeys. She doesn’t want to give her life to save the world; she just wants to stay in it.

New on Peacock

Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain

Where to watch: Available to stream on Peacock

Genre: Comedy
Run time: 1h 31m
Director: Paul Briganti
Cast: Nichole Sakura, John Goodman, Gaten Matarazzo

Produced by Judd Apatow, this fresh comedy follows the communicative of 3 childhood friends who embark on a search for a long-forgotten treasure. Narrated by John Goodman, Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain besides features performances by Meg Stalter (Hacks), X Mayo (The Blackening), and Bowen Yang (Dicks: The Musical). Even Conan O’Brien makes an appearance!

New on AMC Plus

Biosphere

Where to watch: Available to stream on AMC Plus

Image: IFC Films

Genre: Sci-fi drama
Run time: 1h 46m
Director: Mel Eslyn
Cast: Sterling K. Brown, Mark Duplass

This sci-fi comedy follows 2 men who finds themselves the last surviving human beings on Earth, trapped inside a self-sustaining biosphere. Frightened by their predicament, they must find a way to forge ahead and come up with a fresh way to guarantee the endurance of the human race.

New to rent

The Creator

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Image: 20th Century Studios

Genre: Sci-fi action
Run time: 2h 15m
Director: Gareth Edwards
Cast: John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe

Rogue One manager Gareth Edwards returns with a fresh sci-fi action film, this time set in a universe where human beings wage war against sentient AI-controlled robots hiding out in Southeast Asia. John David Washington (Tenet) stars as an undercover agent who, while searching for the mysterious creator of the AI known only as “Nirmata,” is entrusted to care for a human-like robot (Madeleine Yuna Voyles) who may hold the key to winning the conflict.

From our review,

The Creator would be a wonderful video game. I mean that earnestly — video games are terrific for interacting with lore, with the bits and bobs of world-building that all storytellers spend years developing, but leave as subtext in the communicative proper. That can besides be actual of video games, but games of larger scope frequently flesh out their virtual worlds with said lore, which players are frequently free to roam and engage with. There are all sorts of ways that lore can become text — optional conversations with characters, diary and book excerpts to read, video or audio ephemera, all ambient and non-compulsory, a substrate where the player can find meaning whether the main communicative is fulfilling or not. The Creator is simply a full realized future in the service of a rote communicative and flat characters that only motion in compelling directions; I’d alternatively not bother with that communicative at all.

Your fortunate Day

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Image: Well Go USA Entertainment

Genre: Action thriller
Run time: 1h 29m
Director: Daniel Brown
Cast: Angus Cloud, Jessica Garza, Elliot Knight

Late Euphoria star Angus Cloud is Sterling, a small-time drug dealer who steals a winning lottery ticket worth 156 million dollars. After shooting a cop and taking the witnesses hostage, he finds himself in a deadly situation that could cost everyone active not just their future, but their lives.

The Stones & Brian Jones

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Photo: John Hopkins/Magnolia Pictures

Genre: Documentary
Run time: 1h 33m
Director: Nick Broomfield
Cast: Nick Broomfield, Eric Burdon, Marianne Faithfull

This documentary follows the communicative of the Rolling Stones and the legacy of the band’s oft-forgotten founding associate Brian Jones. As much about the culture of the stone era as it is about the band itself, Broomfield’s movie features interviews with respective of the remaining members of the band as well as contemporaries and fans.

Rent at a reduced price

Barbie

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Genre: Fantasy comedy
Run time: 1h 54m
Director: Greta Gerwig
Cast: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Issa Rae

Hey, it’s Barbie! You know, Barbie — everyone’s favourite multi-hyphenate renaissance female with a penchant for all things pink. After experiencing an inexplicable existential crisis, Barbie (Margot Robbie) embarks on a journey of self-discovery to find the root of the problem, and Ken (Ryan Gosling) decides to tag along! What could go wrong?

From our review:

Barbie starts off slow, doing the work of establishing the cutesy realm of Barbieland so there’s a clear, dark contrast erstwhile the movie yet enters Reality. But even in this beginning act, Gosling swipes each scene from the sidelines, his face wracked by the near-constant heartbreak of Barbie’s deficiency of interest in him. As a viewer, I was far more drawn to his arc, even as I worried, Is it a bad thing that Ken is the best thing about the Barbie movie?