The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was a massive box office success, earning nearly $1 billion. It’s available to rent for the first time, so you can look out for all the Nintendo references or just enjoy the dazzling visuals with the kids. The Oscar-nominated time-travel film Arco from French illustrator Ugo Bienvenu moves between a dark vision of 2075 and an idyllic 29th century. It’s available to stream for the first time on Hulu.
Frankenstein’s monster and his newly created companion go on the run in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride!, which drives onto HBO Max. Watch Uma Thurman murder her former coworkers in The Whole Bloody Affair, Quentin Tarantino’s four-and-a-half hour combined cut of Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 on Peacock.
Here’s a rundown of the most notable new releases on streaming and VOD, including the biggest, best, and most popular new movies you can watch at home right now.
New on Netflix
Ladies First
- Genre: Comedy
- Run time: 1h 31m
- Director: Thea Sharrock
- Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant
Sexist advertising CEO Damien Sachs (Sacha Baron Cohen) wakes up in an alternate universe where women are in charge. With his former underling Alex (Rosamund Pike) now leading his company, Damien has to navigate the discrimination and institutional barriers that once worked in his favor.
New on HBO Max
The Bride!
- Genre: Gothic romance
- Run time: 2h 6m
- Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Cast: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Peter Sarsgaard
Possessed by the spirit of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley and killed by Chicago gangsters, Ida (Jessie Buckley) is reanimated as a companion for Frankenstein’s monster Frank (Christian Bale). When Ida quickly gets in trouble partying, she and Frank go on the run and cause mayhem across the country.
From our review:
This movie is its own kind of Frankenstein’s monster, stitched together from a thousand different parts and lurching into disturbing life. The Bride! seems like it was meant to be discussed, analyzed, and unpacked at length, with different fans seizing on different elements as the key to the whole shambling creature. But like so many of the Frankensteinian creatures that preceded it onto the screen, it’s a bit of an unwieldy monster.
New on Hulu
Arco
- Genre: Science fantasy
- Run time: 1h 29m
- Director: Ugo Bienvenu
- Cast: Juliano Krue Valdi, Mark Ruffalo, Romy Fay
Arco (Juliano Krue Valdi), a 10-year-old from a peaceful distant future, steals a time travel device and accidentally winds up in 2075. Stuck in a world where most people rely on robots to raise their children and fires are constantly raging, Arco befriends a lonely girl (Romy Fay) and gives her hope that things can get better.
From our review:
Bienvenu’s sense of whimsy uses 2D animation to its fullest potential, especially in the time-travel sequences. Not only is the use of a crystal-powered leotard far different than any other means of time travel we’ve seen before, when a time traveller really gets going, they’re usually represented by what looks like a shooting star followed by a rainbow streak. It’s a simple effect that conveys a real sense of wonder, for the audience and especially for Iris.
New on Peacock
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair
- Genre: Martial arts
- Run time: 4h 35m
- Director: Quentin Tarantino
- Cast: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox
Quentin Tarantino’s supercut of his two-part film gets a home release, though you’ll probably need to give yourself an intermission. Watch the Bride (Uma Thurman) get revenge on the members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad and its sadistic leader through a series of extremely stylish fight scenes set to a killer soundtrack.
New on Prime Video
Jack Ryan: Ghost War
- Genre: Action thriller
- Run time: 1h 47m
- Director: Andrew Bernstein
- Cast: John Krasinski, Wendell Pierce, Michael Kelly, Sienna Miller
The continuation of Prime Video’s Jack Ryan series follows the eponymous CIA field operative (John Krasinski) as he’s called in to deal with Starling, a rogue group trained by the CIA in assassination and psychological warfare. Jack has to unravel a deadly conspiracy with the help of his former boss (Wendell Pierce) and an MI6 officer (Sienna Miller).
New on Shudder
This Is Not a Test
- Genre: Zombie horror
- Run time: 1h 43m
- Director: Adam MacDonald
- Cast: Olivia Holt, Froy Gutierrez, Carson MacCormac
When the zombie apocalypse breaks out, a group of classmates takes shelter in their high school. Sloane (Olivia Holt), a suicidal, abused student, suddenly finds herself fighting for survival as an intruder drives her group out of their sanctuary and forces them to confront the horror outside.
From our review:
Unlike the running zombies now inhabiting her town, Sloane shambles through the movie without any sort of urgency or intensity. She gets no clear character growth. Nor does anyone else in the movie — her classmates are all generic types who barely stand out as individuals. And as much as I wish I could say the movie leans into incredible zombie action or effects instead, even those aspects of the movie are wholly underbaked.
New to rent
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy
- Genre: Supernatural horror
- Run time: 2h 13m
- Director: Lee Cronin
- Cast: Jack Reynor, Laia Costa, May Calamawy
Very much not part of the Brendan Fraser action-adventure series, this spin on mummy mythology follows an American family living in Cairo whose young daughter is kidnapped. When the girl reappears eight years later, her form has been twisted and strange incidents follow her home, making the family reunion far from happy.
From our review:
As with Evil Dead Rise, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy sometimes occupies its own uncanny valley between empathy for its characters’ suffering and the gleeful relish Cronin brings to depicting it. Cronin nudges his characters toward an emotional resonance their characters are too thin to bear, even with good performances, afforded plenty of screen time.
Mother Mary
- Genre: Psychological thriller
- Run time: 1h 52m
- Director: David Lowery
- Cast: Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel, Hunter Schafer
Years after abruptly ending their creative partnership, pop star Mother Mary (Anne Hathaway) reaches out to her former fashion designer Sam (Michaela Coel) looking for a dress to wear for her comeback concert. But their reunion is made even more tense by their shared experiences with a ghostly apparition.
Normal
- Genre: Action comedy
- Run time: 1h 31m
- Director: Ben Wheatley
- Cast: Bob Odenkirk, Henry Winkler, Lena Headey
Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk) is hired to replace the recently deceased sheriff of Normal, Minnesota. But what seems like a quiet, friendly town turns out to have big secrets, which Ulysses quickly realizes during a bank robbery that goes very wrong. He’ll have to face off against the corrupt Mayor Kibner (Henry Winkler) to unravel the conspiracy.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
- Genre: Animated adventure comedy
- Run time: 1h 38m
- Director: Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic
- Cast: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Benny Safdie, Brie Larson
When Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie) kidnaps Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson) to power his super-weapon, Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) sets out to save her and learn about where she came from. An attack on the Mushroom Kingdom sends the Super Mario Bros. on a new adventure with an old enemy.
From our review:
Just like its predecessor, Galaxy is stuffed with references to Mario games released over the past 40 years, and it relies on nostalgia and dazzling visuals to carry a paper-thin plot. The sequel is even less focused, yanking in references from across the Nintendo IP library to fill the gaps between story beats.
