Happy Friday, Polygon readers! Every week, we round up the biggest streaming and rental releases, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week’s biggest debut is Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which is now streaming on Netflix. That’s not all, since Insidious: The Red Door – the fifth installment of the Insidious horror franchise – also hits the platform this week along with jawan, one of the biggest Indian action films of the year. There are also many more interesting releases this week, with A disturbing Venice now streaming on Hulu, the Italian superhero movie Monsters against the Reich on Prime Video, in addition to the premiere of The killing room and Outlaw Johnny Black from director and star Michael Jai White on VOD.
Here’s everything new to see this weekend!
New on Netflix
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Sony Pictures Animation
Gender: superhero action
Execution time: 2h 20m
Director: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
Cast: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac
The long-awaited follow-up to 2018 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sees Miles Morales facing not only a dimension-hopping enemy in the form of Spot, but an entire multiverse of Spider-Man, Spider-People, and even a Spider-Dinosaur as he attempts to save the day once again.
From our multiversal review:
Not all themes, plots and moments Through the Spider-Verse lands, particularly when the other part of this story is still almost a year away. But in the end, the theme of the Spider-Verse movies is shaping up to be a story about people trying to be bigger and bolder, trying to go beyond what they’re told they’re capable of and do more. It is not surprising that every part of Through the Spider-Verse It is an attempt to surpass the first film. The idea of growing, of overcoming and ignoring the limits of others is at the heart of the heroes of this series and their individual journeys. It seems like the movies themselves are designed to do the same thing.
jawan
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Red Chili Peppers Entertainment
Gender: action thriller
Execution time: 2h 50m
Director: Atlee
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi
The biggest Indian film of the year has arrived on Netflix. Directed by Atlee (mersal), Jawan features megastar Shah Rukh Khan (between this and Pathanreally is back) and it’s basically “Robin Hood meets Charlie’s Angels.”
Insidious: The Red Door
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix on Saturday
Image: Sony Pictures Entertainment
Gender: Supernatural horror
Execution time: 1h 47m
Director: Patrick Wilson
Cast: Ty Simpkins, Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne
The fifth film in the Insidious franchise is the directorial debut of star Patrick Wilson. It is also a sequel to Insidious: Chapter 2since the last two films in the franchise were prequels.
From our review:
As a director, Wilson isn’t as straightforward a horror ringmaster as Wan or Whannell: He prefers more actor-centered scares than wild imagery. But he makes great use of expressive close-ups (often of himself) and shallow focus, with some eerie details. Go on-Shots of blurry figures approaching from a distance and a terribly claustrophobic scene inside an MRI machine. Meanwhile, Dalton’s college story occasionally verges on the insanity of college pranks: it includes what can only be described as a vomiting ghost, and there’s an amusing use of the horror movie cliché about the tormented boy who draws terrifying pictures of the demons that only he can see. (Naturally, that kid grows up to be a star student in an insufferable freshman art class.)
Cunning
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Netflix
Gender: Documentary film
Execution time: 1h 35m
Director: Thom Zimny
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Quentin Tarantino
This documentary takes a close look at the life of one of the great American film stars and writers: Sylvester Stallone.
nyad
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Photo: Liz Parkinson/Netflix
Gender: biographical sports drama
Execution time: 2h 1m
Directors: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
Cast: Jodie Foster, Annette Bening, Rhys Ifans
nyad tells the (questionably) true story of swimmer Diana Nyad, who swam from Cuba to Florida at age 64, among many other swimming achievements.
women of the wing
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Photo: Gael Turpo/Netflix
Gender: Action
Execution time: 1h 56m
Director: Melanie Laurent
Cast: Mélanie Laurent, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Isabelle Adjani
Melanie Laurent (Inglorious Bastards) is behind and in front of the camera in this action comedy about female thieves on the run looking for one last job.
New on Hulu
A disturbing Venice
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Image: 20th century studies
Gender: horror mystery
Execution time: 1h 43m
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Dornan
Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot adaptations have generally been a fun time, even when they have problems (looking at you, Death on the Nile). A disturbing Venice is his best yet, as Branagh’s confidence as a director and performer in this mode continues to grow. It is a perfect vision of autumn.
pageant lady
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Image: Hulu
Gender: Comedy
Execution time: 1h 39m
Director: Jessica Yu
Cast: Awkwafina, Sandra Oh, Will Ferrell
Sandra Oh and Awkwafina play a pair of estranged sisters trying to win big on a game show to pay off their mother’s debts. The supporting cast includes Will Ferrell, Jason Schwartzman, Tony Hale and the late Paul Reubens.
New on Prime Video
Monsters against the Reich
Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video
Image: VMI launch
Gender: Superhero/circus war movie.
Execution time: 2h 21m
Director: Gabriele Mainetti
Cast: Claudio Santamaría, Aurora Giovinazzo, Pietro Castellitto
This unconventional Italian superhero film follows a group of circus performers in World War II who are wanted by the Nazis and band together to stop them. I’ve heard it’s fun, sweet, and has a lot of action; It’s definitely on my weekend watch list.
New in peacock
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3
Where to watch: Available to stream on Peacock
Photo: Yannis Drakoulidis/Focus Features
Gender: Romantic comedy
Execution time: 1h 32m
Director: Nia Vardalos
Cast: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Louis Mandylor
One of the most endearingly silly families in cinema is back, in the most family-centric franchise this side of the Fast and Furious movies. It is the first Greek wedding film since 2016, which came almost 15 years after the original smash hit. This time, star writer Nia Vardalos takes on directing duties, following her directorial debut in 2009. I hate Valentine’s Day.
New on AMC Plus
Sympathy for the devil
Where to watch: Available to stream on AMC Plus
Image: RLJE Films
Gender: Psychological thriller
Execution time: 1h 30m
Director: Yuval Adler
Cast: Nicolas Cage and Joel Kinnaman
A very much two-person movie that sounds a bit like CollateralSympathy for the devil It stars Nicolas Cage as a passenger who holds a driver (Joel Kinnaman) hostage on a long car trip.
New for rent
Paw Patrol: The Powerful Movie
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple and Vudu
Image: Paramount Pictures
Gender: Action Adventure
Execution time: 1h 35m
Director: Cal Brunker
Cast: Mckenna Grace, Taraji P. Henson, Marsai Martin
Paw Patrol is back: in this sequel to the first film, the pup gains superpowers in his quest to stop Mayor Humdinger from destroying Adventure City.
The killing room
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple and Vudu
Image: Shout! Studies
Gender: Dark comedy thriller
Execution time: 1h 38m
Director: Nicol Paone
Cast: Joe Manganiello, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman
Joe Manganiello plays a hitman turned artist in this hilarious comedy about how the worlds of fine art and high crime aren’t so far apart after all. When he turns to art as a method to launder money, the hitman becomes an unexpected sensation on the art scene overnight.
Outlaw Johnny Black
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple and Vudu
Image: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Gender: satirical western
Execution time: 2h 10m
Director: Michael Jai White
Cast: Michael Jai White, Anika Noni Rose, Erica Ash
Michael Jai White’s long-awaited follow-up to black dynamite It’s finally here: a Western exploitation film about an outlaw who poses as a preacher and sets up shop in a troubled new town. The star and director spoke to us at length about the film and the long road it took to get here.
sound of freedom
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple and Vudu
Image: Angel Studios/VidAngel Studios
Gender: Thriller
Execution time: 2h 11m
Director: Alejandro Gomez Monteverde
Cast: Jim Caviezel, Mira Sorvino, Bill Camp
One of the most surprising (and controversial) blockbusters of the year, sound of freedom is intended to be a true story about stopping child trafficking. The truth is much more complicated than that.
