Across the Spider-Verse, Netflix’s Heart of Stone, and every new movie to watch at home

Polygon readers, happy Friday. There are some great new films to enjoy at home this week: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-VerseThe exciting sequel to the Oscar-winning 2018 smash hit Into the Spider-VerseThe digital release of one of the greatest movies of 2023 has finally been made available online.

That’s not all: Asteroid City, Wes Anderson’s latest adventure (and another of our best movies of 2023) premieres on Peacock. Netflix has also released the latest Gal Gadot thriller Heart of StoneThe folk horror Enys men Chinese blockbuster premieres on Hulu The Wandering Earth II Prime will also include the Red, White & Royal Blue adaptation, and there’s a group of intriguing docs now available to watch at home, too.

Let’s get into it.

Netflix has launched a new feature.

Heart of Stone

You can watch the following:Netflix has a number of movies and TV shows available to stream

Photo: Robert Viglasky/Netflix

Genre: Spy thriller
Run time: 2h 2m
Director: Tom Harper
Cast: Gal Gadot, Jamie Dornan, Alia Bhatt

Netflix hopes to create a series with this spy flick based on the real-life thrills from the Bourne franchise, Bond and Mission: Impossible. She is superagent Rachel Stone who must stop an evil plot that aims to overthrow the artificial intelligence which guides her agency. It’s a pretty fun time, with grounded, in-camera action, and Gadot’s best movie in years.

Prime Video has New Content

The Wandering Earth II

You can watch the following:Prime Video is now available to stream

Well Go USA

Genre: Sci-fi
Run time: 2h 53m
Director: Frant Gwo
Cast: Wu Jing, Andy Lau, Hao Feng

This is the prequel film to 2019 Chinese sci-fi/adventure action movie Wandering EarthThis story follows a team scientist tasked with creating huge engines to safely propel Earth out of the range an upcoming solar flare. They are searching for a brand new solar system. As time is shortening, the scientists have to overcome both the environment and personal conflicts.

Review:

Disaster movies have the same feel as horror films: terror at the thought of being annihilated and catharsis from surviving, but on a much larger scale. Maybe that model just doesn’t work anymore. It’s still a very well-made model. Wandering Earth IIThe modern barrage of news about apocalypse from around the world is more akin to immersion therapy. As with franchises, the global catastrophes never really stop.

Red, White & Royal Blue

You can watch the following:Prime Video is now available to stream

Jonathan Prime/Prime video

Genre: Romance
Run time: 1h 58m
Director: Matthew López
Cast: Nicholas Galitzine, Taylor Zakhar Perez, Uma Thurman

When it first came out in 2019, this LGBTQ romance novel was a big hit. Now, the film adaptation has arrived! Red, White & Royal Blue Follows the romance between the British Prince and son of U.S. President.

Peacock – New and Improved

Asteroid City

You can watch the following:Peacock offers streaming of the film.

Focus Features

Genre: Sci-fi dramedy
Run time: 1h 45m
Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks

Wes Anderson’s latest follows an eccentric cast of characters who, brought together through the combined forces of personal tragedy and a space cadet convention, find their lives turned upside down by an unexpected visit from an extraterrestrial. There’s a lot more going on than what’s apparent on the surface, both for the film and the story behind the film, but saying any more would spoil the surprise.

Review:

Anderson’s ingenious framing device, which has actors playing actors playing actors, sets all these characters against each other in ways that boost Asteroid CityThe trailers portray a film that is a perfect desert romance, but the movie itself has enriched and enlivened. Anderson is focusing on the great cosmic mysteries of existence — some in outer space, some terrestrial, and based in human emotion. His recent films have made it clear that he’s a richly philosophical filmmaker, and that he enjoys studying his artistic preoccupations from a distance — through the fog of memory in Grand Budapest HotelBy turning the subject of storytelling into an object, The French Dispatch.

Hulu – New Releases

Enys men

You can watch the following:Hulu offers streaming on demand

Picture: Neon

Genre: Fear Not!
Run time: 1h 36m
Director: Mark Jenkin
Cast: Mary Woodvine and John Woodvine. Edward Rowe

You might think: Skinamarink (also on Hulu) was 2022’s only breakout experimental horror feature, think again: Mark Jenkin’s experimental folk horror set on an uninhabited island off the Cornish coast is here to give Kyle Edward Ball a run for his money. The film was shot entirely in 16mm. Enys men (Cornish for “Stone Island”) follows a wildlife volunteer (Mary Woodvine) in 1973 who is plagued by strange and unsettling visions after repeated contact with a rare psychotropic flower. The trailer for the film certainly looks terrifying, with scenes of the volunteer exploring the quiet and menacing recesses of the island interrupted by blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shots of leering men and giggling flower girls à la 1973’s The Wicker Man.

Shudder Plus and AMC Plus: New Releases

The Communion Girl

You can watch the following:Available on Shudder Plus and AMC Plus

Image: Atresmedia Cine/Ikiru Films/Warner Bros Entertainment España

Genre: Fear Not!
Run time: 1h 38m
Director: Víctor Garcia
Cast: Carla Campra, Marc Soler, Carlos Oviedo

On a night of fright in 1980s Spain, two best friends meet a doll that is haunted. The Communion Girl comes from veteran horror director Víctor Garcia (Hellraiser: Revelations).

Rent or Buy New

Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse

You can watch the following:Purchase this movie for only $19.99 from Amazon, Apple and Vudu

Image: Sony Pictures

Genre: Multiversal Action
Run time: 2h 20m
Directors: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
Cast: Haeesteinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry, Shameik, Moore

It’s finally here! Across the Spider-Verse Netflix will eventually offer the film, but it first makes its debut on VOD after an impressive box office run.

The original movie revolutionized American animation, and this sequel is aiming to do the exact same. Across the Spider-VerseThe second part has been postponed. Prepare yourself for a multiversal film review, accompanied by breathtaking animation and an onslaught cameos.

Cobweb

You can watch the following:Rent it for only $14.99 at Apple, Amazon and Vudu

Lionsgate

Genre: Fear Not!
Run time: 1h 28m
Director: Samuel Bodin
Cast: Woody Norman, Lizzy Caplan, Antony Starr

Watch a horror movie at home! Cobweb The story is about a boy, who has heard a strange noise coming from his room’s walls. He tries to convince his parents it was real. The movie is Samuel Bodin’s directorial debut, made from a former Black List script.

The Last Rider

You can watch the following:Rent Vudu and Amazon movies for only $5.99

Roadside Attractions

Genre: Sports documentary
Run time: 1h 36m
Director: Alex Holmes
Cast: Greg LeMond

This year’s Tour de France just finished (and was extremely exciting) — why not revisit one of the greatest Tours ever? Alex Holmes is a well-known sports documentary filmmaker who has devoted many documentaries to the sport. In this one, Holmes focuses on Greg LeMond (1989) and his legendary performance.

The Story of Hipgnosis: Squaring the Circle

You can watch the following:Rent a movie for only $5.99 at Amazon

Genre: Art documentary
Run time: 1h 41m
Director: Anton Corbijn
Cast: Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, Jimmy Page

Dutch photographer and director Anton Corbijn (American, Wanted: A Man) makes his second straight doc about the music industry here after 2019’s Depeche Mode concert movie Spirits of the Forest This time, he turns his eye on the album art design studio Hipgnosis, with the help of some rock ’n’ roll luminaries.

YouTube Effect

You can watch the following:Rent for only $4.99 at Amazon and Vudu

Olive Hill Media/Time Studios/Trouper Prod./Valhalla Entertainment/Zipper Bros Films

Genre: Culture documentary
Run time: 1h 39m
Director: Alex Winter

You may remember Alex Winter as Bill from the Bill & Ted series, but he’s also an accomplished director, with a long history in music videos and TV. Recently, he’s been working in the doc space, and his latest goes deep on the cultural phenomenon of YouTube.