New movies to watch: The Batman, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, and more

The streaming premiere of Batman, the latest live-action incarnation of the iconic DC superhero starring Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz, on HBO Max. Two years after his start as a costumed vigilante Bruce Wayne/Batman is forced to confront a sinister plot by the Riddler, a serial killer who masquerades as Paul Dano.

This weekend’s streaming options include a variety of releases, such as the Italian crime drama The Turning PointThe Tamil-language psychological drama KuthiraivaalDocumentary -. White Hot: The Rise and FAll of Abercrombie & Fitch, all Netflix. Netflix is the only streaming option for this movie. Virus-32Shudder is streaming, while nature documentary Polar BearDisney Plus now offers the ability to view it.

Apart from subscription streaming platforms, there are lots of great movies to rent on VOD as well, such as director Jane Schoenbrun’s coming-of-age horror film We’re All Going to the World’s FairThe horror story of the 19th century. You Won’t Be AloneThe animated Romanian sci-fi movie Delta Space MissionG.I. Joe soft-reboot spinoff Snake Eyes, Joe Wright’s 2021 adaptation of CyranoStaring Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage, and much more.

To help you get a handle on what’s new and available, here are the new movies you can watch on streaming and VOD this weekend.

Batman

What to Watch:On HBO Max, you can watch it live.

Jonathan Olley. Photo by Jonathan Olley

War of the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves’ 2022 film BatmanRobert Pattinson stars as the young, more angry version of the caped crusader. Set two years into his campaign of vigilante justice, Batman is faced with a terrifying new adversary in the form of the Riddler (Paul Dano), a serial killer whose vendetta against Gotham City’s most elite official belies a decades-spanning conspiracy that threatens to tear the city apart. To stop the Riddler, he’ll have to team up with Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz), a nightclub waitress and cat burglar with her own personal agenda. Our review:

BatmanIt is filled with moments that most Bat-fans have witnessed before. At its most exhausting, it restages moments from the Nolan trilogy: A mobster tells Bruce Wayne the truth about how the world works, Batman fights his way through a nightclub in a fury or through a hallway illuminated only by gunfire, footage of the film’s villain terrorizing their next victim is broadcast over the evening news. Apart from the Riddler almost every character is familiar from Batman movies. These new layers are easy to glean from the previous movies. It is not bold. Batman. Execution is its strength.

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair

What to Watch:Rentable for as low as $6.99 at Amazon, Apple and Vudu

Photo: Utopia

Jane Schoenbrun’s 2021 coming-of-age horror drama tells the story of Casey (Anna Cobb), a teenage girl who becomes immersed in a viral role-playing game. Casey begins to see strange and disturbing changes in herself. Casey must confront the question of whether this all is happening in her head. Think 2018’s Eighth GradeBy way Marble Hornets. Our review:

Online, it is possible to find out your identity and be a stranger. Internet is supposed to be a place where everyone can connect. The strangeness of anonymous activities such as working together to make others scared online can help create an open and creative space. Schoenbrun suggests people have the power to decide what and who they wish to be within that spectrum of collective expression. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair isn’t just a movie about connecting, it’s about becoming. It’s a powerful acknowledgement of how confounding and frightening young adulthood can be. But it’s also a film about hope. There’s a name for the specific kind of alienation and confusion its characters are feeling. Maybe, it suggests, people like Casey will find that name, in spite of the machine’s best efforts.

You Won’t Be Alone

What to Watch:Rentable for as low as $19.99 at Amazon, Apple and Vudu

Photo: Branko Starcevic/Sundance Institute

The 2022 horror drama is set in 19th century Macedonia. You Won’t Be Alone (This movie is one of our favorites of 2011. It follows Nevena, a young witch and feral who longs to belong to the village. Impersonating several villagers via her grotesque transformation powers, Nevena’s story is one of obsession, love, and the universal desire to belong. Our review:

You Won’t Be AloneIt is a visual poetry about gender and tradition. It is, through the frame of the screen and Mark Bradshaw’s lush score, a bleeding, gory metaphor for why we watch movies. It is reflection. It is love.

Snake Eyes

What to Watch:Amazon Prime Video is available for streaming

Photo: Ed Araquel/Paramount Pictures

Robert Schwentke’s soft-reboot spinoff of the G.I. Joe stars Henry Golding playing Snake Eyes, a fan favorite ninja in an origin story. Our review:

G.I. Snake Eyes Joe OriginsIt is mostly a success because it makes viewers forget their cynicism for a good two hours while simultaneously accepting the absurdity that comes with a narrative universe made out of action figures. This film isn’t going to sell anyone on a new G.I. Joe movie franchise, but it’s maybe the best possible version of a movie designed to test those waters.

Cyrano

What to Watch:Amazon, Apple and Vudu are available to rent at $5.99

Peter Mountain/MGM

Peter DinklageGame of Thrones) stars in Joe Wright’s 2021 adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play as Cyrano de Bergerac, a man gifted with a talent for words and an aptitude for swordsmanship who harbors a deep-seated insecurity about his height. Cyrano has an unrequited relationship with Roxanne, played by Haley Bennett. He ghostwrites a series of letters to Christian Jr. confessing his feelings for him. Cyrano must find the strength to confront Roxanne and not let his opportunity for true love slip by. Our review:

It’s tempting to declare this film a cult classic in the making. But critics shouldn’t make such proclamations — audiences should. But Wright’s Cyrano, dropping on the edge of Oscar season, should deservedly find the kind of passionate fans who flocked to see the Best Picture-winning Shakespeare in Love. Wright and Dinklage create an unberesolved anguish that is worth crying over again and again. The best film musical in the past decade is Cyrano.

The Turning Point

What to Watch:Netflix streaming available

Image courtesy of Netflix

The gritty Italian crime drama follows two lonely men who form an unlikely friendship. They are Luduvico (Brando Pacitto), an inept slacker and Jack (Andrea Lattanzi), career thief. Jack pulls Luduvico into his world of crime in an odd-couple-mixed-with-Stockholm-Syndrome set up. Carl Brave, an Italian musician, provides the music for this movie.

White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch

What to Watch:Netflix streaming available

Image courtesy of Netflix

Documentary 2022 White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch The film explores the rise in popularity of the clothing label’s eponymous brand during the 1990s and 2000s. The film features interviews with several former retail employees, models, and activists regarding the brand’s reputation founded on wealth and social exclusion, as well as the controversies surrounding its discriminatory hiring practices.

Kuthiraivaal

What to Watch:Netflix streaming available

Image courtesy of Netflix

Freud, bank clerk at Freud’s bank, was awoken one morning by uneasy dreams and found that he had been transformed into a man wearing a horsetail in his bed. Loosely inspired by Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, Kuthiraivaal This Tamil-language psychological drama features elements of magic realism as well as surreal dreams sequences.

Polar Bear

What to Watch:Disney Plus streaming available

Jeff Wilson/Disney Enterprises

Catherine Keener narrationCapote, Being John MalkovichThe 2022 Disneynature document follows the adventures of a mother Polar Bear and her baby as they navigate the harsh Arctic conditions.

Virus-32

What to Watch:Shudder is available to stream

Shudder

The horror film is set in Uruguay and follows the outbreak of zombies on Montevideo’s streets. There are 32 second recovery periods after each attack.

Delta Space Mission

What to Watch:Amazon has $3.99 and Apple $4.99 respectively.

Image: Deaf Crocodile/Grasshopper Films

Co-directed by animators Mircea Toia and Călin Cazan, 1984’s Delta Space MissionIt is hailed as the best animated sci-fi film from Romania. The film is set in 3084 and tells the story Alma, an alien reporter with blue skin who boarded a sentient craft that falls for her. A psychedelic space odyssey in the vein of Rene Laloux’s animated cult classic Fantastic Planet, Delta Space MissionIt is an important touchstone in Eastern European animation. This streaming video is a 4K restored version of the film.

The King’s Daughter

What to Watch:Amazon, Apple, Vudu and Vudu are all available for rent at $5.99

Photo: Gravitas Ventures

Pierce Brosnan is the star of 2022’s action-adventure film about a fantasy movie. The King’s DaughterLouis XIV is the once-powerful French ruler. His fervent pursuit of immortality drives him to capture Fan Bingbing, a mermaid with the aim of sapping her life force in order to revive his own. His ambitious plans grind to a halt, however, when his free-spirited daughter Marie-Josèphe (Kaya Scodelario) discovers the mermaid and, sympathizing with its plight, endeavors to free it. The film marks the final performance of William Hurt in the role of Père La Chaise, a Jesuit priest and the king’s advisor. Our review:

The King’s Daughter This fantasy-themed epic is expensive and took nearly a decade to reach shelves. It finally reached wide release in January on a quiet weekend with very little promotion. This anti-pedigree combined with its bizarre fantasy plot about magic, mermaid-murder and other elements make it a spectacular cinematic disaster. So it’s perversely disappointing to learn that it’s a middling family-friendly movie with mere undertones of oddness.