Smile, new Christmas movies, and every new movie to watch at home

This weekend SmileSosie Bacon is the star of the horror film “The New Horror Story”.13 Reasons You Should CareParamount Plus is streaming “The Demon” this weekend. If a movie about a leering, shape-shifting demon that feeds on the psychic trauma of its victims before devouring them whole from the inside doesn’t quite sound like your vibe right now, not to worry — there’s an avalanche of new movies to watch on VOD and streaming this week, including Jordan Peele’s new sci-fi horror film NopePeacock

A sequel to the 1983 classic Christmas Story, featuring Peter Billingsley reprising his role as a now adult Ralphie, comes to streaming this week on HBO Max, as well as the sequel to 2007’s EnchantedDisney Plus, the modern musical comedy SpiritedWill Ferrell stars alongside Ryan Gosling on Apple TV Plus. Also, a wide range of films like The Fantasy Adventure are available through Apple TV Plus. SlumberlandThe fourth period of drama about the breaking of the wall The Wonder starring Florence Pugh, the prequel-reboot to 2013’s R.I.P.D.The unconventional therapy documentary StutzNetflix Also, enjoy the sci-fi and musical dramas Neptune Frost on Criterion Channel, and all the other movies that premiered on VOD this week, including Todd Field’s virtuosic drama Tár starring Cate Blanchett.

Here’s the low-down on everything there is to watch this weekend!


Smile

What to Watch:Paramount Plus streaming available

A woman smiling at a baby shower while younger children stand horrified in Smile

Image: Paramount Pictures

Genre: Horror/thriller
Run time: 1h 55m
Director: Parker Thin
Cast: Sosie Bacon, Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner

Sosie Bacon (Mare of EasttownIn this horror-sci thriller, Dr. Rose Cotter plays the role of a therapist who is confronted with a strange, terrifying event that results in one of her patients’ deaths. Afterwards, Rose becomes increasingly more paranoid that a malicious spirit — the same entity responsible for her patient’s death and countless others — is haunting her at every turn, adopting the appearance of both strangers and loved ones alike while wearing an eerie, uncanny smile.

Our review:

SmileThis is often a corny, gimmicky horror film, filled with too many jump-scares to be funny. Finn employs abrupt and rapid sound cuts and harsh sound cues to keep viewers screaming and shaking over even the simplest things, like Rose eating a hamburger and her hanging nails. But no matter how excessively the legitimate scares pile up, they’re startling and convincing. Editing and music have been incredibly well-tuned to maximise impact every time tension is released slowly. This makes it all possible. Smile It was a smooth, but unrelenting ride.

Nope

What to Watch:Peacock is available to stream

OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya), Emerald Haywood (Keke Palmer), and Angel Torres (Brandon Perea) standing in a parched field in Nope

Universal Pictures

Genre: Horror/sci-fi
Run time: 2h 10m
Director:Jordan Peele
Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun

Jordan Peele’s latest sci-fi horror mystery thriller stars returning collaborator Daniel Kaluuya (Move Out) and newcomer Keke Palmer (Alice) as two siblings who, after discovering something miraculous and horrifying above the skies of their family’s California horse ranch, work together to capture bona fide proof of extraterrestrial life.

Our review:

To call it would be too costly Nope It’s a terrible movie. Even in Peele’s lack of precision, plenty of good qualities lurk underneath the knottier shortcomings. But this horror flick doesn’t rise to the levels of Move Out Or Use, either. It isn’t because in this case, Peele isn’t trying to teach white people to understand the full scope and feeling of racism. It’s because NopeIt is more of an idea than a tale. It’s a collection of individually captivating scenes, as opposed to an intriguing whole. It’s a handsome picture, but Peele is far too impressed with its handsomeness to work on populating it with fully felt characters. It might enthrall audiences, and it might frighten them, but it’ll struggle to stay with them after the credits start to roll.

Tár

What to Watch:Amazon, Apple, Vudu and Vudu are all available for rent at $19.99

Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) makes a vigorous full-body downward gesture while conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in Todd Field’s Tár

Foto by Focus Features

Cate Blanchett star as actor-director Todd FieldBedroom, Children under 5) long-awaited return to theaters as the eponymous Lydia Tár, a renowned composer-conductor whose life, career, and legacy are threatened by the cumulative consequences of her hubris, infidelity, and self-serving manipulation. It’s a remarkable film that not only features one of the best lead performances of the year, but also one of the most inexplicably bizarre, memorable, and fascinating endings in recent memory (Fair warning — don’t click that link if you don’t want want to be spoiled!).

Christmas Story

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

A man wearing glasses (Peter Billingsley) stands on a ladder next to a Christmas tree, looking exasperated with his hand raised and mouth open.

Image Credit: Max

Genre:Comedic Comedy
Run time: 1h 39m
Director: Clay Kaytis
Cast: Peter Billingsley, Erinn Hayes, Scott Schwartz

Who doesn’t love An Christmas Story starring Peter Billingsley? Moreover, who doesn’t love a legacy sequel? Nobody, that’s who! A now-adult Ralph “Ralphie” Parker returns to his childhood home 30 years later to celebrate Christmas with his wife and children. It sounds easy. Wrong.

Be Disenchanted

What to Watch:Disney Plus streaming available

A red-haired woman in a pink floral shirt (Amy Adams) holds a baby beside a young girl in a green coat (Morgan Philip) and a man (Patrick Dempsey) while standing in front of a staircase and living room.

Image: Disney

Rewind 15 years to the date of the original live-action musical comedy EnchantedThis sequel features former princess Giselle Adams (Adams), and Robert Dempsey (Dempsey), as they move from Manhattan with their families to Monroeville, a quiet suburb. When the town is magically transformed due to Giselle’s restlessness, she and her family must find a way to reverse the spell, all while figuring out what “happily ever after” truly means to them.

Slumberland

What to Watch:Netflix streaming available

A furry horned man (Jason Momoa) in a purple coat and pants strikes a pose while standing in the street of a massive city beside a small girl (Marlow Barkley).

Image courtesy of Netflix

Genre: Fantasy/adventure
Run time: 1h 57m
Director: Francis Lawrence
Cast: Jason Momoa, Marlow Barkley, Chris O’Dowd

Based on Winsor McCay’s fantasy comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland, director Francis Lawrence’s (Catching Fire: The Hunger GamesA fantasy film about a girl named Marlow Barkley (Jason Momoa) follows her on a quest to find her missing father.

R.I.P.D. 2: Rise of the Damned

What to Watch:Netflix streaming available

Dead sheriff Roy (Jeffrey Donovan) looks dubious as he and his more experienced, black-leather-clad ghost-hunter partner Jeanne (Penelope Mitchell) look at something offscreen in RIPD 2: Rise of the Damned

Photo: Joel Baik/Universal Pictures

Genre: Action/comedy
Run time: 1h 42m
Director:Paul Leyden
Cast: Jeffrey Donovan. Richard Fleeshman. TillyKeeper

Y’all remember R.I.P.D.The 2013 supernatural comedy action comedy “The Hunt for the Undead Criminals” starring Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges. No? That’s okay, not a lot of people do, but anyway the point is that a prequel-reboot of the film came out this week and — surprise — apparently it’s pretty good! The film follows Bridges’ character Sheriff Roy Pulsipher, now played by Jeffrey Donovan (You can burn the notice() As he sets out to tackle his first major case since joining the R.I.P.D. While trying to solve his murder mystery.

Our review:

It’s all nonsense, but it’s nonsense that improves on its predecessor, at least aesthetically: Reimagining RIPDWesterns downplay their status as Westerns Black MenThe action is not a copy, but it does have some uniqueness and an overall sense of humor. When the special effects arrive, they’re mostly generic squiggles of smoke and light, but the movie never descends into a green-screen nightmare populated by ugly CG characters the way the first one did. Paul Leyden was the co-director and writer.Chick FightThis movie uses set design, costumes and lighting that is more traditional than excessive amounts of software to establish the scene. It isn’t exactly a feast for the eyes: This is still a direct-to-video prequel to a franchise nonstarter. The Western setting helps to avoid the fake, hazy appearance of many blockbuster-aspiring big-screen stars.

Spirited

What to Watch:Apple TV Plus is available for streaming

A man in a red and white suit (Ryan Reynolds) and a man in a black and white suit (Will Ferrell) sing alongside one another in from a group of dancers.

Photo: Apple TV Plus

Genre: Musical/comedy
Run time: 2h 7m
Director: Sean Anders
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Will Ferrell and Octavia Tracy

Ryan Gosling and Will Ferrell star in a musical version of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol The present. Clint Briggs is an advertising executive, who causes the misery of others. The Ghost of Christmas present (Ferrell), selects him to redeem his soul. Briggs’ seeming inability to reform causes Present to rethink his entire existence, forcing both of them to reevaluate and relearn the true meaning of the holiday spirit.

Neptune Frost

What to Watch:Criterion Channel is available for streaming

Cheryl Isheja as Neptune Frost in Neptune Frost directed by Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams

Image: Sundance Institute

Genre: Sci-fi/musical
Run time: 1h 45m
Director:Anisia Uzeyman, Saul Williams
Cast: Elvis Ngabo, Cheryl Isheja, Kaya Free

Afrofuturist Musical Drama follows an intersex African hacker. After discovering an anti-colonialist collection of escaped coltan miners and falling in love one with them, he leads a revolution against an oppressive regime in the far-future.

Our review:

Neptune FrostIt is about joy and anguish, celebrations and reflection, and between the community and individuals. More pointedly, it’s a film about a disenfranchised collective who seize power over the technology their lives and labor have been exploited to create, and use it to give voice to a message that before went gone unheard. “Technology was the name of my brother,” Matalusa tells his fellow hackers in the film’s final act. “It’s technology that guides us today. They communicate using our sweat and blood but never hear our voice. Until now.”

The Wonder

What to Watch:Netflix streaming available

A nurse (Florence Pugh) in a blue and white dress with a white scarf standing in a low field of grace with a gray sky overhead.

Photo taken by Aidan Monaghan/Netflix

Genre: Mystery/drama
Run time: 1h 48m
Director: Sebastián Lelio
Cast: Florence Pugh, Tom Burke, Kíla Lord Cassidy

This period drama stars Florence Pugh as Elizabeth Wright. She is an English nurse sent to rural Ireland to care for a girl who hasn’t eaten in months. Tourists and tourists gather in the towns believing that the little girl is a saint living among the dead, and Elizabeth begins to investigate the area in an attempt to discover if this really is a miracle or a plot.

Our review:

There’s a psychological explanation for what’s going on with Anna. Once the “holy secret” is prematurely revealed, however, the story loses both its intrigue and its driving force. The vagueness in the script — adapted by Leilo and Lady Macbeth screenwriter Alice Birch — flips from asset to liability in its second half, as thematic threads sputter and burn out without plot points to sustain them. The characters’ already opaque psychologies spin out in frustrating ways, and the film’s bouts of fourth-wall breaking overexplain some points while neglecting others. It’s true that Lib smashing against the brick wall of blind faith is an essential part of the story, but at some point, The Wonder crosses a line between eerie ambiguity and aimless floundering.

It’s in Her Hands

What to Watch:Netflix streaming available

A woman wearing a headscarf and glasses (Zarifa Ghafari) stares off into the distance.

Image courtesy of Netflix

Genre:Documentary
Run time: 1h 33m
Director: Marcel Mettelsiefen, Tamana Ayazi
Cast: Zarifa Ghafari

Zarifa, at just 26 years of age, was one of Afghanistan’s first women mayors. This documentary follows her story. Filmed over the course of two tumultuous years, the movie follows Ghafari’s struggle to maintain peace and survive amid the retreat of Western forces from the country, the Taliban’s 2021 recapture of Kabul, and the uncertain future of the nation’s women ahead.

Stutz

What to Watch:Netflix streaming available

A black and white image of a bearded man (Jonah Hill) smiling and sitting in a chair against a blank wall with a portrait of an office hanging.

Image courtesy of Netflix

Genre:Documentary
Run time: 1h 36m
Director: Jonah Hill
Cast: Jonah Hill, Phil Stutz

In what is probably one of the most unconventional premises for a documentary ever produced — and yes I know, that’s Really saying something — actor-director Jonah Hill (Mid90s) interviews his friend and psychiatrist Phil Stutz, about his life, his ‘Tools’ approach to therapy, and his philosophy with regard to doctor-patient (platonic) relationships.

Bantú Mama

What to Watch:Netflix streaming available

A woman with her back turned to the camera (Clarisse Albrecht) lights a cigarette in front of an out-of-focus cityscape at night.

Image: ARRAY Release/Netflix

Genre:Drama
Run time: 1h 17m
Director: Ivan Herrera
Cast: Clarisse Albrecht, Euris Javiel, Johnny

After escaping from police custody on suspicion of smuggling drugs, Emma (Albrecht) — a Cameroonian-French woman — finds refuge in one of the most dangerous districts of Santo Domingo. Taken in by a group of children, she grows to become their unlikely protégée and maternal figure as their lives are subtly yet swiftly transformed by this encounter.

At the Wedding, The People We Hate

What to Watch:Prime Video available for streaming

A man in a blue suit with a pink floral corsage (Ben Platt) stands next to a woman in a red dress with a yellow floral corsage (Allison Janney) and a woman in a pink floral dress (Kristen Bell) with a forest of trees and hedges in the background.

Image: Amazon Prime Video

Genre:Comedic Comedy
Run time: 1h 39m
Director: Claire Scanlon
Cast: Allison Janney, Kirsten Bell, Ben Platt, Cynthia Addai-Robinson

Kristen Bell (The Good Place) and Ben Platt (Dear Evan HansenThe film stars as Alice and Paul (two dysfunctional American siblings) who attend the English country wedding of Eloise Addai-Robinson, their wealthy, estranged half-sister. The problem is that their boisterous behaviour clashes with the elegant and uptight behavior of other guests, preventing them from reuniting. Oh yeah, and Allison Janney (The West Wing) co-stars here as the siblings’ mother.

Revealer

What to Watch:Rentals available for only $3.99 from Amazon, Vudu and $4.99 from Apple

A woman stands in a dark hallway illuminated by red neon lights.

Image by Shatterglass Films/Shudder

Genre: Horror/thriller
Run time: 1h 26m
Director: Luke Boyce
Cast:Caito Aase and Shaina Schrooten are Bishop Stevens

This recent horror thriller — previously exclusive on Shudder — is now available to rent on VOD. Aase (a sex worker) and Schrooten (a religious protestor) are trapped in a booth that sells peeps and have to come together to survive.

Bad Axe

What to Watch:Amazon, Apple, Vudu and Vudu are all available for rent at $6.99

A woman stands in crowd of protestors holding a sign reading “Black Lives Matter” over her head.

Image: IFC Films

Genre:Documentary
Run time: 1h 42m
Director: David Siev
Cast: Skyler Janssen, Michael Meinhold, Chun Siev

This documentary follows the story of the Sievs. They are an average Asian American family who live in Michigan’s rural areas. Their lives are disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a moment of extreme panic, they are attacked by Neo-Nazis.

Taurus

What to Watch:Amazon, Apple, Vudu and Vudu are all available for rent at $6.99

A photo of a young man covered in tattoos (Colson Baker/Machine Gun Kelly) in a black and pink bathrob sitting behind a glass living room table.

Jorge Cortez/RLJE Films

Genre:Drama
Run time: 1h 38m
Director: Tim Sutton
Cast: Machine Gun Kelly, Maddie Hasson, Scoot McNairy

If you’re not yet tired of hearing about Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly) and Megan Fox’s relationship, here’s a movie where the former stars as a “bad boy” musician going through a prolonged self-destructive episode and the latter makes a wordless cameo appearance as said rocker’s ex-girlfriend. Scoot McNairy also appears here

It’s There

What to Watch:Rentable for as low as $6.99 via Amazon or Vudu

A man in a gray tshirt (Jason Schwartzman) and a black headband over his head peers over at a nightstand with a light shining overhead.

Foto by Matthias Grunksy/Magnolia Pictures

Genre: Drama/comedy
Run time: 1h 34m
Director: Andrew Bujalski
Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Lili Taylor, Lennie James

Filmed entirely during COVID-19’s pandemic, the film features eight actors in four short stories. They explore various takes on trust and create unlikely connections in an ever more bizarre and unhinged environment.

Nocebo

What to Watch:Amazon, Apple, Vudu and Vudu are all available for purchase at $14.99

A screaming woman (Eva Green) leans against a wall away from a red, fire-like glow off-screen.

Image by RLJE Films/Shudder

Genre:Horror
Run time: 1h 34m
Director:Lorcan Finnegan
Cast: Eva Green, Mark Strong, Chai Fonacier

Eva GreenPenny DreadfulThis psychological horror movie stars a woman named Christine (played by ) as a fashion designer who is plagued with an unknown illness. She turns to Diana Ponacier, a Filipino caregiver, for assistance. When mysterious and disturbing visions and events begin to plague Christine, her husband Felix (Strong) will have to fight Diana in order to save his wife’s life.

#Smile #Christmas #movies #movie #watch #home