This week Bones and All, the latest romantic horror road movie from Call Me by Your Name director Luca Guadagnino starring Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet, is available to stream on VOD. There’s even more new movies, like Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, and more, available to rent and purchase on VOD this weekend if Guadagnino’s lovesick cannibal drama doesn’t whet your appetite, not to mention all the other new films available on streaming.
Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s semi-autobiographical dark comedy Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths finally comes to Netflix this weekend following its limited theatrical run in November. Black Adam, the latest installment in the soon-to-be-retconned DC cinematic universe starring Dwayne Johnson, finally three-point lands onto HBO Max. The critically acclaimed psychological horror film Nanny arrives this week on Prime Video, while the Christmas-themed horror movie The Apology starring Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad) premieres on Shudder.
There’s so much to choose from and so little free time to watch it all. Here’s a rundown on all there is new to enjoy on streaming and VOD this week.
Netflix
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
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Genre: Black comedy/drama
Run time: 2h 39m
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Cast: Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani
The Revenant director Alejandro G. Iñárritu returns with his first feature-length film in over seven years and his first to be filmed in Mexico since 2000’s Amores perros. This epic black comedy drama follows the story of Silverio Gama (Daniel Giménez Cacho), a documentarian who returns to his native country of Mexico to film a new film, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths, and experiences an existential crisis elicited by strange recurring visions. Several critics have already noted the similarities between Silverio’s and Iñárritu’s lives even apart from the obvious inclusion of the title of the film itself, with many calling the former a surrogate for the latter. Très meta.
Private Lesson
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
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Genre: Romance/comedy
Run time: 1h 29m
Director: Kıvanç Baruönü
Cast: Bensu Soral, Halit Özgür Sarı, Helin Kandemir
This romantic comedy tells the story of Azra, a private tutor who secretly works as a life coach helping girls pursue their crushes and accomplish their goals in life. When Azra is approached by a shy young student with hopes of becoming the girlfriend of a popular bad boy named Utku, she gets a little more than she bargained for.
The Big Four
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
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Genre: Comedy/action
Run time: 2h 21m
Director: Timo Tjahjanto
Cast: Abimana Aryasatya, Putri Marino, Lutesha
The Night Comes for Us director Timo Tjahjanto makes his explosive return to Netflix with a action comedy about misfit band of retired assassins led by a female detective embarking on a deadly mission to exact vengeance on the people responsible for her father’s death.
Violet Evergarden: Recollections
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
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Genre: Drama
Run time: 1h 35m
Director: Taichi Ishidate, Haruka Fujita
Cast: Yui Ishikawa, Daisuke Namikawa, Takehito Koyasu
Have you seen Violet Evergarden, one of the best anime on Netflix? If not, this reedited feature-length version of the 13-episode series might just be the thing to pique your interest. The anime follows the story of a former child soldier who, after losing her arms in combat, is fitted with mechanical prosthetic replacements and hired as a ghostwriter. While attempting to find her purpose in life apart from war, Violet must reconcile her own repressed feelings for her former commanding officer who died in battle.
Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
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Genre: Comedy
Run time: 52m
Director: Laura Murphy
Cast: Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Maya Rudolph
In this Christmas special episode from the improvisational crime comedy Murderville, detective Terry Seattle (Arnett) is tasked with his most important case yet… The murder of Santa Claus, bringer of joy and toys for children and children-at-heart the world over. Jason Bateman (Arrested Development) and Maya Rudolph (Bridesmaids) join Arnett as guest stars. However, as always, the catch is that neither actor has been given the script and has no idea what’s going on. Shenanigans ensue!
HBO Max
Black Adam
Where to watch: Available to stream on HBO Max
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Genre: Superhero/action
Run time: 2h 5m
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo
Finally — the film that promised to “upend the hierarchy of power” in the DC Universe is available to stream on HBO Max. Whether it managed to do that, however, is a matter of debate, though the consensus seems to be skewing toward a resounding “ehhhhhh.” Dwayne Johnson stars in Jaume Collet-Serra’s superhero action movie as the eponymous demigod antihero, newly awakened after a centuries-long power nap. He then beats up a lot of bad guys, before proceeding to beat up a lot of good guys, before finally deciding whether he wants to be one or the other.
From our review:
The best criticism of Black Adam might have been made by Johnson himself, well before the movie came out, in the post-credits sequence for DC League of Super-Pets. As Black Adam’s canine companion Anubis, Johnson notes that being an antihero is “basically exactly like a regular hero, except way cooler. You make up your own rules and then you break them. Also, you can ignore most moral and ethical conventions because no one can stop you.” Black Adam’s take on antiheroism never really contradicts that pointed takedown. The film is so focused on the idea of a black-clad mass murderer being cool that it doesn’t ever answer the questions it starts to raise about what code a hero should live by, or where the limits of redemption lie. In that regard, Black Adam is just like the many other mediocre superhero movies it plays at subverting: It’s more focused on spectacle than on critiquing the genre, or developing any of the deeper themes it feints at exploring.
Prime Video
Nanny
Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video
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Genre: Psychological horror
Run time: 1h 38m
Director: Nikyatu Jusu
Cast: Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan, Sinqua Walls
This psychological horror film follows Aisha (Anna Diop), an undocumented Senegalese immigrant living in New York who is hired as a nanny by a wealthy Upper East Side family. Chasing her dream of bringing her young son, who she left behind in Senegal, to America, she finds herself unexpectedly confronted with a dark truth that threatens to shatter her hopes of a better life. Nikyatu Jusu’s film comes across as spiritually reminiscent of Remi Weekes’ 2020 horror thriller His House, and I mean that wholeheartedly as a compliment.
From our review:
Jusu excels at highlighting the uncomfortable power dynamics at work, allowing Aisha’s relationship with her employers to be tense and complex rather than teetering into overtly sinister territory. There’s no malice in the way they treat Aisha, but her discomfort at the liberties they take and the bounds they overstep is always palpable. Amy lends Aisha a dress at one point, insistent that it suits her skin, even as Aisha remarks that it’s a bit tight. Adam’s photography adorns the apartment in big, blown-up prints, and he’s eager to talk with Aisha about the subjects of his art and his fame: Black poverty and strife. These interactions superficially recall the awkward “meet the family” moments of Jordan Peele’s Get Out, but the truth of them is cleverly mundane: Her employers feel so comfortably above her that they don’t have to consider her interiority at all.
Shudder
The Apology
Where to watch: Available to stream on Shudder
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Genre: Mystery/thriller
Run time: 1h 31m
Director: Alison Locke
Cast: Anna Gunn, Janeane Garofalo, Linus Roache
This Christmas-themed horror film stars Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad) as Darlene Hagen, a recovering alcoholic haunted by the disappearance of her daughter over 20 years ago. While preparing to host her family’s Christmas celebration, Darlene’s estranged ex-brother-in-law, Jack (Linus Roache), arrives unannounced, offering a “gift” that threatens to drive her to the brink of insanity and murder. Happy holidays!
VOD
The Banshees of Inisherin
Where to watch: Available to purchase for $14.99 on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
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Genre: Tragicomedy/drama
Run time: 1h 54m
Director: Martin McDonagh
Cast: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri director Martin McDonagh makes his return to the British Isles with this tragicomedy period drama about Pádraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson), two lifelong friends whose sudden acrimonious split sends ripples throughout the close-knit community on the isle of Inisherin, which forces both men to consider what the value and purpose of friendship even is.
From our review:
The Banshees of Inisherin is a return to familiar territory for writer-director Martin McDonagh: It plays like a spiritual sequel to his pitch-black 2008 comedy-thriller In Bruges. That film, McDonagh’s feature debut, stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as hitmen hiding out in a version of Bruges designed to feel like Catholic purgatory. Farrell and Gleeson also lead Banshees, another whip-smart, wryly amusing tale driven by existential dread. This time around, they play much simpler men — a farmer and a musician, respectively — but they have the same anguish as their assassin counterparts, resulting in a film that maintains a spiritual vice grip over its audience, in spite of the charming setting.
The Fabelmans
Where to watch: Available to rent for $19.99 on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
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Genre: Coming-of-age drama
Run time: 2h 31m
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Gabriel LaBelle
Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical drama follows the story of Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle), a young aspiring filmmaker who finds stability in the medium of film amid the dysfunction of his family life and childhood in post-WWII Arizona. If that description isn’t enough to entice you, how about a cameo appearance by Twin Peaks director David Lynch as acclaimed Hollywood icon John Ford?
from our review:
At the heart of nearly every Steven Spielberg film is the spirit of a boy who’s still saddened by his parents’ divorce, papering over his grief in cinema’s vast sandbox. You can see that kid’s pain unconsciously spilling out in the bickering mom and dad characters from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It springs forth in the family dynamics of E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial. And it evolves in Catch Me If You Can, as Frank Abagnale seeks refuge at the home of his mom’s second family. But Spielberg has never approached his own childhood with such straightforwardness as he does in his semi-autobiographical movie The Fabelmans, one of 2022’s best films so far.
Bones and All
Where to watch: Available to rent for $19.99 on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
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Genre: Horror/romance
Run time: 2h 10m
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Cast: Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg
Call Me by Your Name director Luca Guadagnino and Timothée Chalamet team up once again for a romantic-horror road movie about cannibalism that is in no way, shape, or form at all principally inspired by the life of any past collaborators whatsoever. Nope, forget it. Chalamet stars opposite Taylor Russell (Waves) as Lee, an intense young drifter with a hunger for human flesh who falls in love with a fellow hitchhiker named Maren (Russell) searching for belonging and certainty in a harsh and uncertain world.
From our review:
Beyond going in prepared for tremendous amounts of blood and some brief, intense violence, Bones and All is the kind of film that’s better experienced in the moment than in descriptions. Each new revelation about Maren’s past and present is unfolded carefully, in part because she doesn’t really understand her own nature, and has to learn about it alongside the audience. Screenwriter David Kajganich (a writer-producer-developer on the much-beloved horror series The Terror) never feels like he’s in a hurry to get to any particular part of the story. He and Guadagnino make plenty of room for Maren learning through conversations, first with new acquaintance Sully (Bridge of Spies’ Mark Rylance, once again disappearing into an incredible performance), then with newer acquaintance Lee (Chalamet), a world-wise boy about her age.
Goodbye, Don Glees!
Where to watch: Available to purchase for $12.99 on Amazon and Apple; available to rent for $3.99 on Vudu
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Genre: Coming-of-age/drama
Run time: 1h 38m
Director: Atsuko Ishizuka
Cast: Natsuki Hanae, Yuki Kaji, Ayumu Murase
A Place Further Than the Universe director Atsuko Ishizuka makes her feature-film debut with this original coming-of-age drama about three boys: Roma, Toto, and Drop, who venture into the forest neighboring their town in order to find proof that they did not set a nearby forest fire. Along the way, the three celebrate what will likely be their last adolescent adventure together as their lives and respective interests pull them along different paths. Essentially, it’s like the anime equivalent of Stand by Me, but a little different.
Prey for the Devil
Where to watch: Available to purchase for $19.99 on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
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Genre: Horror/thriller
Run time: 1h 33m
Director: Daniel Stamm
Cast: Jacqueline Byers, Colin Salmon, Christian Navarro
A troubled nun with a dark past, Sister Ann (Jacqueline Byers), attends an exorcism school reopened by the Catholic Church with the goal of becoming the first female exorcist. While battling for the soul of a young girl, Ann is brought face-to-face with the very demon that once tormented her family years ago.