Streaming ain’t easy. Sure, if you’re a cinephile, practically every movie you could ever want to watch is at your fingertips. But therein lies the problem: knowing what’s out there, and where to find it, can become overwhelming. Here, we’re doing the hard work for you, by cutting through the clutter and getting straight to the best new movies available to watch right now and in the near future. Here are the five must-watch movies hitting streaming services this week.
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1. Warfare (HBO Max)
Ray Mendoza, a longtime Hollywood military advisor, and Civil War’s Alex Garland co-direct this matter-of-fact depiction of Mendoza’s own experiences in the Iraq War. It stars a who’s-who of rising young actors, including Will Poulter, May December’s Charles Melton and Shōgun’s Cosmo Jarvis, but this ain’t The Dirty Dozen – its portrayal of modern combat is so bluntly realistic, it barely qualifies as cinematic. Read our review.
Watch Warfare on HBO Max starting Sept 12
2. The Wedding Banquet (Paramount+)
In this modern update of Ang Lee’s 1993 romantic comedy, a gay Korean immigrant living in Seattle (newcomer Han Gi-Chan) enters into a marriage of convenience with a lesbian friend (Killers of the Flower Moon’s Lily Gladstone) that’s complicated by the sudden arrival of the former’s grandmother (Minari’s Youn Yuh-jung). Highly touted out of Sundance, it also features another profile-elevating performance from Saturday Night Live’s Bowen Yang as Gi-Chan’s put-upon boyfriend.
Watch The Wedding Banquet on Paramount+ starting Sept 8
3. Sister Midnight (Hulu)
A dark comedy with real bite, writer-director Karan Kandhari’s stylish first feature follows a Mumbai woman in a loveless arranged marriage discovering an aggressive new side of herself. Radhika Apte is electric in the lead, and Kandhari fills the screen with kinetic visual flourishes – as well as a soundtrack that includes everything from traditional Cambodian music to Motörhead – making this one of the truly thrilling under-the-radar debuts of the year. Read our review.
Watch Sister Midnight on Hulu starting Sept 9
4. Novocaine (Prime)
His name is Caine. Nathan Caine. And he can’t feel pain, almost as if his entire body is shot full of… some kind of numbing agent. As played by Companion’s Jack Quaid in this action-comedy, he’s a bit of a dweeb. But when his crush (Prey’s Amber Midthunder) is kidnapped, his strange condition becomes an asset. Read our review.
Watch Novocaine on Prime starting Sept 12
5. Screamboat (Peacock)
In the grand tradition of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, director Steven LaMorte took advantage of Disney’s epochal 1928 animated short Steamboat Willie entering the public domain, turning Mickey Mouse’s inaugural voyage into a live-action splatterpalooza. Indeed, it involves a man (David Howard Thornton, aka Terrifier’s Art the Clown) in a giant rat suit murdering passengers on a New York ferry. It may not be high art, but if any brand deserves to have the piss (and entrails) taken out of it, it’s the House of Mouse.
Watch Screamboat on Peacock starting Sept 12