This week’s batch of new movies to watch online sees one of our favorite Succession star in a Netflix horror film, the last place we expected to see them. The most exciting film in the stack, though, is a critically-appreciated film starring Anna Kendrick as a woman who needs a breakup very badly.
Netflix’s biggest film of the week is an animated adaptation with big names that promises shape-shifting action and adventure. Meanwhile, Max delivers a timely documentary about a Hollywood icon whose tragic death shaped public perception of AIDS forever.
Need more? Well, one of the best streaming services gets a movie for friends of a certain vintage, and Paramount Plus with Showtime offers one of the best recent movies you may have missed.
Run Rabbit Run (Netflix)
Succession’s Sarah Snook’s first high-profile role after playing Shiv Roy is a horror project where she plays a fertility doctor (named Sarah) whose daughter Mia (Lily LaTorre) is beginning to act in worrisome ways. And it all gets more complicated when the stories of Sarah’s troubled sister Alice, who was obsessed with rabbits, become the topic of conversation.
Then, Mia claims to be Alice, and wears a rabbit mask, giving her mother all kinds of anxiety. Run Rabbit Run’s reviews were decidedly mixed, though critics gave it high marks for cinematography and Snook’s performance.
Watch on Netflix starting Wednesday (June 28)
Alice, Darling (Starz)
Alice (Anna Kendrick) really needs a vacation, and her psychologically manipulative boyfriend Simon (Charlie Carrick) is the reason why. And while she gets a crumb of relaxation once she gets out of town with her friends (Kaniehtiio Horn, Wunmi Mosaku), everything starts to crumble down when Simon shows up.
Not only do Alice’s friends get to see her gaslighting behavior in person, but Simon tightens the screws and pushes Alice even further into anxiety. Critics hail this psychological thriller for Kendrick’s powerful performance, and credit Alanna Francis’ screenplay for how subtly Simon’s behavior is depicted early on.
Watch on Starz starting Wednesday (June 28)
Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed (Max)
The HBO Documentary team continues to celebrate Pride Month by exploring the life of Rock Hudson. For the uninformed, the 1950’s and ’60s star had to live a double-life as a closed gay man and one of the most popular stars of his era.
This documentary explains how the carefully crafted story of Hudson’s public persona as a ladies’ man came from the studios who wanted to protect their investment in the star. It includes interviews with those who knew Hudson best.
It then dives into how the lies about Hudson’s life fell apart when his AIDS diagnosis and following death exposed his truth — and changed the public’s perception of AIDS.
Watch on HBO and Max starting Wednesday (June 28) at 9 pm ET / PT
Nimona (Netflix)
A gorgeous-looking animated film that looks like it has shades of the Spider-Verse, Nimona features the voice acting of Chloë Grace Moretz as the titular shape-shifter. And lucky for Nimona, a knight once assigned to take her out now needs her help.
You see, Ballister (Riz Ahmed) may have sworn to take Nimona out, but that was before he was fraudulently painted as a villain and framed for regicide. Nimona is an adaptation of a webcomic and graphic novel, which itself was inspired by Moretz’s performance in the 2010 film Kick-Ass.
Watch on Netflix starting Friday (June 30)
Book Club: The Next Chapter (Peacock)
Vivian (Jane Fonda) is ready for the next big chapter of her life, but she won’t turn the page without her book club friends (Diane Keaton, Mary Steenburgen and Candice Bergen) along for the ride. And since the quartet’s made it through a pandemic’s worth of Zoom calls for their club, they decide to go to Italy together for Vivian’s bachelorette party.
To give Book Club a modern context, think about it as 80’s For Brady, but a bit more classy. There’s hijinks, though, including a cop that one of the book club members incorrectly suspects is a stripper.
Watch on Peacocks starting Friday (June 30)
Aftersun (Paramount Plus with Showtime)
Aftersun is one of the best films of the last year that probably went under your radar. The debut film from director Charlotte Wells, Aftersun has a modest plotline, following pre-teen Sofie (Frankie Corio) and her single father (Paul Mescal) on holiday in Turkey, where she tries to make friends and he doesn’t do much parenting , as he’s a bit detached from it all.
At the same time, Aftersun shows us a twenty-years-older Sofie (Celia Rowlson-Hall), processing memories of this trip and her father via the footage recorded on a camcorder. Critics threw flowers at Wells, Mescal and Corio’s feet for making Aftersun such a delicate yet powerful film.
Watch on Paramount Plus with Showtime on Saturday (July 1)
Children of the Corn (Shudder, AMC Plus)
A new crop of Children of the Corn comes to harvest, led by the super-creepy 12-year-old Eden (Kate Moyer) leading a batch of unnerving kids possessed by spirits who rise from the fields. Fortunately, not all of the youth have been turned, as classmate Boleyn (Elena Kampouris) stands defiantly against peer pressure.
And most Children of the Corn movies, unlike Kurt Wimmer’s edition is actually well-shot and visually strong.
Watch on Shudder (via Amazon Prime Channels) and AMC Plus starting Friday (June 30)
