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Imaginary, Lisa Frankenstein, Netflix’s The Beautiful Game, and every new movie to watch at home this weekend

Greetings, Polygon readers! Each week, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.

This week, Imaginary, the new horror movie from Blumhouse, finally comes to VOD. Not interested? That’s all right; there’s tons of other exciting new releases to choose from this weekend. Lisa Frankenstein, the new horror comedy from Jennifer’s Body writer-producer Diablo Cody, comes to Peacock this weekend, along with the dark comedy When You Finish Saving the World starring Julianne Moore and Finn Wolfhard on Netflix. There’s also plenty of other intriguing VOD releases, including the 4K remaster of Stop Making Sense, the culinary romance drama The Taste of Things, and more.

Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!


New on Netflix

The Beautiful Game

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Two men standing beside a goalpost holding a soccer ball. Image: Netflix

Genre: Sports drama
Run time: 2h 5m
Director: Thea Sharrock
Cast: Bill Nighy, Micheal Ward, Susan Wokoma

Bill Nighy stars as the manager of England’s homeless football team who coaches them to compete at a global tournament in Rome in this new sports drama. Micheal Ward (Empire of Light) also stars as Vinny, the talented but troubled player on the team whose skills might deliver them the championship.

The Wages of Fear

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

A man in a kevlar vest holding a large container of nitroglycerine in The Wages of Fear (2024). Photo: Reda Laaroussi/Netflix

Genre: Thriller
Run time: 1h 28m
Director: Julien Leclercq
Cast: Franck Gastambide, Alban Lenoir, Ana Girardot

The third remake of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s classic 1953 thriller follows a team of drivers who are tasked with a deadly mission: Deliver two truckloads of highly volatile nitroglycerine across a desert to douse a deadly gas explosion. This version of The Wages of Fear stars a cast of big-name French talent, including Alban Lenoir of Lost Bullet fame.

When You Finish Saving the World

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

A teenage boy (Finn Wolfhard) with a guitar case on his back stands next to a older, long-haired woman (Julianne Moore) wearing glasses. Image: A24

Genre: Black comedy-drama
Run time: 1h 28m
Director: Jesse Eisenberg
Cast: Julianne Moore, Finn Wolfhard, Alisha Boe

Ziggy (Finn Wolfhard), a high school student with a passion for folk music, and his mother, Evelyn (Julianne Moore), the head of a women’s shelter, just can’t seem to get along. As their relationship increasingly frays, the two begin to seek out emotional reciprocity in others and question what it is exactly they are searching for in their relationship, in Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut.

The Miracle Club

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Image: Zephyr Films/Sony Pictures Classics

Genre: Comedy-drama
Run time: 1h 30m
Director: Thaddeus O’Sullivan
Cast: Maggie Smith, Laura Linney, Kathy Bates

Set in 1967, this comedy follows a group of three close friends who reunite with the daughter of their late friend Chrissie while vacationing in the French town of Lourdes.

New on MGM Plus

The Boys in the Boat

Where to watch: Available to stream on MGM Plus

A boatful of men rowing across a lake. Image: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Smokehouse Pictures

Genre: Sports biopic
Run time: 2h 3m
Director: George Clooney
Cast: Joel Edgerton, Callum Turner, Jack Mulhern

When I think of the 1936 Summer Olympics, I think of Jesse Owens and the incredible things he accomplished in the sprint and long jump events in front of a German crowd passionately rooting against him. But another group of Americans also made history while vying for Olympic glory — the University of Washington rowing team, a group of working-class athletes whose story is told in George Clooney’s latest directorial effort.

New on Peacock

Lisa Frankenstein

Where to watch: Available to stream on Peacock

Lisa laying in bed beside the Creature, stroking his hair. Photo: Michele K. Short/Focus Features

Genre: Comedy horror
Run time: 1h 41m
Director: Zelda Williams
Cast: Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Liza Soberano

Writer-producer Diablo Cody (Jennifer’s Body) and director Zelda Williams’ latest film is a fiendishly funny horror comedy inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Kathryn Newton (Freaky) stars as Lisa, a lonely and misunderstood teenage girl who finds love in the most unexpected of places: the reanimated corpse of a Victorian-era man (Cole Sprouse).

From our review:

Many of Lisa Frankenstein’s individual scenes are strong, but like the decaying male lead, the movie could use more connective tissue. One of the movie’s first scenes takes place at a party, and drags on way longer than it needs to, burying Lisa in the shuffle of moving parts. When Lisa first encounters the Creature, there’s an involved sequence as she runs away from him, through the house, ultimately dangling out of a window in an effort to get away. But not even a full minute later, she’s tenderly taking care of him, before she even recognizes that he’s the same man whose grave she’s been enamored with.

New on Mubi

The Settlers

Where to watch: Available to stream on Mubi

Three stern-looking men mounted on horseback with a forest of trees and bushes in the distance. Image: Quijote Films/MUBI

Genre: Crime drama
Run time: 1h 37m
Director: Felipe Gálvez Haberle
Cast: Camilo Arancibia, Mark Stanley, Benjamin Westfall

This revisionist Western follows three horsemen: a Chilean marksman (Camilo Arancibia), British lieutenant (Mark Stanley), and an American mercenary (Benjamin Westfall) who embark on a mission to “secure” a wealthy landowner’s plot of land. After realizing the true scope and intent of their expedition, tensions flare between the men.

New to rent

The Taste of Things

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Benoît Magimel as “Dodin”, taste testing something Photo: Carole Bethuel/IFC Films

Genre: Romance drama
Run time: 2h 16m
Director: Tran Anh Hung
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Benoît Magimel, Emmanuel Salinger

This historical romance follows the story of Eugenie (Juliette Binoche) and Dodin (Benoît Magimel), a cook and a gourmand who live in a French country estate in 1889. Though the two are in love, Eugenie refuses to marry Dodin, and wishes to keep their relationship as it is. Desperate to woo her, Dodin takes up cooking in order to prepare a meal that will sweep her off her feet.

The Peasants

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

A painted shot of a woman in a white dress and floral crown dancing with a man in a room filled with people. Image: Breakthru Films/Sony Pictures Classics

Genre: Animated historical drama
Run time: 1h 54m
Directors: DK Welchman, Hugh Welchman
Cast: Kamila Urzędowska, Robert Gulaczyk, Mirosław Baka

Loving Vincent directing duo DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman return with yet another period drama composed of live-action footage and thousands of hand-painted images. Set in a 19th-century Polish village rife with feuding and gossip, a young woman named Jagna strives desperately to forge a life for herself beyond the expectations of those around her.

Drift

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

A woman riding on the back of a bicycle while another woman pedals and smiles. Photo: Nikos Nikolopoulos/Utopia

Genre: Drama
Run time: 1h 33m
Director: Anthony Chen
Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Alia Shawkat, Ibrahima Ba

After escaping her war-torn country, a Liberian refugee named Jacqueline (Cynthia Erivo) settles on a Greek island in hopes of building a new life. She befriends a directionless American tour guide (Alia Shawkat), and the pair grow closer together and help one another to confront their past trauma.

Stop Making Sense

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

David Byrne, wearing his signature suit, holds the microphone towards the camera in Stop Making Sense. Image: A24

Genre: Concert movie
Run time: 1h 28m
Director: Jonathan Demme

You may find yourself at home on your couch, looking for something to watch. And you may find yourself scrutinizing what’s new on streaming and VOD. And you may find yourself intrigued by the latest 4K remaster of Jonathan Demme’s acclaimed concert film of the Talking Heads performing. And you may ask yourself, Well, why don’t I watch that?

Lousy Carter

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

A bearded man smiling behind a desk with a chalkboard visible in the background. Image: Magnolia Pictures

Genre: Black comedy
Run time: 1h 20m
Director: Bob Byington
Cast: David Krumholtz, Olivia Thirlby, Jocelyn DeBoer

After learning that he has only six months to live, a deadbeat college professor makes a last-ditch effort to realize his dreams and not be such a lousy person. Incidentally, he’s also sleeping with the wife of his “best friend,” who hates him. Wow!

Imaginary

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

DeWanda Wise in Imaginary stands in a shadowy room wearing a yellow dress with stains on it Photo: Parrish Lewis/Lionsgate

Genre: Horror thriller
Run time: 1h 44m
Director: Jeff Wadlow
Cast: DeWanda Wise, Taegen Burns, Pyper Braun

This supernatural horror film from director Jeff Wadlow (Kick-Ass 2) follows the story of Jessica (DeWanda Wise), a children’s book author who returns to her childhood home with her new family. Jessica’s stepdaughter Alice forms a bond with her old stuffed teddy bear, and things quickly grow out of hand when she starts committing gruesome acts on behalf of her new imaginary friend.

From our review:

It’s tempting to try to read into this labyrinth of digressions to try to find some kind of meaning or intention, but Imaginary never makes that feel worthwhile. There isn’t a single character in the movie who feels worth rooting for, and the performances are entirely devoid of charisma. The script, written by Wadlow, Jason Oremland, and Greg Erb, is full of wooden dialogue that’s stiff and often feels almost completely nonsensical. Characters sometimes introduce new information like it’s a fact the audience has known forever.

Via

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