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This weekend sees the release of the next installment in the The Conjuring euniverse, The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It. The movie hits theaters and HBO Max, while a ton of other interesting and exciting new releases arrive squarely for couch viewing, including the long-awaited Disney Pus streaming premiere of Raya and the Last Dragon. Oh, and if you want to watch a ton of new Minions cartoons a new batch are premiering this weekend, too.
To help you get a handle on what’s new and available, here are the movies you can watch with the click of a button this weekend.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
Where to watch it: In theaters and available to stream on HBO Max
Photo: Ben Rothstein/Warner Bros.
Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga reprise their roles as paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, the third installment in the successful Conjuring horror franchise. Based on the trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson — one of the most sensational and terrifying cases involving the real-life Warrens — Ed and Lorraine are pitted in a fight for the soul of a young boy that will bring the pair face to face with evil incarnate itself. From our review,
On paper, The Conjuring movies are pretty old hat when it comes to horror, to the point where they almost sound boring. In the least-generous reading, they return to the same “based on a true haunting” fodder that gave us The Amityville Horror and its many imitators. But watch them, and they make a great case for why originality isn’t nearly as important as execution. James Wan, who directed the first two films, is largely responsible for the franchise’s signature look. He brought a decades-long career in horror and a knack for understated imagery to the series’ portrayal of supernatural investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga). His talent created a horror franchise that manages to feel richer than most of them, even as it’s continually being mined for spinoffs. Unfortunately, the latest installment, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, lacks both Wan’s direction and the richness that make the first two Conjuring films so enjoyable.
Raya and the Last Dragon
Where to watch: Available to stream on Disney Plus
Photo: Disney
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ newest computer-animated action fantasy adventure Raya and the Last Dragon finally arrives to Disney Plus after a stint on the service’s Premier Access rental platform. The movie follows the titular warrior princess Raya, voiced by Star Wars: The Last Jedi star Kelly Marie Tran, as she embarks on a journey to find the mythical last dragon Sisu (Awkwafina) and rescue her shattered homeland of Kumandra from a dark malevolent threat.
Port Authority
Where to watch it: Available to rent for $5.99 on Amazon Prime Video, Apple, Vudu
Image: Momentum Pictures
Danielle Lessovitz’s feature directorial debut Port Authority follows the story of Paul (Fionn Whitehead), a troubled 20-something who flees to New York City in an effort to escape problems at home. Arriving in the city he meets Wye (Leyna Bloom), a 22-year-old woman voguing on the sidewalk with her friends. They seek one another out and before long, an intense love affair blossoms between the two. But when Paul discovers that Wye is trans, he’s forced to confront the hard questions of his own identity and what matters most to him. The trailer certainly looks appropriately dreamy and tender for a star-crossed love story in the big city, with muted colors juxtaposed with extravagant black light-lit scene of ballroom culture.
The Courier
Where to watch it: Available to rent for $5.99 on Amazon Prime Video, Apple, Vudu
Photo: Roadside Attractions
Based on a true story, The Courier stars Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr. Strange) as Greville Wynne, a British businessmen-turned-Cold War spy working for MI6 alongside a Soviet officer (Merab Ninidze). Together, they must work to gather crucial intelligence to diffuse the Cuban Missile Crisis and prevent a global nuclear confrontation. From our review,
Being a good spy is a bit like being in a rom-com about a forbidden romance. It’s all furtive glances, stolen moments, and thin excuses for brief contact. The only real difference is that the participants in a forbidden romance probably aren’t risking being executed by the state if they’re caught. This is perhaps the most interesting way to think about The Courier, a British spy drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch. It’s mostly a plain thriller, but in its focus on espionage as relationship-driven work, it’s still entertaining.
Edge of the World
Where to watch it: Available to rent for $14.99 on Amazon Prime Video, Apple, Vudu
Photo: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Edge of the World follows the adventures of Sire James Brooke (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a former soldier in the Bengal Army who, after sailing to Borneo in the 1840s at the behest of the Great Britain, abandoned his duties in order to aid the Sultan of Brunei’s governor to quell an uprising and become the ruler of a jungle kingdom whose century-long dynasty would span three generations and strive to end piracy, slavery, and genocide. Dominic Monaghan stars alongside Rhys Meyers as Colonel Arthur Crookshanks, Brooke’s compatriot and friend who joins him on his expedition to Borneo.
Super Frenchie
Where to watch it: In select theaters and available to rent for $5.99 on Amazon Prime Video; $4.99 on Apple; $6.99 on Vudu
Photo: Greenwich Entertainment
Chas Ogden’s documentary Super Frenchie follows the escapades of Matthias “Super Frenchie” Giraud, a daredevil base jumper and skier who takes on ever-more fraught and perilous adventures in his chase for the next great adrenaline high. When Matthias suffers a devastating accident just days before the birth of his first child, he’s faced with the defining choice of weighing his passion for thrill-seeking with his obligations to his family.
Under the Stadium Lights
Where to watch it: In select theaters and available to rent for $6.99 on Amazon Prime Video, Apple, Vudu
Photo: Paramount Pictures
Based on a true story, Under the Stadium Lights star Milo Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge) and Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix) as Chad Mitchell and Harold Christian, the high school football captain of the Abilene Eagles and the team’s surrogate father figure as they defy the odds of a dispiriting defeat to go on and win their state championship tournament.
And here’s what dropped last Friday:
Cruella
Where to watch it: In theaters and available on Disney Plus Premier Access
Image: Disney
Who doesn’t love a villainous origin story? Emma Stone stars in Craig Gillespie’s Cruella as the infamous Dalmatian murdering fashionista, years before her fateful clash with Roger Radcliffe and his adorable pets. Set in 1970s London, the film follows aspiring fashion designer Estella’s descent into villainy as she gradually becomes Joker-fied in an Devil Wears Prada-esque feud with her nefarious employer-turned-rival Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson). From our review,
The movie’s entire first half hour is completely unnecessary. There are a lot of scenes of Estella as a child (with her funky black-and-white hair), but none of them ever really pay off. Most of what she sets up through action and voiceover could be handled with a few lines of dialogue, or a single flashback. But Gillespie gives us enough of child-Cruella to flesh out a completely separate movie. Tonally, that first act feels like one, too — a sort of anti-Matilda where a precocious young girl pushes back at her bullies by being an even bigger bully, only to get kicked out of a posh private school. Then through a series of unfortunate events, she ends up living as a squatter in an abandoned building, surviving by committing petty crimes. That whole pre-origin-story origin story just drags the movie down, even if on its own it could make for a fun Disney Channel Original Movie.
Cruella on Disney Plus Premier Access
Prices taken at time of publishing.
With theaters only now reopening, movie-goers can still watch the latest Disney release at home thanks to Disney Plus’ rental feature
Wrath of Man
Where to watch it: Available to rent for $19.99 on Amazon Prime Video, Apple, and Vudu
Jason Statham stars in frequent collaborator Guy Ritchie’s 2021 action thriller Wrath of Man as Patrick Hill, a mysterious loner who works security for an armored truck company. When Patrick successfully foils an attempt by a band of robbers to rob his truck, Patrick’s past and motivations for taking the job are gradually brought to light, revealing a long-simmering plot for revenge that will see every obstacle in his path laid to waste in his bid for vengeance.
Chaos Walking
Where to watch it: Available to rent for $5.99 on Amazon Prime Video, Apple, Vudu
Photo: Murray Close / Lionsgate
Based on Patrick Ness’ sci-fi novel series of the same name, The Bourne Identity director Doug Liman’s Chaos Walking stars Tom Holland (Spider-Man: Homecoming) as Todd Hewitt, a young man living on a newly colonized planet in the wake of bitter civil that resulted in the death of the entire female population. Todd discovers Viola (Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: The Last Jedi), a mysterious girl who is inexplicably stranded when her ship crash lands on the planet. With no one else to turn to and with her life immediately under threat, Todd and Viola must band together in order to discover the truth behind the planet’s history and their own nascent powers. From our review,
Chaos Walking moves briskly through all of this nonsense in Liman’s trademark rough-and-tumble style. Holland and Ridley stay close to their Disney-franchise personas: He’s gawky and sensitive, she’s scrappy and wary. But there’s a reason they were so beloved as Peter Parker and Rey, respectively, and the movie takes easy, enjoyable advantage of their charisma. This fantasy-Western of sorts is full of modest pleasures like that. The costumes by Kate Hawley (Crimson Peak and Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow, among others) mix rustic faux-frontier coziness with muted futurism. Certain world-building details are allowed to stay in the background, rather than taking on the weight of mythology. And Liman positions his actors with an intuitive feel for dramatic blocking. Though the movie’s concepts leave a lot of comic potential untapped, there is a funny moment when Todd realizes he’ll be bunking with a guy who dreams only of baseball games.
Blue Miracle
Where to watch it: Available to stream on Netflix
Photo: Carlos Rodriguez/Netflix
Based on a true story, director Julio Quintana’s Blue Miracle follows Hector (Raymond Cruz), the guardian of a Mexican boys home who enters into the world’s biggest fishing tournament in order to save his orphanage. Teaming up with Wade (Dennis Quaid), a washed up fishing boat captain, Hector and his kids defy the odds to challenge and overcome their hardships and bond as an adopted family.
Endangered Species
Where to watch it: In select theaters and available to rent for $5.99 on Amazon Prime Video, Apple, Vudu
Photo: Lionsgate
Starring Rebecca Romijn (X-Men) and Jerry O’Connell (Billions), Endangered Species follows the harrowing survival-adventure story of a wealthy American family who are left stranded in the wilderness of Kenya after their safari vehicle is attacked by a rhino. Miles away from any help, the family must band together to overcome this nightmarish struggle and wage a war of survival against the elements.
Long Weekend
Where to watch it: Available to rent for $5.99 on Amazon Prime Video, Apple; $4.99 on Vudu
Photo: Sony Pictures Entertainment
Long Weekend stars Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story) as Bart, a down-on-his luck bro who falls in love with the mysterious Vienna (Zoë Chao) over a spontaneous long weekend trip. As the two grow closer, unexpected revelations threatened to disrupt their budding romance right as it’s about to bloom. Can the pair successfully navigate these hurdles and make this newfound love work?
Moby Doc
Where to watch it: In select theaters and available to rent for $5.99 on Amazon Prime Video; $6.99 on Apple, Vudu
Bralver’s “surrealist” documentary Moby Doc chronicles the life of musician Richard Melville Hall aka Moby throughout the various phases of his career, from his breakout success with albums like Everything is Wrong and tracks like Strange Ways to his precipitous decline into pop obscurity. Narrated by Moby himself and featuring interviews with David Lynch, David Bowie, and Shepard Fairey, Moby Doc is a introspective journey into the mind of artist reflecting on his life and career while steering a course for the future.
Plan B
Where to watch it: Available to stream on Hulu
Photo: Brett Roedel/Hulu
Billed as this year’s Booksmart, Parks and Recreation star-turned-director Natalie Morales’ young adult comedy Plan B stars Victoria Moroles (Teen Wolf) and Kuhoo Verma (Insomnia) as straight-laced student Lupe and slacker Sunny, two high school best friends who set off on a hectic 24 hour search for contraceptives after a regrettable first-time sexual encounter? Simple, right? Unfortunately, they live in the conservative American heartland where you’d have better luck striking oil than finding ready access to anti-pregnancy healthcare. Watch these two get into all kinds of shenanigans and hijinks as they try to hunt down that elusive Plan B and grow closer for the experience.
