After last week's bonanza of blockbusters (including Barbie), this week's new movies on streaming are less high-profile but just as diverse.
Guy Ritchie's The Covenant is a war movie that somehow got very little notice despite the director's name and a cast featuring Jake Gyllenhaal. Then there's the family-friendly action flick Spy Kids: Armageddon, which reboots Robert Rodriguez's franchise.
For romantic hijinks, What's Love Got to Do With It? revolves around the antiquated idea of arranged marriages. Meanwhile, Cassandro delves into the world of lucha libre, or Mexican wrestling. Here are the top new movies streaming this week on Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu and other services.
Golda (digital)
This thriller starring Helen Mirren is mostly set during the tense 19 days of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. As Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir faces the potential destruction of her country, she must deal with a skeptical cabinet, a complex relationship with U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (Liev Schreiber) and the demand by the Egyptian government to return the Sinai Peninsula to resume diplomatic relations. Millions of lives hang in the balance. Her tough leadership and compassion will decide the fate of Israel and leave her with a controversial legacy.
Buy and watch on Amazon or Apple starting Sept. 19
The Good Mother (digital)
Hilary Swank is once again playing an intrepid journalist looking into a murder, but unlike her short-lived show Alaska Daily, this case involves her own son. Journalist Marissa Bennings is devastated by the death of her estranged son, who alienated his family with his heroin addiction. But he didn’t overdose; he was killed in a drive-by shooting. Marissa forms an unlikely alliance with his pregnant girlfriend Paige (Olivia Cooke) to track down those responsible. Their mission takes them into their city’s seedy underbelly of drugs and crime.
Buy and watch on Amazon or Apple starting Sept. 19
Sanctuary (Hulu)
This erotic thriller is a taut two-hander between a dominatrix called Rebecca (Margaret Qualley) and her wealthy client Hal (Christopher Abbott). With his father’s death, Hal is set to become CEO of the family company and informs Rebecca he can’t continue their sessions. But his attempt to cut off their relationship backfires and Rebecca demands a cut of his earnings. As she throws out various threats, their interaction boils over with anger, frustration and lust. Is it all just a part of their game?
Watch on Hulu starting Sept. 21
The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (Shudder, AMC Plus)
Inspired by Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein, this horror tale follows brilliant teenager Vicaria (Laya DeLeon Hayes), whose genius is balanced by the tragedy she’s experience in life. Her world is rife with violence, police bruality and drug abuse. After losing two family members, she starts tinkering in the belief that death is a disease that can be cured. The “mad scientist” is successful at resurrecting her brother (Edem Atsu-Swanzy), but it soon becomes clear that this creature is extremely dangerous.
Watch on Shudder via Prime Video starting Sept. 22
Cassandro (Prime Video)
Lucha libre is one of Mexico’s most popular sports and cultural exports. The colorful costumes, flamboyant showmanship and larger-than-life storylines have captivated audiences for decades. This biopic is based on the true story of Saúl Armendáriz (Gael García Bernal), a gay amateur wrestler from El Paso who rises to international stardom after he creates the character Cassandro, the “Liberace of Lucha Libre.” In the process, he upends not just the macho wrestling world, but also his own life.
Watch on Prime Video starting Sept. 22
Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (Prime Video)
Did you know Guy Ritchie made not just one but two movies this year? Yeah, me neither. Both this thriller and the spy action comedy Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre flew under the radar, despite Ritchie’s cachet and star-studded casts. The Covenant follows U.S. Army Sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Afghan interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim) who are caught in an ambush. Ahmed goes to extraordinary lengths to savey Kinley’s life. Later, when Kinley later learns that Ahmed and his family weren’t given safe passage to America as promised, he returns to the war zone to retrieve them before the Taliban can hunt them down first.
Watch on Prime Video starting Sept. 22
No One Will Save You (Hulu)
In this sci-fi horror flick, Brynn Adams (Kaitlyn Dever) is a creative and talented young woman who’s a loner. She spends most of her time on her own in the home where she grew up. Her peaceful existence is shattered one night when she wakes up to strange noises, shadows and ominous cloud formations in the sky. Unearthly intruders have descended upon her, and Brynn engage sin an action-packed showdown to protect her home from the invasion.
Watch on Hulu starting Sept. 22
Spy Kids: Armageddon (Netflix)
Robert Rodriguez reboots his beloved family film franchise with a new generation of young heroes who are taking the spy game to the next level. Nora Tango-Torrez (Gina Rodriguez) and Terrence Tango-Torrez (Zachary Levi) are the world's greatest secret agents — and are married to each other. Their two kids, Patty (Everly Carganilla) and Tony (Connor Esterson) join the family biz to fix what they broke when they unwittingly helped game developer Ray Kingston (Billy Magnussen) unleash a computer virus that gives him control of all technology.
Watch on Netflix starting Sept. 22
What’s Love Got to Do With It? (Hulu)
When online dating becomes toxic, what else can you do but go back to the oldest form of matchmaking: an arranged marriage. Zoe (Lily James) is a documentarian for whom swiping right has only delivered an endless stream of Mr. Wrongs, to the dismay of her mother (Emma Thompson). She begins filming the experiences of her childhood friend Kaz (Shazad Latif), who has decided to get into an arranged marriage. As she chronicles his journey from London to Lahore to wed a stranger chosen by his parents, Zoe ponders whether she can learn something from this path to love.
Watch on Hulu starting Sept. 22
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Paramount Plus)
The latest in a never-ending line of Ninja Turtle reboots arrives on Paramount Plus this week. TMNT: Mutant Mayhem is an origin story that places a lot of emphasis on the "teenage" part of the turtle's lives — and like every teenager they just wanted to be accepted. Much to the chagrin of their father, Splinter (Jackie Chan). The turtles finally get their chance when New York is threatened by the all-too-literally-named Superfly (Ice Cube) and his army of mutants. It's not called mutant mayhem for nothing, after all.
Watch on Paramount Plus from Sep. 19
Bottoms (digital)
Raunchy teenage comedies tend not to change very much, but Bottoms has a pretyy interesting spin on things. The movie follows two high school girls (Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott) starting an all-girls after school fight club. All in an attempt to hook up with any hot girls that might attend. But things don't quite go to plan, especially when the club ends up in the crosshairs of the football team — who seem hell bent on shutting it all down.
Buy or watch on Amazon from Sep. 22
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