Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Ferrari, 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, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the final installment in the “Snyderverse” era of the DC cinematic universe and the sequel to James Wan’s 2018 original starring Jason Momoa, splashes its way onto VOD this month alongside Ferrari, the Enzo Ferrari biopic from director Michael Mann and starring Adam Driver. Badland Hunters, the sequel to the 2023 Korean dystopian drama Concrete Jungle, arrives on Netflix, and that’s not the only new movie coming to streaming this week. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One arrives on Paramount Plus this week and the new horror-thriller Trunk: Locked In comes to Prime Video, among other exciting new releases to choose from.

Here’s everything new to watch this weekend!

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New on Netflix

Badland Hunters

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Photo: Cha Min-jung/Netflix

Genre: Dystopian action
Run time: 1h 47m
Director: Heo Myung-haeng
Cast: Ma Dong-seok, Lee Hee-joon, Lee Jun-young

Ma Dong-seok (Train to Busan, Eternals) stars in Heo Myung-haeng’s sequel to Um Tae-hwa’s 2023 film Concrete Utopia as Nam San, a survivalist living in a lawless wasteland following an apocalyptic earthquake. After being hired to thwart a mad scientist (Lee Hee-joon) hellbent on human experimentation, he and his trusted partner (Lee Jun-young) will have to face off against heavily armed militia and ravenous zombie creatures in order to save the day. Prooobably with some big punches.

Animal

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Image: AA Films

Genre: Violent action thriller
Run time: 3h 24m
Director: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol

One of the biggest and most controversial movies out of India last year lands on Netflix stateside. Animal is notable for its sprawling length, hyper violence, and “alpha male” themes that have brought criticism of misogyny.

New on Prime Video

Trunk: Locked In

Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video

Image: Amazon Prime Video

Genre: Horror thriller
Run time: 1h 36m
Director: Marc Schießer
Cast: Sina Martens, Luise Helm, Artjom Gilz

This new horror thriller follows Malina (Sina Martens), a 28-year-old medical student who wakes up disoriented in the trunk of a moving car. With nothing save her partially charged smartphone, Malina must rely on every ounce of her survival instincts to contact the police, deduce the identity of her kidnappers, and safely escape.

New on Paramount Plus

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Where to watch: Available to stream on Paramount Plus

Image: Skydance/Paramount Pictures

Genre: Spy action thriller
Run time: 2h 43m
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Cast: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames

Ethan Hunt is back in the seventh (and possibly penultimate) installment in the Mission: Impossible spy-action franchise. This time, Hunt and the IMF square off against a rogue AI.

From our review:

Like its predecessors — particularly Christopher McQuarrie’s two previous entries in the series — the film has married its prospects to Tom Cruise, and to his famous commitment to actually doing his own stunts. Ethan Hunt’s incredible feats often look real because they essentially are real. Everything else in these movies is in furtherance of that commitment. The supporting characters are there to make Hunt feel sufficiently human; the villain is there to make Hunt feel sufficiently tested; the plot is meant to shuttle Ethan from one explosion to the next.

New on Criterion Channel

Amanda

Where to watch: Available to stream on Criterion Channel

Image: Oscilloscope Laboratories

Genre: Coming-of-age drama
Run time: 1h 33m
Director: Carolina Cavalli
Cast: Benedetta Porcaroli, Michele Bravi, Galatéa Bellugi

Fremont screenwriter Carolina Cavalli’s directorial debut follows the story of a lazy 24-year-old who yearns for meaningful relationships and friendships. After rediscovering an old childhood friend, she makes it her mission to rekindle their connection and grow closer together.

New on Showtime

You Hurt My Feelings

Where to watch: Available to stream on Showtime

Photo: Jeong Park/A24

Genre: Comedy-drama
Run time: 1h 33m
Director: Nicole Holofcener
Cast: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tobias Menzies, Michaela Watkins

Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars in this adult dramedy where no one seems to be having a good time. Beth (Louis-Dreyfus), a novelist with self-confidence issues, gets into a fight with her husband (Tobias Menzies) after overhearing him pan her latest book. As the couple try to sort through their baggage, they come to a deeper understanding of themselves, their relationship, and how their lives brought them to this point.

New on Shudder

Suitable Flesh

Where to watch: Available to stream on Shudder

Image: Shudder

Genre: Horror thriller
Run time: 1h 40m
Director: Joe Lynch
Cast: Heather Graham, Judah Lewis, Barbara Crampton

Based on H.P. Lovecraft’s 1937 short story “The Thing on the Doorstep,” this new horror film from director Joe Lynch stars Heather Graham as a psychiatrist who learns that one of her patients is somehow connected to an ancient curse. As the plot unfolds, she quickly finds herself at the epicenter of an insidious episode of death, madness, and seduction.

From our review:

Suitable Flesh is an intensely messy movie. It moves breathlessly from solidly plotted psychological thriller to almost Army of Darkness levels of slapstick violence — including a scene involving a van’s backup camera that’s a must-see for every true fan of grisly horror movie effects. Its broadest structure is classic horror, as Elizabeth tries to overcome her own doubts about what she’s experiencing, then tries to convince other people that she isn’t just having a psychotic break. And the entire time, she’s facing a confident, competent foe who knows far more than she does, and is almost always three steps ahead of her. (Purely in terms of plotting, this film would also make a solid double feature with the original Nightmare on Elm Street.) But on a scene-for-scene basis, it’s all over the place tonally, as Lynch and Paoli keep shifting their intentions.

New to rent

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

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

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Genre: Superhero action
Run time: 2h 4m
Director: James Wan
Cast: Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Jason Momoa dons the green-and-yellow tights of the king of Atlantis once more in the follow-up to James Wan’s 2018 superhero film Aquaman. When his nemesis Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) returns to exact revenge, Aquaman must forge an alliance with his estranged brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) in order to save the day once again.

From our review:

The sequel to Aquaman is a total bummer for those of us who enjoyed Aquaman. Wan has proven himself on every scale, but in trying to carve out another adventure in this universe, he feels a bit stuck. There’s more thrown at the wall yet again — a Jabba’s Palace sequence with some fishy ruffians, an undead army that looks straight out of Ralph Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings — but little sticks, and comedy is the crutch. (Did I mention there are three piss jokes in this movie for some reason?) This might be the predicament of an ongoing Aquaman franchise, if DC ever tries again: When your sequel is stuck in the ocean, the only way to go is down.

Ferrari

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

Image: NEON

Genre: Biographical sports drama
Run time: 2h 10m
Director: Michael Mann
Cast: Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz, Shailene Woodley

The new sports biopic from Michael Mann stars Adam Driver as Enzo Ferrari, the race car driver turned automotive tycoon who in the summer of 1957 is faced with his greatest challenge yet as the fate of his company hangs in the balance. Pushing his drivers to the edge, as well as straining his relationship with his wife, Laura (Penélope Cruz), Ferrari prepares to wager his life and legacy on Mille Miglia, a treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy.

From our New York Film Festival preview:

Mann has been trying to get this Ferrari biopic since at least 2000, and seeing his vision for the story makes it clear why. The movie is an incredible portrait of a man who was a perfect concoction of some of Mann’s favorite things: obsessive, brilliant, awful, detached, and a winner through and through. The film, and Driver’s exceptional performance, make Ferrari’s ambition and passion deeply clear. The painful determination driving him is absolutely electric to watch — and even more exciting than the races, which is really saying something.

American Star

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

Image: IFC Films

Genre: Action thriller
Run time: 1h 47m
Director: Gonzalo López-Gallego
Cast: Ian McShane, Nora Arnezeder, Thomas Kretschmann

Ian McShane (John Wick, Deadwood) stars as an over-the-hill contract killer who embarks to the tropical island Fuerteventura to fulfill his last assignment before retirement. While waiting for his target, he finds himself drawn to the people of the island and their lives there, and begins to contemplate what life he would like to build after he puts his career as an assassin behind him.

Migration

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

Image: Illumination/Universal Pictures

Genre: Adventure comedy
Run time: 1h 23m
Director: Benjamin Renner
Cast: Kumail Nanjiani, Elizabeth Banks, Keegan-Michael Key

This computer-animated comedy from the studio behind Despicable Me, Minions, and The Secret Life of Pets follows a family of mallard ducks who embark on a migration from New England to Jamaica for the winter. Shenanigans inevitably ensue as the family becomes lost from the rest of the migratory flock and must find their own way to the vacation of a lifetime.

Night Swim

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

Image: Blumhouse/Universal

Genre: Horror thriller
Run time: 1h 38m
Director: Bryce McGuire
Cast: Wyatt Russell, Kerry Condon, Amélie Hoeferle

Wyatt Russell (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) stars in this supernatural horror film as a major league baseball player who, after being forced into retirement, moves into a luxurious new home with his wife and children. When a malevolent force emerges from the waters of the house’s backyard pool, the family is forced to face a horror beyond their deepest fears.

From our review:

All the strengths of its family story aside, it’s probably fair to want a little more horror out of a movie about a killer swimming pool. There are a few fun bits of pool horror in Night Swim, like seeing another world behind the flap of the skimmer or the spring of an empty diving board playing like a warning sign to run. Outside of its opening scene, though, Night Swim isn’t the scariest movie about hungry spirits and ancient gods. But hey, it’s January. Horror fans will take what we can get. Sometimes that just means a few good scares in an otherwise fascinating family movie about magic pools and baseball — which is more than enough to make Night Swim a worthy addition to the list of interesting, watchable January horror.

Wish

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

Image: Disney

Genre: Animated adventure
Run time: 1h 35m
Directors: Chris Buck, Fawn Veerasunthorn
Cast: Chris Pine, Ariana DeBose, Alan Tudyk

This animated fantasy adventure film created to celebrate the Walt Disney Company’s 100th anniversary follows Asha (Ariana DeBose), a young girl living in an island kingdom ruled by a powerful sorcerer named Magnifico (Chris Pine). After making a wish one night, Asha befriends a living magical star that falls from the sky and agrees to help her achieve her heart’s greatest desire.

From our review:

The main problem with Wish is that the filmmakers lean so hard on Disney’s legacy and the nostalgic elements that they fail to actually add much new. Every single detail in Wish is a deliberate reminder of another movie that came before it — usually something better and more unique. That’s particularly true for all the characters, some of whom are literally just walking nods to previous Disney movies. They’re all vague ideas of what a Disney Character™ should be, from snarky talking goat Valentino (voiced by Wreck-It Ralph’s Alan Tudyk) to the heroine herself, without much to make them memorable.

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• Source: https://www.polygon.com/2024/1/26/24044020/new-movies-watch-badland-hunters-netflix-aquaman-lost-kingdom-ferrari