Netflix’s The Kitchen, The Marvels, 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, The Marvels, the latest movie installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is finally available to purchase on VOD. That’s not all, though, as Taika Waititi’s sports comedy Next Goal Wins is also available to purchase, along with several other new releases available to rent. The Kitchen, Daniel Kaluuya’s directorial debut set in a dystopian London, is streaming on Netflix along with Dumb Money, the comedy-drama based on the GameStop short squeeze of 2021. That’s not even mentioning all the other streaming releases on Hulu, Mubi, and AMC Plus this week!

Here’s everything new to watch this weekend!

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New on Netflix

Dumb Money

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Photo: Claire Folger/Sony Pictures

Genre: Biographical comedy-drama
Run time: 1h 45m
Director: Craig Gillespie
Cast: Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio

Remember the GameStop short squeeze of 2021? No? That’s OK — admittedly, it was a very hectic and wild time, what with the whole… everything going on. In case you’re looking for a refresher, this movie about a middle-class financial analyst who struck big during the squeeze might be just what you’re looking for.

From our review:

Where The Big Short was patronizing but still hugely entertaining and legitimately informative, Dumb Money’s creators seem uninterested in explaining what the hell happened with the GameStop scenario, or how the hell it happened. The script assumes that the audience is either already familiar with the story, or doesn’t much care about the financial specifics and just wants to see the news reenacted by people they know. Most of the jargon goes unexplained, and the series of events that facilitated the saga is just shrugged off in favor of a simplistic “isn’t this crazy?!” tone.

The Kitchen

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Photo: Chris Harris/Netflix

Genre: Sci-fi drama
Run time: 1h 47m
Directors: Daniel Kaluuya, Kibwe Tavares
Cast: Kano, Jedaiah Bannerman, Hope Ikpoku Jr

Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Black Panther) teams up with filmmaker Kibwe Tavares for his directorial debut: a sci-fi drama set in a dystopian London where social housing has been eliminated. The film follows the story of Izi and Benji, a father and son who fight to survive as an impoverished community is besieged by state-sponsored violence.

New on Hulu

Invisible Beauty

Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu

Photo: Magnolia Pictures

Genre: Documentary
Run time: 1h 55m
Directors: Bethann Hardison, Frédéric Tcheng
Cast: Tyson Beckford, Stephen Burrows, Naomi Campbell

This documentary chronicles the life and impact of Bethann Hardison, a pioneering model and activist who fought for racial diversity in the fashion industry.

New on AMC Plus

The Origin of Evil

Where to watch: Available to stream on AMC Plus

Photo: Laurent Champoussin/IFC Films

Genre: Drama
Run time: 2h 3m
Director: Sébastien Marnier
Cast: Laure Calamy, Doria Tillier, Dominique Blanc

A twisty French thriller about a woman trying to reconnect with a rich family she claims she’s a part of, The Origin of Evil was a late addition to our list of the best movies of 2023.

As my colleague Tasha Robinson put it in her write-up there:

Unpacking every lie and scheme in this movie takes every minute of its run time, and it’s guaranteed that audience sympathies will shift half a dozen times in the process. As a crime story, it’s a gem; as a character story, it’s even better.

New on Mubi

Fallen Leaves

Where to watch: Available to stream on Mubi

Image: MUBI

Genre: Romantic comedy-drama
Run time: 1h 21m
Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Cast: Alma Pöysti, Jussi Vatanen, Janne Hyytiäinen

This romantic drama follows the story of Ansa (Alma Pöysti) and Holappa (Jussi Vatanen), two lonely single people who meet by chance in a karaoke bar in Helsinki. Overcoming multiple mishaps and their own insular idiosyncrasies, the two strike up an awkward yet endearing courtship.

New to rent or purchase

The Marvels

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

Photo: Laura Radford/Marvel Studios

Genre: Superhero action
Run time: 1h 45m
Director: Nia DaCosta
Cast: Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani

The 33rd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe sees the return of Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), also known as Captain Marvel. This time around, she’s teaming up with the superpowered Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) to save the universe from the threat of a vengeful Kree leader bent on restoring her home world.

From our review:

In its best moments, The Marvels just throws wonderful ideas at the screen. There’s a planet of people who only sing, a space station full of cats that blithely devour furniture and humans alike, an animated depiction of Kamala’s internal monologue — the movie can feel like a mood board assembled by an overcaffeinated Star Trek fan, with a sense of imagination suitable for reminding the audience that comic books can be cool in the moment that you’re reading them, as opposed to for what they promise in the future.

The Boys in the Boat

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

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.

The Color Purple

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

Image: Warner Bros Pictures

Genre: Coming-of-age musical
Run time: 2h 21m
Director: Blitz Bazawule
Cast: Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo

Based on Alice Walker’s 1982 novel, this musical adaptation follows the story of Celie (Fantasia Barrino), a woman in an abusive marriage torn from her sister and children, who finds strength through her friendship with Shug Avery (Taraji P. Henson), a singer with an indomitable spirit.

Next Goal Wins

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

Image: Searchlight Pictures

Genre: Sports comedy-drama
Run time: 1h 44m
Director: Taika Waititi
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Oscar Kightley, Kaimana

Michael Fassbender (The Killer) stars in Taika Waititi’s sports movie based on the real-life American Samoa national football team and their qualification attempt for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Fassbender portrays Thomas Rongen, the Dutch American coach who agrees to help shape the once notoriously bad team into a competitive qualifier.

From our review:

Next Goal Wins fails to properly capture what made the story of the American Samoa national football team so compelling, by attempting to make a film so universal that it discards the sport itself as unimportant. Which it might be in terms of letting the audience relate to the team as individuals. But it’s such a cookie-cutter underdog story that it rarely moves past the most superficial “Care because this movie says you need to care” level.

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• Source: https://www.polygon.com/2024/1/19/24040183/new-movies-watch-the-kitchen-netflix-the-marvels-the-color-purple