Movie
15 hours ago
9 Hello, Yahoo Entertainment readers! I'm Brett Arnold, a longtime writer and editor at Yahoo and film critic for my podcast, Roger (Ebert) & Me, and welcome to Trust Me, I Watch Everything. I'm here to recommend what you should see in movie theaters, rent from the comfort of your couch or queue up from a streaming service you may already subscribe to. I watch it all so you don't have to. There are so many great picks — a new Mission: Impossible, Friendship, The Legend of Ochi, Fountain of Youth, Mickey 17, and more — it’s safe to say there’s something here for everyone.
🎥 What to watch in theaters
My recommendation: Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning
Why you should watch it: Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning spends much of its runtime reiterating that Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is the only person on the planet with the abilities necessary to save the world. Essentially, in this eighth installment of the franchise, the superagent is utilizing old-school practical “analog” stunt work to defeat the all-powerful AI-algorithm known as the Entity, which was introduced in the previous film, that can be read as “Tom Cruise isn’t going to let Netflix or Warner Bros. sending their theatrical movies to streaming during the pandemic kill 'the movies.'” This one even takes its real-life metaphor a step further, getting into misinformation and how the algorithm is making us all distrust each other with weaponized lies.
Allegories aside, it’s a Mission: Impossible movie and it absolutely delivers where it matters. The movie builds to two giant set pieces and both stunts are jaw-dropping, heart-skip-a-beat breathtaking, with the plane-wing-walking finale ending things on what’s likely a series high.
The highs are so satisfying to watch that they almost make you forget that the first hour of this movie is all montage and exposition and completely expendable. It also falls into the same trap of the previous entry in trying to add legacy sequel elements and clumsily tie all 29-years of movies together, which provides some laugh-out-loud moments that likely weren’t intended to be funny. There is a payoff to a throwaway line of dialogue from the very first movie here that’s such a great gag, it won me over.
So while it may rank towards the bottom of the franchise overall, that speaks more to the quality of the series than how “bad” this one is. A weak Mission: Impossible movie is still better than 99% of the blockbusters Hollywood churns out these days.
🍿 What critics are saying: Critics lean positive but are pretty mixed, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 79%. Lindsay Bahr at the AP agrees “that in attempting to tie everything together, Mission: Impossible lost the plot.” Rolling Stone’s David Fear was kinder, saying the movie “feels like a conclusion to 30 years worth of proving that yes, you still can conjure up a certain vintage strain of Hollywood magic.”
👀 How to watch: Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is now in theaters nationwide.
➕ Bonus recommendation: Friendship
Why you should watch it: The comedy of Tim Robinson is definitely not for everyone, but those that do appreciate his comedy rabidly anticipate his work, and his beloved Netflix sketch comedy series I Think You Should Leave has become something of an obsession for its devotees. If you've ever watched that show and wondered, “could one of these deranged characters ever anchor a feature-length film?" we now have an answer, and it’s, quite surprisingly, a yes!
Everybody’s comparing Friendship to I Love You, Man, which makes sense given the premise and the fact that Paul Rudd costars in both, but a better point of comparison might be The Cable Guy. It’s about a suburban dad (Robinson) with an unsatisfied wife (Kata Mara) and a kid who thinks he’s a loser befriending his super cool neighbor (Rudd) and becoming a little too into him, alienating him and his other pals along the way.
It’s laugh-out-loud hilarious throughout if you find Robinson’s antics amusing, and likely aggravating if you don’t. It also features probably the funniest drug trip sequence of all time, a wonderful subversion of the comedy trope.
🍿 What critics are saying: Critics love it, with 90% on Rotten Tomatoes; Chase Hutchinson at the Wrap goes so far as calling it “the year’s best comedy.” Though Robinson’s brand of humor is definitely divisive, with Time’s Stephanie Zacharek aptly summarizing the average nonbeliever view: “How much Tim Robinson is too much? Maybe the exact amount you get in Friendship.”
👀 How to watch: After a limited release in early May, Friendship is now in theaters nationwide.
🤔 If those aren’t for you...
Stitch and Lilo, played by Maia Kealoha, in Lilo & Stitch. (Disney/Everett Collection)
Lilo & Stitch: A perfectly OK Disney live-action remake of a modern-classic cartoon, with fun performances and affecting emotional beats that still land, but it never justifies why you shouldn’t just watch the way-nicer-to-look-at, hand-drawn original — get tickets.
The Last Rodeo: Neal McDonough stars in a movie he also cowrote about a retired rodeo star entering a high-stakes bull-riding competition to raise money to save his sick grandson. It's serviceable but a bit too contrived; Chloe Zhao's The Rider tells a similar story more effectively — get tickets.
💸 Movies newly available to rent or buy
My recommendation: The Legend of Ochi
Why you should watch it: The Legend of Ochi tells a familiar tale with enough style and practical effects-based magic that it makes up for a relative lack of substance. In fact, it’s basically just Lilo & Stitch, which itself was riffing on E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. In a remote village on the island of Carpathia, a shy farm girl named Yuri is raised to fear an elusive animal species known as ochi. But when Yuri discovers a wounded baby ochi has been left behind, she escapes on a quest to bring him home.
What makes it stand out is the incredible designs of the creatures and the use of puppetry and animatronics to bring them to life. It’s such a beautiful and striking-looking film that even though its attempt at an emotional payoff didn’t really land for me, I still felt like watching this was time well spent. It’s also just nice to see a live-action movie for children! We don’t really get those anymore and instead have to settle for CGI-animated everything.
🍿 What critics are saying: According to Rotten Tomatoes, 77% of critics dug it, with Jesse Hassenger at the Guardian calling the film “an anomaly in a world where US children’s films are so intent on prodding and goading their audiences into predetermined reactions.
👀 How to watch: The Legend of Ochi is now available to rent or purchase on digital and on-demand.
🤔 If that’s not for you...
Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin in Cheech & Chong's Last Movie. (Courtesy of Keep Smokin'/Everett Collection)
Cheech and Chong’s Last Movie: An unexpectedly honest, moving and informative documentary exploring the 5-decade career of the iconic comedy duo. Now available to rent or buy.
Until Dawn: An adaptation of the video game of the same name that doesn't require any knowledge of its source material to enjoy. A fun, self-aware horror flick in the vein of Cabin of the Woods that cleverly subverts tropes. Now available to rent or buy.
📺 Movies debuting on streaming services you may already have
My recommendation: Fountain of Youth
Why you should watch it: Fountain of Youth proves that all you need to make your streaming movie stand out from the pack is to hire a competent director like Guy Ritchie to make it. Casting Natalie Portman doesn’t hurt either! Like Ochi, the movie is a derivative of a derivative — it’s literally just a more international take on National Treasure, which itself is a facsimile of an Indiana Jones adventure. It’s about John Krasinski’s character forcing his estranged sister (Portman) to reunite with him for a treasure-hunting adventure to find the fabled fountain of youth. Thanks to Ritchie, the action sequences pop and it’s a relatively breezy watch, despite the lack of originality. It’s good enough, and even if I’ll never watch it again, it gets points for using several exotic on-location sites.
🍿 What critics are saying: Critics were mixed-negative, with a scant 44% on RottenTomatoes. Jordan Hoffman at Entertainment Weekly isn't wrong when he writes that the movie "feels like a light snack instead of a full meal." Kate Erbland at Indiewire was more positive, agreeing that "you could do far worse with a streaming subscription price."
👀 How to watch: Fountain of Youth is now streaming on Apple TV+.
🤔 If that’s not for you...
The killer in Fear Street: Prom Queen. (Courtesy of Netflix/Everett Collection)
Fear Street: Prom Queen: The fourth entry in the Fear Street franchise, and the first since the original trilogy rolled out one week after another in 2021, adapts the R.L. Stine book of the same name. Now streaming on Netflix.
Stream 'Fear Street: Prom Queen'
💸 Movies newly available on streaming services you may have
My sort-of recommendation: Mickey 17
Why you should watch it: Mickey 17 is South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho’s follow-up to his Best Picture-winning Parasite. This, unfortunately, looks to be a classic case of a director cashing in his blank check from Hollywood after a big win at the Oscars.
Based on the 2022 novel Mickey7, Mickey 17 is a science-fiction film set in the year 2054 that follows a man, played by Robert Pattinson, who joins a space colony as an "Expendable," a disposable worker who gets cloned every time he dies for research purposes. The film is at its best when it leans into the humor regarding these deaths, highlighting the Mickey character’s buffoonery and the various ways scientists experiment on him. It's at its worst when Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette are chewing scenery as the villains.
The movie pivots in the third act to something completely different, aligning itself more with Bong's environmental message-heavy effort Okja than the rip-roaring excitement of something like Snowpiercer, which balanced its class-conscious satire with thrills in a more compelling fashion. Mickey 17 is unwieldy, but the setup is fun enough, as is watching Pattinson play against himself when Mickey 18 rears his head. Watching it for free on streaming feels like the right move.
🍿 What critics are saying: Many are kinder to Mickey 17 than I am — it’s got a 77% on Rotten Tomatoes. The Atlantic’s Shirley Yi praised Pattinson, saying “the actor’s delightfully offbeat performance anchors the story in an endearing humanity.” Variety’s Peter DeBruge says the plot “is easy enough to follow, though the film insists on making it more complicated.”
👀 How to watch: Mickey 17 is now streaming on HBO Max.
➕ Bonus recommendation: The Surrender
Why you should watch it: The Surrender is an indie horror movie that does a great job of setting up its basic plot before delivering the spooky goods. When the family patriarch dies, a grieving mother and daughter risk their lives to perform a brutal resurrection ritual and bring him back from the dead. Yes, this is yet another movie that could be described as familiar but its unique character dynamics and great performances make it feel alive. It’s an incredibly strong debut from director Julia Max, boasting impressive visuals as well as deeper questions about family and the things we ignore. Not every demonic possession flick is created equal; this is a solid one!
🍿 What critics are saying: 84% of critics on Rotten Tomatoes enjoyed it, though Lena Wilson at IGN thought the familial drama in the first half worked, but that the horror element didn’t.
👀 How to watch: The Surrender is now streaming on Shudder.
🤔 If those aren’t for you...
Mark Wahlberg in Flight Risk. (Courtesy of Lionsgate/Everett Collection)
Flight Risk: Mark Wahlberg stars as a bad guy hijacking a plane carrying a fugitive witness in this action flick directed by Mel Gibson. Starts streaming Saturday on Starz.
The Last Showgirl: Pamela Anderson earned acclaim and nominations for her performance in Gia Coppola’s film about a Las Vegas showgirl who must plan for her future. Now streaming on Hulu.
That's all for this week — we'll see you next Friday at the movies!
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