The movie releases this week are stacked as A Minecraft Movie hits VOD rental, while Captain America: Brave New World, Fountain of Youth, Fear Street: Prom Queen, Twisters, A Different Man, and more all debut on streaming platforms!
SERIES
The Better Sister S1
29 May 2025 – Prime Video
They say you should keep things in the family. Like homicide and your sister’s kid, I guess! Adapted from Alafair Burke’s novel of the same name, The Better Sister, is an eight-episode thriller limited starring Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks as estranged – and very different – sisters forced into each other’s lives again through dramatic events. Chloe (Biel), a high-profile media executive, lives a picturesque life with her handsome lawyer husband Adam (Corey Stoll) and teenage son Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan) by her side while her estranged sister Nicky (Elizabeth) struggles to make ends meet and stay clean. When Adam is brutally murdered, it uncovers the messy truth that Adam and Ethan were originally Nicky’s partner and son before Chloe “stole her sister’s life”. Sounds like motive for murder, wouldn’t you say?
F1: The Academy S1
29 May 2025 – Netflix
It’s undeniable how much of an impact Netflix’s Drive to Survive has had on the popularity of Formula 1 racing in the last few years. The sports documentary series has introduced F1 to millions of new fans and turned the personalities of the sport into mainstream household names. And now Netflix is taking its next step in the sport with F1: The Academy which has the loftiest of goals: Getting a female driver on the F1 grid. The show follows the journey of fifteen young women as they undergo the drama and glory of the F1 academy with the collective dream of breaking barriers in one of the world’s most demanding sports.
Dept. Q S1
29 May 2025 – Netflix
Scott Frank, the two-time Oscar-nominated writer (Out of Sight, Logan) and creator/director of Emmy-winning The Queen’s Gambit is back with a new show. No pressure. Dept. Q is a new nine-episode British police thriller procedural starring Matthew Goode as DCI Carl Morck – a brash, but brilliant detective whose razor-sharp sarcasm has made him no friends in Edinburgh police. After a shooting that leaves a young pc dead, and his partner paralyzed, he finds himself exiled to the basement and the sole member of Department Q; a newly formed cold case unit. Created as a PR stunt and meant to be a dead-end destination for Morck, it becomes the centre of a prominent investigation when the stone-cold trail of a missing civil servant starts to heat up again after several years.
MOVIES
Fountain of Youth
23 May 2025 – Apple TV+
If you weren’t too happy with the big-screen adaptation of acclaimed adventure game series Uncharted, then maybe you should try Fountain of Youth on for size. Feeling like it was pulled straight out of the escapades of Nathan Drake, fan favourite filmmaker Guy Ritchie is jumping into some swashbuckling adventure waters with this big budget original blockbuster. John Krasinski stars as an intrepid treasure hunter alongside Natalie Portman as his estranged sister, who partner on a global heist to find the mythological Fountain of Youth. They must use their knowledge of history to follow clues on an epic adventure that will change their lives … and possibly lead to immortality. Also starring Eiza González, Domhnall Gleeson, Arian Moayed, Laz Alonso, Carmen Ejogo, and Stanley Tucci.
Fear Street: Prom Queen
23 May 2025 – Netflix
I was a gigantic fan of Fear Street, Netflix’s slasher movie trilogy inspired by R. L. Stine’s book series of the same name. Those three films were all written and directed by Leigh Janiak and filmed back-to-back-to-back to be released on a weekly schedule as it told one big story set in the town of Shadyside, stretching from 1666 to 1994. Now a new standalone chapter is stabbing its way onto our screens in Fear Street Prom Queen! Written and directed by Matt Palmer, this new entry takes us back to 1988, specifically senior prom night at Shadyside High. As the school’s popular girls all compete for the crown of Prom Queen, an unexpected candidate emerges in mild-mannered outsider Lori Granger (India Fowler). That’s not the only shock of the night though, as her rivals start ending up dead in the bloodiest fashion!
Twisters
26 May 2025 – Showmax
I never really needed a sequel to classic 90s disaster movie Twister, and I really couldn’t see how it would get made by Lee Isaac Chung, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind heartfelt drama Minari. And yet, Twisters ended up being a surprising blast thanks to thrilling action and leads Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glenn Powell just oozing charisma on-screen. As Tracy said in her 7.5/10 review, “if you’ve been craving something in the vein of all those disaster flicks of the Nineties, Twisters delivers. It doesn’t escape the silliness of its genre, but that doesn’t stop you from having a good popcorn flick time as it combines peak technical polish with a likeable cast of characters played by charismatic young stars. Bonus points too for actually avoiding overblown territory.”
Captain America: Brave New World
28 May 2025 – Disney+
There was a lot of noise around the release of Captain America: Brave New World. Unfortunately, a lot of it was in really bad faith and had nothing to do with the quality of the movie and more to do with the personal view of the commenters surrounding Anthony Mackie as Captain America. That being said, released at least two years too late and suffering from numerous reshoots that resulted in a film that is a mash-up of plot points from other Marvel movies, Captain America: Brave New World is still a solid if flawed entry in the MCU. Most of this is thanks to some incredible action choreography for Mackie and co and a hulking great turn by screen legend Harrison Ford as US President Thaddeus Ross. How much stock you put in those two aspects will determine how you rank this one. Noelle did not enjoy it quite as much as I did, giving it 6.5/10 and saying that “Captain America: Brave New World feels like The Winter Soldier remade for unthinking adolescents. The action is satisfying and its veteran cast members shine, but there is no edge here, leading to a bland, banal blockbuster outing that is only retreading familiar ground, and lacking its own identity.”
VOD RENTALS/PURCHASES
The following movies have recently become available for digital purchase/rental:
A Minecraft Movie
Purchase: Apple TV – R200
Rental: Apple TV – R170
There’s a good chance you’ve seen the news stories about the absolute chaos breaking out in some cinemas during screenings of videogame adaptation A Minecraft Movie. If you’re one of the millions of fans of Minecraft (highly likely seeing as it’s the best-selling video game of all time!) and really wanted to see how a blocky sandbox game got turned into a big live-action comedy-adventure movie starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, but really dreaded the rowdy cinema experience, well you’re in luck! Despite already earning just shy of $1 billion at the global box office, A Minecraft Movie is getting a rather quick VOD release, less than two months after it debuted on the big screen. For less than the price of just one IMAX ticket, you can entertain the whole family at home instead.
Locked
Purchase: Apple TV – R160
Rental: Apple TV – R45
I don’t know if it’s just me, but it feels like there’s a new Bill Skarsgård movie out every second month! With the young actor being as prolific as he is, it’s understandable if some of his work slips under the radar. Case in point: Locked. Released in March, there was practically no noise – good or bad – about this English-language remake of Argentinian thriller 4×4. The film sees Skarsgård starring as Eddie, a young thief who breaks into a luxury SUV that has seemingly been abandoned. Unknown to Eddie, the car has been setup as a deadly trap set by William (Sir Anthony Hopkins), a self-proclaimed vigilante delivering his own brand of twisted justice. Eddie finds himself locked in with no means of escape, as William remotely operates the vehicle, taking the young criminal on a nightmare ride.
A Different Man
Purchase: Apple TV – R170
Rental: Apple TV – R45
If you’re a fan of Sebastian Stan but want to see something more mature and dramatic than the comic book superhero adventures like Captain America: Brave New World above, then A Different Man should be right up your alley. Earning an Oscar nomination for Best Makeup as well actually Stan actually winning the Best Actor Golden Globe, this dark psychological comedy drama aspiring actor Edward Lemuel whose dreams of becoming a big movie star are severely hampered by a facial disfiguration caused by neurofibromatosis. Edward undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance to give him classic Hollywood leading man looks, but his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare, as he loses out on the role he was born to play and becomes obsessed with reclaiming what was lost.