Jeremy Allen White in Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.
Photo: Macall Polay/20th Century Studios/Everett Collection
It’s that time of year when the kids are off from school and it becomes nearly impossible to get anything done at work, if you even have to go at all. Why not rent a movie?! This month delivers a unique blend of art-house hits and Hollywood blockbusters to the PVOD market, including a Stephen King movie, a music biopic, a legacy sequel, and arguably the best international film of the year. Pick your fave.
Joachim Rønning, 119 minutes
The Tron movies continue to be a cultural oddity in that they have loyal fan bases but never make quite enough money to justify their budgets. This disappointment stars Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, and Jodie Turner-Smith in a story that turns the tables on the original idea from the ’80s cult classic. Where that film was about a real person going into a video game, this one sees an AI named Ares coming into the real world. Will this one find an audience over the years like the original or just disappear as another flat legacy sequel? Either way, the NIN score rules.
David Michôd, 135 minutes
Sydney Sweeney is reaching Pascal-lian levels of exposure, seemingly appearing in a different movie or viral interview clip every week. This is the one that was supposed to put the Euphoria star on the awards-season map, as she plays Christy Martin, a professional boxer who made headlines as the best in her field in the 1990s. Martin’s public life hid the private pain of domestic abuse and a coach turned husband who nearly murdered her in 2010. Sadly, no one saw this in theaters ($2 million total box office), but Sweeney’s continually rising fame should bring people around to it at home.
Osgood Perkins, 99 minutes
The director of The Monkey and Longlegs has become a horror-movie machine for Neon, already at work on another film for the boutique label. Catch his latest, the story of a couple (Tatiana Maslany and Rossif Sutherland) who travel to a remote cabin, and, well, horror fans know that nothing good happens in remote cabins. It feels like this one made the least critical or commercial impact of the recent Neon-Perkins collabs, but horror fans often wait until the home market to make something a hit.
Jafar Panahi, 104 minutes
The biggest hit of Jafar Panahi’s career seems a likely player at the Oscars soon and should open a door to filmgoers to view one of the most remarkable careers of any living filmmaker. Put under house arrest by the Iranian government in 2010 and banned from filmmaking, this brilliant creator kept making films, including masterpieces This Is Not a Film, Closed Curtain, and No Bears. This Palme d’Or winner tells the story of a mechanic who becomes convinced that a new customer is the man who tortured him for years when he was a prisoner. A story of the difficulties of vengeance and even healing, this is a straight-up masterpiece, one of the best films of 2025.
Ruben Fleischer, 112 minutes
Released nine years after Now You See Me 2, this sequel had most people saying, “Really? Who asked for that?” Believe it or not, these movies make bank overseas (this one notched over $200 million), so that’s the answer. Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, and Morgan Freeman return for another story of wacky magic performed by a charming cast. It could be just the escapist ticket you need between the holidays on PVOD.
Edgar Wright, 133 minutes
The director of Baby Driver is a perfect fit to update the ’80s classic (based on a Stephen King novel) about a futuristic game show in which the winner will become incredibly rich if they can survive the game. Glen Powell, William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, Colman Domingo, and Josh Brolin headline a remarkable ensemble in a film that kind of flopped at the box office. Action has always been the most profitable genre on the rental market, so this could easily find a second life at home. Start running.
Jalmari Helander, 89 minutes
One of the best action movies of the year, this sequel to the 2022 cult hit basically takes what worked about that movie and turns it up to 11, throwing in character actors Richard Brake and Stephen Lang to make it even more intense. Jorma Tommila reprises his role as Aatami Korpi, a killing machine who is determined to rebuild his family home on safe ground but has to go through waves of Nazis to get there. With the intense, almost-slapstick energy of Fury Road, you really need to see this one.
Scott Cooper, 119 minutes
Written and directed by Scott Cooper, this biopic focuses on a specific chapter of Bruce Springsteen’s life: the emotionally tumultuous period in which he was trying to write Nebraska, arguably his masterpiece. Jeremy Allen White is effective as the Boss in a drama that’s really more about depression and fame than the music. It flopped at the box office, but there are things to like here, especially for fans of one of the most important American songwriters of all time.