Happy Fourth of July! We head into the long weekend with a roster of exciting movies to watch, among them, two of the biggest box office hits of the year.
After being made available on VOD, Project Hail Mary is finally streaming on a service you likely have: Prime Video. Based on the book by Andy Weir, the movie follows a high school teacher turned astronaut and the unlikely friendship he develops with an adorable alien. It’s The Martian meets ET.
There’s also Obsession, one of the year’s biggest box office surprises. The movie is available to rent and buy on digital. If you’ve already seen it and want to know more, there’s an unleashed version with a 19-minute bonus feature that goes deeper into the project, exploring “behind the scenes with filmmaker Curry Barker and the cast to see them create a wild horror story out of intense performances and shocking scares.”
Other noteworthy movies on the list include the eat-the-rich romp Ready or Not 2, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, which was praised for its scares but critically panned, and the new entry in the Netflix hit franchise, Enola Holmes.
1
Project Hail Mary
Available on Prime Video
Genre: Sci-fi
Run time: 2h 36m
Director: Phil Lord and Chris Miller
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Huller.
Project Hail Mary is based on the Andy Weir novel, which became one of the biggest sci-fi hits in recent years. Marking the comeback of Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who hadn’t directed a movie since 22 Jump Street, the wait paid off, with the space movie becoming one of the year’s biggest box office wins. The story follows Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), a high school teacher who becomes planet Earth’s unlikely hero and only hope in finding a solution against an alien microorganism that’s consuming the sun and other planets.
In the movie’s review, Polygon writes:
“Lord and Miller’s Project Hail Mary reduces the book’s extensive scientific explanations to a few snippets of exposition and an overall sense that its protagonist is extremely smart. That leaves more room for the film’s lively emotional component, centering on Ryland’s unlikely blend of humor, self-effacement, sensitivity, surprising insight, and frank cowardice.”
2
Obsession
Image: Focus Features
Available on VOD
Genre: Horror
Run time: 1h 48m
Director: Curry Barker
Cast: Inde Navarrette, Michael Johnston
Obsession was a festival darling back when it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Still, no one expected the success it found at the box office, with audiences showing up, week after week, for more. Marking Curry Barker’s feature debut, the story follows Bear, a sad and lovelorn guy who’s been in love with his best friend Nikki for years. After finding a trinket called the One Wish Willow that promises to deliver one wish, Bear asks for Nikki to love him more than anyone in the world. It comes true and it’s not great!
In our review, Polygon writes:
This turn positions Obsession as a kind of supernatural stalker movie. In true monkey’s-paw fashion, the undying affection Bear sought from Nikki becomes frightening, as she dotes and fixates on him to an unhealthy degree, the details of which are best left for the audience to discover.
3
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come
Image: Pief Weyman/Searchlight Pictures/Everett Collection
Available on Hulu
Genre: Horror
Run time: 1h 48m
Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet
Cast: Samara Weaving, Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shawn Hatosy
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come picks up right where the first movie ended. After surviving a grueling night with the evil family of the rich guy she just married, Grace is thrown into a deeper level of the apocalyptic game, discovering that there are more evil families involved. To force her to play and participate, they’ve brought in her younger sister, using her as collateral.
4
Crime 101
Available Prime Video
Genre: Crime
Run time: 2h 20m
Director: Bart Layton
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoughan
Clearly inspired by Heat, Crime 101 follows a jewel thief (Chris Hemsworth) with plans to retire. Before he does, he starts planning a massive score, recruiting the necessary people to pull it all off. Meanwhile, a detective (Mark Ruffalo) and a rival thief (Barry Keoughan) put his plans at risk.
5
Silent Friend
Image: Boutique Films
Available on VOD
Genre: Historical drama
Run time: 2h 27m
Director: Ildikó Enyedi
Cast: Léa Seydoux, Tony Leung, Luna Wedler
Silent Friend has been a critical hit ever since it premiered at the Venice Film Festival, telling multiple stories across timelines, specifically 1908, 1972, and 2020, with a gorgeous ginkgo tree as the uniting thread.
6
Blades of the Guardians
Photo: Well Go USA
Available on VOD
Genre: Martial arts
Run time: 2h 6m
Director: Yuen Woo-ping
Cast: Jet Li, Wu Ling, Chen Lijun
Blades of the Guardians is set during the closing years of the Sui dynasty in China, following a bounty hunter with a strict moral code who goes on a journey while escorting one of the empire’s most wanted rebels to the capital.
7
The Get Out
Image: Vertical
Available on VOD
Genre: Crime/Comedy
Run time: 1h 44m
Director: Derrick Borte
Cast: Russell Crowe, Luke Evans, Aaron Paul
The Get Out is another crime thriller that seems like it was plucked from a different time. The film follows a club owner (Russell Crowe) who gets robbed of his life savings, derailing his plans for cozy retirement.
8
Smothered
Image: Shudder
Available on Shudder
Genre: Horror
Run time: 1h 39m
Director: Kevin Rahardjo and Rafki Hidayat.
Cast: Rio Dewanto, Faradina Mufti
The film follows Alif (Rio Dewanto), a micro-painting artist who loses part of his memory after experiencing an accident. As he’s recovering, an old woman appears, claiming to be his mother, with Alif doubting her intentions and whether the two know each other at all.
9
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy
Image: New Line Cinema
Available on HBO MAX
Genre: Horror
Run time: 2h 14m
Director: Lee Cronin
Cast: Jack Reynor, May Calamawy, Laia Costa
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy follows a grieving family, whose daughter disappears while in Egypt. Years later, the girl is found in an ancient sarcophagus and returned home, with her possessed by an evil and terrifying demon.
10
Enola Holmes 3
Louis Partridge and Millie Bobby Brown in Enola Holmes.Photo: Alex Bailey/Netflix
Available on Netflix
Genre: Mystery
Run time: 1h 45m
Director: Philip Barantini
Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Louis Partridge, Henry Cavill
Millie Bobby Brown has built a home on Netflix. She’s back for one of her most famous characters, Enola Holmes, the sister of the famous Sherlock Holmes. This time around, Enola is about to get married to her long-term love interest, Lord Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge), when her brother (Henry Cavill) is kidnapped. She must solve the mystery and find him.
We were fans of the second movie. Polygon writes:
The second Enola Holmes movie is the rare sequel that improves on the first. The first had its strengths, most notably Brown’s magnificent acting, but director Harry Bradbeer and screenwriter Jack Thorne seem more certain of the theme and the characters this time around.