Your Weekly Update on Streaming and Cinema's Latest Releases!

The Spotlight

• New Mission: Impossible film hits theatres.

• Pixar puts out its newest effort, Elemental.

• Bird Box Barcelona premieres on Netflix.

• Trailer for Joaquin Phoenix’s Napoleon released.

Stick around until the end when we share our recommendations if you liked The King’s Speech, Master Gardener & Her.

What’s At The Cinema?

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning: Part One sees Tom Cruise return as Ethan Hunt, the spy who refuses to retire. The film showcases the most spectacular action sequences you’ll likely see all year. At 61, Cruise pulls off some of the best stunts of the franchise.

Fittingly, the villain of this epic blockbuster is A.I. and the story centres on Hunt’s effort to stop it from taking over. Check it out if you have mixed feelings when using ChatGPT.

Elemental is the latest from Pixar, the studio known for innovative plots, films about talking toys, and a French rat that probably cooks better than you do.

This story is set in a city where residents live in different communities based on what element they are: fire, water, land, and air. When a young fire lady and a strapping water fella link up, they learn about what their communities may have in common.

Also, there’s still time to catch Master Gardener and Insidious: The Red Door in those cushioned theatre seats.

What’s Available to Stream?

New to streaming this week, depending on where you are and if you use a VPN or not:

Prime Video: The King’s Speech (2010), The Portable Door (2023)
Hulu: The Two Faces Of January (2014), A Little White Lie (2023)
Netflix: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022), Bird Box Barcelona (2023)
MAX: Gray Matter (2023)

Bird Box Barcelona will be released on Netflix on July 14th and it’s our pick of the week, mainly because it takes place in our city.

The movie is a continuation of the 2018 Netflix hit “Bird Box” starring Sandra Bullock, but it’s set in sunny Barcelona this time. Get ready for streets and beaches littered with bodies, people shielding their eyes and surprisingly not many birds… sounds like a regular day here.

The King’s Speech is on its way to Prime Video this coming week. The award-winning film follows King George VI (Colin Firth) as he tries to overcome his stammer and lead his country through World War II by delivering a crucial speech.

We recommend watching it to get psyched up before sending that long-overdue text you’ve had in your drafts for the last two months.

What We’re Watching

In honour of the new trailer for Napoleon directed by Ridley Scott and starring Joaquin Phoenix as the infamous dictator, we suggest three other films featuring the consummate actor:

Beau is Afraid (2023) delivers on its title masterfully. It really is Beau being afraid for nearly three hours. In this bizarre reality that director Ari Aster’s given birth to, Beau (Phoenix) is an isolated and impotent man making his way to visit his mother.

His trip is plagued by accidents, past traumas, and even a theatre play. It’s the film to watch if you want to feel like you’re tripping on acid without taking acid.

C'mon C'mon (2021) stars Phoenix as a lovable and quirky uncle who has to look after his nephew when his sister is in need. Phoenix plays a radio journalist who interviews kids and teenagers around the U.S. about their lives.

It’ll probably make you cry with its moving depiction of adult-child relationships or serve as a much-needed fantasy if your niece or nephew is an entitled brat.

Her (2013) remains one of the actor’s strongest performances. He plays Theodore Twombly, a man grieving the loss of a relationship who enters a romance with an advanced computer voiced by Scarlett Johansson… doesn’t sound too bad.

Passionately directed by Spike Jonze, this film will stick with you and make you want to run out to your nearest Apple store in search of love.

If You Liked…

The King’s Speech: The Darkest Hour (2017), The Iron Lady (2011), The Intouchables (2011)

Master Gardener: First Reformed (2017), Nightcrawler (2014), Drive (2011)

Her: Ex Machina (2015), Lost In Translation (2003), You’ve Got Mail (1998)

Thanks for reading! You’re currently part of one of the tiniest movie clubs online.

If you watched any of our recommendations, reply to this email and let us know what you thought.

See you next Friday,

The Watchlist Team.