Hello, Yahoo readers! My name is Brett Arnold, film critic and longtime Yahoo editor, and I’m back with another edition of Trust Me, I Watch Everything.
In theaters this week, a new Predator film crash-lands into theaters alongside Christy, the latest star turn for Sydney Sweeney.
At home, you can rent Black Phone 2 and Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson’s Best Actor Oscar vehicle The Smashing Machine.
And on streaming services that you’re likely already paying for, Guillermo Del Toro’s highly anticipated Frankenstein makes its debut on Netflix, alongside The Fantastic Four: The First Steps, which arrives on Disney+.
Read on, because there’s more, and there’s always something for everyone!
🎥 What to watch in theaters
My recommendation: Predator: Badlands
Why you should maybe see it: If your biggest problem with the long-running and entirely R-rated Predator franchise is that the movies don’t feel enough like a Disney+ Star Wars show intended for children, Predator: Badlands is here to correct course. It’s made by Dan Trachtenberg, the same filmmaker behind both of the straight-to-Hulu features Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers, which reinvigorated the series with unique takes on the lore.
Eschewing the usual setup of “human characters fight Predators, who are the bad guys,” Badlands boldly hits reset by centering on an alien “Predator” as the protagonist. Cast out from his clan, he joins forces with an unlikely robo-ally (Elle Fanning) to embark on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary. Soon enough, they must contend with another robot (also Elle Fanning), who is sort of an antagonist. They even work in the Alien franchise yet again here: Fanning is a Weyland-Yutani corporation synth!
Frankly, it is so inherently silly to try to make the audience care about the emotional life of a Predator that if it weren’t also such a calculated attempt by Disney, which now owns this property as well as the Alien movies, to try to turn an R-rated franchise into mass appeal sci-fi adventure fare, I’d likely be on board.
It has already done this to Star Wars, a better fit as it appealed to kids from the start. So why do it to my beloved dreadlocked alien beasts whose sole claim to fame is eviscerating people limb from limb? The PG-13 rating, a franchise first, unless you count the mash-up Alien vs. Predator, only makes it feel less like the Predator many know and love.
The practical guy-in-a-suit creature work for the main Predator character is impressive and worthy of praise, but the majority of the film is huge CGI creatures attacking other clearly CGI versions of the Predator, which is uninspiring in a franchise known for its slasher-like creature-feature monster-on-human destruction.
Predator: Badlands is a softening that’s a fundamental miss for me, but it will surely please others less beholden to the series. Sadly, I wasn’t moved by his generic journey, which includes learning lessons about the importance of found family, self-worth and empathy.
What other critics are saying: They like it far more than me, generally speaking. Variety’s Peter Debruge calls it “the strongest film with Predator in the title since the 1987 original,” and David Ehrlich at Indiewire writes that “by reckoning with the series’ fundamental weakness rather than continuing to pretend that it’s the series’ greatest strength, Trachtenberg has made the brand richer than ever before.”
How to watch: Predator: Badlands is now in theaters nationwide.
Bonus recommendation: Christy
Why you should see it: Sydney Sweeney gives the best performance of her budding career in Christy.
Based on shocking true events, Christy Martin (Sweeney) never imagined life beyond her small-town roots in West Virginia until she discovered a knack for punching people. Fueled by grit, raw determination and an unshakable desire to win, she charges into the world of boxing under the guidance of her trainer and manager turned husband, Jim (Ben Foster). But while Christy flaunts a fiery persona in the ring, her toughest battles unfold outside it — confronting family, identity and a relationship that just might become life-and-death.
What starts as a typical sports rags-to-riches drama transforms into a terrifying look at long-term domestic abuse. Foster is positively evil as Jim, who wants to control every aspect of his wife’s life, including who she spends time with, which has deeper implications given Christy is essentially forced back into the closet by her conservative family. It all builds to an unfortunate situation that feels as inevitable as it does avoidable, though Martin’s story is not without hope.
There are certainly cliché elements — Merritt Weaver as the doting mother feels plucked out of an archetype catalog, and the training montage stuff is pretty routine. What it does do differently from a typical boxing film is what makes it stand out, as does Sweeney’s ferocious lead performance, which sells both the badass side of the character and the vulnerable one.
What other critics are saying: The response is very mixed. Kristy Puchko at Mashable warns, “Don’t buy into the hype. This movie is a mess,” though IndieWire’s Kate Erbland was more on my side of things, writing that “Sweeney disappears into the role, not just changing her hair color, eye color, accent and way of moving, but her general air, her overall mien, the space she takes up in a room.”
How to watch: Christy is now in theaters nationwide.
But wait, there’s more …
Russell Crowe as Hermann Goring in Nuremberg. (Scott Garfield/Sony Pictures Classics/Courtesy of Everett Collection)
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Nuremberg: Imagine the Netflix show Mindhunter, which is about a psychiatrist trying to understand the psychology of serial killers, but the killers in question are actual Nazis. That’s how Nuremberg plays. The film depicts the start of the Nuremberg trials via a U.S. Army psychiatrist (Rami Malek) who gets locked in a dramatic psychological showdown with accused Nazi war criminal Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe). It’s gripping as a courtroom thriller — it really makes you feel the risk associated with putting these men on trial — and absolutely harrowing by the time it gets around to showcasing actual Holocaust footage. Crowe is impressive in the lead role, and it’s entertaining to watch him engage in feature-length mind games with Malek. Get tickets.
💸 Movies newly available to rent or buy
My recommendation: Black Phone 2
Why you should see it: Black Phone 2 is a bold and ambitious sequel that takes the budding franchise into a more supernatural direction.
The original movie, based on the Joe Hill short story, unexpectedly became one of the biggest horror hits of 2021. The more surreal and dreamlike sequel, further unencumbered from sticking to any sort of text, is an improvement, even if it still feels like it owes a lot to Freddy Krueger. I’m torn between appreciating the homages and being annoyed that it’s so blatantly a rip-off.
In the film, bad dreams haunt Gwen, who is now 15, as she receives calls from the black phone and sees disturbing visions of three boys being stalked and killed at a winter camp. Accompanied by her brother, Finn, she heads to the camp to solve the mystery, only to confront the Grabber (Ethan Hawke) — a killer who’s grown even more powerful in death.
Black Phone 2 is a case where the atmosphere, look and feel of the movie are strong enough to make up for whatever it lacks on a story level, though the degree to which it wants to be a Nightmare on Elm Street sequel mostly just left me wanting the real thing.
What other critics are saying: The reaction is mixed-positive. Benjamin Lee at the Guardian writes, “Black Phone 2, like M3gan 2.0 before it, is a needlessly long and hugely unconvincing argument for the birth of a new franchise. The next time it rings, I recommend not answering.” Variety’s Peter Debruge, however, calls it “remarkably scary, considering the deliberate pace … which I credit to how all bets are off when dealing with dreams.”
How to watch: Black Phone 2 is now available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Prime Video and other VOD platforms.
My bonus recommendation: The Smashing Machine
Why you should see it: Dwayne Johnson is as good as you’ve heard in The Smashing Machine. He plays real-life MMA and UFC fighter Mark Kerr, whose issues with substance abuse and relationship troubles with his then girlfriend were the centerpiece of an HBO documentary in 2002, also titled The Smashing Machine.
The 2025 film does not pass the “is it better than the documentary on the same subject?” test. It lacks the momentum needed to get the audience invested in the character and his personal and professional battles. It never justifies why you’re watching a biopic about Kerr, who isn’t very well-known. Is it really that interesting that an athlete who is ruthless in the ring is kind and genial outside of it?
It doesn’t help that Emily Blunt is essentially playing an earnest version of the Heidi Gardner Saturday Night Live character, “Every Boxer’s Girlfriend From Every Movie About Boxing Ever,” with no element of self-awareness.
The Smashing Machine is a disappointment considering the pedigree of talent of all involved, though it will likely succeed in its mission statement of getting its star attention on the awards circuit.
What other critics are saying: Most agree that Johnson is at his career-best. Liz Shannon Miller at Consequence writes that he “never fully disappears into the role, but were he to do so, it might almost diminish his performance — one which never distracts from the narrative, but keeps present the awareness that Johnson is really going through it here.” The Daily Beast’s Nick Schager says “at every juncture, The Smashing Machine pulls its punches, and that’s truest when it comes to presenting a three-dimensional portrait of its protagonist.”
How to watch: The Smashing Machine is now available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Prime Video and other VOD platforms.
But that’s not all …
Aziz Ansari and Keanu Reeves in Good Fortune. (Eddy Chen/Lionsgate/Courtesy of Everett Collection)
Good Fortune: In the writer-director debut of comedian and actor Aziz Ansari, a well-meaning but rather inept angel named Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) meddles in the lives of a struggling gig worker Arj (Ansari) and Jeff, a wealthy capitalist (Seth Rogen). The movie is incredibly class-conscious, so much so that it comes off as didactic. It more often than not tells, rather than shows us, how the rich have it easy and the poor are barely hanging on by a thread. It has its heart in the right place, which goes a long way in making up for the clunky plotting, familiar insights and lack of a true lead character. Thankfully, there are plenty of laughs along the way and a particularly terrific and charming performance by Reeves. Rent or buy.
📺 Movies newly available on streaming services you may already have
My recommendation: Frankenstein
Why you should watch it: Guillermo del Toro finally got to make his passion project adaptation of Frankenstein. Thankfully, it was worth the wait.
In the film, based on Mary Shelley’s iconic work, a brilliant but egotistical scientist (Oscar Isaac) brings a monstrous creature (Jacob Elordi) to life in a daring experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.
Elordi steals the show with a deeply felt performance that really gets at the tragedy of the character. Isaac is having a blast hamming it up as the doctor, but his goofy register feels like it belongs in a different film than the one Elordi is inhabiting.
The structure of the movie is such that Isaac dominates the first hour before Elordi is ushered in, which is a shame considering how much more compelling del Toro finds the monster, which tracks if you’ve seen, well, any of his movies. It’s ultimately a story about fathers and sons and how they’re doomed to repeat one another’s sins.
Del Toro’s gothic and old-fashioned sensibilities are a perfect match for the material; the sumptuous production design, costumes and painstaking attention to detail really make it all sing.
As is often the case with del Toro, it’s amazing on a visual level and very handsomely made even if it underwhelms in other respects, with its awkward pacing and occasionally laughably dialogue. The fact that the biggest selling point is the way it looks, and 99.9% of viewers will be forced to experience it on their television sets, laptops, tablets or even their phones, is depressing. I guess we should simply be grateful that Netflix spent a ton of money to realize the extravagant vision of a beloved filmmaker.
What other critics are saying: Reviews are fairly positive overall, though much of the sentiment is similarly mixed. Katie Rife at the AV Club raves that “del Toro’s love for the grotesque and the abject is sincere and passionate, and there are scenes in Frankenstein that play like thesis statements for the director’s entire career.” Rolling Stone’s David Fear similarly writes that it “is the movie Guillermo del Toro was born to make.”
How to watch: Frankenstein is now streaming on Netflix.
Bonus recommendation: The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Why you should watch it: The best thing about The Fantastic Four: First Steps is that it has a unique look that’s decidedly its own: a retro-futuristic take on the 1960s that feels as indebted to The Jetsons as it does to the comic books it’s based on.
First Steps opens with our heroes — Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) — celebrating four years as America’s superhero protectors. The public knows who they are and appreciates their efforts to keep them safe. But they’re soon forced to balance their roles as heroes and the strength of their family bond while defending Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner).
The Fantastic Four: First Steps may be the third attempt at bringing these classic comic book characters (the fourth, actually, if you count the hastily-made-to-keep-the-rights unreleased 1994 version), but it’s undeniably the most successful of that very cursed bunch. The speed-run character development is a barrier at first, but by the end I was worn down and accepted that this is what comic book movies are now, nearly 20 years after Iron Man changed everything for the genre.
What other critics are saying: Most agree that Marvel finally got it right this time. William Bibbiani at TheWrap says it’s first-rate, writing, “whatever its drawbacks, [it] feels like a real Fantastic Four movie, and that’s no small achievement.” The AP’s Jake Coyle agrees that the villains steal the show and calls it “a very solid comic book movie.”
How to watch: The Fantastic Four: First Step is now streaming on Disney+
But that’s not all …
Nick Offerman in Sovereign. (Briarcliff/Courtesy of Everett Collection)
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Sovereign: This movie based on true events tells the story of Jerry and Joe Kane, a father and son who were self-proclaimed sovereign citizens involved in a deadly confrontation with police in West Memphis, Ark., in 2010. It amounts to a dual character study that tragically builds toward the aforementioned incident; a thriller of sorts but with real emotional weight behind it. Offerman is sublime in the role, making you almost pity the man who is so staunch in his convictions as they are revealed to be not based in reality. The filmmakers are essentially weaponizing his well-known “Ron Swanson” persona from Parks and Recreation to great dramatic effect. Now streaming on Hulu.
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Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale: I admittedly haven’t watched this, but considering this third entry recently hit $100 million at the box office and the show has a massive audience, it is my duty to inform you that it is now available to stream. Watch on Peacock.
That’s all for this week — we’ll see you next week at the movies!
Looking for more recs? Find your next watch on the Yahoo 100, our daily-updating list of the most popular movies of the year.
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