From 'Super Mario Bros.' to 'The Flash,' here are 15 movies you need to stream right now
Summer's coming to a close, though a nice long Labor Day weekend is a good time to catch up on the big movies you might have missed.
Before the fall film season starts, use these few days off to check out the best recent blockbusters on your preferred streaming services. Netflix, Disney+, Max, Prime Video, Hulu, Peacock and others have a stock of new releases from the past month to watch on your couch, from the latest Marvel superhero outing to everyone's favorite video-game plumber.
Here are 15 movies that you can stream right now for a very cinematic holiday:
'Asteroid City'
Wes Anderson's oddball dramedy centers on a group of parents (including Scarlett Johansson and Jason Schwartzman) and their talented science kids quarantined in a 1950s desert town when an alien disrupts their stargazers convention. Anderson doubles down on the quirkiness but the movie interestingly studies grief and artistic intent, and Hanks (as a wise grandpa) nicely grounds the out-there idiosyncrasy.
Where to watch: Peacock
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'The Flash'
Michael Keaton, the best movie Dark Knight of all time, proves it once more in an adventure where super-fast hero Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) gets stuck on a parallel Earth, and meets his teenage self and coaxes crusty Bruce Wayne (Keaton) back in Bat-gear. It's a fan-service mess by the end, but at least it's pretty fun for the most part with the Barrys getting to know each other and an awesome debut by Sasha Calle's new Supergirl.
Where to watch: Max
'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3'
Who cares if it's cliché to say: You'll laugh and cry watching this touching trilogy-closing adventure for Marvel's most motley crew. When a surprise attack leaves beloved raccoon Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) badly wounded, Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and his teammates buckle up to save him in a memorable quest with callbacks, payoffs and an ending that'll have fans spouting, "We are Groot!"
Where to watch: Disney+
'Heart of Stone'
"Wonder Woman" star Gal Gadot gets her own superspy franchise starring as Rachel Stone, an undercover operative working for a secret global peacekeeping organization. She's embedded on an MI6 team but has her world blown up when a young hacker (Alia Bhatt) attempts to steal a powerful AI technology. Rachel gets knocked down and keeps getting up again in a decent action movie boosted by Gadot's charisma and likability.
Where to watch: Netflix
'How to Blow Up a Pipeline'
The white-knuckle thriller uses a heist-film template for an intense narrative about young environmentalists pulling off a brash plan to explode a Texas pipeline to disrupt the oil industry. A fine crop of up-and-coming actors (including Ariela Barer and Kristine Froseth) play the disparate destruction crew, coming from all over the country and each with an important backstory woven into the sneakily ambitious, nerve-wracking effort.
Where to watch: Hulu
'Hypnotic'
Ben Affleck plays a cop with a missing (and considered dead) daughter who goes back into the field to investigate a series of bank robberies, so he's not ideally prepared to deal with a mystery man (William Fichtner) able to bend people's sense of reality and mind-control them. The lawman teams with a fortune teller (Alice Braga) but no one's really who they seem in a Robert Rodriguez sci-fi movie more interested in thrills than logic.
Where to watch: Peacock
'Love Again'
Priyanka Chopra Jonas stars in the romantic comedy as a children's book author still grieving her dead fiancé. She sends texts to his old cellphone, now the work number for a journalist (Sam Heughan) who becomes enamored with her messages and gets inspired by Celine Dion (playing herself!) to form a real-life connection with this mystery woman.
Where to watch: Netflix
'The Monkey King'
In this rockin' and action-packed animated comedy for kids of all ages, Monkey King (voiced by Jimmy O. Yang) has a problem fitting in but finds his calling battling demons. Armed with a magical fighting stick and a huge ego, the warrior sets off on a journey to become immortal, goes to heaven and hell with his human sidekick Lin (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport) and makes an enemy of the eccentric but dangerous Dragon King (Bowen Yang)
Where to watch: Netflix
Movie night for the kids? These family films are streaming right now
'Moving On'
Did you think "80 for Brady" was the only time you'd see legends Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin together this year? The "Grace and Frankie" co-stars are playing best friends again in a very tonally different comedy. Claire (Fonda) and Evelyn (Tomlin) attend the funeral of their college roommate and they hatch a plan to kill her husband (Malcolm McDowell) for a past transgression, while Claire rekindles an old love with her ex (Richard Roundtree).
Where to watch: Hulu
'The Pope's Exorcist'
What if James Bond was a whiskey-drinking, scooter-riding Italian guy with a penchant for saving souls? Russell Crowe splendidly takes on the role of Father Amorth, a real-life exorcist who worked for the pope, in this nifty hell-raising franchise starter. In the 1980s-set biopic/mystery/fright fest, Crowe's holy man travels to Spain to deal with a possibly possessed boy and uncovers a centuries-old conspiracy.
Where to watch: Netflix
'Red, White & Royal Blue'
Britain's Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) and the U.S. president's son Alex (Taylor Zakhar Perez) don't like each other, and their rivalry causes an international incident via a wedding cake disaster. But it turns out these two guys are actually crushing hard on each other and a relationship forms that threatens both of their high-profile status quo in a politically idealistic, often touching and absolutely enjoyable gay rom-com.
Where to watch: Prime Video
'The Super Mario Bros. Movie'
This animated adventure captures the addictive whimsy of Nintendo's video-game world – and was the 2023 box-office champ till "Barbie" came along. Mario (voiced by Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are plumbers transported to a fantasy landscape of magic mushrooms, a princess (Anya Taylor-Joy) needing help, and a monster turtle villain (Jack Black) with a major crush.
Where to watch: Peacock
'Vacation Friends 2'
In 2021's first "Friends," Marcus (Lil Rel Howery) and Emily (Yvonne Orji) were introduced to the wonders of crashing catamarans and cocaine-laced cocktails by wacky besties Ron (John Cena) and Kyla (Meredith Hagner). This time, the couples reunite for an all-expenses-paid trip to a Caribbean resort that turns chaotic thanks to Kyla's ex-con dad (Steve Buscemi).
Where to watch: Hulu
'The Wrath of Becky'
The darkly comic, gleefully violent sequel catches up with teen warrior Becky (Lulu Wilson), who last killed a bunch of neo-Nazis and this time needs to take righteous vengeance on woman-hating insurrectionists who murdered her friend and took Becky's beloved dog. It's a lean and mean survival movie just begging for a third head-exploding round.
Where to watch: Paramount+
'You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah'
Adam Sandler has come a long from the days of "Billy Madison": The comedian's latest is a family affair as he stars alongside his wife and two kids in the coming-of-age comedy. Daughter Sunny Sandler and Samantha Lorraine play middle-school best friends with bat mitzvahs coming up, but things get very awkward when they fight for the attention of their shared crush (Dylan Hoffman).
Where to watch: Netflix
'Bat Mitzvah': Adam Sandler's Netflix comedy is the awkward Jewish middle-school movie we needed
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New movies on Netflix, Max, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+ to stream now
