Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth reveal deeper ‘Mad Max’ meaning
Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth chat with USA TODAY’s Marco della Cava about “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.”
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After you hit up the back-to-school sales with your kids, why not head home for a trip through the Wasteland with Furiosa?
George Miller’s latest “Mad Max” vehicle leads a noteworthy pack of new movies on Netflix, Peacock, Max, Hulu, Apple TV+, Prime Video, Disney+ and Paramount+. August is packed with streaming options for film lovers of all tastes, from action comedies to all-star heist movies. There are recent theatrical releases, like Sydney Sweeney’s holy horror flick and a Tom Hardy/Austin Butler biker gang drama, but also original flicks such as a superspy rom-com with Halle Berry and Mark Wahlberg.
Here are 15 notable new movies you can stream right now:
‘Abigail’
In the over-the-top horror comedy, Melissa Barrera, Kathryn Newton and Dan Stevens star as members of a motley kidnapping crew hired to watch over a ballerina girl (Alisha Weir). She’s revealed to be – uh-oh! – a vicious vampire who turns the tables on her captors in a blood-soaked tale that’s much twistier than it seems.
Where to watch: Peacock
‘The Bikeriders’
Jeff Nichols’ gripping crime drama centers on a motorcycle club of Midwestern outsiders whose dealings turn criminal when they invite new blood into the group. Austin Butler is the wild-at-heart troublemaker, Jodie Comer is his worried girlfriend, but Tom Hardy shines as the bikers’ mercurial, Brando-esque leader.
Where to watch: Peacock
‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’
The busy backstory of Charlize Theron’s “Mad Max: Fury Road” heroine, now played by Anya Taylor-Joy, gets told in this explosive, world-building epic. A charismatically evil Chris Hemsworth is a highlight in this adrenalized revenge thriller full of post-apocalyptic hot rods, gorgeous demolition-derby carnage and demented confidence.
Where to watch: Max
‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’
More nostalgic than coherent, the latest “Ghostbusters” installment features a massive cast and throwbacks galore. Mckenna Grace leads the newer heroes and Bill Murray heads up the old crew against the new big bad Garraka, a horned phantom who represents a chilly existential threat to New York City (and pretty much all mankind).
Where to watch: Netflix
‘Immaculate’
“The First Omen” isn’t the only option for nun horror in 2024. Sydney Sweeney stars in this unholy chiller as a young American novice who joins an Italian convent and navigates increasingly unnerving episodes, including finding out she’s pregnant. (Fun fact: She’s a virgin!) Things just get worse from there, all leading to a bleakly bonkers climax.
Where to watch: Hulu
‘The Instigators’
The heist comedy features Matt Damon as a desperate father and Casey Affleck as a snarky ex-con partnered up for a robbery that gets bungled, leading to cops and crooks alike coming after them. It’s got issues but not in the supporting cast, led by Hong Chau as the very understanding therapist of Damon’s on-the-lam dad.
Where to watch: Apple TV+
‘Jackpot!’
There’s a fun dystopian Looney Tunes quality to Paul Feig’s action comedy, which imagines a future LA where lottery winners have to stay alive till sundown to keep their cash. Awkwafina plays a struggling actress with her life on the line, and John Cena is in earnest goofball mode as the protection agent hired to keep her safe.
Where to watch: Prime Video
‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’
Will humans and simians ever get along? That existential question is revisited in the latest “Planet of the Apes” adventure, a sprawling coming-of-age sci-fi tale that follows young chimp Noa (Owen Teague) on a quest to save his friends and family who partners with a mysterious girl named Mae (Freya Allan).
Where to watch: Hulu
‘Knox Goes Away’
Michael Keaton directs and stars in the nifty crime thriller as a hitman diagnosed with Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, a fast-acting and fatal form of dementia. He’s determined to use his final days to help out his estranged son (James Marsden), though the cops are also in hot pursuit after a botched job.
Where to watch: Max
‘La Chimera’
Josh O’Connor, one of the best things about the aces tennis flick “Challengers,” is also superb in this Italian dramedy. He plays a British tomb raider who gets out of jail and travels to Italy to meet up with friends, find love and plunder some stolen artifacts in a narrative that turns into quite the emotional cautionary tale.
Where to watch: Hulu
‘Love Lies Bleeding’
Romance sparks between pumped-up Midwestern bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O’Brian) and introverted gym manager Lou (Kristen Stewart), but that’s also when murderous trouble arises in director Rose Glass’ sultry and sweaty neo-noir thriller. If it’s not too early to start talking Oscar nods, O’Brian is phenomenal in a star-making turn.
Where to watch: Max
‘One Life’
The moving period biopic tells the story of London broker Nicholas Winton, who saved hundreds of Jewish children in Prague with Nazi forces on the march in 1938. Johnny Flynn plays Winton as a young man racing to help the kids while Anthony Hopkins is the older Nicholas recalling his humanitarian efforts and wishing he could have done more.
Where to watch: Paramount+
‘Tarot’
OK, it’s not the greatest, but kids wanting to dip their toes into horror could do worse. On-the-rise youngsters like Avantika (“Mean Girls”) and Jacob Batalon (“Spider-Man: Homecoming”) star in the PG-13 film about college pals who use a cursed deck of tarot cards and discover their eerie readings are coming to bizarre and fatal fruition.
Where to watch: Netflix
‘The Union’
A New Jersey construction worker (Mark Wahlberg) runs into his high school sweetheart (Halle Berry) in a bar. He thinks she wants to get back together, but instead, she’s now a superspy who recruits him for a dangerous mission to retrieve a stolen list of secret agents. Cue the rom-com shenanigans, globetrotting action and A-list flirting.
Where to watch: Netflix
‘Young Woman and the Sea’
Like “Nyad,” but better and way more rousing. “Star Wars” alum Daisy Ridley is hugely engaging in this extremely Disney-fied biopic as pioneering athlete Trudy Ederle, who conquered Olympic disappointment, misogyny and jellyfish to become the first woman to swim across the English Channel in 1926.
Where to watch: Disney+
