We’re barreling through winter at a steady clip, but there’s always time enough to cozy up with the latest movies to watch on Netflix, Paramount+, and more of the best streaming services.
Leading the pack this weekend is the hit horror follow-up “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” on paid video-on-demand services. Survival thriller fans will want to check out Netflix’s “Firebreak” for more pulse-pounding fare. Over on Hulu, my top suggestions would be “The Astronaut” for a fun mind-bending sci-fi movie most people missed in theaters or, for more feel-good vibes, “Rental Family.” Let’s dive into the best new movies on streaming to watch this weekend.
’28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’ (PVOD)
“28 Years Later” ended with a controversial scene that divided fans, but I thought it was a hoot, and I’m excited to see how “The Bone Temple” pushes things further off the rails. Director Danny Boyle hands off the reins to Nia DaCosta for part 2, which follows Jamie’s son Spike (Alfie Williams) as he leaves his island community and joins the Teletubbies-themed cult of survivors led by the sadistically silly Sir Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell). Meanwhile, his fellow survivor, Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), continues his experiments on the infected at his bone temple, ultimately discovering something that, if you can believe it, could make this zombie apocalypse situation even worse.
Buy or rent now on Apple or Amazon
‘Firebreak’ (Netflix)
Netflix’s new Spanish thriller “Firebreak” is one watch that’ll get your heart pumping this weekend. An already icy family hiking trip takes a terrifying turn when 8-year-old Lide (Candela Martínez) disappears into the woods. Her mother, Mara (Belén Cuesta), will stop at nothing to find her, but when a fast-moving wildfire breaks out nearby, search efforts grind to a halt. Ignoring evacuation orders, her family braves the smoke and flames (not to mention all the long-simmering tensions and secrets bubbling up in the chaos) in a last-ditch effort to find her with the help of local forest ranger Santi (Enric Auquer).
Watch “Firebreak” on Netflix now
‘The Astronaut’ (Hulu)
With a cast made up of veterans of “Black Mirror,” “The Matrix,” and “The Terminator” franchises, “The Astronaut” is this week’s must-watch for sci-fi fans — especially if you’ve already binged “Alien: Earth.” Written and directed by Jess Varley, it centers on newbie astronaut Sam Walker (Kate Mara) after her first mission in space goes horrifically awry. She miraculously survives an emergency crashlanding back on Earth, where she’s quarantined at a high-security facility for medical testing. But as unsettling incidents start to unfold, Sam begins to suspect that something may have come back with her — and it’s not friendly.
Watch “The Astronaut” on Hulu now
‘The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants’ (Paramount+)
Are ya ready, kids? “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants” just made the jump from the big screen to paid video-on-demand platforms, and it should make for a crowd-pleasing family favorite this weekend. In his fourth theatrical outing, the iconic animated sea-dweller SpongeBob SquarePants (voiced by Tom Kenny) is determined to leave his days of being a scaredy cat behind him. To prove his mettle, he sets out on a sea-faring adventure with the Flying Dutchman (Mark Hamill), a mangy phosphorescent ghost pirate who definitely has no plans of holding up his end of the bargain.
‘Rental Family’ (Hulu)
“Rental Family” is the latest feather in the cap of Brendan Fraser’s career resurgence, a sentimental slice of escapism that’ll make you laugh and cry in equal measure. After seven years of trying to make it big in Japan, American actor Phillip’s (Fraser) biggest claim to fame is as a superhero-like tube of toothpaste in a surprisingly beloved commercial series. Struggling to find purpose, he takes a strange gig for an acting troupe that hires out stand-ins for family members or friends of strangers in emotional situations. But when Phillip begins immersing himself in his clients’ worlds, it blurs the line between performance and reality and proves how the way we connect to each other informs our sense of self.
Watch “Rental Family” on Hulu now
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