What’s Streaming This Week (9/20 – 9/27)

TUNER – Paramount+

Cast: Leo Woodall, Havana Rose Liu, Lior Raz, Tovah Feldshuh, Jean Reno, and Dustin Hoffman

Synopsis: A talented piano tuner’s life is turned upside down when he discovers that his meticulous skills for tuning pianos can equally be applied to cracking safes.

What we like:

• Director Daniel Roher won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for Navalny, and Tuner is his first scripted feature film.
• Rising star Leo Woodall underwent intensive training to convincingly portray Niki, a former piano prodigy turned tuner. He performed many of his own hand movements on screen.
• The film debuted at the 2025 Telluride Film Festival and received terrific reviews. It currently sits at 94% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

What we don’t like:

• Legendary character actress Tovah Feldshuh has a supporting role in the film. We love her! But when we see her name on the screen, it always looks like someone’s name spelled backwards. You know how they say Swedish sounds like English played backwards? Tovah Feldshuh looks like someone’s name spelled backwards. But it’s not, we checked.

ICE CREAM MAN – $19.99 Sale / TBD Rental

Cast: Ari Millen, Benjamin Byron Davis, Eli Roth, Karen Cliche, Dylan Hawco, Sarah Abbott, Shiloh O’Reilly, Kiori Mirza Waldman, Charlie Zeltzer, and Charlie Storey

Synopsis: An idyllic summer town descends into madness when an ice cream man serves kids sweet delights with horrifying results.

What we like:

• This slasher was written and directed by Eli Roth, the filmmaker behind Cabin Fever, Hostel, The Green Inferno, and Thanksgiving. It’s Roth’s first film since his 2024 disaster Borderlands.
• The movie was the first film announced from Roth’s horror label, The Horror Section. The shingle has released some small horror titles it co-financed (including Jimmy and Stiggs and Dream Eater), but this is the first to be directed by Roth.
• Roth’s film is not a remake of the 1995 horror movie Ice Cream Man starring Clint Howard, though we wish Roth had recruited Howard for a cameo!

What we don’t like:

• The film sparked backlash when credits revealed generative AI visual effects from company Dark Half, forcing Roth to admit “I misspoke” after initially claiming select animated sequences were hand-drawn.

LIFEHACK – Netflix

Cast: Georgie Farmer, Yasmin Finney, Roman Hayeck-Green, James Scholz, Jessica Reynolds, Charlie Creed-Miles

Synopsis: Four teenage slackers attempt a multi-million-dollar Bitcoin heist from their bedrooms, only to spiral into the darkest corners of the internet-and a danger beyond their computer screens.

What we like:

• The film is presented in the screenlife format, meaning the entire story unfolds through computer desktops, smartphones, video calls, security cameras, and social media, putting viewers directly into the characters’ digital world.
• Irish filmmaker Ronan Corrigan wrote and directed the film, making his first feature-length movie after previously working in short films and editing.
• Producer Timur Bekmambetov, who helped popularize the format with films like Searching, Missing, and Unfriended, backed the project through his Bazelevs studio.
• The film earned a 95% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, with reviewers highlighting its suspense, authentic depiction of internet culture, and inventive storytelling.

What we don’t like:

• As inventive as these screenlife format films often are, there’s something that feels very COVID-coded about them. Remember all those Zoom-based sing-alongs and staged readings we had to endure in the early 2020s? Just a terrible time.

THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS – Prime Video

Cast: Lili Reinhart, Tom Bateman, Rachel Marsh, Nicholas Duvernay, Jaboukie Young-White, Arty Froushan

Synopsis: Based on the New York Times best-selling novel by Ali Hazelwood, The Love Hypothesis follows Olive (Lili Reinhart), a brilliant Ph.D. candidate focused on her future in academia. But when she realizes her best friend Ahn (Rachel Marsh) has fallen for her crush Jeremy (Nicholas Duvernay), Olive impulsively kisses intimidating professor Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman) to prove she’s moved on. What begins as a desperate act of friendship spirals into a fake relationship with rules, boundaries, and a mutually beneficial agreement. When their arrangement begins to blur the lines between performance and reality, Olive is forced to test her most daunting hypothesis yet: that love might actually be worth the risk.

What we like:

• Author Ali Hazelwood originally wrote the story as fan fiction featuring Rey and Kylo Ren before transforming it into the 2021 novel The Love Hypothesis. The published characters Olive Smith and Adam Carlsen retain some of the basic inspiration from that original pairing.
• Tom Bateman plays Adam Carlsen, the character derived from the Kylo Ren side of the original fan-fiction concept. Bateman is also married to Daisy Ridley, who played Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
• The film is directed by Claire Scanlon, whose previous work includes the Netflix romantic comedy Set It Up, and the Prime Video comedy The People We Hate at the Wedding.

What we don’t like:

• Readers of the book often debated the ethics of a romantic relationship between a Ph.D. candidate (Olive) and a young professor (Adam). But if they’re based on Kylo and Rey, there really shouldn’t be any problems. Those kids worked things out just fine.

TOY STORY 5 – Disney+

Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Tony Hale, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Blake Clark, Annie Potts, Bonnie Hunt, Kristen Schaal, Keanu Reeves and Melissa Villaseñor, Greta Lee, Conan O’Brien, Craig Robinson, Shelby Rabara, Scarlett Spears, Mykal-Michelle Harris, Matty Matheson, Jeff Bergman, Anna Vocino, John Hopkins, and Ernie Hudson

Synopsis: When Bonnie receives a Lilypad tablet as a gift and becomes obsessed, Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang’s jobs become exponentially harder when they have to go head to head with the all-new threat to playtime.

What we like:

• Andrew Stanton, the Pixar veteran behind Finding Nemo, WALL-E and Finding Dory, returns to the Toy Story franchise. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Kenna Harris, who co-directed the movie.
• Randy Newman, the legendary composer behind “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” once again provides the original score. He has scored all five Toy Story films.
• The film debuted with approximately $312 million worldwide, including $160 million domestically and $152 million internationally. Disney reported that it was the biggest global opening of 2026 at the time and the second-biggest domestic opening ever for an animated film, behind Pixar’s The Incredibles 2.

What we don’t like:

• The film features a tablet-style device named Lilypad competing for Bonnie’s attention against her physical toys. While praised for addressing real modern anxieties about digital isolation, some viewers and parent advocates argued the anti-tech message was heavy-handed and unrealistic. Others pointed out the irony of a movie critiquing screen time while simultaneous merchandising tie-ins, such as tablet cases and tech-toy replicas, promoting the fictional digital device.

JACKASS: BEST AND LAST – Paramount+

Cast: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Wee Man, Preston Lacy, Dave England, Danger Ehren, Poopies, Zach Holmes, Jasper Dolphin, Rachel Wolfson, and Eric Manaka

Synopsis: Johnny Knoxville and the gang return for one final fling at the big screen. Featuring all-new stunts and stupidity along with the greatest hits and biggest laughs from the past, jackass: best and last is a joyously raucous celebration of all the mischievous camaraderie that you’ve come to love and expect from these idiots over the past 25 years. So, grab your dumb little buddies, raise your glasses, and come experience the cinematic event that promises to be the last time you’ll ever laugh this hard in a theatre.

What we like:

• The film was marketed as the final Jackass movie, serving as a send-off for Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, and the original crew after more than 25 years of outrageous stunts and pranks.
• It’s directed by longtime collaborator Jeff Tremaine, who helmed every previous Jackass feature, with Spike Jonze and Johnny Knoxville again producing.
• Rather than consisting entirely of fresh stunts, the film combines newly filmed segments with previously unseen footage, behind-the-scenes moments, and fan-favorite material from the franchise’s archives. Many critics highlighted how surprisingly emotional it is, with its heartfelt reflections on friendship, aging, and the end of an era.

What we don’t like:

• There is a sequence where Steve-O and other cast members take heavy laxatives before playing a game of Twister, resulting in an overwhelming display of bodily chaos. The scene reportedly prompted some walk-outs in theaters (what were these people expecting???).

A MAGNIFICENT LIFE – Netflix

Cast: Laurent Lafitte, Géraldine Pailhas

Synopsis: In 1955, 60-year-old Marcel Pagnol is a well-known and acclaimed playwright and filmmaker. When the editor-in-chief of ELLE magazine commissions a weekly column about Pagnol’s childhood, he sees this as a great opportunity to go back to his artistic roots: writing. Realizing his memory is failing him and deeply affected by the disappointing results of his last two plays, Pagnol starts doubting his ability to pursue his work. That is until Little Marcel – the young boy he used to be – appears to him as if by magic. Together, they will explore Marcel Pagnol’s incredible life and bring back to life his most cherished encounters and memories…

What we like:

• The first film in 15 years from acclaimed French animator Sylvain Chomet, who’s best known in the US for his Oscar-nominated 2003 film The Triplets of Belleville.
• The film follows Marcel Pagnol, a hugely influential French writer, playwright, and filmmaker from the early 20th century. He was behind famous works like the “Marseille Trilogy,” and the movie traces his rise from a curious child to a major artistic figure. 
• The film received multiple award nominations, including citations from theAnnecy International Animation Film Festival (Best Feature), the Annie Awards (Best Independent Feature), and the Lumière Awards (Best Animated Film).

What we don’t like:

• This one received decidedly mixed reviews from critics. It currently sits at a 60 score on Metacritic. Those reviews likely kept arthouse audience away, as the film earned a dismal $127K for distributor Sony Pictures Classics.

BACKROOMS – HBO Max

Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, and Lukita Maxwell

Synopsis: A strange doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom, leading to an endless network of interconnected rooms where time bends and the only thing scarier than getting lost is the sense that something is laying in wait.

What we like:

• The feature film debut of Kane Parsons, who first became famous as a teenager for his viral YouTube “Backrooms” videos, and now, at age 20, has became one of the youngest filmmakers ever to direct a studio-backed theatrical release.
• Rather than relying entirely on digital effects, the production reportedly built more than 30,000 square feet of physical Backrooms sets. According to reports, the maze-like construction was so extensive that people occasionally got lost on set.
• The movie became a major box-office phenomenon, earning over $330 million worldwide (on a $10M production budget) and became the highest-grossing film in A24’s history.

What we don’t like:

• Critics who disliked the film often felt that the characters were less compelling than the setting and didn’t receive enough development. While some viewers enjoyed the creature designs, others thought the entities were less frightening once they were fully revealed.

UNABOMBER – Netflix

Cast: Russell Crowe, Jacob Tremblay, Shailene Woodley, Annabelle Wallis, Alexander Ludwig, Steven Ogg, Marc Menchaca

Synopsis: Inspired by true events, UNABOMBER follows Ted Kaczynski’s (Jacob Tremblay) transformation from Harvard prodigy into the infamous Unabomber. Subjected to controversial psychological experiments by Professor Henry Murray (Russell Crowe), Kaczynski’s troubled past resurfaces decades later when his manhunt, led by FBI agent Joanne Miller (Shailene Woodley), brings to light the chilling consequences of ambition and isolation.

What we like:

• Director Janus Metz structures the film around Ted Kaczynski’s formative years and the later FBI manhunt. Metz described the approach as essentially showing both the “making” and eventual capture of the Unabomber.
• Screenwriter Nelson Greaves told Netflix that he heard an NPR story mentioning Kaczynski’s Harvard education and his involvement in psychological experiments. Greaves and co-writer Sam Chalsen had both attended Harvard, which prompted them to investigate the story further.

What we don’t like:

• Jonathan Epstein, son of bombing survivor Dr. Charles Epstein, blasted the film for allegedly popularizing and normalizing domestic terrorism. Epstein charges that Netflix “made up a lot of stuff to add dramatic tension” and used Harvard psychological experiments to “justify or normalize” terrorism by disenfranchised figures.

Also Streaming Friday:

BLOODY TENNIS

THE DEPUTY

THE BREADWINNER – Netflix

Cast: Nate Bargatze, Mandy Moore, Colin Jost, Zach Cherry, Martin Herlihy, Kate Berlant, with Kumail Nanjiani and Will Forte

Synopsis: Starring record-breaking comedian Nate Bargatze in his first feature film, The Breadwinner is a family comedy that follows the misadventures of Nate Wilcox, whose wife Katie (Mandy Moore) lands a once-in-a-lifetime deal on Shark Tank that takes her on a prolonged business trip – and now the lifelong breadwinner has to fend for his family as a first-time stay-at-home dad. With three young daughters and little experience handling their day-to-day needs, Nate finds out quickly that running the household is the toughest gig he’s ever had.

What we like:

• One of America’s biggest stand-up comedians, Nate Bargatze not only stars in the film but also co-wrote and co-produced it, marking his first leading role in a theatrical movie.
• The film was directed by Eric Appel, who previously directed the Emmy-winning parody film Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.
• The film features a stellar cast of supporting comedic performers, including Colin Jost, Kumail Nanjiani, Will Forte, Zach Cherry, and Martin Herlihy.

What we don’t like:

• Critics and some audiences expressed frustration that the movie relies on outdated mid-century sitcom clichés, painting fathers as helpless at basic household duties like laundry and cooking.
• Despite Bergatze touting a ‘Nate Rate’, offering tickets at a reduced price, the film pretty much bombed in theaters. It grossed only $20M at the domestic box-office.

THE FURIOUS – Starz

Cast: Xie Miao, Joe Taslim, Yang Enyou, Brian Le, Brian Le, Joey Iwanaga

Synopsis: After the daughter of Wang Wei (Xie Miao) is kidnapped by a criminal network and he receives no help from the corrupt police, Wei sets out on a rampage to find her himself. His only ally is Navin (Joe Taslim) – a relentless journalist whose wife has mysteriously disappeared. Fueled by a furious vengeance, the unlikely duo ruthlessly fights against the kidnappers in this explosive martial arts showdown.

What we like:

• This martial arts extravaganza’s biggest selling point is its relentless, inventive fight scenes. Many critics have called the action among the best seen in years, with creative use of environments, weapons, and stunt work. The film currently sits at 98% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
• Rather than relying heavily on CGI, the movie emphasizes physical performances and practical combat choreography, giving the fights a visceral impact.
• While not exactly a blockbuster, the film did solid business for distributor Lionsgate. Its box-office totaled $6.5M, which isn’t bad for a actioner that doesn’t feature any marquee stars.

What we don’t like:

• A recurring criticism is that some battles go on for extended periods, occasionally resembling a video game with multiple “boss fights.” The focus on action leaves little room for deeper characterization, so viewers looking for complex emotional arcs may want to look elsewhere.

POWER BALLAD – Starz

Cast: Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas, Peter McDonald, Marcella Plunkett, Havana Rose Liu, and Jack Reynor

Synopsis: When Rick (Paul Rudd), a past-his-prime wedding singer, meets fading boy-band star Danny (Nick Jonas) during a gig, the two bond over music and a late-night jam session. But when Danny turns one of Rick’s songs into the hit that reignites his career, Rick sets out to reclaim the recognition he believes he deserves – even if it means risking everything he cares about. From writer-director John Carney (Sing Street, Once), POWER BALLAD is a feel-good story about music, self-respect, friendship, and the price of ambition.

What we like:

• The film was written and directed by John Carney, the filmmaker behind beloved music-centered films such as Once, Begin Again, and (our personal favorite) Sing Street.
• Carney again worked with Scottish musician Gary Clark on the original songs, continuing a creative partnership that previously helped shape the music of Sing Street. Did we mention how much we love Sing Street?
• Paul Rudd performs convincingly as a lifelong musician, with several reviewers highlighting how naturally he inhabited the role.
• The film is largely set in Dublin, Ireland, using wedding halls, pubs, and neighborhoods to create a lived-in atmosphere that feels distinctly Irish.

What we don’t like:

• Rudd’s character name is Rick Power, which not only a terrible name for a character, but also comes from the Tyler Perry school of shoe-horning-a-character-name-in-to-the-title-of-your-film (i.e. Finding Joy, Good Deeds, A Fall From Grace, etc.).

Happy Streaming Everyone!