See ‘Him’ in theaters, rent ‘Americana,’ stream ‘Superman’ on HBO Max

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.

This week’s new wide releases include the unique and ambitious Jordan Peele-produced sports-horror film Him and the surreal fantasy romance A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, starring Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie. Sadly, neither of them is particularly good.

Two recent Sydney Sweeney movies that didn’t make a dent at the box office, Eden and Americana, are also newly available to rent or buy at home, and they’re both worth watching despite the complete lack of a real marketing campaign for either.

On the streaming services you’re likely already paying for, Swiped, a new biopic starring Lily James about the woman behind the popular dating app Bumble, hits Hulu as theatrical blockbusters Superman and 28 Years Later hit HBO Max and Netflix, respectively.

Read on, because there’s more where that came from, and there’s always something here for everyone!

🎥 What to watch in theaters

My not-quite-a-recommendation: Him

Why you should maybe skip it: Jordan Peele’s upcoming fourth feature may have been pulled off the schedule recently, but the latest film he produced is finally here.

Him stars comedy legend and actor Marlon Wayans and newcomer Tyriq Withers, and the premise is a great one: after suffering a potentially career-ending brain injury, up-and-coming football star Cameron Cade receives a lifeline when his hero, legendary 8-time champion QB and megastar Isaiah White, offers to train Cam at Isaiah’s isolated compound that he shares with his celebrity influencer wife (Julia Fox). But as Cam’s training accelerates, Isaiah’s charisma begins to curdle into something darker.

Despite its unique setting— the world of professional sports is a ripe and compelling target for a horror film — the movie underwhelms every step of the way, despite solid performances from its two leads. It’s a mess structurally and feels like it was pretty clearly re-edited to get down to 90ish minutes, as there are subplots and threads that are introduced and forgotten about almost entirely.

It’s just a blunt-force entirely unsubtle work of social commentary that has one idea and hammers it endlessly. The movie presents football as sort of violent religious cult in America and its devotees as deranged worshippers, which is interesting on its face but pretty lifeless in execution. The horror elements are entirely underbaked, amounting mostly to dreamlike imagery inserted at random intervals for jump scares.

It’s about as didactic as it gets, with its messaging overtaking every other element. The idea of treating sports owners as cult-like demonic figures who groom young talented Black men into participating in this barbaric violent thing is, again, more fun on paper than execution here.

Him proves that filmmaker Justin Tipping is, unfortunately. no Jordan Peele, as far as crafting biting social satire through a horror lens goes. It may be stylish but it doesn’t have much substance.

What other critics are saying: It’s not getting very good reviews. William Bibbiani at TheWrap says the film “lacks the fascinating characters, the misdirection, the carefully stretched out suspense and the thoughtfulness that makes a spider web movie work.” The Hollywood Reporter’s Frank Scheck writes that it “certainly tries to be disturbing. Too hard, in fact.”

How to watch: Him is now in theaters nationwide.

Get tickets

Bonus recommendation: A Big Bold Beautiful Journey

Why you should maybe skip it: They truly don’t make movies like this one anymore: a big-budget studio film full of magical realism, a sort-of-surreal romantic fantasy.

I admire its earnest old-fashioned ambitions, though the thoroughly-modern final product lands more at imitation Charlie Kaufman by way of the Everything Everywhere All At Once guys.

Sarah (Margot Robbie) and David (Colin Farrell) are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on a funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present, and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.

The problem is the characters are ciphers and not really people. They’re archetypes, which makes sense when you zoom out and realize the movie is a sort-of playful send-up and subversion of the idea of this type of movie with these kinds of characters.

It works on a script level, and the story is at its most involving when it gets emotional and honest about the characters, as they revisit key emotional moments from their lives. Farrell reliving a childhood play as an adult, doing a full musical number, is a highlight that makes you wish he were starring in a true honest-to-God musical.

The issue is that outside of those moments, the movie feels like it’s on rails and going through the motions of what the audience is expecting. You never really buy into their meet-cute romance because you can tell they are simply fated to be; no work is done to make the audience buy into or believe it. Director Kogonada, though, is a great image maker, and the movie has a nice look to it.

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey deserves points for trying something different, but it winds up feeling familiar all the same.

What other critics are saying: It’s a big miss. Tomris Laffly at Variety writes “the only destination A Big Bold Beautiful Journey approaches in the end is an unfortunate bore.” IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio calls it “miscalculated as a romance and a fantasy” and dubs it a “big, bold, beautiful bore.”

How to watch: A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is now in theaters nationwide.

Get tickets

But that’s not all!

The Senior: Michael Chiklis stars in this inspirational true story that, if it were made-up, you likely would find it too far-fetched to believe. The actor plays Mike Flynt, who at age 59, may be too old to be on a college football field, but that doesn’t stop him from joining the team anyway. It’s heartfelt enough to make you well up by the end, and has some positive messaging about how it’s never too late to finish what you started, no matter how crazy it may seem. Get tickets.

💸 Movies newly available to rent or buy

My recommendation: Americana

Why you should watch it: Americana is nothing new, but it’s an entertaining comic neo-Western about normal people getting wrapped up in a dangerous criminal situation in pursuit of a sacred and valuable Native American ghost shirt. It’s a “innocent folks find a bag-of-money” movie!

The cast and their well-written characters are part of what really makes it sing — Sydney Sweeney is quite good playing against type as a shy girl with a lisp who dreams of becoming a singer and Paul Walter Hauser is wonderful as a right-handed guy named Lefty who can’t stop asking women to marry him.

Directed by Tony Tost, it’s a fun, funny, and unexpectedly sweet experience, even if it builds to something more action-oriented than I was expecting. It’s nowhere near as good as the movies its clearly inspired by — the works of the Coen Brothers and Pulp Fiction, for starters — but it’s worth checking out.

What other critics are saying: It’s a pretty even split. The Hollywood Reporter’s Justin Lowe writes, though it “doesn’t particularly reinvent the Western, Tost’s portrayal of characters driven by unfettered greed or justifiable need gives voice to often-ignored segments of society as they strive for agency and respect — an admirable quality in any narrative genre.” Meanwhile, Nick Schager at The Daily Beast wasn’t into it, calling it “a sluggish and monotonous country-ified neo-noir that fails to innovate and, worse, to utilize its magnetic leading lady and her capable costars.”

How to watch: Americana is now available to rent or buy on Amazon, Apple TV and other VOD platforms.

Rent or buy

Bonus recommendation: Eden

Why you should watch it: Eden is based on, or at least inspired by, the wild true Lord of the Flies-esque story of a group of disillusioned outsiders in the late 1930s who abandon post-World War I Europe in search of a new beginning. Settling on a remote uninhabited island, their utopian dream quickly unravels as they discover that the greatest threat isn’t the brutal climate or deadly wildlife, but each other.

The cast of Eden is chock-full of the hottest actors in Hollywood: Sydney Sweeney, Ana de Armas and Vanessa Kirby share the screen alongside Jude Law and Daniel Brühl. Law plays a German doctor and self-styled philosopher who is the first to set foot on the island. The others all follow because, unbeknownst to Law, the letters that he’s been writing have been published in newspapers, and people have been following his exploits.

Ana de Armas in *Eden.* (Vertical Entertainment/Courtesy Everett Collection)

He has no interest in helping others make the island their home and immediately starts trying to sabotage the newcomers. It’s not long before a baroness (de Armas) shows up with plans to build a hotel there and make a fortune off tourism, wielding her sexuality as a sort of weapon. That’s when things spiral out of control.

The island experiment becomes a sort of microcosm speed-run of a society rising and falling, as all the different parties jockey for power and control. Eden plays out like the most twisted episode of Survivor. Outwit, outplay, outlast!

What other critics are saying: The response is mixed. Variety’s Owen Gleiberman writes, “The film sure is different. Yet there’s another word for it — the word is terrible.” Chase Hutchinson at TheWrap dug it, calling it a solid thriller from top to bottom.

How to watch: Eden is now available to rent or buy on Amazon, Apple TV and other VOD platforms.

Rent or buy

But that’s not all…

The Knife: After a stranger mysteriously appears in their home, a young Black family must deal with the fallout of their choices, big and small, as a steadfast detective tries to crack the case over the course of one fateful night. It’ll make your skin crawl as well as provoke discussions about what you’d do in this exact situation. Did the characters do the right thing? Is there ever a circumstance in which lying is acceptable? Rent or buy.
Relay: Riz Ahmed, Lily James and Sam Worthington star in this propulsive throwback cat-and-mouse thriller that borrows from the best of the genre, morphing from a ’70s-style flick to the ’90s as it goes. It’s a lot of fun, even if it takes one turn too many. Rent or buy.

📺 Movies newly available on streaming services you may already have

My recommendation: 28 Years Later

Why you should watch it: 28 Years Later takes place — you guessed it — 28 years after the events of the 2002 original film, 28 Days Later. Still living in quarantine, some people have found ways to exist amid the infected, who have evolved. The film follows a group of survivors who live on a small island, including a boy and his mother who are forced by circumstance to venture into the dark heart of the mainland.

Alfie Williams, Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes in *28 Years Later*. (Miya Mizuno/Columbia Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection)

When it hit theaters, I wrote that it’s a more thoughtful and somber film than some may be expecting, lighter on zombie action than its predecessors and more focused on domestic drama and acceptance of circumstances. It’s surprisingly emotionally affecting by the third act, once Ralph Fiennes, the film’s MVP, enters.

What other critics are saying: Critics are big fans. The Associated Press’s Jake Coyle wrote, “Buried in here are some tender reflections on mortality and misguided exceptionalism, and even the hint of those ideas make 28 Years Later a more thoughtful movie than you’re likely to find at the multiplex this time of year.” William Bibbiani at TheWrap agrees, writing that “the filmmakers haven’t redefined the zombie genre, but they’ve refocused their own culturally significant riff into a lush, fascinating epic that has way more to say about being human than it does about (re-)killing the dead.”

How to watch: 28 Years Later starts streaming on Netflix Saturday.

Stream ’28 Years Later’

Bonus not-quite-a-recommendation: Superman

Why you should maybe watch it: When I posted my review of Superman ahead of its release, I did not expect to be the outlier. It’s clear as day that my negative opinion is far outside the mainstream. Maybe I’m just sick of superhero movies, or this one isn’t for me, but I found it to be frustrating in how little it does to set up its characters and the world they inhabit.

The movie wasn’t just a hit with critics, but also with audiences. Fans of the actual Superman comics and the character may appreciate it more than I did, though I would argue the Man of Steel is barely the star of his own movie!

What other critics are saying: Don’t be dissuaded! The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin wrote that “Gunn’s kitchen-sink approach feels refreshingly generous, and his excitement for the character shines through.” Jake Coyle at the AP noted that “a weird Superman is better than a boring one.”

How to watch: Superman is now streaming on HBO Max.

Stream ‘Superman’