In theaters this week, a new Predator film crash-lands into theaters alongside Christy, the latest star turn for Sydney Sweeney.
Looking for something new to watch this weekend? Whether you’re planning a cozy movie night at home or heading to the theater, there’s a fresh lineup of releases that movie lovers won’t want to miss. From thrilling action on the big screen with Predator: Badlands, to spine-chilling horror at home with Black Phone 2, to the hauntingly beautiful Frankenstein by Guillermo del Toro now streaming on Netflix there’s something for every mood and taste. Here’s a quick guide to the top new movies you should check out this weekend. Grab your popcorn!
Predator: Badlands
Why you should maybe see it: If your biggest problem with the long-running and entirely R-rated Predator franchise is that the movies don’t feel enough like a Disney+ Star Wars show intended for children, Predator: Badlands is here to correct course. It’s made by Dan Trachtenberg, the same filmmaker behind both of the straight-to-Hulu features Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers, which reinvigorated the series with unique takes on the lore.
Eschewing the usual setup of “human characters fight Predators, who are the bad guys,” Badlands boldly hits reset by centering on an alien “Predator” as the protagonist. Cast out from his clan, he joins forces with an unlikely robo-ally (Elle Fanning) to embark on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary. Soon enough, they must contend with another robot (also Elle Fanning), who is sort of an antagonist. They even work in the Alien franchise yet again here: Fanning is a Weyland-Yutani corporation synth!
Frankly, it is so inherently silly to try to make the audience care about the emotional life of a Predator that if it weren’t also such a calculated attempt by Disney, which now owns this property as well as the Alien movies, to try to turn an R-rated franchise into mass appeal sci-fi adventure fare, I’d likely be on board.
It has already done this to Star Wars, a better fit as it appealed to kids from the start. So why do it to my beloved dreadlocked alien beasts whose sole claim to fame is eviscerating people limb from limb? The PG-13 rating, a franchise first, unless you count the mash-up Alien vs. Predator, only makes it feel less like the Predator many know and love.
The practical guy-in-a-suit creature work for the main Predator character is impressive and worthy of praise, but the majority of the film is huge CGI creatures attacking other clearly CGI versions of the Predator, which is uninspiring in a franchise known for its slasher-like creature-feature monster-on-human destruction.
Predator: Badlands is a softening that’s a fundamental miss for me, but it will surely please others less beholden to the series. Sadly, I wasn’t moved by his generic journey, which includes learning lessons about the importance of found family, self-worth and empathy.
How to watch: Predator: Badlands is now in theaters nationwide.
Christy
Why you should see it:Sydney Sweeney gives the best performance of her budding career in Christy.
Based on shocking true events, Christy Martin (Sweeney) never imagined life beyond her small-town roots in West Virginia until she discovered a knack for punching people. Fueled by grit, raw determination and an unshakable desire to win, she charges into the world of boxing under the guidance of her trainer and manager turned husband, Jim (Ben Foster). But while Christy flaunts a fiery persona in the ring, her toughest battles unfold outside it confronting family, identity and a relationship that just might become life-and-death.
What starts as a typical sports rags-to-riches drama transforms into a terrifying look at long-term domestic abuse. Foster is positively evil as Jim, who wants to control every aspect of his wife’s life, including who she spends time with, which has deeper implications given Christy is essentially forced back into the closet by her conservative family. It all builds to an unfortunate situation that feels as inevitable as it does avoidable, though Martin’s story is not without hope.
There are certainly cliché elements Merritt Weaver as the doting mother feels plucked out of an archetype catalog, and the training montage stuff is pretty routine. What it does do differently from a typical boxing film is what makes it stand out, as does Sweeney’s ferocious lead performance, which sells both the badass side of the character and the vulnerable one.
How to watch: Christy is now in theaters nationwide.
Black Phone 2
Why you should see it: Black Phone 2 is a bold and ambitious sequel that takes the budding franchise into a more supernatural direction.
The original movie, based on the Joe Hill short story, unexpectedly became one of the biggest horror hits of 2021. The more surreal and dreamlike sequel, further unencumbered from sticking to any sort of text, is an improvement, even if it still feels like it owes a lot to Freddy Krueger. I’m torn between appreciating the homages and being annoyed that it’s so blatantly a rip-off.
In the film, bad dreams haunt Gwen, who is now 15, as she receives calls from the black phone and sees disturbing visions of three boys being stalked and killed at a winter camp. Accompanied by her brother, Finn, she heads to the camp to solve the mystery, only to confront the Grabber (Ethan Hawke) a killer who’s grown even more powerful in death.
Black Phone 2 is a case where the atmosphere, look and feel of the movie are strong enough to make up for whatever it lacks on a story level, though the degree to which it wants to be a Nightmare on Elm Street sequel mostly just left me wanting the real thing.
How to watch: Black Phone 2 isnow available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Prime Video and other VOD platforms.
The Smashing Machine
Why you should see it: Dwayne Johnson is as good as you’ve heard in The Smashing Machine. He plays real-life MMA and UFC fighter Mark Kerr, whose issues with substance abuse and relationship troubles with his then girlfriend were the centerpiece of an HBO documentary in 2002, also titled The Smashing Machine.
The 2025 film does not pass the “is it better than the documentary on the same subject?” test. It lacks the momentum needed to get the audience invested in the character and his personal and professional battles. It never justifies whyyou’re watching a biopic about Kerr, who isn’t very well-known. Is it really that interesting that an athlete who is ruthless in the ring is kind and genial outside of it?
It doesn’t help that Emily Blunt is essentially playing an earnest version of the Heidi Gardner Saturday Night Live character, “Every Boxer’s Girlfriend From Every Movie About Boxing Ever,” with no element of self-awareness.
The Smashing Machine is a disappointment considering the pedigree of talent of all involved, though it will likely succeed in its mission statement of getting its star attention on the awards circuit.
How to watch: The Smashing Machine isnow available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Prime Video and other VOD platforms.
Frankenstein
Why you should watch it: Guillermo del Toro finally got to make his passion project adaptation of Frankenstein. Thankfully, it was worth the wait.
In the film, based on Mary Shelley’s iconic work, a brilliant but egotistical scientist (Oscar Isaac) brings a monstrous creature (Jacob Elordi) to life in a daring experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.
Elordi steals the show with a deeply felt performance that really gets at the tragedy of the character. Isaac is having a blast hamming it up as the doctor, but his goofy register feels like it belongs in a different film than the one Elordi is inhabiting.
The structure of the movie is such that Isaac dominates the first hour before Elordi is ushered in, which is a shame considering how much more compelling del Toro finds the monster, which tracks if you’ve seen, well, any of his movies. It’s ultimately a story about fathers and sons and how they’re doomed to repeat one another’s sins.
Del Toro’s gothic and old-fashioned sensibilities are a perfect match for the material; the sumptuous production design, costumes and painstaking attention to detail really make it all sing.
As is often the case with del Toro, it’s amazing on a visual level and very handsomely made even if it underwhelms in other respects, with its awkward pacing and occasionally laughably dialogue. The fact that the biggest selling point is the way it looks, and 99.9% of viewers will be forced to experience it on their television sets, laptops, tablets or even their phones, is depressing. I guess we should simply be grateful that Netflix spent a ton of money to realize the extravagant vision of a beloved filmmaker.
How to watch: Frankenstein is now streaming on Netflix.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Why you should watch it: The best thing about The Fantastic Four: First Steps is that it has a unique look that’s decidedly its own: a retro-futuristic take on the 1960s that feels as indebted to The Jetsons as it does to the comic books it’s based on.
First Steps opens with our heroes Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) celebrating four years as America’s superhero protectors. The public knows who they are and appreciates their efforts to keep them safe. But they’re soon forced to balance their roles as heroes and the strength of their family bond while defending Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner).
The Fantastic Four: First Steps may be the third attempt at bringing these classic comic book characters (the fourth, actually, if you count the hastily-made-to-keep-the-rights unreleased 1994 version), but it’s undeniably the most successful of that very cursed bunch. The speed-run character development is a barrier at first, but by the end I was worn down and accepted that this is what comic book movies are now, nearly 20 years after Iron Man changed everything for the genre.
How to watch: The Fantastic Four: First Step is now streaming on Disney+
