New movies
■ If you were holding out for “Oppenheimer” on streaming, now’s your chance to catch up before the Oscars (March 10), where it’s up for 13 awards including best picture, best director for Nolan and best actor for Cillian Murphy. The film arrives on Peacock today. Nolan and Emma Thomas, his producer and wife, are passionate advocates of the big screen experience, but they also know that most people will watch their films in the home — sometimes even as their first time. It’s how both discovered some of their favorites as well, they’ve said. In an interview with The Associated Press, Thomas added, “The nice thing about Chris’ films is because they are so very rich and reward multiple viewings, I think that they’re perfectly pitched for home viewings.”
■ Jennifer Lopez has a new movie coming to Prime Video today. She co-wrote “This is Me…Now: A Love Story,” a movie musical about finding love which she called “the most personal thing I’ve ever done.” It is a star-studded endeavor, with appearances from her husband, Ben Affleck, Keke Palmer, Sofia Vergara, Post Malone and more, and ties in with her first studio album in a decade (see below).
■ Also coming to Prime Video is Emma Seligman’s “gay high school fight club” comedy “Bottoms,” starring Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri as a few misfits who start a fight club to flirt with the hot cheerleaders (Kaia Gerber and Havana Rose Liu). In his review, AP Film Writer Jake Coyle wrote, “The rites and rituals of the raunchy highschool comedy can be as prescribed as a class syllabus. But what makes Emma Seligman’s “Bottoms” such an anarchic thrill is how much it couldn’t care less.”
And finally, Taika Waititi’s “Next Goal Wins” arrived on Hulu on Thursday. It’s based on the real story of the American Samoa men’s soccer team quest to qualify for the FIFA World Cup after an historic loss (31-nill) against Australia. Michael Fassbender plays the coach who tries to help. In his AP review, Mark Kennedy wrote that “‘Next Goal Wins’ is most winning in the way it handles the team’s star player, Jaiyah Saelua, who became the first nonbinary player to compete in a men’s FIFA qualifier. Played with real tenderness and joy by nonbinary actor Kaimana, the way the team and coach relate to Saelua is genuine and touching.”