‘Bullet Train’ is a blast; ‘Predator’ returns
Brad Pitt is hopping a train for Crazytown. At least the Predator isn’t aboard.
This weekend, the Oscar winner joins an ensemble cast including Sandra Bullock, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bad Bunny, plus some A-list cameos, for a wild and violent action comedy set aboard a high-speed Japanese transport. The “Predator” franchise is back, too, in a period prequel that pits a hightech space invader against an 18th-century Comanche warrior woman.
A couple of horror movies are on tap, including a Gen Z murder-mystery comedy chiller with Pete Davidson and an LGBTQ-themed slasher headlined by Kevin Bacon, while Jane Fonda and Whoopi Goldberg add star power to an Apple TV+ animated outing.
Here’s a guide to new movies that will satisfy every cinematic taste, plus some noteworthy theatrical films making their streaming and on-demand debuts:
If you love Guy Ritchie films and/or ‘Cannonball Run’: Brad Pitt’s ‘Bullet Train’
An assassin named Ladybug (Pitt) gets on the title train, tasked to snag a briefcase of money, and he finds a bunch of fellow killers (including Bad Bunny and King) also aboard with varying objectives. High jinks involving guns, knives, dead bodies, famous faces, smart toilets and a venomous snake ensue in the off-the-rails romp. It doesn’t make a lick of sense, but Pitt in go-for-broke mode is a goofy hoot.
h Where to watch: In theaters
If you yearn for a good ‘Predator’ movie: ‘Prey’
The best film of the franchise since the original 1987 macho spectacular is a gory 18th-century sci-fi action thriller where the Predator first comes to Earth and meets his match in a young Comanche woman. Amber Midthunder is fantastic as Naru, who yearns for the “big hunt” to prove her mettle to the men of her tribe, and her character arc makes
the movie (although insanely bloody kills and cool Predator gadgets help).
h Where to watch: Hulu
If you’re really into TikTok: ‘Bodies Bodies Bodies’
Bee (Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova) is invited to a hurricane shindig by girlfriend Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) to hang with the latter’s 20-something rich friends (including Davidson). Fueled by drugs and hard feelings, a party game goes awry and leads to a series of dead bodies and a decreasing bunch of bickering, backstabbing survivors. As a bloody whodunit, it’s fine – as a wry satire of youth culture and language, it’s top-notch.
h Where to watch: In theaters
If you dig cartoon adventures in colorful kingdoms: ‘Luck’
There’s a Pixar Lite vibe to this animated comedy, about an unlucky 18year-old (Eva Noblezada) who ages out of her orphanage, befriends a talking black cat (Simon Pegg) and goes an adventure in the land of Luck to help a young friend find a “forever home.” The emotional narrative can do only so much with subpar animation, yet the cast is decent, with Fonda voicing a dragon and Goldberg as a no-nonsense leprechaun.
h Where to watch: Apple TV+
If you need an empowering queer horror tale: ‘They/Them’
The camp slasher gets a timely update in the directorial debut of Oscarnominated writer John Logan (“Gladiator”). Bacon plays the dubious head of a gay-conversion therapy camp, where disturbing things await a trans teen (Theo Germaine) and their fellow campers – and that’s before the masked killer shows up. Horror tropes are forced into the rushed ending, and the well-meaning film forgets both frights and fun.
h Where to watch: Peacock
If you’re a Lena Dunham superfan: ‘Sharp Stick’
The writer/director’s subversively sweet comedy casts Kristine Froseth as a naive 26-year-old caregiver who loses her virginity in a doomed affair with an older man (Jon Bernthal), then hatches a plan to try out every sexual experience possible. While the adulterous relationship leans creepy, the film finds its heart when the young woman becomes inspired by an online porn star (Scott Speedman) and reconnects with her family.
h Where to watch: In theaters
If you’ve ever been embarrassed by your parents: ‘I Love My Dad’
Patton Oswalt will make you laugh, cry and (more often than not) squirm in the delightful cringe comedy. Writer/director James Morosini stars as a troubled young man who cuts his estranged father (Oswalt) out of his life. To maintain contact, the dad creates an online profile based on an attractive waitress he met and then catfishes his son in a tale with hilariously weird, incestuous make-out sessions but a ton of heart.
h Where to watch: In theaters (and on demand Aug. 12)
Also on streaming
h The Pixar sci-fi adventure “Lightyear,” a “Toy Story” spinoff with Chris Evans voicing space ranger Buzz Lightyear, is available on Disney+ as well as Apple TV and on-demand platforms.
h Director Ron Howard’s “Thirteen Lives,” a true-life rescue drama starring Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton, is on Amazon Prime.
h Sundance Film Festival psychological horror favorite “Resurrection,” with Rebecca Hall as a New York businesswoman forced to face her traumatic past, is also available on demand.