Want to know what’s coming soon to digital and what to watch right now on FandangoNOW and Vudu? Here is your weekly guide to the latest releases:
What are the latest new releases to watch right now?
Azazel Jacob’s posh yet goofy comedy French Exit, which stars the always amazing Michelle Pfeiffer as a widowed and suddenly broke heiress, is now available to rent or buy digitally on FandangoNOW and Vudu. Oscar-nominated actor Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea) co-stars as the disillusioned and dysfunctional woman’s son, an adult man who is incapable of independence who accompanies his mother and their mysterious cat to start a new life in Paris. The delightfully offbeat ensemble cast also includes Imogen Poots, Valerie Mahaffey and Isaach De Bankolé.
Nikole Beckwith’s Together Together is also new to rent or buy digitally on FandangoNOW and Vudu. The acclaimed indie comedy stars Ed Helms (The Hangover) in a more dramatic role than we’re used to seeing him in, playing a middle-aged man having a baby on his own via surrogate mother. Stand-up comedian Patti Harrison plays the young woman carrying his child and attempting to stay disconnected from the situation despite the father’s efforts to form some sort of platonic relationship between them.
What movies are great to pair with those new releases?
Given the dysfunctionally wealthy New York family dynamic, you could pair French Exit well with The Royal Tenenbaums or another film with a coercive mother, such as The Manchurian Candidate. But I’d go with a double feature of Michelle Pfeiffer movies — her matriarchs in both Dark Shadows and The Family are worth watching, as is her maternal role in White Oleander. And she perfectly plays another aging socialite in Murder on the Orient Express. But the best thing to watch her in of all is Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence, in which she also plays an heiress.
Other movies about surrogate pregnancies could be paired with Together Together, such as Baby Mama and Egg, or how about a movie about a couple who are — accidentally or by arrangement — having a kid together and need to get along, platonically or romantically? Knocked Up or The Object of My Affection works. There are also these platonic-couple movies that fit despite not involving a pregnancy: Celeste and Jesse Forever, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and, of course, the classic rom-com claiming men and women can’t be just friends: When Harry Met Sally…
Are there any other big movies coming out this week?
Robert Machoian’s The Killing of Two Lovers arrives on digital this Friday, May 14, following its debut at Sundance and subsequent tour on the festival circuit last year. The acclaimed drama follows a recently separated father of four who is struggling with the idea of his wife seeing other people. Also releasing this Friday and also well-reviewed are the supernatural horror movie The Djinn, in which a boy becomes trapped by a monster after making a wish, and the coming-of-age skater movie North Hollywood.
Additionally, Chaos Walking will be available to purchase digitally this Friday. The sci-fi action movie — directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) and based on the best-selling dystopian YA novel The Knife of Never Letting Go — pairs Spider-Man actor Tom Holland and Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley in a future-set story of survival in a time and a world where men’s thoughts are exposed and women are extinct. That is, until Ridley’s mysterious female character crash lands on the planet.
What are some good movies to rent for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month?
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and FandangoNOW and Vudu are spotlighting the best titles that fit under that banner. Personally, I recommend the classic Hollywood musical Flower Drum Song, Justin Lin’s high school crime drama Better Luck Tomorrow (which is near-officially part of the Fast & Furious franchise), the family-focused films The Joy Luck Club and The Farewell and a variety of great documentaries: Linsanity, To Be Takei, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail and Meet the Patels.
Are we celebrating any big movie anniversaries this week?
This week marks the 25th anniversary of the theatrical releases of the tornado disaster movie Twister and Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man and of the Cannes Film Festival premieres of Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves, Robert Altman’s Kansas City, Steve Buscemi’s Trees Lounge, Stephen Frears’ The Van and the James Gunn-scripted Tromeo and Juliet. This week is also the 30th anniversary of John Singleton’s Boyz N the Hood, John Irvin’s Robin Hood and the music documentary Madonna: Truth or Dare.
Going back a little further, the iconic Tom Cruise movie Top Gun and the family film The Adventures of Milo and Otis both turn 35 years old this week. Other movies with anniversaries include the killer-bear flick Grizzly, which turns 45, and the World War I drama Johnny Got His Gun, the comedy adaptation Plaza Suite, the historical crime drama 10 Rillington Place and the shark documentary Blue Water, White Death, which all turn 50. Robert Wise’s The House on Telegraph Hill turns 70, the horror movie Dracula’s Daughter turns 85, and Fritz Lang’s masterpiece M turns 90.
More recent movies with anniversaries include the Heath Ledger medieval action comedy A Knight’s Tale, the internet-focused documentary Startup.com, the Oscar-winner No Man’s Land, Todd Solondz’s Storytelling, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming’s The Anniversary Party and the Coen brothers’ The Man Who Wasn’t There, which all turn 20, the disaster movie remake Poseidon, which turns 15, and Best Picture winner The Artist and Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin, which turn 10.
Also, Steven Spielberg’s underrated fantasy film The BFG, Yeon Sang-ho’s zombie movie Train to Busan, Julia Ducournau’s horror drama Raw, Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden, Maren Ade’s Oscar-nominated comedy Toni Erdmann, Andrea Arnold’s American Honey and the fabulous Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds documentary Bright Lights are all now already 5 years old!
Can you recommend some more great movie deals on Vudu?
This week, Vudu has a sale on Disney Princess movies as part of the Ultimate Princess Celebration. If you love these movies, you really can’t just buy one or two, but I do recommend a double feature of The Little Mermaid and Moana as well as a classic pairing of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella. There are also the bundles of animated features with their live-action remakes for Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Mulan and Sleeping Beauty — the last one is grouped with Maleficent.
Vudu also has a sale on documentaries this week, and that’s my specialty, so let me recommend some perfect pairings for you: the death-defying double feature of Oscar-winners Man on Wire and Free Solo, the Black history films Free Angela and All Political Prisoners and I Am Not Your Negro, the art docs My Kid Could Paint That and Tim’s Vermeer, the polar exploration films Encounters at the End of the World and Expedition to the End of the World, the U.S. torture and prisoner abuse docs Taxi to the Dark Side and Standard Operating Procedure, the Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin combo of Undefeated and LA 92, the Todd Douglas Miller duo of Dinosaur 13 and Apollo 11 and Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine with the recent doc We Are Columbine.
Vudu is also spotlighting Tom Cruise movies with their Cruise Control Sale. You’ll definitely want to pick up Top Gun for its 35th anniversary this week, and then pair it with Days of Thunder for the perfect double feature to satisfy your need for speed. The sale also includes a deal on the six-movie collection of the Mission: Impossible series (all for less than $35.00) as well as a two-movie bundle of Jack Reacher and its sequel and a four-movie bundle including Days of Thunder, The Firm, Vanilla Sky and Collateral.
What are the 10 most popular new movies on FandangoNOW?
1. The Marksman
2. Nobody
3. The Little Things
4. Raya and the Last Dragon
5. Voyagers
6. Tom & Jerry
7. The Resort
8. Percy vs. Goliath
9. Wonder Woman 1984
10. Above Suspicion
What are the 10 most popular movies on Vudu?
1. The Marksman
2. Nobody
3. Wonder Woman 1984
4. The Little Things
5. Raya and the Last Dragon
6. Voyagers
7. Tom & Jerry
8. The Resort
9. The Croods: A New Age
10. Minari
