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?
Wonder Woman 1984 is new to purchase digitally this week. The blockbuster sequel stars Gal Gadot as the titular DC superhero and Kristin Wiig as her arch-nemesis, Cheetah. Set in the mid-1980s, the action movie follows the future Justice League member as she also goes up against greedy, over-the-top oil tycoon Max Lord (Pedro Pascal), who turns the world upside down by granting unlimited wishes. Chris Pine also co-stars, reprising his role as Wonder Woman’s one true love, Steve Trevor.
For another fantastical movie with a woman also pining for a love that can’t last, I recommend Zoé Wittock’s Jumbo, which is now available to rent or buy. Based on a true story, the French-language drama stars Noémie Merlant as a custodian at an amusement park who becomes particularly enamored with a new thrill ride. The romance between the shy woman and the park attraction, which comes alive at night just for her, disrupts her home life and her job, but it also provides for some spectacular visuals.
Another must-see foreign film that’s newly available to rent or buy is Jasmila Žbanic’s Quo Vadis, Aida?, which just received an Oscar nomination for Best International Feature Film. Set in the summer of 1995, the Bosnian War drama follows a UN translator (Jasna Ðuricic) as she attempts to save her displaced family when the Serbian army takes over their small town. This is only the second of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s 20 official submissions for the award since 1994 to be nominated by the Academy.
What movies are great to pair with those new releases?
The most obvious movie to pair with Wonder Woman 1984 is the original Wonder Woman from 2017 also starring Gal Gadot and Chris Pine. And you can purchase both together in a two-film collection. You also might want to pair the new Wonder Woman sequel with any other installment of the DC Extended Universe, including the 2017 version of the superhero team-up Justice League, which is worth a first watch or re-watch while you wait for the release of director Zack Snyder’s extended cut.
With Jumbo, I recommend watching the acclaimed 2019 drama Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which also stars Noémie Merlant in a story of forbidden romance, albeit one with another human being (Adèle Haenel) this time. You could also pair it with another movie about a person in love with an inanimate object, such as Lars and the Real Girl, about a man in love with a sex doll, Mannequin, about a man dating a department store mannequin, or Her, about a man in a romance with his smartphone’s operating system.
For Quo Vadis, Aida?, you can make a double feature centered on the Bosnian War with In the Land of Blood and Honey, which is written and directed by Angelina Jolie and available in either an English-language version or a subtitled Serbo-Croatian version. There’s also The Whistleblower, which stars Rachel Weisz in a true story of a UN peacekeeper exposing sex traffickers after the war. I also recommend the recent documentary Among Wolves about a motorcycle club made up of Bosnian War veterans.
Are we celebrating any big movie anniversaries this week?
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the theatrical releases of Christopher Nolan’s Memento and the World War II drama Enemy at the Gates. Also, John Sayles’ neo-Western film Lone Star and the LGBT-representation in film history documentary The Celluloid Closet both debuted 25 years ago, while the Ron Howard-helmed and Michael Keaton-led auto industry comedy Gung Ho turns 35, the film noir remake The Postman Always Rings Twice turns 40 and the Debbie Reynolds classic The Singing Nun turns 55.
Going back further, Disney’s original version of The Absent-Minded Professor turns 60 and the Rita Hayworth classic Gilda turns 75. More recent movies with anniversaries include V for Vendetta, Pixar’s Cars, the Shakespeare-based teen comedy She’s the Man, Pedro Almodóvar’s Volver and the Oscar-winning Cold War thriller The Lives of Others, all of which turn 15. Plus, the sports comedy Win Win turns 10. And the animated comedy Sausage Party, the YA adaptation sequel The Divergent Series: Allegiant and Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special are all already five years old!
Can you recommend some great binge bundles to rent?
Speaking of Sausage Party, you can celebrate its anniversary with your own party, one where you pair it with any of a few other Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg comedies. The animated feature is available to rent in a binge bundle with the holiday comedy The Night Before, a binge bundle with the stoner comedy Pineapple Express and a binge bundle with the apocalyptic comedy This Is the End. And you can buy it together with the scary movies Don’t Breathe and The Shallows in the “Breakout Hits Bundle.”
Can you recommend some great movie deals on Vudu?
This week, Vudu has a sale on great movies to watch on St. Patrick’s Day, which falls on Wednesday, March 17. My top recommendations for pairings there are: the band-based musicals The Commitments and Sing Street; the animated features The Secret of Kelis and Song of the Sea; the period dramas Far and Away and Barry Lyndon; the Daniel Day Lewis-led Oscar contenders My Left Foot and In the Name of the Father; and the Irish mob films Miller’s Crossing and Road to Perdition.
Vudu’s Actor’s Spotlight series continues to focus on actresses this week for Women’s History Month, with deals on movies starring Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, Judi Dench, Taraji P. Henson, Tiffany Haddish and America Ferrera. My top picks for each are: Girl, Interrupted, Erin Brockovich and Shakespeare in Love, which garnered Jolie, Roberts and Dench their respective sole Oscar wins; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, for which Henson earned her sole Oscar nomination; and the respective Haddish and Ferrara breakouts Keanu and Real Women Have Curves.
Which of the 2021 Oscar-nominated movies are available to watch now?
The nominees for the 93rd Academy Awards were announced this week, and you can find many of them available on FandangoNOW and Vudu. Best Picture contenders include the multi-nominees Minari and Promising Young Woman. Both are also nominated for Best Original Screenplay as well as in the Best Director category, the latter along with Another Round. That film also joins Quo Vadis, Aida? in the International Feature Film category along with Better Days and the documentary Collective. And Collective is also nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category, which also includes The Mole Agent.
Oscar nominees competing for Best Animated Feature include Pixar’s Onward while nominees for Best Visual Effects include Love and Monsters, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, and Disney’s live-action Mulan. Tenet is also up for Best Production Design, alongside News of the World, which is also nominated for Best Sound and Best Original Score, the latter alongside Minari. And Emma. is nominated for Best Costume Design along with Mulan and the new live-action Pinocchio, which is also nominated in the Best Makeup and Hairstyling category.
Which must-see movies are coming soon to FandangoNOW and Vudu?
Two of this year’s Oscar nominees are coming very soon to FandangoNOW and Vudu. Pixar’s other Best Animated Feature contender, Soul, will be available for digital purchase next Tuesday, on March 23, and you can pre-order that now. And a few days later, on March 26, you can rent The Father, which received six nominations, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Production Design, Best Editing, Best Supporting Actress, for Olivia Colman, and Best Actor, for Anthony Hopkins.
Then Nomadland is coming out on April 13, just in time to watch it ahead of the Academy Awards ceremony on April 25. The character-driven drama stars Frances McDormand, who earned another acting nom for her performance, and is written and directed by Chloé Zhao, who became the first woman of color recognized in the Best Director category. She also broke the record for number of nominations by a woman in a single year, with four, including Best Picture, Best Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay. The movie is also nominated for Best Cinematography.
What are the 10 most popular new movies on FandangoNOW?
1. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run
2. Monster Hunter
3. The Croods: A New Age
4. Wonder Woman 1984
5. News of the World
6. The Mauritanian
7. Land
8. Cosmic Sin
9. Crisis
10. Minari
What are the 10 most popular movies on Vudu?
1. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run
2. News of the World
3. Monster Hunter
4. The Croods: A New Age
5. Wrong Turn
6. Greenland
7. Vanguard
8. Wonder Woman 1984
9. Cosmic Sin
10. Promising Young Woman
