Want to know what’s coming soon to digital and what to watch right now on Vudu? Here is your weekly guide to the latest releases:
What are the latest new releases to watch right now?
Are you ready to go back to where it started? The long-awaited sci-fi sequel The Matrix Resurrections is now available to purchase on Vudu. The fourth feature installment of the Matrix franchise sees the returns of Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss as Neo and Trinity. But this is also sort of a reboot, since neither of them seems to remember what happened in the original trilogy. To quote the new Scream movie, it’s more of a “requel.”
Directed by Lana Wachowski, The Matrix Resurrections also stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Aquaman) as a new incarnation of Morpheus, Jonathan Groff (Hamilton) as this version’s Mr. Smith and Neil Patrick Harris as Neo's therapist with more to him than meets the eye. All the action and deep contemplations you expect from a Matrix movie are here, only now they’re joined by a lot of meta-narrative insight and humor. Also, a greater love story than ever before.
The college football drama National Champions is back on Vudu following its Theater at Home rental period. The movie, which stars Oscar-winning actor J.K. Simmons and Stephan James (Race), can now be purchased digitally. Meanwhile, the Disney animated feature Encanto — along with its hit songs that everybody’s talking about — and Denis Villeneuve’s spectacular sci-fi adaptation Dune are now available to rent on Vudu for just $5.99.
What movies are great to pair with those new releases?
Whether you’ve never seen the other Matrix movies before or it’s been a while since you last gave them a watch, the original trilogy is essential viewing alongside The Matrix Resurrections. You can pick up The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions each individually, or you can grab them all together in a three-pack bundle. There's also the Matrix Collection bundle, which includes the trilogy plus the Animatrix animated shorts.
My other recommendations to go with the new Matrix movie include the behind-the-scenes special The Matrix Revisited, Rodney Ascher’s recent and relevant documentary A Glitch in the Matrix (it’s one of the best nonfiction films of last year) and the similarly meta franchise installment New Nightmare. That last one is from Wes Craven and is an interesting part of his own A Nightmare on Elm Street series blending the real and fictional worlds.
Are there any other big movies coming out this week?
The 355 is new on Vudu starting this Thursday, January 27 (pre-order it now!) following its theatrical release. The globe-trotting action movie stars Oscar-nominee Jessica Chastain along with Oscar-winners Penelope Cruz and Lupita Nyong’o plus Diane Kruger and Fan Bingbing. They all play secret agents from around the world who come together to save the day when a top-secret weapon lands in the hands of mercenaries. Sebastian Stan and Edgar Ramirez co-star, but this one is all about the ladies.
Additionally, this Friday, January 28, marks the VOD debut of the movies The Requin and Clean, both of which will be available to rent or purchase on Vudu. The former is about a couple stranded at sea who are terrorized by a school of great white sharks. The latter stars Oscar-winner Adrian Brody (also the movie’s co-writer) as a trash collector with a secret past that comes back to the forefront when he’s targeted by a local crime boss.
What are some great movies to watch when you’re snowed in?
Much of the U.S. became a winter wonderland recently, with anything from a light snowfall to blizzard-level conditions. What is your go-to movie for when you’re snowed in? If you don’t have one, be sure to check out Vudu’s latest Staff Picks, which showcase movies set in similarly frosty settings. From Stephen King adaptations The Shining and Misery to animated favorites like Happy Feet and Frozen, this list has you (snow) covered.
Here are some of my personal picks from their selections, in double-feature form: the snowy Westerns McCabe & Mrs. Miller and Jeremiah Johnson; the Midwest tales Fargo and A Simple Plan; John Carpenter’s The Thing with Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight; the winter-sport documentaries Meru and The Crash Reel; ice-skater dramas The Cutting Edge with I, Tonya; the time-warped romances Groundhog Day and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; and historical dramas A Midnight Clear and Reds.
Are we celebrating any big movie and TV anniversaries this week?
This week marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Steve James’s sports biopic Prefontaine starring Jared Leto as Olympic long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine. The farce Fierce Creatures also turns 25 while the Bette Midler and Shelley Long pairing Outrageous Fortune and the coming-of-age comedy Radio Days both turn 35. Also, the Agatha Christie adaptation Evil Under the Sun, starring Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot, turns 40.
Going back further, Sidney Lumet’s neo-noir spy movie The Deadly Affair, based on John le Carré’s novel Call for the Dead, turns 55, Elia Kazan’s nonfiction crime drama Boomerang! turns 75, the Oscar-winning, China-set Pearl S. Buck adaptation The Good Earth turns 85 and the Edgar Allen Poe adaptation Murders in the Rue Morgue, starring Bela Lugosi, turns 90.
More recent titles with anniversaries include Todd Solondz’s Storytelling and the action-driven Alexandre Dumas adaptation The Count of Monte Cristo, which both turn 20 years old this week. Plus, Joe Carnahan’s ensemble caper Smokin’ Aces turns 15, and Carnahan’s The Grey and Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie both turn 10. Also, the TV series Riverdale is already 5 years old!
Can you recommend some more great movie deals on Vudu?
The Chinese New Year is coming up next week, on February 1, and Vudu is celebrating with a Lunar New Year Sale. Titles included in this deal include Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and the Disney animated features Raya and the Last Dragon, Big Hero 6, Mulan and Mulan II, plus the new live-action version of the original Mulan. I also recommend checking out Wayne Wang’s The Joy Luck Club and the action comedies Shanghai Noon and its sequel, Shanghai Knights.
This week’s Actor’s Spotlight showcases the work of Tyrese Gibson, Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey and Oscar-nominees Annette Bening and Sophie Okonedo. My recommendations for their most underrated, under-appreciated or under-seen works are: John Singleton’s Four Brothers, for Gibson; John Sayles’ Lone Star, for McConaughey; Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks, for Bening; and Tom Harper’s Wild Rose, for Okonedo.
Vudu also has a number of genre-focused deals this week. The $6.99 Comedy Sale includes such must-own classics as Stripes and As Good as It Gets. For more laughs, the Raunchy Comedies Sale has a ton of gross-out, cringe-worthy and sex-driven essentials, including Animal House, American Pie, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Little Darlings, The Big Sick, Spring Breakers, 50/50, Strange Brew, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Trainwreck, Old School, Shaun of the Dead, Airplane! and many, many more.
Continuing with the genre-focused deals, there’s a Musicals Sale, including the must-see biopics The Doors, Nowhere Boy and Judy, as well as the documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon. And there’s a Fantasy and Superhero Sale, which includes Kick-Ass, the Hunger Games movies (individual or bundled), the Twilight movies (individual or bundled) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. On top of that is the sale on Marvel movies, presented as critically ranked at Rotten Tomatoes, from Black Panther to Eternals.
What are the 10 most popular movies on Vudu?
New releases on the Vudu best sellers list this week include Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, which lands at #3. Additionally, the indies Shattered, starring John Malkovich and John Grillo, and the thriller See For Me debuted just outside the top 10 chart at #16 and #20, respectively. Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch also returned to the top 10, which was topped by the animated sequel Sing 2 and Ghostbusters: Afterlife for the second week in a row.
See the full top 10 list below.
1. Sing 2
2. Ghostbusters: Afterlife
3. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
4. Eternals
5. Dune
6. Venom: Let There Be Carnage
7. Clifford the Big Red Dog
8. No Time to Die
9. Halloween Kills — Extended Cut
10. The French Dispatch
