New movies to watch this weekend, Digi Mart USA News: It is a busy week in theaters. Godzilla Minus Zero, the highly anticipated sequel to Japan’s Godzilla Minus One, debuts nationwide in the United States alongside Wild Horse Nine, an awards-contending film starring Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich.
I Play Rocky also opens in select theaters ahead of a wider release in a few weeks. For viewers who prefer staying home, Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil and the Chris Hansen film Primetime are available to rent or buy.
On streaming services, Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner star in Carolina Caroline, now on Netflix, and Super Troopers 3 debuts on Hulu.
Godzilla Minus One, a Japanese-made Godzilla film, became an unexpected global hit after its 2023 debut. Its melodramatic story of a Japanese fighter pilot gave the monster spectacle an arthouse sensibility.
The sequel, Godzilla Minus Zero, doubles down on these elements. The human melodrama overwhelms the story at times, but the film still delivers strong action and destruction.
It carries an R rating, the first in the franchise’s 72-year history, and its violence is noticeably more brutal.
Two years have passed since the events of Minus One, and Japan has struggled to recover and reclaim daily life. Just as humanity clings to a hard-won peace, a new threat emerges.
The opening introduces a new monster, and the resulting set piece is strong, especially an aerial dogfight between kaiju and humans in airplanes.
Outside of the big action sequences, the film slows considerably. A subplot involving a survivor of a past Godzilla attack is not fully explored, although a dream sequence set in New York City is memorable.
Critics generally praise the film with caveats. The AV Club’s Matt Schimkowitz called it an above-average Godzilla film, and The Associated Press’s Jake Coyle wrote, “If every Godzilla film is building toward its finale, Minus Zero doesn’t stick the landing.”
Godzilla Minus Zero is now playing in theaters nationwide.
Wild Horse Nine may lack originality, but it compensates with sharp humor and a reflective look at a man facing the end of his life. Martin McDonagh, the Irish filmmaker behind Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Banshees of Inisherin, returns to familiar territory, with a premise that resembles his 2008 debut, In Bruges.
The film follows CIA agents Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell), who are dispatched to Easter Island shortly before the 1973 coup in Chile. As the partners confront their dark pasts and present conspiracies, Chris’s bond with two rebellious students complicates their mission.
The historical backdrop adds social commentary on American interventionism abroad, and the film is consistently funny, driven largely by the bickering between Rockwell and Malkovich.
Critics have responded well. Amy Nicholson of the Los Angeles Times wrote that Malkovich delivers dialogue “as blithely” as classic screwball comedians.
Kristy Puchko of Mashable said the film is “deepened by its repetition,” citing connections to its stars’ previous roles.
Wild Horse Nine is now playing in theaters nationwide.
I Play Rocky centers on Anthony Ippolito’s performance as Sylvester Stallone, which critics describe as remarkably convincing. The film chronicles Stallone’s struggle to play the lead in Rocky, as he insists on the role against a studio that wants someone else.
The story is itself an underdog tale, and reviewers including David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter praised Ippolito’s portrayal.
I Play Rocky is now playing in select theaters before expanding on Nov. 20.
Resident Evil, directed by Zach Cregger, follows medical courier Bryan (Austin Abrams) as he is pulled into a night of violent chaos. The film is a fast, 90-minute horror thriller that draws on the video games without requiring familiarity with them.
Critics have been far more positive about this entry than the previous installments in the series.
Resident Evil is now available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Prime Video and other VOD platforms.
Primetime, from documentarian Lance Oppenheim, centers on Chris Hansen, played by Robert Pattinson, and the early-2000s NBC series To Catch a Predator. The film examines the show’s exploitative nature despite its stated goal of exposing predators.
Critics have praised Pattinson’s performance, though reviews are divided on the film overall.
Primetime is now available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Prime Video and other VOD platforms.
Carolina Caroline, now streaming on Netflix, is a crime romance in the vein of 1990s indie films about lovers on the run. Samara Weaving plays a young woman who leaves her small town with a charming con man, played by Kyle Gallner, and sets out through the Southeast to find her estranged mother.
