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?
Who else learned a new language during lockdown? Or made their first movie? Actress Natalie Morales (Parks and Recreation) makes her feature directorial debut with the drama Language Lessons, which she filmed in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Morales and her co-writer, Mark Duplass (Paddleton), also star in the crowd-pleasing and award-winning film as a Spanish teacher and her student, respectively, who develop a friendship over the course of their online video sessions.
The Suicide Squad is not new to digital this week, but the James Gunn-helmed superhero movie is now available to purchase at a lower cost. And it comes with some extra special features. Based on the DC Comics series, the hilarious and gory action flick follows a ragtag team of outcast villains and anti-heroes on an impossible mission. The cast includes Margot Robbie, reprising her popular role as Harley Quinn, plus John Cena as Peacemaker and Idris Elba as Bloodsport.
Are there any other big movies coming out this week?
Valdimar Jóhannsson’s buzz-worthy drama Lamb arrives on digital this Thursday. The mysterious movie stars Noomi Rapace (Prometheus) and Hilmir Snær Guðnason (101 Reykjavík) as a childless couple who take in a baby sheep as if it’s their own. But there’s also something strange about the animal. You’ll just have to head over to Vudu to find out what everyone is talking about. And out this Friday, there’s the acclaimed indie action flick Snakehead, featuring Fast & Furious franchise star Sung Kang, and the religious comedy Tango Shalom about a dancing rabbi.
What are some great biopics to buy this week?
With this year’s awards season underway, we can expect to see more Oscar-worthy biopics released in the next few months. While you wait, stock up on the best entries in the drama from the past with Vudu’s Biopics Sale. Best Picture-winners in the mix include Braveheart, Amadeus, A Beautiful Mind, Argo, 12 Years a Slave and Gandhi. Also, there are plenty of Best Picture-nominees, including Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street and The Aviator, plus American Sniper, Hacksaw Ridge, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Right Stuff, 127 Hours, Selma, Sergeant York, The Favourite and Good Night, and Good Luck.
Many others received Oscar nominations for the actor(s) portraying the main subject(s) of the films. These include Nixon starring Anthony Hopkins, Jackie starring Natalie Portman, The Buddy Holly Story starring Gary Busey, Can You Ever Forgive Me? starring Melissa McCarthy, Walk the Line starring Joaquin Phoenix and Bombshell starring Charlize Theron. Also, The Last King of Scotland, for which Forest Whitaker won the award for Best Actor, and Judy, for which Renee Zellweger won for Best Actress.
Are we celebrating any big movie and TV anniversaries this week?
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko, the cult classic sci-fi drama that gave Jake Gyllenhaal his breakthrough role. Meanwhile, the Stephen King adaptation Thinner turns 25, Errol Morris’ Stephen Hawking documentary A Brief History of Time turns 30 and the Stuart Gordon-helmed horror movie Dolls and the Oscar-winning dramas Children of a Lesser God and Roland Joffé’s The Mission all turn 35.
Going back further, the slasher sequel Halloween II and Michael Crichton’s Looker both turn 40 years old this week. Also, the war movie A Fistful of Dynamite (a.k.a. Duck, You Sucker!) turns 50, the animated special It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and Rene Clement’s Is Paris Burning? both turn 55, Nicholas Ray’s biblical drama King of Kings turns 60, the Best Picture-winner How Green Was My Valley and the Disney animated classic Dumbo both turn 80, the Jean Harlow rom-com Platinum Blonde turns 90 and the Rudolph Valentino film The Sheik turns 100.
More recent titles with anniversaries include Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Babel, which turns 15 years old this week. The horror sequel Saw III and the documentary Cocaine Cowboys also turn 15 while The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, the sci-fi action movie In Time, the animated feature spin-off Puss in Boots and Drake Doremus’s romantic drama Like Crazy all turn 10. Plus, the Da Vinci Code sequel Inferno is already 5 years old!
Can you recommend some more great movie deals on Vudu?
This week only, Vudu has an Indie Film Sale with all the titles included priced at just $7.99. They include these must-own movies: Ari Aster’s Midsommar, Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Lobster, Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room, the Safdie brothers’ Good Times, David Robert Mitchell’s Under the Silver Lake, the Trey Edward Shults duo of Krisha and It Comes at Night and the Robert Eggers duo of The Witch and The Lighthouse.
With Halloween coming up this weekend, Vudu is slashing prices on slashers and other holiday-centric fare this week with a half-off sale that begins Friday. With more than 200 titles available, what should you grab? I recommend the classics Psycho and The Evil Dead as well as the under-appreciated gems Monster House and Sea Fever. Plus these double features: Hereditary with Midsommar; Twilight with Warm Bodies; The Fly with Under the Skin; The Exorcist III with The Last Exorcism; and Evil Dead 2 with The Cabin in the Woods. Also, the aforementioned Eggers flicks.
What are the 10 most popular movies on Vudu?
It’s still not game over for Free Guy, which is the top movie on Vudu for the fourth week in a row. The Ryan Reynolds action comedy held off the latest new releases, including the drama sequel After We Fell and the DC superhero animated feature Injustice, which landed in 3rd and 5th place, respectively. Meanwhile, the horror film The Forever Purge, the Western thriller Old Henry and the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect all returned to the chart.
See the full top 10 list below.
1. Free Guy
2. The Addams Family 2
3. After We Fell
4. Old
5. Injustice
6. Jungle Cruise
7. The Forever Purge
8. Old Henry
9. Respect
10. Copshop
