Another weekend means the question of what to watch is fresh on our minds, but with so many new movies coming and going from the best streaming service, you have your work cut out for you.
So let us here at Tom's Guide do the hard work for you. Each week, we carefully comb through all the latest movies on streaming to highlight the best of the best. Leading the pack this week are two action-packed picks: Ridley Scott's Roman epic "Gladiator II" on Prime Video and Tom Hardy channeling his inner John Wick in "Havoc" on Netflix.
Over on Max, you'll find "Babygirl," a steamy erotic drama led by Nicole Kidman. Meanwhile, Hulu has a new post-apocalyptic horror flick "Azrael" and Paramount Plus just got "The Return," a modern reimagining of "The Odyssey" starring Ralph Fiennes.
So without further ado, let's dive into the best new movies on streaming to watch this weekend.
'Gladiator II' (Prime Video)
Fresh off its PVOD tour, "Gladiator 2" has a new streaming home on Prime Video this week. Director Ridley Scott's highly anticipated sequel picks up on the Ancient Roman saga of bloodshed, political intrigue, and spectacle we saw in his 2000 Best Picture winner.
Set 16 years after the events of "Gladiator," it follows a familiar character now all grown up: Lucius (Paul Mescal), the young boy Maximus saved after the first film's final battle, who has been living in exile ever since.
When the young prince's home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors (Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger) who now rule Rome, he's carted off to risk life and limb in a fighting pit, where his prowess in battle does not go unnoticed. He catches the eye of the ambitious arms dealer Macrinus (Denzel Washington), who aims to turn him into a gladiator the likes of which the Coliseum has never seen.
After surviving brutal fight after fight, he gets the opportunity to challenge his true target: the Roman general who led the siege on his home (Pedro Pascal).
Watch it now on Prime Video
'Havoc' (Netflix)
One of our most anticipated Netflix movies of the year, "Havoc" has all the makings of the streamer's very own "John Wick." This action thriller sees Tom Hardy star as Walker, a hardened detective tackling the crime-ridden city's toughest cases.
If contending with mobsters and top-down corruption on the daily wasn't enough, he finds himself wrapped up in a rescue mission to retrieve a politician’s estranged son after a drug deal goes sideways.
Forced to fight his way through the criminal underworld to get him back, Walker quickly realizes he has several factions biting at his heels, including a vengeful crime syndicate, a crooked politician, and his fellow cops.
Its premise is simple and compelling, but our hype for "Havoc" really stems from the director, Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans, whose repertoire includes AMC's high-octane "Gangs of London" series and equally action-packed "The Raid" movies.
Watch it now on Netflix
'Babygirl' (Max)
A24’s “Babygirl” sparked plenty of buzz when it landed in theaters last December, both for its eyebrow-raising themes and its critical acclaim alike.
This erotic thriller from Dutch director Halina Reijn marks a stark departure from her English-language directorial debut, "Bodies Bodies Bodies." Nicole Kidman stars as Romy Mathis, a CEO who seems to have it all. But as we soon learn, her marriage to her theater director husband (Antonio Banderas) has grown stale in the bedroom.
So when a young, handsome new intern (Harris Dickinson) captures her eye, she's ready to throw caution to the wind when he's all too eager to fulfill her darkest, unspoken fantasies. Sparks fly, but as their passionate but ill-advised affair continues, it threatens to unravel Romy's professional and personal lives.
Watch it now on Max
'Azrael' (Hulu)
Samara Weaving first came on my radar as a rising scream queen in the delightfully twisted "Ready or Not," so when I saw she stars in another horror movie new to Hulu this week, "Azrael," it became an instant must-watch for me.
Set years after the the biblical Rapture has devastated the world's population, demonic humanoid creatures called The Burned Ones now hunt the few survivors to feast on their flesh.
Taking cues from the "A Quiet Place" franchise (another horror favorite of mine), "Azrael" has almost no dialogue, as what humans are left have become fanatical zealots that renounce the "sinful" use of speech.
Weaving plays the titular Azrael, a human sacrifice who escapes her fate only to become locked in a horrific cat and mouse chase from both her captors and the monsters who stalk the forest.
Watch it now on Hulu
'The Return' (Paramount Plus)
I've been on a bit of a Ralph Fiennes kick lately. It started with "The Menu," which I finally convinced my amateur cinephile husband to watch a few weeks ago (he loved it just as much as I knew he would). Then I put on "Conclave" during a recent flight to see if it was actually worth all the hype, and it blew me away.
So it looks like "The Return," a powerful modern adaptation of "The Odyssey," will be next on my watchlist. Fiennes stars as the titular Odysseus, who returns to his homeland a broken hero after the Trojan War.
Unlike the classic epic it's based on, "The Return" kicks off at the end of King Odysseus' journey. After being cursed to 10 years of wandering the seas, he washes up on the shores of Ithaca to find a much different landscape than he left.
The island has descended into lawlessness without a clear successor, as his wife Penelope (Juliette Binoche) has faith he'll return and refuses to pick a suitor. Haunted by his past and PTSD-driven shame, Odysseus infiltrates the courts as a beggar, and it's only a matter of time before his true identity is revealed, throwing the palace into violent chaos.
Watch it now on Paramount Plus
