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Oppenheimer, Good Burger 2, Netflix’s Leo, and every new movie to watch this weekend

Christopher Nolan’s haunting nuclear drama finally comes to streaming

Cillian Murphy holds his hand over his eye as he contemplates horrors in Oppenheimer. Image: Universal Pictures

Greetings, Polygon readers!

Each week, we round up the most notable releases new to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.

This week, Oppenheimer, the historical biopic starring Cillian Murphy as the so-called “Father of the Nuclear Bomb,” finally drops onto streaming following its critically and commercially successful theatrical debut earlier this year. Leo, the new animated comedy starring Adam Sandler as a talking lizard, premieres on Netflix this week alongside the scripted documentary Stamped from the Beginning based on Ibram X. Kendi’s book. There’s plenty of exciting releases this week, like Paul Schrader’s Master Gardener on Hulu, Good Burger 2 on Paramount Plus, the fantasy comedy Genie starring Melissa McCarthy on Peacock, and more.

Here’s everything new to watch this week.


New on Netflix

Leo

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

A child presses their face against the glass tank of a lizard pensively leaning on a plastic branch in Leo. Image: Netflix

Genre: Musical comedy
Run time: 1h 42m
Directors: Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel, David Wachtenheim
Cast: Adam Sandler, Bill Burr, Cecily Strong

Adam Sandler’s latest Netflix project is also co-written by the comedian. He plays a lizard named Leo, who along with a turtle (Bill Burr) are the pets for a fifth-grade classroom. The two try and escape the classroom and live life on their own terms.

Stamped From The Beginning

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

A painted image of a woman writing at a desk with a quill pen in Stamped From The Beginning. Image: Netflix

Genre: Documentary
Run time: 1h 31m
Director: Roger Ross Williams
Cast: Angela Davis, Alexa Rachelle Jennings, Ibram X. Kendi

A hybrid documentary/feature film adapted from the book by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning digs into the pervasive anti-Black racism in America and its history as a strategic tool.

New on Hulu

Master Gardener

Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu Nov. 23

(L-R) Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver sitting on a bench near an arrangement of potted flowers and a black dog in Master Gardener. Image: Bonnie Marquette/Magnolia Pictures

Genre: Drama
Run time: 1h 51m
Director: Paul Schrader
Cast: Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver, Quintessa Swindell

The third film in Paul Schrader’s “accidental trilogy” of thematically tied films stars Joel Edgerton (The Underground Railroad) as Narvel Roth, a horticulturist with a dark past who is tasked with taking on the wayward grand-niece (Quintessa Swindell) of his wealthy benefactor (Sigourney Weaver). As the two grow closer, Narvel’s history slowly comes to light, threatening to uproot the simple life he has worked so meticulously cultivate.

The Last Rider

Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu

Greg LeMond riding alongside another cyclist during the Tour de France in The Last Rider. Image: Roadside Attractions

Genre: Documentary
Run time: 1h 38m
Director: Alex Holmes
Cast: Perico Delgado, Laurent Fignon, Cyrille Guimard

This documentary follows the story of Greg LeMond, the first non-European cyclist to win the Tour de France. The Last Rider charts LeMond’s early career as a professional cyclist, his life-threatening brush with death while turkey hunting with his family, and ultimately his victory during the 1986 Tour de France.

New on Max

Little Richard: I Am Everything

Where to watch: Available to stream on Max Nov. 23

Genre: Documentary
Run time: 1h 41m
Director: Lisa Cortes
Cast: Billy Porter, John Waters, Tom Jones

This documentary chronicles the life and career of Little Richard, one of the earliest stars of rock ‘n roll music, as well as the Black queer origins of the genre itself. With appearances by Billy Porter, John Waters, and Nile Rodgers along with archival footage of Little Richard’s performances, this film untangles the complex and enduring legacy of this American musical trailblazer.

New on Apple TV Plus

The Velveteen Rabbit

Where to watch: Available to stream on Apple TV Plus

(L-R) William (voiced by Phoenix Laroche) and Velveteen Rabbit (voiced by Alex Lawther) in The Velveteen Rabbit. Image: Apple TV Plus

Genre: Fantasy drama
Run time: 44m
Directors: Jennifer Perrott, Rick Thiele
Cast: Helena Bonham Carter, Nicola Coughlan, Alex Lawther

Based the children’s book by Margery Williams, this short film follows the story of a 7-year-old named William (Phoenix Laroche) who receives a stuffed rabbit for Christmas that leads him into a world of fantastical splendor.

New on Paramount Plus

Good Burger 2

Where to watch: Available to stream on Paramount Plus

(L-R) Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell in Good Burger 2. Image: Paramount Plus

Genre: Comedy
Run time: 1h 46m
Director: Phil Trail
Cast: Kenan Thompson, Jillian Bell, Lil Rel Howery

Set twenty six years after the events of the first film, Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell reprise their roles as Dexter Reed and Ed who reunite to save Good Burger from a nefarious mega corporation that wants to automate its workforce.

New on Peacock

Genie

Where to watch: Available to stream on Peacock

(L-R) Paapa Essiedu and Melissa McCarthy in Genie. Image: Peacock

Genre: Fantasy comedy
Run time: 1h 33m
Director: Sam Boyd
Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Paapa Essiedu, Denée Benton

Workaholic father Bernard (Paapa Essiedu) can’t seem to find a healthy balance between his professional life and his home. That changes after he accidentally awakens a genie named Flora (Melissa McCarthy), who helps him to understand what truly matters during a shenanigan-filled adventure across New York City.

New on AMC Plus

What Comes Around

Where to watch: Available to stream on Paramount Plus Nov. 24

Genre: Thriller
Run time: 1h 25m
Director: Amy Redford
Cast: Summer Phoenix, Grace Van Dien, Kyle Gallner

After a young woman (Grace Van Dien) is seduced by an older and controlling man online, a rift forms between the woman and her mother (Summer Phoenix) in this psychological drama thriller.

New on Criterion Channel

Afire

Where to watch: Available to stream on Criterion Channel

(L-R) Thomas Schubert and Paula Beer in Afire. Image: The Criterion Channel

Genre: Romantic drama
Run time: 1h 42m
Director: Christian Petzold
Cast: Thomas Schubert, Paula Beer, Enno Trebs

While vacationing on the Baltic Sea, four young people meet by coincidence while staying at the same holiday home. As a nearby forest fire steadily grows closer nearby, the group find themselves trapped with one another as tensions and passions flare to a pitch.

New to rent

Oppenheimer

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

As J. Robert Oppenheimer in the film Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy wears goggles and stares through a porthole at an explosion casting an intensely bright light on his face Image: Universal Pictures

Genre: Historical biopic
Run time: 3h
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon

Cillian Murphy stars as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the so-called “Father of the Atomic Bomb,” in Christopher Nolan’s biopic chronicling the scientist’s tenure at a clandestine research facility in Los Alamos, New Mexico to his embattled reputation and public disgrace in years following World War 2.

From our review,

In its final stretch, Oppenheimer uses the political campaign to discredit the physicist and unpick his legacy as a way to get under the skin of a man whose stance on his awful creation remained contradictory and enigmatic. After the overpowering bomb sequences, that’s a surprisingly subtle and complex tack for Nolan to take, but it works because the story is driven by the historical record and the characters, rather than by dogma, with the appalling moral consequences emerging naturally from the details. Nolan is not one to let any member of the audience miss his point, and the film’s final scene does ram it home. But first, he builds out the web of ambition, compromise, dreams, politics, jealousy, and inspiration — in a word, humanity — that unleashed the forces he stands in awe of. In Oppenheimer, man is the most dreadful machine of all.

The Marsh King’s Daughter

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Daisy Ridley holding a rifle while standing in front of a river in The Marsh King’s Daughter. Image: Lionsgate Films/STX Entertainment

Genre: Psychological thriller
Run time: 1h 49m
Director: Neil Burger
Cast: Daisy Ridley, Ben Mendelsohn, Brooklynn Prince

Daisy Ridley stars in this psychological thriller based on Karen Dionne’s novel as Helena, a woman with a troubled past who journeys into the the marshlands of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on the hunt for her father (Ben Mendelsohn) who has escaped police custody. Knowing that he will eventually come to terrorize her family, Helena arms herself to either kill or capture him before he hurts anyone else.