Best Films to Watch in London and Stream This Week
From cinema releases to streaming gems, including a family-friendly spin on Sherlock Holmes and Ethan Hawke as an infamous "mad" scientist
Fancy a film but can’t make your mind up what to see? Look no further: we’ve assembled the best of what’s showing in London, plus the latest streaming releases, and gathered them here to make choosing a great movie as easy as possible. Whatever you’re in the mood for, out in the world or in the comfort of your own home, WeLoveCinema has you well and truly covered…
[New Releases]
Miss Juneteenth
Where to watch it: Get London showtimes or watch it on various streamings services
Nicole Beharie and Alexis Chikaeze star in this unique and heartfelt drama, directed by Channing Godfrey Peoples in her feature film debut. Telling the story of a former beauty queen as she prepares her daughter for the pageant of the title, Miss Juneteenth unfolds as a tribute to Southern Black culture, motherhood, and scattered hopes and dreams. Not to mention it’s beautifully shot, stunningly acted, and deeply moving.
Monsoon
Where to watch it: Get London showtimes or watch it on various streamings services
In Monsoon, Henry Golding stars as a British-Vietnamese man who returns to his homeland having fled thirty years ago, looking for the right location to spread his parents’ ashes. Despite being born in Saigon, he struggles to find a connection to the place of his birth and faces questions about who he really is. British-Cambodian filmmaker Hong Khaou directs this beautifully shot and meditative queer love story-travelogue, asking deep questions about birthrate, cultural legacy, and modern relationships – and doesn’t settle for easy answers (read our full review here).
Enola Holmes
Where to watch it: Netflix
As the breakout star of Netflix’s Stranger Things, it was only a matter of time until Millie Bobby Brown made the transition to big screen movie star (we’re not counting those Godzilla films). Introducing Sherlock Holmes spin-off Enola Holmes, where she showcases her natural charisma playing the forgotten Holmes sister in what turns out to be a fun and family-friendly reinvention of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic, with a good amount of talking to the camera. Henry Cavill, meanwhile, co-stars as Sherlock (read our full review).
Tesla
Where to watch it: Various streaming services
A most unconventional biopic for a most unconventional man. Ethan Hawke stars as the infamous engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla in a film that throws out the rulebook in order to deliver something that’s very odd indeed (hint: it’s narrated from the future, by one of Tesla’s former lovers, who happily admits she might be making the whole thing up). There’s karaoke, also, not to mention Kyle MacLachlan as man of the lightbulb Thomas Edison. Tesla is weird – but would anything else have made sense? (read our full review).
Rebuilding Paradise
Where to watch it: Get London showtimes
Ron Howard returns to documentary filmmaking for this timely portrait of a small mountain Californian town as its inhabitants attempt to rebuild their community following a devastating wildfire. Far less formal than his previous forays into non-fiction, Howard allows his camera to simply capture the aftermath of the incident and the people struggling to come to terms with the end of one way of life and the start of another.
Rocky
Where to watch it: Get London showtimes
Sylvester Stallone shot to global stardom with this Oscar-winning story of a Philadelphia boxer who dreams of making it as a professional fighter – a film which he wrote himself. Now Rocky is back on the big screen (alongside its many and possibly endless amount of sequels) almost forty-five years after its first release. It still packs a mighty punch. All together now: Adrian!
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[Still in Cinemas and Streaming]
Rocks
Where to watch it: Get London showtimes
As a brilliant, London-set drama about a Nigerian British girl and her little brother, Rocks arrives as one of the most acclaimed releases of the year. Written by Theresa Ikoko and Claire Wilson and directed by Sarah Gavron (who helmed the far inferior Suffragette), it unfolds as an endlessly creative and entertaining social-drama about life in the East End and a bold evocation of Black teenage life. Unfolding with an improvisational quality and packed with great performances, Rocks is an unmissable triumph.
White Riot
Where to watch it: Curzon Home Cinema
This timely, lively documentary from filmmaker Rubika Shah pulls together archive footage and brand new interviews in a bid to tell the story behind the Rock Against Racism (RAR) movement, which formed in 1976 following musician Eric Clapton’s support of the racist MP Enoch Powell. Featuring interviews with The Clash, Tom Robinson Band, Steel Pulse, and Alien Kulture, there’s never been a better time to brush up on this period of British history.
The Devil All the Time
Where to watch it: Netflix
Simon Killer filmmaker Antonio Campos helms this macabre adaptation of the acclaimed 2011 novel by Donald Ray Pollack, set in small-town Ohio and Virginia in the aftermath of World War II. Featuring a stellar cast that includes Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Sebastian Stan, Riley Keough, and Eliza Scanlen, The Devil All the Time paints a dreary picture of generational conflict, inherited violence, and faith through the lives of a dozen interconnected souls – and it doesn’t hold back (read our full review).
This post was categorised in Archive.