Best Films to Stream This Week in the UK

What to rent and stream, from a Ben Affleck basketball drama to a Tom Hanks-starring story about yet another competent captain...

Going to the cinema might not be an option for everyone right now, but bringing the magic of the big screen directly into your home is – especially as studios opt to release the latest films on VOD platforms instead.

As always, we've assembled the best of what’s streaming across a multitude of platforms and gathered them here to make choosing a great film as easy as possible. Whatever you're in the mood for, WeLoveCinema has you well and truly covered…

 

New Releases

Finding the Way Back

Where to watch it: Various streaming services

Awkwardly retitled for overseas distribution, Finding the Way Back (originally just The Way Back) follows Ben Affleck's alcoholic construction worker as he finds redemption coaching a high school basketball team. The pieces might sound familiar, but this is Affleck's most dedicated performance in years, a movie that worked as therapy for the actor following years of personal turbulence (read our full review).

 

Greyhound

Where to watch it: Apple TV+

Tom Hanks returns to the same territory as Sully and Captain Phillips in a yet another movie about a competent captain facing a crisis at sea – this one based on the true story of the 37-strong convoy of ships who manoeuvred through enemy waters at the height of World War II. If this is just what Tom Hanks movies are now, we're completely fine with that (read our full review).

 

The Old Guard

Where to watch it: Netflix

“Let's just say we're very hard to kill,” intones Charlize Theron, tapping into the high stakes action thrills that made her so memorable in Mad Max: Fury Road with Netflix's sleek superhero yarn The Old Guard. Based on the comic book of the same name, the story finds a group of undying warriors, long hidden from society, facing a crisis when they discover a new immortal in their midst.

 

Buffaloed

Where to watch it: Various streaming services

The immensely talented Zoey Deutch leads this likeable little comedy-drama about a scrappy Buffalo native who gets into the debt collection business. It's a dazzling showcase for its charismatic lead star, who has consistently impressed with show-stealing turns in Everybody Wants Some!! and Zombieland: Double Tap (read our full review).

 

Spaceship Earth

Where to watch it: Various streaming services

This intriguing and interesting documentary charts the strange and bizarre true story of “Biosphere 2,” which saw eight visionaries confined to a self-contained homestead for a period of two years. Led, cult-like, by eccentric polymath John Allen, Spaceship Earth offers a window into one of the weirdest social experiments of the '90s (read our full review).

 

Litigante

Where to watch it: Curzon Home Cinema

A stressed out single mother trying to keep her head above the water, facing an endless slew of professional and personal problems, powers this affecting but admirably unsentimental Colombian drama from filmmaker Franco Lolli, set in Bogotá and starring the author Carolina Sanín, who also happens to be the director's cousin.

Still Streaming…

Hamilton

Where to watch it: Disney+

The long-awaited, original cast performance of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical phenomenon has arrived, forgoing its planned cinematic release in wake of the pandemic for an early unveiling on Disney+. A hip-hop retelling of the life of American “Founding Father” Alexander Hamilton, told primarily by way of a Black, Latino, and Asian cast, Hamilton deserves every bit of praise that has come its way. This filmed recording captures exactly what has made the show such a smash hit all over the world – two and a half hours of pure musical bliss.

 

Welcome to Chechnya

Where to watch it: BBC iPlayer

This essential and vital documentary from filmmaker David France presents the unfiltered, distressing realities of LGBTQ+ Russians as they flee the torturous Chechen regime. A harrowing watch, which outlines the history of the region's anti-gay purges, and hones in on activists' nail-biting rescue attempts to help members of the queer community to safer territory (read our full review).

 

Lynn + Lucy

Where to watch it: Various streaming services

British short filmmaker Fyzal Boulifa makes his feature debut with Lynn + Lucy, a powerful exploration of female friendship and forgiveness, led by strong lead performances from Roxanne Scrimshaw and Nichola Burley. The story finds two best friends from Essex, now settled into normal lives with their partners, unaware that a tragedy is about to test their friendship in a huge way (read our full review).

 

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga

Where to watch it: Netflix

Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams are an unlikely Icelandic pop duo dreaming of Eurovision success in this silly, joyful, and – at times – euphoric ode to the campiest of all contests. Directed by David Dobkin (Wedding Crashes) and boasting an array of earwormy original songs, it marks a welcomed return to form for Ferrell after a decade of misfires. Who knew? (read our full review).

Other Features

Repertory Rundown: What to Watch in London This Week, From Little Women to Sergio Leone

From classics to cult favourites, our team highlight some of the best one-off screenings and re-releases showing this week in the capital

Repertory Rundown: What to Watch in London This Week, From Coppola to Cross of Iron

From classics to cult favourites, our team highlight some of the best one-off screenings and re-releases showing this week in the capital

20 Best Films of 2023 (So Far)

With the year at the halfway point, our writers choose their favourite films, from daring documentaries to box office bombs

Repertory Rundown: What to Watch in London This Week, From Mistress America to The Man Who Wasn’t There

From classics to cult favourites, our team highlight some of the best one-off screenings and re-releases showing this week in the capital

Reviews

The Innocent review – 60s-inspired heist movie with an existential twist

In his fourth feature film, writer-director Louis Garrel explores with wit and tenderness the risk and worth of second chances

Baato review – Nepal’s past and future collide in an immersive, fraught documentary

A mountain trek intertwines with a road-building project, granting incisive, if underpowered, insight into a much underseen world

The Beanie Bubble review – a grim new low for the “corporate biopic” genre

With none of the saving graces of Tetris, Air, or Barbie, this ambition-free look at the Beanie Baby craze is pure mediocrity

Everybody Loves Jeanne review – thoroughly modern fable of grief, romantic confusion, and climate anxiety

Celine Deveaux's French-Portuguese debut can be too quirky for its own good, but a fantastically written lead character keeps it afloat