New Movies to Watch This Weekend: Watch ‘Clayface’ and ‘Wicker’ in Theaters, Rent or Buy ‘The Weight,’ Stream ‘The Invite’ on HBO Max

Welcome to Believe me, I watch everythinga weekly guide to notable new films releasing or becoming available every Friday.

In major theaters this week is the latest DC comic book film clay face and the sexy fable Wicker, which had a steamy trailer that went viral earlier this year.

If you prefer a movie night at home, you can rent or buy the low-budget murder thriller The weight with Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe, or discover that of Mark Wahlberg By all means.

And as for the streaming services you’re probably already paying for, The cycle, a new horror movie worth your time debuts on Shudder. Plus, one of the best comedies of the year, The invitation, is finally coming to HBO Max.

Let’s go!

🎥 What to watch at the cinema

The most buzzed release: clay face

Why I liked it: The DC Universe now seems to be taking inspiration from those “Spider-Man villain origin stories that in no way feature Spider-Man for contractual reasons” like Venom, Morbius And Madame Web. clay face shows us the birth of an anti-hero who roams the streets of Gotham and will likely encounter Batman at some point, off-screen.

Luckily for James Gunn and Peter Safran – the latest architects of Warner Bros. DCU, which is off to a difficult start after this summer Supergirl — clay face is much more satisfying. This feels more like a Universal Monster movie or something akin to Sam Raimi’s cult classic. Black man. It also borrows heavily from things like The fly And The Thing, as well as more obscure genre fare like Basket case and the works of Brian Yuzna.

Matt Hagen’s (Tom Rhys Harries) meteoric rise from Gotham street kid to Hollywood leading man is tragically cut short when the actions of a local crime boss leave him horribly disfigured. Abandoned by his team and left with nothing, Matt seeks a cutting-edge treatment that miraculously returns him to his former self, but also unexpectedly affects his grip on reality, sending him into a destructive spiral of all-consuming revenge.

What the film lacks in a compelling storyline, it more than makes up for with wicked gore that will make you wince, from the first facial shot to the wild way Matt’s face twists and distorts after injecting himself with nanocells. It also sports some very ugly fake digital backgrounds – is it really that hard to just film in an area with a real train? – but it’s not really a ruin for the film.

The film is most effective when it showcases its extremely harsh body horror, which thankfully manifests itself in a variety of incredibly effective ways throughout. At one point, he is forced to undergo minor facial surgery during extreme turbulence on a plane, like a particularly evil animal. Donkey segment.

clay face It may just be a pastiche of more successful fare, but it’s fair enough to recommend to fans of squirm-inducing body horror. DC should be begging Today’s in-demand filmmaker, Zach Cregger, will come to Warner Bros. and will direct the script of his passion project Acolyte, although I fear that unless clay face is a big hit, it might be a hard sell.

What other reviews are saying: Opinions are mixed but not very positive. The AP’s Mark Kennedy writes: “We may not have asked for it, but it’s a crowd-pleaser, emulating its main character’s ability to be a little something for everyone.” David Fear of Rolling Stone, however, calls it “the equivalent of eating a handful of Play-Doh™, with half the flavor.”

How to watch: clay face is now playing in cinemas nationwide.

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This review was written by my colleague Kelsey Weekman.

Another buzzworthy option: Wicker

Why it’s worth the detour: Since his a first ovation at the Sundance Film Festival in January, I couldn’t avoid the advertising for the steamy film on the cart, Wicker. I know that as a millennial woman who loves lust and wishes filmmakers stop toning down their sex scenesI am the exact target audience for the film.

Part The Bridgerton Chronicles and part dark fairy tale, it is about an enigmatic middle-aged fisherwoman (Olivia Colman) who asks a basket weaver (Peter Dinklage) to make her a wicker husband. She is not overly concerned with the pageantry of marriage in her small medieval farming town, where all men are known by their profession and women by their husbands, but she harbors a secret, worldly desire for something more. The basket maker obliges, and she marries Alexander Skarsgård’s basket maker, blessed with braided muscles and real human eyes, whose work around the house and constant satisfaction of his carnal desires makes all the townspeople jealous.

THE groan-filled trailer went viral in July, inspiring people (and the brands) to unite in their thirst for a nice guy in the basket and meditate on what women really want of their relationships. This turned the film into a cultural phenomenon. You can take photos with a Wicker cut out and see the film in a 4DX multisensory screening.

It’s hard for anything to live up to such hype, but I’m pleased to say that the film, in my opinion, accomplished exactly what it set out to do. There’s a lot of fun, both physical and emotional, as Skarsgård’s basket repeatedly breaks the bed – and repeatedly fixes it – while saying things like, “I’m meant to be with you.”

The representation of this patriarchal society is sometimes a little ridiculous: women happily wrap their necks in a necklace during their wedding ceremonies, and they are all vengefully jealous of this wicker guy who does the housework, etc. At times it feels like the film is aggressively pointing out aspects of modern life that still seem antiquated and oppressive, but sometimes you really just want a man to put aside societal expectations, fix a leaky roof, and make you feel good, just for the love of the game.

The Wicker Man isn’t just a hunk who does chores. He absolutely adores the fisherman. In one scene, she admits that she doesn’t know how to dance as the couples around them do complicated but wacky routines in the town square. But he holds her lovingly and gently as they swing, making everyone seethe with envy. I was truly struck by the sentimental words the wicker man whispered to the fisherwoman, such as: “Without you…I would never have seen the sun on the ocean or the clouds in the sky.

Make no mistake, there’s plenty of sex in this movie, which stands out in an era where so many movies and TV shows cut sex scenes to avoid frightening a prudish public. But this film contains very little nudity, making it less about what sex looks like and more about how sex feels. It’s about desire, not objectification. I loved that.

The initial clichés of the premise that upset me were all turned on their head by the end, thanks in part to clever writing, but also to the acting masterclass put on by Colman (an Oscar-winning heavyweight turned indie darling) and Skarsgård (one of the film’s hottest actors). weird little monster actors of human history). I will defend a comforting drink directly streamed every day — there simply aren’t enough to meet demand! – but Wicker feels so original and clever that it earns all its fluffiness, as well as your ticket money. And it’s hot.

What other reviews say: They are in love! Richard Lawson of The Hollywood Reporter calls it “a warm, sometimes poignant pleasure, a film full of lively personality and possessing a rather humane view of our little foibles. It’s not exactly indulgent, though; the film has a harsher, more unforgiving edge than one might expect.” Amy Nicholson of the Los Angeles Times found it “funny and sexy”, but criticized the film’s second half: “The fisherwoman’s love story is Wicker“It’s the pulse, but the film is really about the city, and it marginalizes his character to confuse the place.”

How to watch: Wicker is now playing in cinemas nationwide.

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But that’s not all…

• Klara and the sun: Taika Waititi may not have been the best person to adapt this acclaimed book by Kazuo Ishiguro, as his characteristic offbeat humor rarely works as intended here. Jenna Ortega stars as Klara, an “artificial friend” who forms a deep bond with a troubled young girl, bringing light and hope to a grieving family through her unwavering devotion and innocent wonder. This is familiar territory — that of Steven Spielberg AI: Artificial Intelligence just turned 25 – and despite Ortega’s best efforts and a very playful physical performance, the film becomes a saccharine grab-bag of tearjerker clichés. The melancholy material deserved a more serious treatment than Waititi gives it, and each attempt at a joke repeatedly fails. But Ortega is truly great as Klara, expressive and childlike and amazed by the most basic concepts. Get tickets.

• Wildwood: Beloved animation house Laika Studios returns with its most ambitious project yet, a stop-motion film that was 16 years in development and painstakingly hand-crafted every step of the way. In the fantasy epic based on the book of the same name, headstrong teenager Prue McKeel launches a desperate rescue mission after her little brother is kidnapped by a murder of crows, leading her to a hidden enchanted forest just beyond Portland, Oregon. Joined by an unhappy but loyal classmate, Prue risks everything as she navigates a world of bandits, talking animals, and powerful figures driven by grief and ambition. I can’t wait to catch up with him; critics can’t help but rave about it. Get tickets.

• Ali G: Who am I?: Provocateur and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest comedy continues his tradition of character-based antics and pranks on unsuspecting strangers (see: Borat, Bruno and its precedent Ali G. movie). After 20 years in the cold, Ali G is shocked to learn his girlfriend is eight months pregnant. Faced with an extra mouth to feed, he travels to America to regain his former glory, but soon encounters adversaries who threaten his…