New movies to watch this weekend: See ‘Primetime’ and ‘Heart of the Beast’ in theaters, rent or buy ‘Super Troopers 3,’ stream ‘Tuner’ on Paramount+

Welcome to Trust Me, I Watch Everything, a weekly guide to notable new movies opening or becoming available each Friday.

This week’s buzziest release is Primetime,the movie starring Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen of To Catch a Predatorfame. It’s debuting alongside Heart of the Beast,a survival thriller starring Brad Pitt and a dog.

If you’d rather stay home, you can now rent or buy the comedy sequel Super Troopers 3or a pair of low-budget flicks in Idiotsand Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man.

Want to stick to a streaming service you’re likely already paying for? Tuner,one of the year’s best indie gems, finally makes its way to Paramount+, and Toy Story 5debuts on Disney+.

But the list truly goes on and on, so let’s dive in!

• Movies newly available to rent or buy

• Movies newly available on streaming services you may already have

🎥 What to watch in theaters

The buzziest release:Primetime

Why you should see it:Primetime,the first narrative feature from documentarian Lance Oppenheim, functions best as a companion piece to last year’s must-see documentary, David Osit’s Predators,which I reviewed here and called a thought-provoking, bleakly hilarious look at our nation’s unhealthy obsession with true crime as entertainment.

That description functions just as well as a summation of Primetime;both films are about the early-2000s NBC series To Catch a Predator,a spinoff of Datelinehosted by Chris Hansen, and the exploitative nature of the show despite its “good for society” intention of catching, publicly shaming, and arresting real-life pedophiles.

Primetimefollows Hansen, as played by Robert Pattinson, in a disturbing, mannered, over-the-top caricature of a performance that works extremely well in this context. Hansen sets out to make television history by turning his undercover investigation into one of the decade’s most controversial cultural phenomena, not to mention a hit show that rivaled big-budget entertainment like Lostin the ratings.

That’s just one element of the plot, though, as we also follow one of the actors who plays the decoy children used as bait; Skyler Gisondo is terrific as the naive up-and-coming actor seeking his big break and finding it on To Catch a Predator.We also spend a lot of time with the show’s producer, played by Merritt Wever, who seems to revel in the lurid excitement of it all despite the potential dangers.

Hansen himself, as depicted here, is both self-aggrandizing and self-loathing, and eventually becomes troubled by the impact of his work. “What would have happened if I wasn’t here?” starts as something he tells a guy ensnared in the show and morphs into an acknowledgment of culpability. When a man recognizes him on an airplane and thanks him for his work, adding, “I don’t know how you do it, I’d kill those guys with my bare hands,” Hansen responds, “I think what I do is worse.”

It really can’t be stressed enough how unbelievably good Pattinson is here — there’s a multifacetedness to the performance that really gets at Hansen’s contradictions, especially in the way he presents himself on television vs. how he acts in private. It’s a performance of a character who’s constantly performing; Pattinson makes you laugh and makes you uneasy, often in the same sequence.

Primetimeis clever in how it gets at its messaging; there’s a sequence that unfolds as if Hansen is grooming Gisondo’s character to take advantage of him, much like the titular predators would with a child they target. But the documentary Predators threads the needle way more effectively on the idea of the inherent exploitation of “if it bleeds, it leads”-style salaciousness as entertainment, whereas the movie’s subtle gestures at the same ideas just don’t hit as hard.

The section of the documentary that focuses on YouTubers who have taken it upon themselves to mete out vigilante justice in the name of the program contains some of the most enlightening and upsetting material, and none of it makes it into this movie. And that’s fine — they have different narrative goals — but Predators just feels like it tells a fuller story. Primetime’slimited scope, however, allows it to go all in on Hansen in a way that’s nightmarish and unsettling.

The movie is also a darkly hilarious time capsule of the Bush-era “you’re either with us or with the bad guys” mentality, connecting the period’s broader cultural and political landscape to the vigilante justice craze. Gisondo’s arc is also one of the darker A Star Is Born-style narratives about what it takes to make it in the industry. The film is quite beautifully made, featuring various era-appropriate video formats whose grit adds to its intentionally grimy quality, as if you’re watching a found VHS tape from some nightmare world.

Primetimeis an incredibly well-acted movie full of memorable performances — I haven’t stopped repeating Wever’s frantic line of “Puca shells? No puca shells?” — that gets at the incongruity between sensationalist exploitation and need-to-know news. It’s a movie about the kind of person you need to be to succeed in an unethical world, and how people like that make the world more unethical as they succeed. It may tread familiar ground, but it does so bombastically enough to entertain and is thought-provoking all the same. It brings up a lot of uncomfortable questions and contradictions that don’t have easy answers.

What other critics are saying:It’s getting rave reviews, but is not without its detractors. Rolling Stone’s David Fear writes, “Primetime recounts how this show didn’t create a sense of collective bloodlust; it just rode a wave that was already there. Then it tells us we’re free to go, knowing what awaits us right outside the front door.” Amy Nicholson at the Los Angeles Times, however, found it to be too much, writing, “There’s not a single shot of a healthy human being in the movie, only wraiths filmed in sickly shades of pink, red and blue.”

How to watch:Primetimeis now playing in theaters nationwide.

Another option: Heart of the Beast

Why you should see it:Sometimes all you need to make a movie is Brad Pitt and a dog. I believe it was Jean-Luc Godard who said something like that. It certainly worked for Channing Tatum!

Heart of the Beastis a good old-fashioned survival thriller about a man and his dog stuck in the wilderness. Pitt plays James Belmont, a retired Army Special Forces veteran who has a heart attack while flying in his seaplane with his dog, a retired combat canine named Odin, who I can confirm is a very, very good boy and absolutely steals the show from his A-list costar. Put the dog’s name — it’s Uber — above the title!

The bond between Belmont and Odin feels as real as any relationship I’ve ever seen onscreen — the performances from both the four-legged actor and the bipedal one are worthy of praise. Even though it’s a cinematic cheat code to feature a dog in peril, it became one for a reason — it’s a damned effective way to get an audience to get emotionally involved.

J.K. Simmons’s early inclusion as a man they encounter in the woods is a great touch, showing us how Pitt’s character struggles to connect with other humans. You really get a sense of why a veteran with his experiences would retreat into nature and spend retirement in the woods with a dog.

Heart of the Beast features a few too many CGI animals and too much CGI-animal-on-CGI-animal violence for my liking, but it’s not enough of a problem to mar the experience. The movieis at its best when it focuses on the “never give up on each other” relationship between Belmont and Odin, which crops up in every action sequence as they encounter one terrifying obstacle after another. The movie also leans a bit too heavily on wartime flashbacks; the specifics there don’t really feel necessary in a story as simple and base as this about a wounded man and his equally wounded pup.

If you currently love or have ever loved a dog, Heart of the Beastwill likely make you cry. And spoiler alert, no, the dog doesn’t die, an important detail the movie instantly foregrounds.

What other critics are saying:Everyone pretty much agrees that it does what it says on the tin. Lindsay Bahr at the AP writes, “it never strays far from the formula, but while often predictable, occasionally implausible and sometimes even straight propaganda, it’s an effectively thrilling adventure, and Pitt can shed a tear (actually, many) like the best of them.” IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio says “the visible, palpable, real bond between James and Odin (and then, of course, Pitt and Uber) would take a heart of stone not to be touched by.”

How to watch:Heart of the Beastis now playing in theaters nationwide.

• Never After Dark:Fans of Japanese horror movies are in for a treat, as Never After Darkplays like an arthouse take on something like The Grudge. A traveling psychic who helps lost souls cross over encounters a powerful entity at a remote house. While investigating its origins, she uncovers dark secrets and faces a deadly threat from an unexpected source. The movie’s approach to the spooky stuff is terrific — it really nails the balance between the supernatural and staying firmly grounded in reality. The main character is assisted by her sister, who died when they were young and is now forever a teenager in the spirit realm. It’s just a really good ghost story, told with both care and gusto, positively dripping with atmosphere. Mainstream American horror movies like The Conjuringand its sequels should aspire to be this good and tense. Get tickets.

• The Stunt Driver:Jay Baruchel stars in this movie that never passes the “is it better than the documentary on the same subject?” test. Baruchel plays Ken Carter, the “Mad Canadian” stunt driver who tried to jump the St. Lawrence River in a rocket car in the mid-’70s. He hired a big sports manager and enlisted the best in rocket car design, with the National Film Board of Canada filming a documentary, 1981’s The Devil at Your Heels, leading up to the event. The Stunt Driverevenincorporates the documentary crew filming, complete with shifting aspect ratios and formats when appropriate. The look of the movie isn’t the problem, though; it just never makes a case for itself outside of the “true story” oddity of it all. I never knew why I was watching the exploits of this interesting character, and I’m not sure what lessons were learned from his experience. Baruchel is great in the role, but I kept waiting for it all to come together in some meaningful way, and it never did.Get tickets.

• Forgotten Island: This new original animated movie from DreamWorks is beautifully designed and equally beautiful in its messaging about nostalgia and how you’ll always have the memories of the ones you loved, no matter how far you drift apart in life. The movie itself is extremely busy and frenetic, jumping from one otherworldly character introduction to another as our leads traverse the titular forgotten island to which they’ve been magically transported. But it’s laugh-out-loud funny throughout, and the bond between the two leads is so palpable that it all works in spite of its nonstop raucous energy. DreamWorks Animation is often thought of as “less than” Pixar; this movie feels like an attempt to hit the emotional highs that that studio is known for, and it works quite well. It’s charming and sweet, and the characters learn important, bittersweet life lessons along the way. Get tickets.

• Avengers: Endgame Encore:This re-release of Marvel’s 2019 record-breaker is meant to get audiences excited and ready for Avengers: Doomsday. The IMAX and “Infinity Vision” versions include an extended preview for Doomsdayas well as an additional post-credit scene; standard showings add roughly two minutes of footage, which is also included in the IMAX version. How confusing! Get tickets.

💸 Movies newly available to rent or buy

The biggest release:Super Troopers 3

Why you should maybe watch it:There was a 17-year gap between the original Super Troopers and its crowdfunded sequel, which is so forgettable that I barely remember it, other than as a massive disappointment.

Fans of the Broken Lizard comedy troupe didn’t have to wait that long for another bite at the apple, though, as another sequel is here. Luckily, it’s a major improvement on 2018’s Super Troopers 2.When Farva’s over-the-top Indian engagement to Thorny’s sister spirals into chaos, the Super Troopers must navigate Thorny’s schemes to break up the relationship, all while trying to bring down a pernicious new drug ring.

It goes for broad, cheap laughs and only sometimes works; every lazy reference to now-iconic jokes from the original is eye-roll worthy. But there’s a lot that did make me laugh in here, including some out-of-left-field Star Wars-inspired silliness in the final act. I found that it got better as it went along, and really won me over by the end.

What other critics are saying:Most were not as kind as I was. TheWrap’s William Bibbiani writes, “If all you want is to see these lovable goofballs again, you’d be better served watching the first two Super Troopersmovies and reliving their good old days. Those films are still mostly funny and the new days aren’t so good.” Jesse Hassenger at AV Club, however, was more on board: “As with its predecessors, ramshackle high spirits carry Super Troopers 3 through its less inspired patches, and toward the group’s more charming comic tastes.”

How to watch:Super Troopers 3is now available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Prime Video and other VOD platforms.

• Ice Cream Man: Eli Roth’s disastrous follow-up to the unexpectedly amusing Thanksgivingis a cheap, amateurish affair that has enough substance to sustain a TikTok, maybe, but certainly not a feature-length film. An idyllic summer town descends into madness when an ice cream man serves kids sweet delights with horrifying results. There’s a single over-the-top gore sequence that the whole thing feels built around, and while the dedication to practical effects is appreciated, the juice simply isn’t worth the squeeze here. It also feels like a clear ripoff of a key sequence from the Oscar-winning Weapons. The build-up is excruciating and interminable despite the scant runtime; it’s exactly what you expect, but somehow worse, with embarrassing dialogue and performances to match. There’s also a controversy brewing over the film’s use of generative AI, which Roth eventually confirmed after initially denying it. I can’t think of anything more antithetical to the spirit of what this movie is trying to be — a cheap and nasty, gory horror film that’s essentially just a highlight reel of handmade brutal viscera — than getting technology involved. Rent or buy.

• Idiots:The “off-putting-to-funny” ratio is off to a deadly degree in this alleged comedy starring Dave Franco, Mason Thames and O’Shea Jackson Jr.

  When two unqualified bozos are hired to transfer a rich teen to rehab, their straightforward gig quickly spirals into dangerous mayhem. It’s too mean-spirited, the characters simply aren’t much fun to be around and the plotting is increasingly hard to believe. On the other hand, it arguably has the funniest poop joke I’ve seen in a movie, though it’s all downhill from there. Rent or buy.

The best option: Tuner

Why you should watch it:This efficient and entertaining low-budget indie crime-drama thriller boasts a great cast and even stronger characters. Leo Woodall stars as a talented piano tuner whose life is upended when he discovers that his meticulous tuning skills can also be used to crack safes.

The circumstances by which the piano tuner reluctantly falls into his life of crime are clever and engrossing, and there’s also a compelling romance between Woodall and costar Havana Rose Liu. The killer sound design stands out, and it’s great to see Dustin Hoffman having fun here — his character even has his own bobblehead in the world of the film. The script embraces some genre clichés by the end, but not enough to detract from all it does right.

Tuneris exactly the type of small, independent movie that will play well with general audiences, with its gripping premise, propulsive energy and terrific performances that heighten every element even as the plot starts to underwhelm. It’s got style, and it’s a strong narrative feature debut for filmmaker Daniel Roher, whose 2022 documentary Navalnywon an Oscar.

What other critics are saying:It’s incredibly well-reviewed. G. Allen Johnson at the San Francisco Chronicle notes that “the film belongs to Woodall, who turns brooding silence into riveting cinema. His is a star-making performance, perfectly in tune.” The Guardian’s Cath Clarke writes of Woodall and Hoffman, “What a pair they are; they are a real pleasure to watch in an easy, unforced drama that mixes romcom moments with a relaxed crime thriller. It’s like the Safdie brothers in chill-out mode.”

How to watch:Tuneris now streaming on Paramount+.

Another option: Toy Story 5

Why you should watch it:Toy Story 5was one of the biggest movies of the year at the box office, 31 years after the original introduced the concept of a feature-length, entirely computer-animated movie to the big screen. It continues the storied franchise’s tradition of laughs, tears and, frankly, just being damn good movies that both kids and adults can enjoy.

When Bonnie receives a Lilypad tablet as a gift and becomes obsessed, Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang have to go head-to-head with the all-new threat to playtime.

What’s most impressive here is the way the movie understands the multi-pronged threat that technology poses to children: how it changes the very nature of “play” to the point where playing with toys is discouraged, and why using a tablet to communicate with your classmates as the only way to connect, especially for shy kids, can be a big disadvantage.

It took becoming a parent for me to realize that every single one of these movies is, quite obviously, about parenting. In case that wasn’t made clear enough, there’s a shot toward the end of the film that makes it fact, with Bonnie’s parents and Buzz and Woody positioned so we’re watching both sets of “parents” react.

It may not reach the highs of the original trilogy, but it has a renewed sense of purpose that wasn’t quite present in the fourth entry. By focusing on the very real threats children face from our societal push toward “smart” toys and the proliferation of iPads and tablets, Toy Story 5more than justifies its existence, even if the messaging stops short of going full “analog is better, and tech is inherently bad for children’s development.” Reminding children that nothing can replace face-to-face contact and that simply hanging out, playing and using your imagination is the best way to form community is an important lesson, particularly relevant today. But there is some cognitive dissonance required when the movie tries to have its cake and eat it too about tech’s invasion into our lives — they have to sell Lilypad, after all.

What other critics are saying:It’s getting mostly positive reviews! Nick Schager at Daily Beast writes: “A cute and funny sequel that treads well-worn territory and yet manages to elicit its fair share of waterworks, it’s not the series’ best but, in most respects, is still better than the rest.” TheWrap’s William Bibbiani, meanwhile, calls it “enjoyable but repetitive.”

How to watch:Toy Story 5is now streaming on Disney+.

• Unabomber:Jacob Tremblay, the child star of 2015’s Oscar-winning Room,is all grown up and starring as notorious criminal Ted Kaczynski in a Netflix original movie about the Unabomber. Shailene Woodley plays the Clarice Starling-likecomposite fictionalizedFBI agent tasked with tracking him down, and Russell Crowe plays the Harvard professor who took Kaczynski under his wing, perhaps under misleading pretenses, which, of course, would later inform his criminal murder spree. The details of the abusive psychological experiments that Kaczynski was the unwitting subject of are harrowing to watch unfold, but the movie’s crude attempt to draw a straight line from Ted’s college experience to his crime spree is too neat and clean. The performances are strong enough, but the movie itself never rises above being an unambitious “TV movie,” taking no real swings along the way and simply presenting the story as plainly as possible. It’s an OK primer for those unfamiliar with the Unabomber’s past, but surely there’s a documentary or series that serves a similar function without making big leaps in logic and being as perfunctory, generic, and, frankly, forgettable.Now streaming on Netflix.

• The Love Hypothesis:This off-putting rom-com lacks both the rom and the com necessary to make its labored plotting work. In the same way that Fifty Shades of Greyoriginated as Twilightfan fiction, The Love Hypothesis,improbably, began as Star Warsfanfic about Rey (Daisy Ridley’s character in the sequel trilogy) falling for Kylo Ren.Aside from an Easter egg or two, including the lead male role being played by Ridley’s actual husband, you’d never know it. The movie follows Lili Reinhart’s Olive Smith, a biology PhD candidate, and Dr. Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman), a hotshot professor and well-known tyrant, as they enter into a fake relationship, seeing each of their carefully calculated theories of love thrown into chaos. Olive is doing this in a bizarre attempt to help her best friend feel more comfortable with the idea of dating a guy Olive once had her eye on. The ingredients for comedy are here, and yet it just isn’t funny, and it’s never charming either, given the bickering “we’re faking a romance and don’t actually like each other” nature of it all. It’s as predictable as can be.Now streaming on Prime Video.

• Backrooms:We’ve never seen anything like Backrooms — a horror film based on a web series imagined bythen-teen YouTube star Kane Parsons (he just turned 21), who was then given the reeekman’s full review here.Now streaming on HBO Max

• Jackass: Best and Last:Jackass: Best and Last may be the worst theatrical film in the franchise, given its nature as both a “best of” send-off and a “one last ride” finale, but fans who grew up laughing so hard they cried at their antics will do so all over again here, and there’s just enough added to keep it fresh. Read my full review here.Now streaming on Paramount+.

• The Breadwinner:If you don’t care about predictability and inept dads, and you like Nate Bargatze, this movie is easy to watch and mildly funny. But it settles for easy tropes instead of giving its main character more depth — or competence — and that doesn’t exactly kill. Read my colleague Suzy Byrne’s full review here.Streaming on Netflix this Saturday.

• The Furious:Simply put, The Furiousis one of the best fighting movies I’ve ever seen. It’s nearly two hours of nonstop action, driven by incredible fight choreography and mind-blowing set pieces that somehow keep getting better. Read my full review here.Streaming on Starz this Saturday.

• Power Ballad:The latest music-based film from John Carney, the genius behind Once, which launched the careers of the brilliant Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, and my personal favorite, Sing Street,is back at it again. When Rick (Paul Rudd), a past-his-prime wedding singer, meets fading boy-band star Danny (Nick Jonas) during a gig, the two bond over a late-night jam session. But when Danny turns one of Rick’s songs into the hit that reignites his career, Rick sets out to reclaim the recognition he believes he deserves — even if it means risking everything he cares about. It’s a charming film, even if the songs don’t reach the highs of previous Carney flicks. I always appreciate his showcase of the songwriting experience and how community is a prerequisite to fostering that creativity. I found the resolution here, an acknowledgment of who and what art is really for, quite moving.Streaming on Starz this Saturday.

That’s all for this week! We’ll see you next Friday, in time for Tom Cruise’s Diggerand the Colleen Hoover adaptation Verity,starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett.

Looking for more recs?Find your next watch on the Yahoo 100, our daily list of the most popular movies of the year.