The Old Guard, Palm Springs, First Cow, and Greyhound Lead an Insane Streaming Week

July is typically blockbuster season (back when movie theatres actually had new releases), but while pickings are still slim in physical theatres, a number of highly anticipated releases have landed on streaming platforms this week. From the Charlize Theron sci-fi action flick The Old Guard to the Lonely Island-produced Palm Springs, some of the buzziest movies of the year are now available to stream right at home. Here is a breakdown of the best new arrivals this week, and where to watch them.

The Old Guard

Based on the Greg Rucka comic series, The Old Guard is a sci-fi action extravaganza about a group of immortal warriors led by Andy (Charlize Theron) on the run from a cabal of government operatives and big pharma representatives trying to harness the group’s powers of longevity. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, best known for romantic dramas like Love & Basketball, The Old Guard feels very different from the typical summer superhero fare. The characters are all fleshed out, and we understand their centuries-old dynamic, even in the midst of hectic action sequences. And The Old Guard is not lacking for action — there might be more headshots here than in the entire John Wick franchise, which is really saying something. It’s time to anoint Charlize Theron as the action star of the 21st century. The Old Guard is available on Netflix now. 

Palm Springs

Palm Springs made waves last year when the film broke the Sundance record for the biggest sale ever, besting The Birth of a Nation by a very Lonely Island-appropriate amount: $0.69. Produced by The Lonely Island collective, the team behind Saturday Night Live shorts like Dick in a Box and the underrated Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping film, Palm Springs is a very different beast. A romantic-comedy-drama hybrid with sci-fi undertones, it’s a film filled with surprises that work best the less you know going into it.

The film features Andy Samberg as Nyles, a man-boy stuck in a rut, who meets the troubled Sarah (Cristin Milioti) at a wedding, and things quickly get progressively stranger from there. Samberg and Milioti have great chemistry together, and Palm Springs remains mostly breezy throughout, even as it tackles big questions about relationships and what it means to be alive. It’s also the perfect quarantine movie, for reasons that become readily apparent as the plot progresses. This is the kind of feel-good comedy with a message that couldn’t be more appropriate for these times, and also features an amazing supporting role from J.K. Simmons, who immediately makes any movie better with his mere appearance. Palm Springs is available on Hulu now.

Greyhound

It says something about how topsy-turvy the film industry is right now that a WWII epic written by and starring America’s Sweetheart Tom Hanks is far from the most buzzed-about new release this week. Based on the classic 1955 novel The Good Shepherd by C. S. Forester, Greyhound stars Hanks as Commander Ernest Krause, commanding officer of the USS Keeling, who has to fend off attacks from submarines in 1942 during the Battle of the Atlantic. Greyhound was originally supposed to open in theatres this summer but was then bought by Apple TV+, in a move that even Hanks himself is not entirely supportive of.

While Greyhound definitely seems like the sort of epic one would ideally experience in a big and loud theatre, it’s pretty incredible that a film of this scope is now premiering directly via a home streaming service. Greyhound is available now via Apple TV+.

Relic

Relic is the sort of horror film that really gets under your skin. Natalie Erika James makes an astonishing directorial debut in this unsettling film about family ties and the terrifying act of aging and losing one’s mind. Kay (Emily Mortimer ) and her adult daughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) are called into Melbourne to check in on her mother Edna (Robyn Nevin) after hearing that she has gone missing. Edna quickly reappears as if nothing has gone wrong, but she seems confused and scared. Her home is littered with post-it note messages to herself, from trivial things to more ominous warnings. Edna’s mental state quickly begins deteriorating, and she begins violently attacking herself and warning of an intruder in her home.

James establishes an unsettling feeling of dread right from the opening of the film that never lets up. Relic hints at a lot more than it explains, but the core idea of Kay coming to terms with her mother’s condition and what it means for both of their futures is truly devastating. Relic has many of the hallmarks of modern horror films like Hereditary, but the true lingering horrors of the film are very much real and inescapable. Relic is available now on VOD.

First Cow

One of the most praised films of the year, Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow had a limited release this past spring and is now available on VOD (and in select theatres). Set in the 19th century, the film focuses on Cookie Figowitz (John Magaro) and King Lu (Orion Lee), and their plan to heist a cow in order to survive in their brutal circumstances. A story of an unlikely friendship and how desperation can lead to ingenuity, Reichardt’s beautiful attention to detail and deliberate pacing create the perfect balm to offset the daily madness we are all dealing with. First Cow may also go down in history as the first film to feature an Oscar-winning bovine. First Cow is available on VOD now.

The Beach House 

A modern take on H.P. Lovecraft’s The Colour Out of Space, Jeffrey A. Brown’s debut is one of the best horror films of the year. Emily (Liana Liberato) and Randall (Noah Le Gros) are a college-age couple who head to a beach house owned by Randall’s father to try to save their relationship. Once they get there, they discover that a middle-aged couple, Mitch (Jake Weber) and his wife Jane (Maryann Nagel), are already staying there. Friends of Randall’s father, they are there for Jane to recuperate and relax from an unspecified illness, and we’re led to believe that she doesn’t have long left.

These unlikely housemates then begin noticing a strange substance in the water and on the beach, and after an ill-advised night when they all take edibles, things quickly begin going haywire. They each begin getting sick in their own ways, and it’s clear that they are under attack from something. Without giving too much away, the film features one of the greatest gross-out moments in memory, the kind of prolonged intense gore scene that would normally have a theatre full of people howling along. But that one scene is a bit of an outlier; Brown is much more focused on mood and tone, and The Beach House works best when it focuses on the sense of isolation and fear the characters have to contend with, something that most of the world can sadly relate to right now. The Beach House is available via Shudder.