I don’t know about you, but I love discovering a movie for the first time. There’s something special about sitting down to watch a new film, knowing you only get one chance to experience that certain feeling. It’s exciting.

This week, the major streaming platforms are adding several entertaining movies to their respective services. Head to Hulu for our top choice of the week, which recently received a Best Picture nomination at the 2026 Oscars. The other two films in our top three include an innovative courtroom thriller and a John Wick spin-off.

5

Pretty Lethal

Uma Thurman breaks bad

Uma Thurman is action royalty. The Bride in the Kill Bill movies is a top-five action heroine, cementing Thurman as an icon in the genre. Whenever her name is involved, I have to pay attention, especially in an action thriller. In Pretty Lethal, Prime Video’s high-octane romp from director Vicky Jewson, Thurman trades in her protagonist roots to play an enigmatic villain with ties to the ballet.

After their bus breaks down on the way to a dance competition, five ballerinas (Maddie Ziegler, Lana Condor, Iris Apatow, Millicent Simmonds, and Avantika) are forced to seek refuge at an inn run by Devora Kasimer (Thurman), who was once a promising dancer herself. The girls slowly learn that Devora has ties to local mobsters, and their shelter transforms into a hunting ground. With no other choice, the ballerinas must fight or die. That’s a pretty straightforward premise that anyone can understand. Enjoy the madness.

Pretty Lethal begins streaming on Prime Video on March 25, 2026

Pretty Lethal

Release Date

March 25, 2026

Runtime

88 minutes

Director

Vicky Jewson

4

Anaconda

Jack Black, Paul Rudd, and a giant snake

I will go to bat for 1997’s Anaconda. The action horror is firmly in the “so bad it’s good” category for me. I respect movies for embracing absurdity, and Anaconda is borderline ridiculous in the best way, especially Jon Voight’s head-scratching accent. Because of my appreciation for the original, I was skeptical of 2025’s Anaconda, the meta-reboot of the 1997 version.

In the new version, best friends Doug (Jack Black) and Griff (Paul Rudd) set out to make a low-budget version of their favorite movie, Anaconda. With a small crew, the two friends head to Brazil to film. The movie becomes a real fight for survival when a gigantic anaconda shows up and starts killing people. This new version of Anaconda honors the past and subverts the genre in this entertaining comedic romp. It’s like Tropic Thunder with snakes. Given how important Black is in kids’ comedies, Anaconda will play well with families.

Anaconda begins streaming on Netflix on March 25, 2026

3

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina

A dancer takes on John Wick

I don’t have any proof, but this has to be the first top five to include two movies about killer ballerinas. This ballerina exists in the John Wick universe, so prepare for some crazy gun-fu and a lot of violence. Set between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 and 4, Ballerina stars Ana de Armas as Eve Macarro, a ballerina studying to become an assassin in the Ruska Roma.

During one of her missions, Eve notices one of the assailants has the same mark as the assassin who killed her father. Against better judgment, Eve embarks on a reckless journey to find her father’s killer. What she uncovers puts her at odds with the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne), the dangerous cult leader of an organization of assassins. Ballerina has the breakneck pacing and action-packed sequences of a John Wick movie. Oh, and Keanu Reeves shows up as John Wick and does his thing. That sounds like a good time at the movies.

Ballerina begins streaming on HBO Max on March 27, 2026.

2

Anatomy of a Fall

A crime with more questions than answers

Did Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller) kill her husband? That’s the issue at hand in Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet’s Oscar-winning movie that originally released in 2024. Let’s set the scene: Sandra, her husband, Samuel (Samuel Theis), and her visually impaired son, Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner), are living at a secluded chalet. One day, Daniel comes home from a walk and finds Samuel lying dead outside on the ground.

Sandra claims that Samuel fell to his death, potentially as a suicide attempt. The investigators didn’t see it that way and chose to indict Sandra on homicide charges. The investigators find a head wound on Samuel before he hit the ground, and a recording of a fight between Sandra and her husband. The action heads to the courtroom, where this riveting drama heats up. Most courtroom thrillers are searching for the truth, and usually, they end with a definitive verdict. Anatomy of a Fall is interested in how the case is presented. It’s about the process and the lies we tell ourselves to form what we think happened. You’ll still have your theories about how Samuel died when the end credits roll.

Anatomy of a Fall is now streaming on Netflix.

1

Sentimental Value

Families are complicated

Joachim Trier, you really know how to examine a person’s trauma and make them reexamine their every move. In Sentimental Value, which received nine nominations at the 2026 Oscars, Trier explores family drama and tragedy. In Norway, sisters Nora (Renate Reinsve), a successful stage actress, and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas), a historian, reconnect with their absentee father, Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård), after the death of their mother.

Gustav, a struggling director, asks his daughter to play a role in his new project. When Nora declines, he hires an American actress (Elle Fanning) to play the lead. Sentimental Value asks whether artists cross lines when using personal stories in their work. Is it exploitative manipulation, or is it artistic expression? Trier has a gift for turning relatively unknown actresses into stars. He first did it with Reinsve in The Worst Person in the World, and he repeats that success with Lilleaas in Sentimental Value. Prepare your emotions before sitting down to watch this family work through their problems.

Sentimental Value is now streaming on Hulu.

​​​​​​​If you’re looking for more movies, check these out

Last week, two of the most anticipated movies of the year debuted. First, Cillian Murphy returned as Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, now streaming on Netflix. The other movie was Project Hail Mary, Ryan Gosling’s theatrical space odyssey from the same author who wrote The Martian. Both movies are worth your time, so give them a shot.