{"id":294,"date":"2025-06-20T21:45:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T21:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/294\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T21:45:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T21:45:10","slug":"bloodlines-and-friendship-stream-a-minecraft-movie-on-max-plus-more-movies-to-watch-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/294\/","title":{"rendered":"Bloodlines’ and ‘Friendship,’ stream ‘A Minecraft Movie’ on Max, plus more movies to watch this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello, Yahoo Entertainment readers! Brett Arnold<\/a> here, and I’m back with another edition of Trust Me, I Watch Everything<\/strong><\/a>. As a film critic who hosts a podcast<\/a> called Roger (Ebert) & Me<\/a>, I watch it all so I can bring you recommendations you can trust, and this week there are tons of movies to put on your radar.<\/p>\n

28 Years Later<\/a>, the highly anticipated sequel to 2003’s 28 Days Later (which, hot tip, is available to stream on Pluto TV)\u00a0arrives in theaters alongside Elio<\/a>, the latest from Disney-Pixar in the kiddie sci-fi adventure genre. At home, recent hits like Final Destination: Bloodlines <\/a>and A24’s Friendship<\/a>\u00a0are now available to rent. On streaming, A Minecraft Movie<\/a>\u00a0comes to HBO Max, and a couple of indie<\/a> flicks<\/a> worth your time land on Shudder and Paramount+ with Showtime. Read on because there’s something for everyone.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfa5 What to watch in theaters<\/strong><\/p>\n

My recommendation: <\/strong>28 Years Later<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why you should watch it: <\/strong>First things first: 28 Years Later is the start of a planned trilogy, a fact you\u2019d never know unless you\u2019re extremely plugged into reading about movies online. The sequel is already shot and has a January 2026 release date. The third film has not yet been produced. It’s all a bit confusing considering the movie is both the end of a trilogy \u2014 sequel 28 Weeks Later came out around 5 years after the original \u2014 and the start of one.<\/p>\n

The movie, disappointingly, is very much part one of three, feeling like an act one more than a cohesive and fully satisfying whole. An out-of-the-blue tonal shift button at the end is the only real indicator that there\u2019s more on the way, as the story of this movie pretty much ends, and there\u2019s an extra scene that teases something entirely different to come.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty to praise here, though, despite that inherent disappointment in expecting a finished product and getting merely the start of one. The creative team behind the original film returns, with Danny Boyle in the director\u2019s chair, Alex Garland penning the script and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle doing incredible work and keeping up with the digital aesthetic that became synonymous with 28 Days Later by shooting the movie on modified iPhone 15s.<\/p>\n

The film takes place, well, 28 years after the rage virus began, and in that time the infected have evolved, but I won\u2019t spoil the sheer fun and horror of discovering these new variants. Like all good zombie flicks, it reflects on the era in which it was made, and there are obvious parallels here to real-world events like Brexit. It\u2019s hard to not think of the film as a response to the mass death we all experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a more thoughtful and somber film than some may be expecting, lighter on zombie action than its predecessors and more focused on domestic drama and acceptance of circumstances. It\u2019s surprisingly emotionally affecting by the third act, once Ralph Fiennes, the film\u2019s MVP, enters. Protagonist Alfie Williams, a child actor making his debut, is terrific too. Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson both feel more like plot conveniences than characters.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a shame that the movie is undercut by the \u201cthis is the start of a trilogy\u201d of it all, because when it works, it\u2019s damned good, and Boyle is really back in top form. It’s a terrific showcase for his heightened, damn-near experimental style. In short, it\u2019s still good but may not be the movie audiences are expecting.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf7f What critics are saying:<\/strong> Critics are big fans of it. Jake Coyle wrote in the Associated Press, “Buried in here are some tender reflections on mortality<\/a> and misguided exceptionalism, and even the hint of those ideas make 28 Years Later a more thoughtful movie than you\u2019re likely to find at the multiplex this time of year.” William Bibbiani at TheWrap agrees, writing that “the filmmakers haven\u2019t redefined the zombie genre<\/a>, but they\u2019ve refocused their own culturally significant riff into a lush, fascinating epic that has way more to say about being human than it does about (re-)killing the dead.”<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc40 How to watch:<\/strong> 28 Years Later is now in theaters <\/a>nationwide.<\/p>\n

Get tickets<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd14 If that’s not for you…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Elio<\/p>\n

Elio (Yonas Kibreab) and Glordon (Remy Edgerly) in Elio. (Courtesy of Disney\/Everett Collection)<\/p>\n