You know we’re getting close to summer movie season when the action movies start blooming like cherry blossoms.
This weekend, adorable video-game speedster Sonic the Hedgehog races into another big-screen adventure, director Michael Bay crafts another one of his signature spectacles with Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul Mateen II and Eiza Gonzalez along for the wild ride, and Michelle Yeoh is a kung fu-fighting laundromat owner who’s forced to save the multiverse in a sci-fi adventure family drama.
For those with more musical tastes, Netflix rocks hard with two teen metalheads in a coming-of-age comedy, and Celine Dion garners an unofficial French biopic of sorts.
Here’s a guide to new movies that’ll satisfy every cinematic taste, plus some noteworthy theatrical films making their video on demand debut:
Review:Michelle Yeoh’s reluctant heroine powers dazzling, dizzying ‘Everything Everywhere’
If your kids dig video games: ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’
Clocking in at more than two hours, a movie about a quick-footed critter should not be this unnecessarily slow. In this animated/live-action hybrid sequel, fun-loving Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) takes on the returning, more out-of-his-mind Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey), teams up with cute new sidekick Tails, ruins a Hawaiian wedding and cracks Marvel and “Fast and Furious” jokes. Young fans of the original hit will enjoy it, although the real highlight is the steely, two-fisted but still adorable antagonist Knuckles, enjoyably voiced by Idris Elba.
Where to watch: In theaters
If you love vehicular destruction: ‘Ambulance’
This action thriller is for those who feel Michael Bay movies haven’t been Michael Bay-ish enough. Mateen plays a veteran who needs extra cash to pay for his wife’s experimental surgery, leading him to unwittingly join his criminal sibling (Gyllenhaal) for a $32 million bank heist. It goes awry as they steal an ambulance with an EMT (Gonzalez) in the back who’s trying to save a wounded cop. Bay uses seriously cool drone shots to capture every angle of explosive chaos; characters in “Ambulance” actually watch other Bay movies (for a little bit of meta humor); and there’s even a gnarly emergency surgery during an epic car chase.
Where to watch: In theaters
‘Ambulance’:Jake Gyllenhaal talks riding shotgun for Michael Bay
If you need your brain broken a bit: ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’
The excellently bonkers genre mashup casts Yeoh as an overwhelmed woman dealing with various domestic issues involving her husband (Ke Huy Quan), daughter (Stephanie Hsu) and father (James Hong) when she’s told she’s the metaverse’s best hope to survive. She experiences different iterations of her lives that help her quest to battle the film’s resident existential threat while coming to grips with aspects of her own reality. Yeoh’s fantastic, and Quan does his best work since his 1980s child stardom in a love letter to the movies that’s also a deeply heartfelt family saga.
Where to watch: In theaters
If you’re a Celine Dion super-fan: ‘Aline’
The Canadian pop superstar’s name is never uttered, but it’s quite obvious that French writer/director/star Valérie Lemercier’s drama is about the singer, from her personal struggles to her famous songs. (Yes, even the “Titanic” one!) It’s also one of the more bizarre biopics you’ll ever see, as the 58-year-old director plays super-talented singer Aline, first as a 12-year-old – which is honestly nightmare-inducing – and throughout her life. It slowly settles into a by-the-numbers, occasionally quirky life story, as Aline falls in love with her much older manager (Sylvain Marcel) and becomes an international icon.
Where to watch: In theaters
If you appreciate all things hard rock: ‘Metal Lords’
Written by “Game of Thrones” co-creator D.B. Weiss, it’s not your normal R-rated teen coming-of-age comedy, which is fitting considering the independently minded rocker outcasts at the heart of the film. Jaeden Martell stars as a bookish student trying to start a metal group with his brash best friend (Adrian Greensmith), but the path to their school’s battle of the bands proves rocky until they meet a hot-tempered cello player (Isis Hainsworth). The film stumbles in its discussion of teen mental-health issues but is decently enjoyable for music fans, who’ll get a kick out of some rock-god cameos.
Where to watch: Netflix
If you rank Chris Pine as your fave Chris: ‘All the Old Knives’
Pine stars in this spy thriller as CIA operative Henry Pelham, who’s tasked by his boss (Laurence Fishburne) with sussing out a mole who leaked info and cost lives in a terrorist hostage situation years earlier. Henry reaches out to his ex-lover and former colleague Celia (Thandiwe Newton) as part of his investigation, and their reunion stirs up old passions and new intrigue. The mystery takes a while to find its groove, whipping between past and present, but winds up as a twisty, solid espionage drama.
Where to watch: Amazon
Now on streaming
Roland Emmerich’s sci-fi disaster film “Moonfall,” starring Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson and John Bradley, is now available on Apple TV and other VOD platforms.
Also on VOD is “Minamata,” based on a true story, starring Johnny Depp as a celebrated photojournalist who travels in 1971 to a Japanese coastal city ravaged by mercury poisoning.
