What’s Streaming This Week (6/22 - 6/29)
Welcome to When To Stream’s Weekly Preview! Every week, we take a closer look at the major film streaming releases scheduled to launch in the next 7 days. As always, release dates are subject to change.
One note: We provide links to Amazon pre-orders (when available) and do receive a very small commission for any purchases made from this website. If you’d like to support our work, and you’re looking to buy through Amazon, we’d appreciate it if you’d click through.
Here are next week’s highlights:
Tuesday, June 24th, 2025
I DON’T UNDERSTAND YOU - $14.99 Sale / $9.99 Rental
Synopsis: Stranded in rural Italy without transportation or language skills, an American couple on the verge of adopting tries to reconnect during a disastrous vacation, as their fears and relationship problems threaten to boil over.
What we like:
The film draws inspiration from an actual terrifying experience endured by co-writers/directors Brian Crano and David Joseph Craig. On their 10th anniversary in Italy, the couple got stuck in pouring rain in the Italian countryside and feared for their lives.
Co-stars Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells are longtime friends and collaborators, having worked together on multiple seasons of the animated Netflix comedy Big Mouth.
Amanda Seyfried has a supporting role in the film, playing Candace, the woman whose child Dom (Kroll) and Cole (Rannells) want to adopt.
What we don’t like:
Reviews were mixed for the film, with some critics criticizing its ‘Americans carve a path of destruction through a foreign country’ premise.
PAVEMENTS - $14.99 Sale / TBD Rental
Synopsis: Documentary about the American indie band Pavement, which combines scripts with documentary images of the band and a musical mise-en-scene composed of songs from their discography.
What we like:
Directed by Alex Ross Perry, Pavements isn’t your typical documentary or concert film. It's an experimental ‘docufiction’ that merges live concert footage, scripted biopic scenes, a jukebox musical, and even a museum exhibit all into one sprawling narrative.
The jukebox musical using Pavement’s music is called Slanted! Enchanted! A Pavement Musical, which is a fantastic name.
Perry won the Directorial Achievement Award at the 2024 Virginia Film Festival.
What we don’t like:
Griffin Newman, co-host of the terrific Blank Check with Griffin and David podcast, plays a character named Steve West. Perry is a frequent guest on the podcast, and we’re disappointed he couldn’t find a part for Griffin’s co-host, The Atlantic film critic David Sims.
THE PRESIDENT’S WIFE - $14.99 Sale / TBD Rental
Synopsis: When she arrived at the Elysée Palace, Bernadette Chirac expected to finally get the place she deserved, she who had always worked in the shadow of her husband to make him president. Put aside because she was considered too old-fashioned, Bernadette decided to take her revenge by becoming a major media figure.
What we like:
Director Léa Domenach had screen legend Catherine Deneuve in mind from the very beginning, but the iconic actress was initially hesitant. She’s not usually drawn to biopics, and it was only after reading the witty script that she agreed to take on the role.
To recreate public appearances, such as campaign rallies or Bernadette meeting Hillary Clinton, the filmmakers masterfully blended (Forrest Gump-style) real archival footage with reenactment scenes and CGI.
Domanach was nominated for Best First Feature at the 2024 César Awards.
What we don’t like:
Claude Chirac, daughter of Jacques and Bernadette Chirac, publicly denounced the film.
Thursday, July 26th, 2025
A WORKING MAN - MGM+
Synopsis: Levon Cade left behind a decorated military career in the black ops to live a simple life working construction. But when his boss's daughter, who is like family to him, is taken by human traffickers, his search to bring her home uncovers a world of corruption far greater than he ever could have imagined.
What we like:
Bullet-headed action star Jason Statham re-teams with his Beekeeper director David Ayer for this action thriller, which is based on the 2014 novel Levon’s Trade by Chuck Dixon.
The film’s screenplay is adapted by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Sylvester Stallone, who had originally looked to adapt Dixon’s series of twelve Levon Cade novels for television.
What we don’t like:
After the surprise smash success of The Beekeeper, this one was kind of a letdown. It didn’t have the same satisfying narrative, and just felt a step slower and less interesting. Still…it’s meat-and-potatoes action, and Statham is always fun to watch. We just wish Ayer could have kicked it up a notch.
Friday, June 27th, 2025
THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP: A LOONEY TUNES MOVIE - HBO Max
Synopsis: Porky and Daffy, the classic animated odd couple, turn into unlikely heroes when their antics at the local bubble gum factory uncover a secret alien mind control plot. Against all odds, the two are determined to save their town (and the world!)...that is if they don't drive each other crazy in the process.
What we like:
The first fully animated Looney Tunes feature-length film to be released theatrically. All prior films were either compilations of shorts or partly live-action. So cool!
Though based on 2019’s Looney Tunes Cartoons, voice actor Bob Bergen does not reprise his role as Porky Pig from the series, with Eric Bauza taking on the role instead.
Wayne Knight provides the voice of the mayor in the film. This is his second Looney Tunes movie, following 1996’s Space Jam.
What we don’t like:
Originally set to be released on Max, Warner Bros. Discovery passed on the film's release, deciding to cancel the film to use as a tax write off as they had with Coyote vs. Acme. However, because the director and production team had done such a good job of keeping the budget low, Warner Bros realized they'd have no tax incentive to kill it. Even so, Warners still refused to release it themselves, but allowed the film to be shopped to other distributors. Ultimately, the film's North American distribution rights were acquired by Ketchup Entertainment (who also recently bought the distribution rights for Coyote vs. Acme). And now it’s back on…Max.
ESCAPE FROM THE 21ST CENTURY - $12.99 Sale / TBD Rental
Synopsis: Three friends discover that they have the power to travel back and forth 20 years with a sneeze. However, the future is not as good as they hope, and they need to take on the responsibility of saving the world.
What we like:
A high-octane Chinese sci‑fi action‑comedy directed and written by Li Yang, this genre-bending fantasy made a nice impression at TIFF’s Midnight Madness in 2024.
Each sneeze sends the characters 20 years into the future or back, totally involuntary and hilariously triggered. Often a sneeze mid-fight results in random jumps between timelines.
A classic Street Fighter II cartridge is central to the plot, with video-game aesthetics (comic overlays, anime splash screens, training montages) infused throughout.
What we don’t like:
The film received a one-day only limited US theatrical release early this month, which is a shame. Will be interesting to see if it builds a cult following.
MY MOM JAYNE - HBO Max
Synopsis: Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
What we like:
This documentary marks Mariska Hargitay’s feature directorial debut, as she steps behind the camera to explore her mother Jayne Mansfield’s life. It premiered in the Cannes Classics section of this year’s festival.
One of the documentary's major plot points: Mariska’s biological father is Nelson Sardelli, not Mickey Hargitay, a truth she discovered in her mid-20s and courageously reveals in the film.
What we don’t like:
Detailing the June 29, 1967 car crash that killed her mother, the doc recounts how the three-year-old Mariska was nearly left behind, unconscious in the wreckage. Terrifying!
NOSFERATU - Prime Video
Synopsis: A gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.
What we like:
Robert Eggers’s adaptation of the classic vampire tale has become a smash hit for Focus Features. It’s become one of the studio’s highest grossing films of all time.
The talented cast absolutely crushes it here: Bill Skarsgård is a fantastic Count Orlok, Lily Rose Depp is a ferocious (almost feral) Ellen Hutter, and Nicholas Hoult is an appropriately cuck-ish Thomas Hutter. Plus it features our favorite ultra-deep-voiced actor Ralph Ineson.
The castle scenes were filmed in the Pernstejn Castle in the Czech Republic, the same location that was used for Werner Herzog's 1979 film Nosferatu the Vampyre.
What we don’t like:
Prime Video won’t be offering the ‘never-before-seen-in-theaters extended cut’, which was part of the film’s digital offering and streamed on Peacock. It wasn’t officially a ‘Director’s Cut’ anyway, and included only a few extra minutes of run time.
THE RITUAL - $14.99 Sale / TBD Rental
Synopsis: Two priests, one in crisis with his faith and the other confronting a turbulent past, must overcome their differences to perform a risky exorcism.
What we like:
Director David Midell’s exorcism thriller is based on the real-life 1928 exorcism of Emma Schmidt (also known as Anna Ecklund), one of the most thoroughly documented American demonic possessions.
Al Pacino stars as Father Theophilus Riesinger, a German-American Capuchin priest, and Dan Stevens plays Father Joseph Steiger, the young, skeptical priest who struggles with the clash between faith and psychological explanations.
What we don’t like:
Pacino’s “unplaceable” German accent has become the most talked-about, and oddly comedic, aspect of the film. Its Metacritic score currently sits at 33.
THE WOMAN IN THE YARD - Peacock
Synopsis: In the aftermath of her husband's death, widow Ramona's struggle to raise her two kids is hindered by the arrival of a mysterious woman with supernatural abilities.
What we like:
Director Jaume Collet-Serra's, whose previous horror successes include 2005’s House of Wax, 2009’s Orphan, and 2016’s The Shallows, delivers a more psychological horror experience with this grief metaphor.
Collet-Serra re-teams with Danielle Deadwyler, who gave a memorable performance in the director’s 2024 smash Netflix hit Carry-On. More lead roles for Deadwyler, please.
The film's script was first written in 2020 by first-time screenwriter Sam Stefanak as The Man in the Yard. It went on to appear in that year's edition of the annual "Black List" of most-liked unproduced screenplays.
What we don’t like:
The film failed to impress critics, it currently has a 51 Metacritic score. Audiences didn’t like it much better, giving it an average grade of C- via CinemaScore. We’re still intrigued by Collet-Serra and Deadwyler, so we’ll definitely be catching up with it on streaming.
Happy Streaming Everyone!
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Available to own on digital…still streaming on Prime Video…