New movies to watch this weekend: See 'One Night Only' in theaters, rent 'Evil Dead Burn,' stream 'The Last House' on Netflix

Welcome to Trust Me, I Watch Everything, a weekly guide to all the new movies out each Friday.

This week's buzziest release is what has colloquially become known as the "sex Purge movie," One Night Only, a romantic comedy where the concept, somehow, revolves around a fascist U.S. government outlawing extramarital sex, except for one night a year. Fun!

If you'd rather stay home, you can now rent or buy Evil Dead Burn, the latest entry in the long-running horror franchise.

Want to stick to a streaming service you're likely already paying for? Recent rom-com You, Me & Tuscany hits Peacock, and the James Cameron-directed Billie Eilish concert film is now available on Paramount+.

Movies newly available to rent or buy

Movies newly available on streaming services you may already have

Editor's note: My Yahoo colleague Kelsey Weekman reviewed this one.

Why I liked it: One Night Only has one of the most compelling and strange premises I've ever seen in a romantic comedy: What if extramarital sex were outlawed, except for one night a year, during which people completely lose their minds?

Allie (Monica Barbaro) and Owen (Callum Turner) play, respectively, a pharmaceutical jingle singer (a great running bit) and a pizza shop owner, who, for varying reasons, are hunting for a human connection (literally) on the least romantic night of the year. The bizarre rules of the night keep getting in their way, tearing them apart, then bringing them back together.

What I didn't expect was how much I full-body laughed at the gags in the kooky dystopian landscape, which is portrayed as more ridiculous than harrowing. There's a parade of celebrity cameos (King Princess! One of the Haim sisters! Pete Davidson! LeVar Burton!) who shuttle the plot along nicely by weaving in and out of the paths of our protagonists.

In our actual dystopian world, where it's hard to find a funny romance that doesn't feel like streaming algorithm slop, I don't mind a few enemies-to-lovers tropes sprinkled into a genuinely original idea. That said, I recognize a movie with such a banger of a premise is going to fall short of many moviegoers' expectations. Don't go in expecting incisive political commentary, though it's not entirely devoid of that — people speak out against "the mandate," but they give themselves fully to the chaos of the night as well. After all, there are 364 other nights of the year for protest.

Before you go, consider how the fictional ban might be enforced, what the punishment might be, where the loopholes are and why a puritanical society might allow one night of release. Theorizing about the technicalities of the sex Purge might be more fun than the movie itself.

What other critics are saying: I admit I liked it more than most. TheWrap's Matt Goldberg writes that there are "plenty of gags along the way paired with the strong chemistry between leads," adding that it "feels like the kind of movie that shouldn't work, and you're delighted that it does." On the other hand, the New York Times' Natalia Winkelman writes, "With nothing to say about sex or society, the repression plot mostly gets in the way of a movie that would prefer to be a routine romance."

How to watch: One Night Only is now playing in theaters nationwide.

Why I liked it: Canadian filmmaker Matt Johnson (Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, Blackberry) leaps into the mainstream with Tony, a melancholy yet always charming coming-of-age dramedy. It also happens to be a biopic about Anthony Bourdain, covering a very specific chapter of the late chef's early days, loosely adapted from his breakthrough book, Kitchen Confidential.

A 19-year-old Bourdain travels to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life. The movie opens with a quote from the book: "I was — to be frank — a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout, and badly in need of a good ass-kicking." In this movie, he gets that ass-kicking. But does it help?

Dominic Sessa, the breakout star of The Holdovers, is transcendent here, perfectly embodying Bourdain and the specific way he speaks, without ever feeling like he's doing a cheap imitation or impression. It's such a brooding portrayal and appropriately gloomy without ever crossing into discomfort, given that the audience is likely aware of how Bourdain's story ends.

Antonio Banderas nearly steals the show as the restaurant owner who takes young Bourdain in at his lowest point and helps him become the man we know he'd become. Leo Woodall is another standout in the exact opposite role, the proverbial devil on his shoulder, a ladies' man and drug addict whose presence in the movie clearly means to show us another path Bourdain could've easily taken. Comedian Stavros Halkias, meanwhile, earns lots of laughs as a foul-mouthed line cook.

It's beautifully shot by Michael Bauman, Oscar-nominated cinematographer for One Battle After Another, and the gorgeous '70s Cape Cod summer sights really pop, helping evoke an extremely cozy, low-stakes hangout vibe. The dreamy, delicate and sad score from frequent Johnson collaborator Jay McCarrol enhances that atmosphere perfectly.

The film manages to avoid lots of biopic clichés and pitfalls, though it also engages in a couple, including a fairly thankless role for Emilia Jones as Bourdain's love interest. (She is nevertheless very good.) It's a coming-of-age story that feels honest and true, deeply felt in its depiction of its lead as an unapologetic asshole, but a well-meaning one who is young and just trying to find himself.

Tony is impressive on both a craft and story level, all the better for being content to be more of a hangout movie with an unbeatable vibe than a traditional life-to-death biopic. There's just a warmth to everything here, from the texture of the photography to its characters.

What other critics are saying: It's getting great reviews. Amy Nicholson at the Los Angeles Times writes, "The kitchen scenes are a combo platter of boot camp, frat house hazing ritual and kung fu movie. As Bourdain would later explain, he thrived in a setting where actions have instant consequences: a sore back, a sliced hand, a good meal." The AV Club's Monica Castillo writes, "Beyond its dutiful biopic services, Tony reminds its audience of the sharp turns and unlikely encounters that can change the course of our lives and give us stories to share over the dinner table."

How to watch: Tony is now playing in limited release before expanding nationwide.

Super Troopers returns for a third outing. (Patrick Harbron / © Searchlight Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection)

Super Troopers 3: There was a 17-year gap between the original Super Troopers and its crowdfunded sequel, which is so forgettable that I barely remember it beyond being a massive disappointment. Fans of the Broken Lizard comedy troupe didn't have to wait that long for another bite at the apple, though, as another sequel is here. Luckily, it's a major improvement on 2018's Super Troopers 2. When Farva's over-the-top Indian engagement to Thorny's sister spirals into chaos, the Super Troopers must navigate Thorny's schemes to break up the relationship, all while trying to bring down a pernicious new drug ring. It goes for broad, cheap laughs and only sometimes works; every lazy reference to now-iconic jokes from the original is eye-roll worthy. But there's a lot that did make me laugh in here, including some out-of-left-field Star Wars-inspired silliness in the final act. I found that it got better as it went along, and really won me over by the end. Get tickets.

Ice Cream Man: Eli Roth's disastrous follow-up to the unexpectedly amusing Thanksgiving is a cheap, amateurish affair that has enough substance to sustain a TikTok, maybe, but certainly not a feature-length film. An idyllic summer town descends into madness when an ice cream man serves kids sweet delights with horrifying results. There's a single over-the-top gore sequence that the whole thing feels built around, and while the dedication to practical effects is appreciated, the juice simply isn't worth the squeeze here. It also feels like a clear ripoff of a key sequence from the Oscar-winning Weapons. The build-up is excruciating and interminable despite the scant runtime; it's exactly what you expect, but somehow worse, with embarrassing dialogue and performances to match. There's also a controversy brewing over the film's use of generative AI, which Roth eventually confirmed after initially denying it. I can't think of anything more antithetical to the spirit of what this movie is trying to be — a cheap and nasty, gory horror film that's essentially just a highlight reel of handmade brutal viscera — than getting technology involved. Get tickets.

Why I didn't like it: There are two types of Evil Dead fans nowadays. The first are those who adore the original Sam Raimi trilogy and its comic underpinnings, and consider the 2013 remake and everything that followed edgelord garbage. At their core, no matter how scary and creepy and cruel they can get, Raimi's Evil Dead movies are fun.

The 2013 remake, 2023's Evil Dead Rise and now Evil Dead Burn are far from fun. It's as if the main operating principle since then has been "no fun at all," replacing anything resembling it with as much over-the-top, bloody brutality as possible, and tossing in a heavy-handed metaphor about some sort of trauma, whether it's addiction in the 2013 version or an abusive family unit in Burn.

And then there are those fans who likely grew up with the 2013 movie, so to them, the Evil Dead franchise is all about being the goriest, meanest and cruelest, with characters mutilating themselves and others in the most creative and unexpected ways imaginable. I expect these folks were happy with Evil Dead Rise and will remain impressed with Evil Dead Burn.

There are certainly people out there who enjoy both modes, but for the sake of argument, let's ignore them. I, unfortunately, haven't enjoyed an Evil Dead movie since Raimi last directed one: 1992's Army of Darkness. (I have to imagine he's still upset about having the absolutely perfect title, Medieval Dead, replaced.)

In theory, I love that this franchise has morphed into a major studio horror franchise proving ground for hungry young genre filmmakers. But in execution, I am reminded each time of the lightning-in-a-bottle, no-budget quality of Raimi's trilogy and how the modern approach just fundamentally doesn't work for me, especially when tied to a metaphor about family and trauma and toxic, abusive relationships and male inadequacy and rage, because that's where the genre is at now.

In Evil Dead Burn, a recently widowed woman seeks solace with her late husband's family. As they transform one by one into Deadites, she discovers that the vows she took in life survive even in death. Because what could be scarier than some time with your in-laws?!

A series formula has now been established: We're introduced to some folks who will soon be Deadites, as the camera lingers on various household items that will certainly be used to kill them in the near future. This is meant as an allusion to the Raimi films, with updated versions of Ash's iconic chainsaw and "boomstick," but it lacks the playfulness and manic energy of that character and those movies.

Burn has a New French Extremity feel to its violence, thanks to French filmmaker Sébastien Vaniček, whose terrific Infested, now streaming on Shudder, led Raimi to hire him. Vaniček has fun placing the camera in unlikely places and adding his own touch to some classic Raimi tricks, but the deadly serious subject matter here is a big miss, especially given how poorly written the characters are. As I mentioned earlier, Evil Dead movies are supposed to be fun and scary, and Burn opts for an upsetting and dour route instead, with an allegory about domestic violence and inherited male rage.

Evil Dead is the last horror franchise I'd expect to fall victim to the "every horror movie is a treatise on grief or inherited trauma," but it's absolutely going for that here. That said, it's admirably mean-spirited, and Vaniček does a solid job of paying homage to Raimi while also making it his own. Ultimately, however, the film lacks the inventive comedic sensibilities that set Evil Dead apart from other iconic horror series. Fans who consider the 2013 film and its buckets of blood to be the model, though, will likely be more entertained.

What other critics are saying: It's getting far stronger reviews than mine. Owen Gleiberman at Variety dug it, writing, "The violence, while nonstop, remains aggressively 'thematic,' as the bottled-up family tensions and angers come out in the form of gnashing, bashing, gouging, severing, impaling, dismembering." Monica Castillo at The AV Club agrees with me, though, writing, "It's a misfit standalone entry that has moments of humor and striking camera moves but ventures into too-serious territory in such a way that it loses the Evil Dead spirit of guilt-free chaos."

How to watch: Evil Dead Burn is now available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Prime Video and other VOD platforms.

The Isolate Thief: Between this and Supergirl, it's apparently True Grit summer! This solid, old-fashioned Western plays like that movie by way of The Hateful Eight: A young woman (Mackenzie Foy) struggles to conceal the gold she stole from a group of violent outlaws (led by Sean Bean) who have seized control of her remote Union Army outpost. It's a simple film that's full of tension; we know this isn't going to end any other way but violently. The battle of wits between the Mattie Ross-like lead and Bean's character is quite satisfying to watch unfold. Rent or buy.

Lucky Strike: Scott Eastwood, son of Clint, stars in this totally serviceable war flick that plays like a cross between Lone Survivor and Behind Enemy Lines. A wounded American soldier fights to survive behind enemy lines during World War II's Battle of the Bulge, relying on his instinct, spycraft and a hand radio to evade capture and find his way back to his unit. It's nicely directed by veteran filmmaker Rod Lurie (The Contender, The Last Castle) and, despite its familiarity, features several well-crafted action sequences. It's worth checking out if you're into war flicks, though it does have a smaller budget than most of the classics from the genre. Rent or buy.

Why it's a mixed bag: Halle Bailey, from Disney's The Little Mermaid reboot, and Regé-Jean Page, of Bridgerton fame, star in this light and breezy Italy-set trifle about an American woman and a reserved British man embarking on a whirlwind romance during a destination wedding on the coast.

The movie bends over backward to make Bailey's character redeemable, sanding off her edges and providing an excuse for every far-fetched scenario she finds herself in. If the movie leaned into the fact that she's a con artist who falls in love — she is a housesitter for rich people who steals their clothes and pretends to be them — it'd work far better than the one in which she is quietly doing a sketchy thing but actually also has a bunch of reasons we should root for her, including a dead mom and a dream of being a chef.

It is also a bit chaste for the genre, feeling more like the Disney Channel family-friendly version of the story than a sexy or romantic one.

What other critics are saying: Many agree with me. Rendy Jones of Rendy Reviews was similarly underwhelmed by Bailey's character: "The film doesn't trust itself or the audience enough to write a truly messy, flawed protagonist, making it hard to even like Anna during her manic moments." Writes Variety's Guy Lodge: "[It] passes the time painlessly enough, but it's never quite the escape it wants to be."

How to watch: You, Me & Tuscany is now streaming on Peacock.

Why I liked it: Leave it to visionary director James Cameron, who codirected this 3D concert film with its subject, Billie Eilish, to use the format in such an immersive way that it actually feels like you're in the crowd. It also quite cleverly depicts the fan experience, how much Eilish's music means to her fans and the inverse of that relationship from the pop star's point of view.

I was also quite taken with the behind-the-scenes flourishes that you usually don't see in something like this — like when the camera stays with her as she slyly enters the stage, which we learn soon after was actually Eilish's idea. The end result showcases Eilish's skill, craft and vision as much as it does Cameron's. If you're not an Avatar fan, this will technically be your favorite James Cameron movie since Titanic.

What other critics are saying: They love it! Variety's Owen Gleiberman hails it as an "electrifying concert movie." TheWrap's Todd Gilchrist, meanwhile, calls the concert footage "engaging and imaginative."

How to watch: Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft is now streaming on Paramount+.

Wagner Moura and Greta Lee (pictured with Noah Alexander Sosnowski and Riley Chung) star in the Netflix thriller The Last House. (Chris Baker / © Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection)

The Last House: Greta Lee and Wagner Moura star in this Netflix sci-fi and/or horror and/or survival thriller about a family of four who are suddenly sealed inside their home with no way out. They must work together to survive against both their dwindling resources and the mysterious, looming threat that keeps them trapped for days, weeks and ultimately years. It plays like it might be reckoning with the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown period we all experienced, though it mostly sheds those ambitions to go full sci-fi. It's from the same writer as this year's easy-to-recommend Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die starring Sam Rockwell, which is the better film that feels like it really meets the moment. The Last House is too steeped in the past. Now streaming on Netflix.

That's all for this week! We'll see you next Friday.

Looking for more recs? Find your next watch on the Yahoo 100, our daily list of the most popular movies of the year. And for family-friendly picks, check out our kid-approved summer movie guide.

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