10 New Movies to Watch This Weekend on Netflix, HBO Max, and Hulu (August 28-30)

🎮 Multi-platformNews

#Polygon Lists#Her Private Hell#The Whisper Man#Motor City#Movies

10 New Movies to Watch This Weekend on Netflix, HBO Max, and Hulu (August 28-30)

Polygon RSS Feed✍ Maria Loreto📅 August 28, 2026⏱ 6 min read(about 4 hours ago)

Overview & Key Takeaways

This week's streaming column featured the new Adam Scott thriller, an Alan Ritchson revenge quest, and one of the most divisive movies of the year.

It’s the weekend! And while there are plenty of movies to see in theaters, we’ve compiled a list of titles you can watch from home, whether you’re renting or streaming. Here are some of our favorite picks.

The Whisper Man is out on Netflix. Earlier this year, Polygon interviewed director James Ashcroft, who teased the movie as an Adam Scott-led psychological thriller inspired by The Silence of the Lambs.

Her Private Hell is also available to rent. Following its divisive Cannes premiere, the movie has stirred up the usual commotion associated with a Nicolas Winding Refn project; you’ll either love it or hate it. It marks his first movie in a decade after spending years away, focused on TV.

1 The Whisper Man

Available on Netflix
Genre: Thriller
Run time: 1h 52m
Director: James Ashcroft
Cast: Robert De Niro, Adam Scott, Michelle Monaghan

The Whisper Man follows a widowed crime writer whose eight-year-old son is abducted. With no other option, he turns to his estranged dad, a retired cop. Through their investigation, they discover a link between the boy’s abduction and a serial killer known as the Whisper Man.

Per our Polygon Summer preview:

Ultimately, as a parent and a son, it’s the relationships at the heart of this story that resonated with me the most. It’s about fathers and sons. It’s a story about acceptance; acceptance that everything we experience becomes a part of who we are. And it’s a timely reminder that all things, good and bad, stem from the home. Those aren’t the usual fare found in this genre, and it was the potential of exploring those relations and emotions that made me lean in.

2 Her Private Hell

Sophie Thatcher in Her Private Hell Image: NEON

Available on VOD
Genre: Thriller
Run time: 1h 50m
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Cast: Sophie Thatcher, Havana Rose Liu, Charles Melton, Diego Calva

Nicolas Winding Refn’s new film seems to fit neatly into his body of work, with early reviews praising its visuals while criticizing the story. It follows a young woman in search of her father, all amid a mysterious mist that engulfs the story's futuristic city.

3 The Last Sunrise

Two people embracing in The Last Sunrise Image: Amazon MGM Studios

Available on Prime Video
Genre: Romance
Run time: 1h 46m
Director: Carlson Young
Cast: Maia Reficco, Eva Longoria, Fernando Lindez

Based on the Anna Todd novel of the same name, The Last Sunrise follows Ry, a young American with health problems who moves to Majorca and finds love with a local boy.

4 Batman: Knightfall Part 1

Available on VOD
Genre: Animation
Run time: 1h 19m
Director: Jeff Wamester
Cast: Anson Mount, Michael Mando, Pablo Schreiber

Knightfall is the latest Batman animated trilogy, following the Dark Knight as he tackles a massive breakout at Arkham Asylum, forcing him to recapture some of his most emblematic foes. Critics note the gory and unrestrained appeal of the movie, which seems to bask in the spirit of one of Batman’s darkest comic book stories.

Per our Polygon preview:

Bane has proven a tricky character to adapt. He was treated as a joke in Joel Schumacher’s 1997 film Batman & Robin. Christopher Nolan used some elements of Knightfall in The Dark Knight Rises, but the final film in The Dark Knight trilogy undermined him to focus more on Talia al Ghul and Catwoman. Knightfall director Jeff Wamester aims to do Bane justice by using the R rating to let him become a real monster who rips people apart. Studio Mir brings the animated carnage to life with the same panache they’ve shown in Devil May Cry.

5 Motor City

MOTOR CITY - Still 1 Image: IFC

Available on VOD
Genre: Action
Run time: 1h 43m
Director: Potsy Ponciroli
Cast: Alan Ritchson, Ben Foster, Shailene Woodley

Alan Ritchson’s latest movie is set in 1977 Detroit, following ex-con and factory worker John Miller on a quest for revenge against the gangster who framed him and stole his girlfriend.

Per our Polygon review:

Motor City belongs in that tradition. Not because it's trying to reinvent the revenge thriller, but because it remembers that audiences enjoy connecting the dots on their own. The satisfaction comes not from solving some impossible mystery but from realizing the movie has quietly been giving you the information you needed all along. That's what makes its release feel so refreshing. Not because movies like this no longer exist, but because they no longer dominate the genre the way they once did.

6 Desert Warrior

Available on Hulu
Genre: Action
Run time: 2h 6m
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Cast: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Sharlto Copley, Ben Kingsley

Billed as the most expensive movie produced in Saudi Arabia, Desert Warrior is set in 7th-century Arabia, following a princess and her father who flee to the desert to avoid her becoming a concubine to a ruthless emperor. On the run, they rely on the protection of a legendary bandit.

7 Penny Lane is Dead

A man and a woman wearing punk outifts in Penny Lane Is Dead Image: Shudder

Available on Shudder
Genre: Horror
Run time: 1h 28m
Director: Mia Kate Russell
Cast: Bailey Spalding, Alexandra Jensen, Fletcher Humphrys

Set in the late ‘80s, Penny Lane is Dead follows three best friends at a beach house getaway who must survive after a toxic family prank goes wrong.

8 Hadestown: The Musical

A man and a woman holding hands in Hadestown the Musical Image: Bleecker Street

Available on VOD
Genre: Musical
Run time: 2h 30m
Director: Brett Sullivan
Cast: Reeve Carney, Andre De Shields, Amber Gray

The musical Hadestown has been one of the greatest successes in recent theater history. The film, directed by stage-to-screen expert Brett Sullivan, is a live recording of the play featuring the main cast from the beloved West End production.

9 Above & Below

Antonio Banderas wearing a brown shirt in Above & Below Image: Aura Entertainment

Available on VOD
Genre: Horror
Run time: 1h 36m
Director: Jesse V. Johnson
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Christina Ochoa, Laura Marano

Ever wanted to see Antonio Banderas play the leader of a drug cartel in a shark movie? Now you can. Above & Below follows a group of friends on a vacation in Mexico, where things take a wrong turn after encountering a drug cartel and going on a shark-diving excursion.

10 The Deb

A girl wearing a white dress surrounded by other girls in The Deb Image: Vertical

Available on VOD
Genre: Musical
Run time: 2h 1m
Director: Rebel Wilson
Cast: Natalie Abbott, Charlotte McInnes, Rebel Wilson

The Deb follows an outcast girl awaiting the local Debutante Ball, seeing it as her chance to fit in. Her plans are disrupted when her city-girl cousin arrives, criticizing the outdated ball.

✈ Read Original at Polygon RSS Feed ← Back to All News

More in Multi-platform

🎮 Multi-platform

Tech Experts Call Grand Theft Auto 6 The Most Visually Advanced Game To Date, Which Explains Why It’s Stuck At 30FPS

Grand Theft Auto 6(https://www.gamespot.com/games/grand-theft-auto-vi/) has finally had its first big gameplay reveal, giving us our first real look at Rockstar's massive open-world and the amount of detail it holds. It's one that might be the most visually-impressive game we've ever seen, according to the experts at Digital Foundry. Digital Foundry's Oliver Mackenzie and Richard Leadbetter(https://www.digitalfoundry.net/features/gta-6-an-extended-look-analysis-perhaps-the-most-impressive-showcase-weve-ever-seen-in-real-time-rendering) have praised GTA 6's visual presentation, with Mackenzie specifically going as far to call it the "most impressive example of real-time game rendering" he's ever seen. The pair praised a slew of details showcased in the gameplay, including standout character rendering, especially the hair physics and skin details across not just the game's protagonist, but many NPCs too. Ray tracing use was also praised, with the pair pointing out how Rockstar has delicately implemented it in the right places for the biggest impact, and is leaning on older conventional methods in the pursuit for a better balance between fidelity and performance. Performance was a big talking point too, especially so given how poorly GTA 5 performed on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 when it initially launched. Rockstar has always seemingly favored the best looking image quality over the smoothest, but that seems to have changed with GTA 6. Digital Foundry noted that while the game was rendering at 30 frames per second, that target seems to be consistently hit, with the team rarely finding dips during its analysis of all 48,242 frames. According to Digital Foundry's calculations(https://www.digitalfoundry.net/features/gta-6-with-30fps-seemingly-confirmed-is-60fps-actually-realistic), the gameplay preview of GTA 6 was rendering at a native 1440p and then upscaled to 4K without using a modern upscaling technique, leading to a slightly soft image that can hopefully be improved before launch. The team also reaffirmed its prediction for several months ago, saying that it doesn't expect Rockstar to release a 60fps performance mode for GTA 6 on this generation of consoles, even with significant compromises to the outstanding visual presentation on offer. It expects the PlayStation 5 Pro to offer better examples of ray-traced effects or potentially higher resolution targets, but the CPU remains the biggest bottleneck in a world with so much simulation that would make halving the rendering time nigh impossible without a significantly more capable processor. That's something that a PC release in the future might showcase. There are so many details packed into the Grand Theft Auto 6 showcase that you might have missed, so make sure to check out our biggest takeways from the presentation(https://www.gamespot.com/videos/grand-theft-auto-vi-gta6-29-biggest-takeaways-from-the-reveal/), including the return of a six-star wanted level(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gta-6-returns-to-six-star-wanted-levels/), how you can pet (and scold) dogs around the city(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/you-can-pet-and-scold-you-monster-the-dog-in-gta-6/), some of the references fans are already picking up(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gta-6-looks-like-it-features-this-popular-tv-show-apartment/), and how you won't need to engage with the game's love story if you don't want to(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gta-6s-jason-and-lucia-arent-necessarily-a-couple/).

🎮 Grand Theft Auto🎮 GTA

GameSpotNewsabout 3 hours ago

🟩 Xbox, Multi-platform

Xbox CEO calls Project Helix a ‘family of devices’

According to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, Project Helix, which she announced in March as a codename for Microsoft's "next generation console" - phrasing that seemingly implied a singular device - will actually be a "family" of devices." "We've been hard at work on a great next generation and a great family of devices for Helix, &8230;

TheNewsabout 3 hours ago

🎮 Multi-platform

CD Projekt Red Offers To Help Gamescom Theft Victim As Industry Shows Its Support

The annual Gamescom(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gamescom-opening-night-live-2026-all-the-biggest-announcements-games-and-trailers/) event is meant to showcase some of the best upcoming video games, but at least two apparent thefts have thrown a damper on this year's festivities. Indie developer Ryan Laley reported(https://x.com/RyanLaley/status/2093280590996869487) that his equipment was stolen from his Gamescom booth, which he said was "a huge blow financially and mentally." Fortunately, Laley has received an outpouring of support from the industry, including The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red. On X, CD Projekt Red responded to Laley's initial message and offered to "see if we can send a few things your way," before adding "No choom should have to start from zero." https://twitter.com/CyberpunkGame/status/2093352395044483450 Laley went on to thank CD Projekt Red and others in the industry for their generous offers. He also gave a shoutout to marketing consultant Indie Game Joe for donating the funds to replace his lost equipment. https://twitter.com/RyanLaley/status/2093387270556426431 In turn, Indie Game Joe suggested that players(https://x.com/IndieGameJoe/status/2093428156325584965) should wishlist Laley's upcoming game, Mimic(https://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/2606850/). Unfortunately, this isn't the only reported theft at Gamescom this year. Iam8bit has posted that two of its laptops were stolen from its booth overnight despite the presence of security. It also noted that the laptops contained early demos for Petal Runner and Escape Academy 2. https://twitter.com/iam8bit/status/2093398808650719323 Gamespot has reached out to Gamescom for comment about the reported thefts. We'll update this story if and when we receive a response.

GameSpotIndie, Newsabout 4 hours ago

← Back to GameSky Home