The Upstream: August 2026

Well, we’re rounding the corner toward the end of summer … if you’re looking for a topical watch in line with the seasonal shift, I’ve got some archival posts worth your time.

But if you mostly want to know what your subscription services are getting you these days, here are 10 titles new to streaming in August 2026!

The Devil Wears Prada 2, Disney+/Hulu

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen the original The Devil Wears Prada since its release 20 years ago. That film’s impact has diffused so thoroughly throughout culture, particularly among those who were of an impressionable age at the time of its release, that I argued in Crooked Marquee that it functioned as something like an onboarding document for millennials entering the white-collar workforce. I might have some quibbles with how The Devil Wears Prada 2 handles certain characters and misreads their essence, but overall, I left grateful that it did not abandon taking an unblinkered look at what it means to work today. Its best qualities are a remarkably honest look at the digital publishing business today; I still chuckle thinking about the description of our press screening by New York Magazine’s Bilge Ebiri: “It was like Saving Private Ryan opening weekend with everybody responding to the D-Day sequence. It was like that to hear people.”

The Drama, HBO Max

“There’s a fine line to walk between provocation and trollishness, and Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli somehow manages to tap dance on it in The Drama,” I wrote in my ranking of every A24 movie for Decider. “His bold premise, withheld pre-release so it functions more like a reveal, offers more than just shock value. It’s an extreme case for extreme times that helps audiences translate the macro-level American sickness of violence into a micro-scale setting of an engaged couple played by Zendaya and Robert Pattinson.” You probably know the “twist” by now, but that doesn’t dull any of the conversation-starting power that The Drama possesses. I, for one, can’t wait to give this a rewatch.

Easter Snap, MUBI

We love a short film! If you were a fan of 2024’s Nickel Boys and/or think RaMell Ross is a brilliant artist and thinker (like I learned firsthand in our interview), then I think you’d probably get something out of his short film, 2019’s Easter Snap. The 13-minute work is yet another piece of his ongoing project depicting the complexities of life in the American South, and the preparation of a pig for slaughter and sale gives Ross a chance to capture the rituals and rhythms of a group rarely heard from in a meaningful way: older Southern Black men. There’s an easygoing feeling of just watching them shoot the breeze, which the film’s absolute gut-punch of a final shot completely shatters in a brilliant way that recasts everything we’ve seen before.

Keanu, Peacock

I had the misfortune of seeing Keanu at the worst time slot imaginable during my first SXSW: at the 12:30 A.M. premiere on the day that the clocks sprang forward, which meant I left the venue at … 3:30 A.M. But if “Keanu” could keep me (mostly) awake and (largely) entertained, then it ought to pack a real wallop for anyone viewing under normal conditions. The film seems reverse-engineered from all the things people loved to share on Facebook back in 2016: cat memes, irreverent ’90s action film-style violence and the sketch comedy of Key & Peele. Don’t expect the duo’s trenchant social commentary here, unfortunately. But adjust your settings for some great comedic set-pieces and witty one-liners, and you’re sure to enjoy yourself.

Mad Bills to Pay, Criterion Channel

I knew I had a blind spot when I sat down with Jason Bailey to rank the defining 2020s New York Cinema: Mad Bills to Pay, a Bronx-set tale of a beachside cocktail salesman who also has to deal with the complications of his newly pregnant girlfriend.

“Mad Bills to Pay is very much a throwback, tiny indie,” Jason said in that conversation. “It reminded me a little bit of things like [Ramin Bahrani's] Man Push Cart and the microbudget filmmaking steeped in working-class New York portraiture, which there's not enough of. There's too much luxury porn and not enough working-class stuff. It's very good.” I was finally able to catch up with it during the theatrical run this spring, and I concur! I think outer-borough New York storytelling often plays up the loudness and grittiness, but filmmaker Joel Alfonso Vargas defies the social realist tropes to make images with genuinely stunning composition and care.

Mud, Peacock

*taps the sign* Yes, the “Southern” is a genre…

…and the region’s rich folklore makes a fascinating grounding for a Spielberg-esque earnest coming-of-age film in Mud. I admire Jeff Nichols, an Arkansas native who attended college in the same town as I did (years earlier), for continuing to mine the South’s penchant for self-mythologization to create a true mythic figure in Matthew McConaughey’s Mud. When two teen boys stumble upon this reclusive fugitive and try to help him reintegrate into society, they learn all sorts of things about the codes governing the adult world — and themselves.

The Secret Life of Pets, Peacock

Shame about the Louis C.K. lead voice role of it all 10 years later, but … is it wild that I have a major soft spot for Illumination’s The Secret Life of Pets series? Maybe it was the 2016 of it all (how innocent we once were), but this movie fully made me cry with a montage of pets being reunited with their owners across a diverse New York City. This epic journey of two lost pets trying to make their way home manages to touch on everything from Brooklyn’s gentrification to humanity’s cruelty toward animals, all while being a funny, emotional delight. I’m sad they couldn’t (or haven’t) figured out a way to make this series more omnipresent.

The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), Amazon Prime Video

Relevant again! I’m still a bit skeptical about the upcoming Michael B. Jordan remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, although the trailer’s lensing by the great (and recently absent) Bradford Young couldn’t help but excite me a little. At least we’ll always have the 1999 version, a perfect “between Bonds” outing for Pierce Brosnan and a stylish art heist thriller. These never get old to me; we'll see if this is a concept worth reimagining every 30 years or so!

Troy, Peacock

We may have Troy to thank for putting the idea of adapting The Odyssey in Christopher Nolan’s head. The rising filmmaker, fresh off directing Insomnia for Warner, nearly directed this film before ultimately taking over Batman Begins. I’m glad we live in this version of the sliding doors universe because I don’t think Nolan would be particularly suited for this slice of Greek mythology, which bookends its narrative with Paris kidnapping Helen of Troy and the Trojan Horse invasion. These events are driven largely by love and desire, two forces that the very cerebral Nolan can sometimes struggle to convey. Wolfgang Petersen, on the other hand, lets this movie be HOT and steamy 🥵; he’s not afraid to show off the chiseled physiques of his incredibly attractive cast (Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Rose Byrne) to let us understand why an act of lust could set off all this war. The movie is definitely a post-Gladiator, standard-issue sword-and-sandals epic … but I’d be lying if I said I was not thoroughly entertained by the scale and sweep. (Also, no one told me about the absurdly overqualified list of elder thespians here: Brendan Gleeson, Brian Cox, Julie Christie, Peter O’Toole?!?)

Who’s That Knocking at My Door?, HBO Max

Director Ramin Bahrani (99 Homes, The White Tiger) once told me in an interview. “Somehow, The Age of Innocence, GoodFellas and Mean Streets are all still Who’s That Knocking at My Door?” Meaning: every filmmaker is still remaking their first feature. I took that to its logical extreme in 2016 by analyzing Scorsese’s debut in light of the then-recently released Silence, which … is maybe one of the least outwardly similar works in the maestro’s canon. But it’s not all that much of a stretch to see the archetype of the men tortured by internal codes of duty and obligation, often religious in origin, as all being downstream of Harvey Keitel’s agonized performance here. It’s a good watch whether you’re knee-deep in Scorsese’s canon or not.

I’ve reviewed two movies that open in limited release beginning this Friday. One is definitely worth keeping an eye out for (Matt Johnson’s Tony), and the other is entirely skippable (Kent Jones’ Late Fame).

You can keep track of all the freelance writing I’ve done this year through this list on Letterboxd.

You can always keep up with my film-watching in real-time on the app Letterboxd. I’ve also compiled every movie I’ve ever recommended through this newsletter via a list on the platform as well.

Can’t say I was the biggest fan of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but I liked these conversations with the stars that moved beyond press tour gimmickry:

And this interview with Christopher Nolan from the film’s tour of China is quite somethin'. (To the publicists who arranged this chat, hello…)

Inspired by this summer’s flavor of insipid discourse, here’s friend of newsletter Chris Evangelista with a helpful primer over on /Film: “People Have Forgotten How To Watch Movies — Here’s How To Actually Do It.”

I loved this report from the scene of the infant-friendly screenings of The Odyssey in The New York Times (gift article).

While I can’t say I particularly cared for either The Invite or I Want Your Sex, I cannot say I am entirely down on the whole Olivia Wilde project/comeback. This essay by friend of the newsletter Monica Castillo on The AV Club helps get at why: she’s pushing back against a sexless film world. (Another entry we can file under this seminal headline: “Everyone Is Beautiful and No One Is Horny.”)

Finally, go check out the great MARK GRAHAM’s new Substack! While I’m sad he’s not around Decider anymore (and not just because he would often commission me there), I’m grateful for at least this brief window to get his voice back in the old economy of the written word once more:

Back for paid subscribers this weekend to appreciate a new cult classic.

Yours in service and cinema,
Marshall