The 10 most streamed movies of the week revealed

So, what’s everyone been watching this week? Well, a lot of people are streaming Kenneth Branagh’s Agatha Christie projects and the first Sonic movie, for two, so there’s that…

Each week, the most popular streamed movies come down to a few things — sheer buzz, smart marketing and PR campaigns, star power, critical acclaim, or a slow burn, word-of-mouth phenomenon that leads uninterested people to finally watch it out of spite. Just to get a sense of what everyone’s streaming, we’ve used data from streaming aggregator Reelgood, which gathers those coveted viewership numbers from hundreds of streaming services in the U.S. and UK.

But just because a lot of people are watching something doesn’t make it…good. Here they are, the 10 most streamed films of the week, where to watch them, and what critics thought.

Kenneth Branagh has been busy hoovering up Belfast acclaim recently, but before that he both directed and starred in this adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel of the same name. The story is centred on — you guessed it! — a death on the Nile, with detective Hercule Poirot (Branagh) sent in to work out who exactly did what to who. This one comes with a big cast — Gal Gadot, Letitia Wright, and Rose Leslie are among them — and plenty of twists.

What we thought: When Death on the Nile is not making amusingly bad choices, it’s swimming in bloated sequences or reiterating the same point enough to make you seasick. Consequently you may find, as I did, that this whodunnit isn’t all that hard to figure out. Humblebrag, but: I had it solved before the end of act one — which left me regrettably little to do the rest of the movie. 

2. All the Old Knives

No, it’s not something we’d advise against selling at a garage sale, it’s the new spy movie with Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton. Pine plays Henry, who’s investigating his ex, Celia (Newton), for possibly being a double agent. They worked as CIA intelligence officers back in the day, and were unable to stop a terrorist attack, and the real truth of this will be revealed in the most classic of forms: flashbacks.

If you’re watching the Sonic the Hedgehog film for any other reason than Jim Carrey’s completely kickass performance, chances are you might find it…fine. Luckily, Carrey’s outlandish run as Doctor Robotnik — it’s equal parts Riddler and Ace Ventura — keeps this movie from using up all its lives, and with the sequel hitting theatres now with added Idris Elba as Knuckles, it’s no surprise this one’s in the list this week.

What we thought: If you’re a Sonic fan of the ’90s or ’00s hoping for some deep cut references or something that appeals to your developed tastes and critical thinking, you’ll probably walk away disappointed. And if you’re looking for a fun movie full of heart and great characters, you’ll probably walk away disappointed too, because this movie feels empty, even if it is pretty.

It’s the film that both took home Best Picture at the 2022 Oscars, and took a significant step forward for deaf representation in Hollywood. Written and directed by Siân Heder, CODA stars Best Supporting Actor winner Troy Kotsur, Marlee Matlin, and Daniel Durant, who are themselves deaf — casting that doesn’t always happen — alongside Emilia Jones.

“Adapted from the 2014 French film La Famille Bélier, CODA — which stands for “Child of Deaf Adults” — centers on Ruby Rossi (Jones), a high school senior who is the only hearing member of a Deaf family. CODA trades La Famille Bélier‘s setting of rural France for Gloucester, Massachusetts, where Ruby helps her father Frank (Kotsur) and brother Leo (Durant) on their fishing boat. She also acts as the family’s interpreter — much of the film’s dialogue is in American Sign Language.”

What we thought: Thanks to excellent performances and Heder’s sharp writing and direction, CODA rises above any possibility of triteness to become a moving, heartwarming, and deeply satisfying film.

Ryan Reynolds is on top deprecating form in Shawn Levy’s The Adam Project, a time-travelling family adventure about a man who is forced to journey back in time, joining forces with his dad and his younger self in a chaotic attempt to avert future catastrophe. Zoe Saldana, Mark Ruffalo, and Jennifer Garner all put in strong supporting performances but the real star of the show is 12-year-old Walker Scobell, who plays young Adam with a perfectly dry sarcasm that makes him an easy sparring partner for his older self.

What we thought: Plot holes and worldbuilding take a backseat to charming performances and entertaining visuals that make this neat 100-movie worth a watch.

From director Judd Apatow and a huge cast — Karen Gillan, Keegan-Michael Key, Pedro Pascal, Leslie Mann, David Duchovny, Fred Armisen, Kate McKinnon, Iris Apatow, Guz Khan, Maria Bakalova, and Peter Serafinowics — comes a film about shooting a film. In the pandemic. The Bubble follows an action franchise trying to shoot a sequel during quarantine in a big fancy hotel. Sure!

What we thought: The Bubble is not a good time, nor is it an even mildly enjoyable one. It is an overlong slog through a series of unfunny jokes and forgettable characters cobbled together by a plot that is at once threadbare and far too much.

There’s plenty to tempt you into Deep Water: Ben Affleck teaming up with now-ex Ana De Armas, with Fatal Attraction director Adrian Lyne at the helm, and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson and Stranger Than Fiction‘s Zach Helm on the script. Based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith, the film follows Vic Allen (Affleck), who’d rather let his wife Melinda (De Armas) have affairs than go through divorce. But then her lovers start meeting untimely ends.

What we thought: With all this incredible talent for brewing desire and deception, Deep Water should be a nerve-shredding, pulse-racing jolt to the system that rattles you, head to toes. Sadly, it cannot pay off the promise of its people.

8. Pig

A truffle hunter who lives alone in the Oregon wilderness must return to his past in Portland in search of his beloved foraging pig after she is kidnapped.

9. Murder on the Orient Express

With so many watching Death on the Nile, it’s unsurprising that folks are finding their way to the other Kenneth Branaugh-directed Agatha Christie film, with the director starring as the iconic detective Hercule Poirot (with that memed moustache). This time, Christie’s famous book sees a truly famous cast take on the whodunnit for the ages, set on a train weaving through Europe.

It’s been 20 years since they began throwing themselves literally into anything, but Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass crew are back.

What we thought: The more things change, the more it’s a comfort to know that some things stay the same. Like “dick pain hurts” is still absolutely hilarious. This is made outrageously clear with Jackass Forever, a sublimely stupid sequel that reunites the stuntmen, pranksters, and fools who became icons of jackassery 20 years ago.