This Weekend at the Movies: A Pandemic Western, A Slasher Revival, and a Blue Blur of Nothingness
It opens with a cough. In a dusty New Mexico saloon, a man in a gas mask pours whiskey into a glass he won't drink. The jukebox plays Hank Williams. No one moves.
That's the first 90 seconds of Eddington, Ari Aster's latest provocation-slash-art installation, and probably the only film this weekend that'll leave anyone arguing past dessert. The rest? Flashy, forgettable, or just functional.
Welcome to the movie lineup of July 18–20, 2025, a weekend bloated with content but thin on conviction. There are ten releases in total—some wide, some clinging to limited theaters and VOD windows like barnacles on a leaky boat. Let's go through the chaos.
EDDINGTON
(Theaters | Cannes Premiere: May 16, 2025)
Ari Aster directs. Joaquin Phoenix bleeds charisma. Pedro Pascal mumbles. It's a pandemic Western wrapped in political theatre and slow-burning dread, shot in that sickly yellow daylight that makes you feel hungover even if you're stone sober.
Set in May 2020, Eddington is as subtle as a hammer and twice as heavy. It wants to skewer America's ideological schizophrenia, and to be fair, it sometimes does—with eerie precision and morbid humor. But it also drifts into indulgence. Aster has taste, no doubt. But taste, left unchecked, turns into vanity. You'll either love it or walk out texting your therapist.
Still… it dares.
I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER
(Theaters | Premiere: July 14, 2025)
Yes, they brought it back. And yes, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. are back too, padding through this legacy sequel like employees at a family business they forgot they owned.
There's blood, a few sharp kills, and just enough self-awareness to get a Twitter clip or two trending. Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge) keeps things brisk and occasionally clever. But there's no soul here—just borrowed style and generational pandering. You'll forget it by Monday, which ironically fits the title.
SMURFS (Musical)
(Theaters | July 18, 2025)
Rihanna voices Smurfette. John Goodman plays Papa Smurf. There are songs. Lots of songs.
If you're under ten, it's a rave. If you're over thirty, it's anesthesia. At one point, a CGI mushroom bursts into confetti while the cast sings about self-discovery. I took a walk during that number.
THE BANISHED
(Theaters | July 18, 2025)
A bleak, slow-burn horror about a town quarantined after a viral outbreak. Feels like The Crazies got a Masters degree in philosophy and moved to Oregon.
Indie horror junkies might appreciate its restraint. The rest of us will be checking our phones by minute 45.
CLOUD
(Theaters | July 18, 2025)
Minimalist Japanese drama about a Tokyo factory worker whose life unravels quietly. Beautifully acted, achingly slow. The kind of film that rewards patience—or punishes distraction.
It won't make a dime stateside. Doesn't mean it's not worth your time.
GUNS UP
(Theaters + VOD | July 18, 2025)
Somewhere between Sicario and an old PlayStation 2 cutscene lives this hyper-violent thriller about cartel warfare on the southern border. No nuance. No brakes. Just guns, grunts, and gravel-voiced men saying things like, “We finish what we start.”
VOD was made for this kind of movie.
LIFE AFTER
(Theaters | July 18, 2025)
A documentary on the controversial right-to-die case of Elizabeth Bouvia. Stark, moving, and morally messy. No heroes here—just questions. And silence. Lots of silence.
See it, then sit with it.
SAINT CLARE
(Theaters + VOD | July 18, 2025)
Bella Thorne plays a Catholic schoolgirl haunted by a voice telling her to kill. Horror meets satire meets something you watched once on Tubi at 2 a.m.
There's a scene involving a rosary and a nail gun. It's… memorable, if not exactly good.
SHARI & LAMB CHOP
(Theaters | July 18, 2025)
Lisa D'Apolito (Love, Gilda) directs this affectionate doc on ventriloquist Shari Lewis. Heartwarming, nostalgic, and surprisingly poignant.
Yes, it's about a woman who talked to a sock puppet. And yes, it might make you cry. Cinema's funny like that.
What We're Left With
This weekend is cinema's buffet line: a few rich entrees, lots of filler, and some things that probably shouldn't be out of the freezer yet.
Watch Eddington if you want to be challenged, provoked, possibly bored—but never insulted.
Watch I Know What You Did Last Summer if you miss the late ‘90s and want to remember them wrong.
Watch Smurfs if you've got kids or a lobotomy scheduled.
Everything else? Depends on your tolerance for weird pacing, small budgets, and uneven tone. But somewhere in there, there's still a pulse.
