Whenever I write these posts, I tend to think about my pick in two ways.  First, if I had unlimited funds, which new release would I buy? And second, which film am I really interested in watching, that I haven’t seen? Normally, that first part trumps everything. This is a series about physical releases after all, so my pick should be about which physical release looks the coolest.

But sometimes there isn’t anything coming out that looks all that interesting in terms of its packaging or extras, and I move to that second tier. If I can’t pick something that thrills me with its packaging, then I can at least pick something I really want to see. 

Once in a blue moon I have to go to a third tier. When there aren’t any special releases and none of the movies are calling out to me as something I have to watch, I just kind of pick something and hope for the best. 

It is in these moments I tend to think about what might bring the most readership.  What is the most popular thing coming out that might get folks to read my thoughts?  

Which brings us to this week’s pick.

The Housemaid is a film that keeps showing up in my feeds. It stars Sydney Sweeney, who I’ve quite liked as an actress in the few films I’ve seen her in, but who has become rather controversial of late, and Amanda Seyfried, who was beloved for many years until her personal life imploded. She’s made a bit of a comeback of late. 

Anyway, Sweeney plays a woman down on her luck who gets a gig as a housemaid for Amanda Seyfried’s character. But as these things turn out, Seyfried and her husband have a past, and things get dark and scary and other stuff. It was directed by Paul Feig, so I’m guessing things don’t get that dark. I’ve heard mostly good things about it, especially Seyfried’s performance, and this week that is enough to make it my pick.

Also out this week that looks interesting:

The Big Risk: Criterion brings us this French thriller. It stars the always great Lino Ventura as a man who’s been hiding out in Milan for the better part of a decade, but decides to bring his family back to Paris despite the fact that he has a death sentence hanging over him. He is accompanied by his appointed guardian (the always great Jean Paul Belmondo.) I’d never heard of this film before, but that sounds great.

Mimic: Kino Lorber is bringing this rather silly, bug-infested horror movie from Guillermo Del Toro (you can read my review of the film here.)

Anaconda: Sometimes Hollywood’s obsession with remakes and the like gets really silly. Anaconda (1997) was an unintentionally hilarious action/horror film starring Ice Cube and a giant, CGI snake. It was the kind of film people loved to hate on. Or that the MST3K guys could have a ball with. They remade it last year with Jack Black and Paul Rudd, but this time they are in on the joke. Hilarity is supposed to ensue, but the reviews have been bad.

Zodiac Killer Project: Charlie Shackleton was trying to make a documentary on the infamous Zodiac Killer, but the project fell through way before it was completed. But being a big fan of true crime shows, he decided to point his camera inward and make a film about true crime and how that genre bends our perception and why we are all obsessed with serial killers.

Is This Thing On:  Bradley Cooper directs Will Arnett as a stand-up comic having to come to terms with how his life is falling apart.

Dead Again: Kenneth Branagh directed this film and stars as a private detective who meets an amnesiac woman (Emma Thompson) whose life intersected with his in a previous incarnation.  You can read my review here.

We Bury the Dead: Daisy Ridley stars in this drama about a woman looking for her husband after a terrible military incident, but as she looks for his body amongst many other thousands, she finds that some of them seem to be coming back to life.

Good Boy: This horror film takes the dog’s point of view as his master is overcome by supernatural forces. You can read my review here.

The Boy and the Beast: Japanese animated film about a boy who enters a world of strange beasts.

Testament: Criterion presents this drama about the life of a family after a nuclear attack.