Now Streaming: BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER Spins Sadness

Let's all go to Macau!

Ballad of a Small Player
The film is now streaming on Netflix.

Colin Ferrell stars as an insufferable gambler who is in Macau to gamble: nothing more, nothing less. He sweats, he drinks, he sweats some more, he drinks, he sweats some more, he orders food he can't pay for, he sweats some more, he gambles, he sweats some more.

It's all captured exquisitely by cinematographer James Friend under the direction of Edward Berger; they previously worked together on All Quiet on the Western Front, another film suffused by exquisite imagery that is emotionally chilly. That's really all there is for me to say about this film, unfortunately, except that Tilda Swinton is back in her Snowpiercer mode, where her distracting makeup becomes the talking point instead of her strong performance.

And Macau looks magnificent.

Two more notable 2025 films are making their streaming debut this week, which we've already reviewed.

Hedda
The film is now streaming on Prime Video.

The screen fairly glistens with sweat in Nia DaCosta's fresh adaptation of an Ibsen classic. Our own Shelagh Rowan-Legg captured the film's strengths beautifully.

"A sultry and vibrant story of repression and desire, DaCosta smoothly and smartly brings Hedda into the 20th century and shows how its story of women's ambition and men's power still reflects and resonates."

Monsters of a different kind rule in a new installment of a dinosaur franchise, directed by Gareth Edwards.

Jurassic World Rebirth
The film is now streaming on Peacock TV.

Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali star as the dinosaur hunters in a world that has grown bored of giant dinosaurs roaming the earth. In my review, I summed up the movie's appeal:

"This is a B-movie that knows what it is and, indeed, embraces it with a bit of cheeky fun, plenty of star power, and a lot of giant freaking dinosaurs ruling their domain."

One final note: as you will have noted if you subscribe to any streaming service, each is highlighting any and all horror content, usually with a themed collection. One of my favorite services is The Criterion Collection, which is featuring collections devoted to John Woo, Hong Kong action classics, "Body Horror," and John Carpenter, among many others.

What's intriguing to me is their "2000s Horror" collection, which resurfaces a number of films that we've covered here at Screen Anarchy, and also makes the case that, while every decade has its defenders and detractors, more recent horror films also deserve a second look

Now Streaming celebrates independent and international genre films and television shows that are newly available on legal streaming services.