What to watch this weekend.
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Crazed serial killers. Immortal vampire rockstars. Alien invasions, Neil Diamond tribute bands, even live-streamed music festivals. This weekend is packed with various shows, movies, live events and much more, and it’s all here in your friendly neighborhood weekend streaming guide.
I went to Masters of the Universe and thought it was an absolute blast. More than just a fun action movie, it was a sincere and earnest portrayal of good versus evil, and it packed in some of the best fight sequences I’ve seen in ages. You can read my review here. I highly recommend this as a theater movie.
As I do every week, I’ve scoured the internet for the best TV shows and movies streaming on Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV, Disney+ for you to watch this weekend. If you have any recommendations, tips or other thoughts feel free to shoot me a note. Let me know what you’re watching these days, or if you’ve enjoyed any of my recommendations, on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. Be sure to also check out last weekend’s streaming guide below:
Alright, let’s dive right in!
Netflix’s feel-good romantic-drama series has joined an exclusive club: Netflix shows that have made it past Season 4. There aren’t very many! The series follows three South Carolina women who have been best friends since they were kids, now navigating life’s complexities. I think Sweet Magnolias probably appeals to people because this kind of story is actually quite rare. Most of us don’t maintain friendships from childhood into adulthood, or at least most of those friendships tend to fade or dissipate with distance, marriage and all the other hurdles life throws at us.
When the trailer to Apple TV’s Cape Fear adaptation opens and it’s Javier Bardem saying, “Let me ask you a question: What is your worst fear?” all I could think of was his character from No Country For Old Men. Creepy. Bardem plays the sociopathic ex-convict, Max Cady, recently released after a 17-year stint for killing his pregnant wife. Amy Adams plays Anna Bowden who, along with her husband Tom (Patrick Wilson) find themselves confronted with the man they failed to keep out of prison seventeen years prior. The first two episodes dropped last week, with new episodes landing on Thursday evenings (a nice replacement slot for Your Friends & Neighbors). The show has reasonably strong reviews so far with a 75%/61% split on RT with a lot of the criticism directed at either the pacing or the general antipathy toward endless remakes. (This is certainly not Apple’s first remake of a classic psychological thriller, with a very strong adaptation of Presumed Innocent not that long ago – if we ignore the wildly silly ending).
AMC has really struck gold with its Anne Rice “Immortal” universe. I keep meaning to watch Interview With A Vampire, and now that The Vampire Lestat is out to glowing reviews (100% on RT) I think it might be time. The trailer sure looks terrific! The story follows Lestat (Sam Reid) as he becomes a rockstar (Anne Rice based his persona on Jim Morrison of The Doors) and tries to set the record straight via his own autobiography rather than leave history to his old friend and rival, Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson). New episodes drop on Sundays on AMC+.
The timing for the release of Dragon Striker, the new animated epic fantasy sports series, is pretty spot-on what with the FIFA World Cup starting this weekend. It can tap into the soccer mania this always inspires here in the US every four years. Dragon Striker is about a boy named Key who plays a soccer-like sport called gorotama. It blends the sports stuff with your classic “elite school for magic users” genre, replete with an ancient evil threatening the school.
Based on the popular romance series, Barry’s Bay, by Carley Fortune, Every Year After tells the story of Percy (Sadie Soverall) reuniting with her old flame, Sam Florek (Matt Cornett) ten years after they split up. The romance plays out over the next six years in the Canadian lake-town, Barry’s Bay. I feel like a new romance series pops up on Prime Video every couple of weeks. The entire 8-episode season is available now on the streaming service.
I’ve always wanted to go to the Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, TN but I’ve never made the trip. Luckily, you can watch the entire festival live via Disney+ or Hulu. Some of the acts playing this year include The Strokes, Skrillex, Alabama Shakes and Modest Mouse, among dozens of others.
The FIFA World Cup kicks off this weekend and it’s a bit complicated on how to watch, but mostly if you’re an English speaker you’ll want to tune into Fox Sports (either on TV or via the app) though the first couple matches are on Tubi as well. Spanish speakers can watch on Telemundo and Peacock.
Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson star in this movie about a Neil Diamond cover duo. I’ve been waiting for this one to come to streaming since it came out last year. I do love me some Neil Diamond, and this looks like a lot of fun. The movie is based off the true story of the Diamond tribute band, Lighting and Thunder.
The racing video game adaptation hits HBO Max this weekend and I know that if I watch it I’m just going to want to fire up some racing video games. The film is three years old now, but I still haven’t gotten around to watching it! With a 65%/98% critic/audience split, I suppose I’ll just have to buckle up and watch it for myself.
Unpopular opinion: Beetlejuice isn’t a very good movie. It has a few very good scenes, but as a movie? Not my cup of tea. This could be an artifact of childhood trauma. I saw the movie at a sleepover when I was quite young and it scared me half to death, and being at a sleepover instead of in my own home made that worse. But the truth is, I just don’t think it’s very funny. I haven’t seen the sequel, but it’s out on Prime Video this week.
Disclosure Day
Credit: Universal Pictures
Steven Spielberg’s latest alien event movie, Disclosure Day, has gotten surprisingly little buzz. I hadn’t even heard about it until I saw the trailer at Masters of the Universe. I’m not embedding said trailer because it’s much too spoilery – I really hate it when the entire plot of the movie is packed into a trailer! – and I’m still on the fence about whether I’ll to this one in theaters or wait for streaming. Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo, and Wyatt Russell star. The reviews are mostly positive, with an 82%/74% critic/audience split on Rotten Tomatoes. John Williams provides the score.
FROM
Credit: MGM
The fourth, and penultimate, season of MGM’s horror series, From, has just three episodes left. It’s interesting to me, as I write these guides, how many shows pop up and drop off the list, but From has been here for ages. I guess that’s what a traditional release schedule looks like. One episode per week keeps your show in the headlines. Dropping three at once and then one episode per week shortens that by a couple weeks. In any case, the seventh episode was quite intense and I suspect the next three will only ramp things up further. Read my review of Episode 7 right here.
Widow's Bay
Credit: Apple
I’m really, genuinely sad that Widow’s Bay ends this coming week. It’s the best, most original show I’ve seen in a long time. The series follows the residents of a remote island town called Widow’s Bay, just off the coast of New England, that just so happens to be cursed and haunted with all manner of terrifying things. I can’t think of another show that does such a great job of balancing humor and horror. Smart writing and masterful direction doesn’t hurt, but it’s the cast that really makes this series land. Matthew Rhys plays mayor Tom Loftis who so badly wants to turn his economically stagnant town into the next Martha’s Vineyard. Kate O’Flynn plays the absolutely wonderful Patricia, who gets two of the season’s best episodes. The always-fantastic Stephen Root is also a joy to watch in this near-perfect TV show. The finale drops on Tuesday evening. Then we get to wait it out until Season 2 which, thankfully, was just greenlit by Apple TV.
Your Friends & Neighbors
Credit: Apple TV
Your Friends & Neighbors wrapped up its second season this week. I was not impressed. I still mildly enjoy the series, but it’s lost a lot of what made the first season so great. I dislike the notion of Coop and Mel getting back together. It feels super unrealistic to me, especially after she had such a serious affair and the ended up with Nick for a not-insignificant amount of time. I’m also not sure she has the moral high ground to demand that he stop lying to her. They’re not married anymore. He doesn’t have to tell her anything. I’m also confused by the car crash sequence. This would have been a great opportunity to call the cops and tell them that Ashe was high and crashed the SUV into the lake. They made it, he didn’t. Case closed. Mostly, I think this show was stronger when it focused more on the burglaries and Coop and Elena were working more closely together. Now it probably ought to be renamed Your Friends & Wives. I’ll still watch Season 3 but I’m not holding my breath.
The Legend Of Vox Machina
Credit: Prime Video
Critical Role’s animated fantasy series, The Legend of Vox Machina, returns with yet another perfectly-scored season of must-watch television. I’m not quite caught up on the season yet, but so far it’s just as good as all the ones that came before, with new and powerful enemies for our heroes to confront. The one thing I don’t love? Scanlan isn’t in this season. Following the character’s path from the Critical Role campaign, he’s out of the group for now, replaced by Taryon “Tary” Darrington (voiced by Wayne Brady). Darrington is a fun new character, but I miss Scanlan. Three new episodes drop each Thursday on Prime Video for a total of 12.
Rivals
Credit: Hulu
Set in Britain in the 80s’, the series is about the scheming and politics of TV broadcast in the Thatcher era. It’s also funny, sexy and extremely well-written with an excellent cast including David Tennant, Alex Hassell, Aidan Turner, Nafessa Williams, Bella Maclean, Danny Dyer and many more. A bit of romance, lots of great character conflicts, lovely English countryside and fantastic period costumes all make for a really excellent watch. I haven’t seen enough of Season 2 to say whether it’s as good as the first, but I’m hopeful.
Star City
Credit: Apple TV
Apple TV’s hit sci-fi series, For All Mankind, explores a “what if” scenario: What if the Soviet Union had landed the first man on the moon, propelling a real space race that hadn’t fizzled out decades ago? Star City takes us to the other side of the Iron Curtain, exploring this hypothetical scenario from the Soviet side. I like that they’ve avoided having everyone speak Russian or with fake Russian accents and just cast a bunch of really talented British actors like Rhys Ifans and Anna Maxwell Martin. This looks excellent, and currently holds an 89% Rotten Tomatoes score. The first two episodes are out now, with new episodes dropping weekly on Thursday evenings. (Seeing Rhys Ifans here reminds me that HBO’s House of the Dragon Season 3 is just a few weeks away. I’m really hoping it’s a step up fro Season 2!)
Dutton Ranch
Credit: Paramount
Yellowstone fans seem pretty hyped about Dutton Ranch, which follows Rip and Beth from Montana to Texas where they try to live a life of peace, somehow not realizing that if you own a ranch in Taylor Sheridan’s universe, someone will try to take it from you and kill you in the process. This series feels like the ultimate fan-service spinoff, since Yellowstone fans seem to adore the Beth/Rip romance. I personally can’t stand Beth, who was amusing for a couple seasons but really wore out her welcome by the fifth. Critics and fans are all pretty upbeat about Dutton Ranch, however, so maybe I’m just being a stick-in-the-mud. I just can’t bring myself to finish Yellowstone. The new show also stars Annette Benning and and Ed Harris. Episodes drop weekly on Fridays.
Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed
Credit: Apple TV
Tatiana Maslany stars in Apple TV’s new dark comedy series, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, which I’ve started and find pretty entertaining so far. Maslany plays Paula, a divorced fact-checker who forms an online relationship with a male sex worker and finds herself the target of a blackmail scheme. Things get darker from there. It has excellent reviews from both fans and critics and I certainly plan to keep watching. The first three episodes are out so far, with future episodes dropping on Wednesdays (aka Tuesday evenings on Apple TV).
Amadeus
Credit: Starz
The story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his rival, Salieri, is at once quite funny and quite sad. Will Sharpe and Paul Bettany play these two in the new Starz series, though if you’re a fan of Amadeus the film, you’ll probably have a hard time accepting anyone in the roles not named Tom Hulce and F. Murray Abraham. New episodes drop on Fridays.
The Terror: Devil In Silver
Screenshot: Erik Kain
I’ve only seen the first season of The Terror but I thought it was absolutely phenomenal. Of course, it was about two British exploration ships trapped in the arctic and the horrors, er, terrors the officers and crew experience in this dreadful, isolated part of the world. The show was named after one of these ships, The Terror (the second was The Erebus) and it’s all based on a true story, though wildly embellished both out of necessity and for entertainment purposes. The third season, Devil In Silver, is based on the book by Victor LaValle, about a working class man mistakenly committed to a psychiatric hospital where things get very, very dark. Dan Stevens stars. New episodes drop Thursdays.
Welcome To Wrexham
Credit: Hulu
Welcome to Wrexham is a sports documentary about the purchase of Welsh professional association football club, Wrexham A.F.C., by actors Rob McElhenney (It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia) and Ryan Reynolds. The series follows the pair’s attempt to revive the flagging franchise. Kind of a real-life Ted Lasso, if you will, but set in Wales. The series has a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an 87% from audiences.
Check out the week before last’s streaming guide below:
ForbesWhat To Watch This Weekend: New Shows And Movies To Stream On Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Apple TV And MoreBy Erik KainWhat are you watching these days? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.
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