The 15 Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch This Weekend
We’re about a hundred days from Halloween, give or take, but the only chills in the air are coming from our AC units (our strongest soldiers) and maybe a scary movie if you choose to indulge in the latest Nicolas Cage effort, where he plays the creepily mysterious killer. But is it him? Neon has literally hidden his face from us. Maybe the reveal is Mike Myers in Cat in the Hat levels of weird. Now that that terrifying image has been planted in your heads, here’s everything else to watch this weekend, scary or not! —Savannah Salazar
Featured Presentations
Longlegs
Neon’s campaign for Longlegs has been quite the feat, framing the new film by writer-director Oz Perkins as a full-stop horror event. In Longlegs, Maika Monroe (of It Follows) plays an FBI agent tasked with hunting down the titular serial killer (Nicolas Cage). So far it’s drawn comparisons to Silence of the Lambs, but knowing Perkins, we’re in for some really dark shit. —S.S.
➽ Is any actor’s career more prolifically WTF than Mr. Cage’s?
In theaters now
Sunny
This series, adapted from Colin O’Sullivan’s novel The Dark Manual, looks just odd enough to match Rashida Jones’s specific comedic vibe. She plays an American living in Japan whose husband and son disappear in a plane crash. As she searches for answers, she’s given Sunny, a robot designed by her husband. You’re not surprised this is an A24 joint, are you? —Roxana Hadadi
Streaming on Apple TV+
Fly Me to the Moon
A totally real film. —S.S.
In theaters now
The Bachelorette season 21
After being a top girlie in Joey’s season of The Bachelor, Jenn Tran is the new Bachelorette, taking over for Charity Lawson, the season that introduced us to Joey. Now it’s Jenn’s turn to find love. Jenn will be dating a new crop of men as they vie for her final rose. The Bachelorette will air weekly on ABC and stream the next day on Hulu through the summer. —S.S.
Streaming on Hulu
Faye
After premiering at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Faye makes its debut on HBO and Max this weekend. The film explores the life of Oscar-winning actress Faye Dunaway and tackles her career successes, lows, and mental-health discoveries by speaking with Dunaway and additional talking heads like Sharon Stone, Mickey Rourke, and Dunaway’s son. —S.S.
Streaming on Max on July 13
Emperor of Ocean Park
Forest Whitaker tends to turn in layered, complex performances in shows you have no idea how to watch.* Now, he stars as a judge whose suspicious death pushes his relatives into paranoia. Could Oliver Garland have been targeted for his status as a Black man reaching the highest levels of judicial power in the country? Or did his conservative politics play a role in his maybe murder? —R.H.
Streaming on MGM+
*Editor’s note: MGM+ is real, we swear.
Me
It’s “Oh no, what do I do with these kids?” season, and it’s especially the season of “Oh no, how do I make these kids watch anything other than YouTube?” Apple TV+ has some of the better choices for older kids looking for live-action adventure TV, and its newest option is Me, a coming-of-age sci-fi series about a kid who can change what he looks like. The metaphor is blunt, but a little on-the-nose storytelling about malleable identities and staying true to yourself never hurt bored tweens. —Kathryn VanArendonk
Streaming on Apple TV+
Mammals
It’s not clear how many of these animal-docuseries voice-overs David Attenborough has left in him — the man is 98! — but this new production takes full advantage of his stature, and it’s banking on the innate appeal of beautiful footage, like a flying squirrel leaping around a wintry forest. —K.V.A.
Streaming on AMC+
Animation Station
Exploding Kittens
If you ever wondered what an animated comedy inspired by the card game Exploding Kittens would look like, here’s your answer — and it involves God and Satan being sent to earth inside the bodies of house cats. —Jen Chaney
Streaming on Netflix
Rest, Faerie Queen
It was only much later in life that I realized the Shelley Duvall of The Shining was the same Shelley Duvall who presided over Bedtime Stories — a deeply strange anthology series presented by her and narrated by stars like Bette Midler and Steve Martin. The animated tales were framed by live-action segments in which Duvall would do everything from decorate for the holidays to talk to stuffed animals. Like Duvall, it was bizarre, delightful, perfect. —Eric Vilas-Boas
➽ Read Matt Zoller Seitz’s tribute, “Shelley Duvall Stood Out.”
Buy “Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories” on DVD
Finally Streaming
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
A movie to remind you that even hundreds of years into the future after our fall from the top of the food chain, you can still find a frosted gloss and a pair of jeans somewhere. More Planet of the Apes to stream on digital. —S.S.
Available on VOD
➽ Also out: Tom Hardy and Austin Butler staring at each other lovingly in The Bikeriders.
Physical (Retail) Therapy
Twister in 4K
The ’90s classic Twister, one of the first movies ever pressed onto a DVD, is now finally available on pristine 4K nearly 30 years later, ahead of its sequel, Twisters. Today’s drop looks especially snappy — available as both a standard release and a collector’s steel-book. Both include nice featurettes, plus a commentary with director Jan de Bont and visual-effects supervisor Stefan Fangmeier. (For the disc-averse, it’s on Max too.) —E.V.B.
Available for purchase
➽ And for U.S. preorder: Japan’s collector’s set of Godzilla Minus One! It’s a cool release with English subtitles, but the special features aren’t translated.
Want more? Read our recommendations from the weekend of July 3.
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