The weekend is here folks! And what better way to spend it than catching up with the latest additions to your favorite streaming services?
Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of what’s arriving when. But we’re here to help. To that end, here are those picks that are new this weekend. Note that streaming services occasionally change their schedules without giving notice but worry not, we shall update the same for you!
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
Source: NYT
The new movie from Noah Baumbach is stacked! It revolves around a dysfunctional family in New York City and the absolutely stunning cast itself makes it worth the hours. Harold (Dustin Hoffman), a retired professor and sculptor, barely remains in touch with his three children, Danny (Adam Sandler), Matthew (Ben Stiller) and Jean (Elizabeth Marvel). Each of his kids harbors some resentment toward their father’s messy parenting, and their relationship with Harold is tested when he falls ill. There’s so much to love about this bittersweet comedy from writer-director Baumbach, including Emma Thompson as the drunk stepmother and Sandler, in his best performance since Punch-Drunk Love.
Where: Netflix
Mindhunter
Source: NYT
Back in 2013, producer-director David Fincher helped launch Netflix’s first big hit original series, House of Cards. He now returns to the streaming service with a unique true-crime procedural, ala his chilling thriller Zodiac. Based on the real-life cases of the F.B.I. profilers whose work in the 1970s helped inspire Thomas Harris’s “Hannibal Lecter” novels (YES!), Mindhunter stars Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany as daring federal agents, pioneering the method of interviewing serial killers to catch serial killers.
Where: Netflix
Donnie Darko
Source: NYT
At the twilight of the Reagan era, a young outcast named Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) sleepwalks out of his suburban home and meets a giant, anthropomorphic rabbit who informs him that the world is ending. What follows is a unique combination of sci-fi drama, psychological thriller and teen-angst epic, with a mess of metaphysical subtext that fans of this 21st-century cult classic have spent years untangling.
Where: Netflix
Cabin Fever
Source: NYT
Get into the Halloween spirit a few weeks early with this first feature by Eli Roth, the mastermind behind the Hostel franchise. Not to be confused with last year’s dreadful, bigger-budget remake of the same name, this horror flick from 2002 has a familiar story line: Five attractive college students spend spring break in an isolated cabin in the woods, and an adventure that begins with a lot of carefree sex culminates in buckets of blood. Roth’s innovation is to swap monsters and psycho killers for a deadly illness that dwells in the environment itself, yielding novel forms of gore that are sure to delight some viewers and nauseate others.
Where: Netflix
Cube
Source: NYT
Six strangers awaken in an empty, cube-shaped room with a door on each wall. None have any idea how they got there, but the group soon learns that deadly traps have been set within many of the identical chambers that surround them. Their high-stakes challenge is to find their way out of this mysterious maze using their various skill sets, which range from mathematics to escape artistry. This Canadian sci-fi thriller may not satisfy viewers for whom workmanlike dialogue is a deal breaker, but if you’re looking for a mind-bending premise, top-notch performances and loads of suspense, then this is for you.
Where: Netflix
Lore
Source: NYT
Author Aaron Mahnke has spent the past few years uncovering the true stories behind scary urban legends in his popular and acclaimed podcast, Lore. Now, Amazon has adapted a handful of these investigations into a creepy TV series. Along with fascinating archival footage and stylish animated sequences, the six-part anthology features live-action re-enactments by familiar faces like Kristin Bauer van Straten (best known as Pam from True Blood), Campbell Scott and Adam Goldberg.
Where: Amazon Prime
So, what’s going to be your pick of this selection? Let us know in the comments below!