The 10 Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch This Weekend
Leave it to Beyoncé to make Godzilla the second-biggest pop-culture icon stomping into theaters this weekend. The year’s trend of blockbuster concerts-turned-blockbuster films continues with Renaissance, and there’s some other major releases and a sprinkling of holiday cheer as well. There’s the latest Japanese Godzilla movie, of course, the Netflix debut of a major awards contender, the return of a quietly great espionage series, and the finale of the Golden Bachelor. Which of this weekend’s new movies or shows will you give your rose to? —James Grebey
Featured Presentations
Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé
Visuals, be damned! But at least we’re getting a whole film by Beyoncé on not just the tour of all tours, but even some behind-the-scenes on the making of Queen Bey’s exquisite show — including Blue Ivy’s dancing summer school. It’s time to dust off your silver outfits and get ready for round two (or one, or five if you’re Jonathan Groff). —Savannah Salazar
In theaters now
➽ I know this isn’t very #GirlBoss of me, but let’s be honest: Godzilla would destroy Beyoncé in a fight. Come on.
Godzilla Minus One
America has been making good use of Godzilla in movies like Godzilla vs. Kong and the currently airing Apple TV+ series, but the King of the Monsters is back with a new movie from his native Japan. Minus One takes place even earlier than the original, 1954 Godzilla, as rather than having a the kaiju attack a Japan that’s recovered from World War II, the big guy is stomping through a Tokyo that’s basically still in ruins and a Japan that has no means to defend itself. Potentially thorny stuff, but gripping city-smashing action that makes for one of the best Godzilla movies of the past several decades. —J.G.
In theaters now
➽ It’s been weirdly under-advertised, but Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron is playing, a lot, in select cities ahead of wide release next week.
May December
Charles Melton’s awards season starts now — or maybe it started when he won a Gotham earlier this week. Either way, he is devastatingly fantastic as Joe Yoo, the incredibly young husband of Julianne Moore’s Gracie Atherton-Yoo. Years after the her scandalous beginning of relationship with Joe (he was 13), the couple is visited by an actress (Natalie Portman) looking to portray their story in a movie. What ensues is a perfectly off-putting, hilarious, and quietly heart-wrenching drama from director Todd Haynes. It’s worth watching in theaters, if you can, and on repeat when it hits Netflix this weekend. —S.S.
Streaming on Netflix
➽ Eileen, a psychological thriller about the (spoiler alert: not healthy!) relationship between rookie juvenile detention guard played by Thomasin McKenzie and a glamorous counselor played by Anne Hathaway is in limited release before going wide next week.
Slow Horses season three
Espionage as a genre recognizes that there are fundamentally two types of spies: spies who run around all the time, and spies who mostly sit on couches and say “Hmm.” Slow Horses, which returns for its third season, once again proves to be one of the rare spy shows that provides a balanced offering of both runners and sitter. —Kathryn VanArendonk
Streaming on Apple TV+
Thriller 40
Writer-filmmaker Nelson George directs this doc about the making of one of the best-selling pop albums of all time, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and its massive impact on pop culture. —Jen Chaney
Streaming on Paramount+ (w/Showtime)
Happy Holidays
Silent Night
John Woo is back with a wordless vigilante thriller about a man (Joel Kinnaman) on a rampage after gangsters kill his child. The action is not exhilarating but profoundly unsettling. —B.E.
In theaters now
Candy Cane Lane
Eddie Murphy stars in this Prime Video Christmas flick about a man who is determined to win his neighborhood’s very competitive holiday house-decorating contest. So he makes a deal with an elf, as one does, to get the magical edge he needs in order to assure his victory. Unfortunately the elf is evil. Oops! —J.G.
Streaming on Prime Video
Selena + Chef: Home for the Holidays
Chefs Eric Adjepong, Claudette Zepeda, Alex Guarnaschelli, and Michael Symon join Selena to bake some favorite holiday treats. It’s pretty explanatory, and we’re pretty sure we’ll be hungry afterward. —S.S.
Streaming on Max
Grand Finales
The Golden Bachelor
It’s down to the wire for ol’ Gerry as he has to finally choose between Theresa and Leslie. Track records aren’t usually great for The Bachelor, but it’s nice to believe they’ll be happily in love for a second, right? —S.S.
Streaming on Hulu
➽ Did you know about Gerry’s “not-so-golden past”? THR is on it.
The Great British Baking Show
Fourteen seasons in, I have to agree with my colleague Roxana Hadadi that this show absolutely needs villains (and that not all villains need be irredeemable or fully evil). Nonetheless I still find it to be a warm and fuzzy, if a bit repetitive, comfort watch every year. The latest run of episodes ends this week. —Eric Vilas-Boas
Streaming on Netflix
➽ This finale aired before this list was published so, uhhhh, hopefully you avoided spoilers. Vulture innocent!!
Want more? Read our recommendations from the weekend of November 22.
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