Clockwise from top: Expats, In the Know, Griselda, and Masters of the Air.
Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Prime Video, Apple TV+, Netflix, Peacock
There are no major studio releases in theaters this week, which is kind of wild. Even in January, there’s typically at least one new horror flick or action romp from one of the usual suspects every weekend. But, nope. This year’s film offerings will be scarce compared to 2023, and weekends like this are the worst of it. But who needs the theaters when you’ve got a TV? A bunch of movies are making a (pretty quick!) jump from the big screen to the small one as paid VOD, and the new Mission: Impossible is finally available to stream. Meanwhile, there are big new shows premiering, like a WWII epic, a reimagined ’80s cartoon icon, and another Nichole Kidman–led series. Plus: A bunch of the newly Oscar-nominated movies are streaming. Sometimes, heartbreak also feels good in a place like this (your couch). —James Grebey
Nicole Kidman keeps collecting series like Infinity Stones. This six-part miniseries from Lulu Wang is an adaptation of the novel The Expatriates, by Janice Y.K. Lee, and takes place in 2014 Hong Kong, where the lives of three American women cross. Sarayu Blue, Ji-young Yoo, Brian Tee, and Jack Huston round out the cast. —Roxana Hadadi
➽ It’s not like Kidman has given up on the big screen, despite all these TV miniseries she stars in. She was in the Aquaman sequel, don’t forget. You can watch that at home this weekend.
It’s another World War II series, but this time it features a number of internet boyfriends, from Austin Butler to Barry Keoghan, as airmen of the RAF’s 100th Bomb Group, who later earn the nickname “Bloody Hundredth.” Can’t imagine why. —Savannah Salazar
Sofía Vergara stars as Griselda Blanco, a Colombian woman nicknamed “the Godmother” who headed up the most powerful cartel in the ’70s and ’80s. Griselda tells the story of its titular queenpin in a “fictional dramatization” and even features Karol G in her first acting role as a close friend to Vergara’s Griselda. —S.S.
Zach Woods co-creates and voices the main character in this animated comedy about a fragile, hypocritical host of an NPR show who also happens to be a puppet. This will either be amazing or too twee for words. Hoping for the former. —Jen Chaney
Pepper culture is its own world of gardening, horticulture, cuisine, and competition that has become increasingly mainstream thanks to the proliferation of food challenges, and this ten-episode docuseries (a production of Vox Media, New York’s parent company) profiles various people involved. Narrator Ben Schwartz links up interviews with chile growers and chile lovers. —R.H.
Okay, so there aren’t really any good new movies in theaters this weekend, but there is a re-re-release of a four-decade-old movie. That movie is Stop Making Sense, the masterpiece Talking Heads concert film that A24 restored and put back in theaters last year. If you missed it on the big screen the first couple of times, either because you couldn’t get tickets last summer or hadn’t yet been born in the year 1984, you’ve got another chance to watch one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time on a big screen. —J.G.
The latest Mission: Impossible — which is no longer officially subtitled “Part One,” even though it is very much the first half of a two-part story — is pulling into the Paramount+ station on a much smoother track than the train Ethan Hunt is on during the action movie’s incredible climax. Now you can watch Tom Cruise go flying off that cliff in on a motorcycle again and again from the comfort of your home. —J.G.
➽ Of course, the Entity already knows whether or not you’re going to watch this movie …
If dropping the needle on “You’re the Best” over scenes of sword-swinging animated fantasy mayhem in this trailer didn’t sell you on this new He-Man season, I’m not sure what else I can say. Welcome back to Castle Grayskull! The legendary mega-nerd and boss of Masters of the Universe: Revelation (confusingly similarly named!!), Kevin Smith, is back as executive producer. —Eric Vilas-Boas
Normally we don’t include too many movies you have to pay to watch in this weekly streaming guide, but there are so many movies that are newly available to rent or buy (and a relative dearth of theatrical options), so here we go! Ferrari, Michael Mann’s movie starring Adam Driver as the automobile icon; Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the last gasp of the DC Cinematic Universal as we knew it; Migration, a kids’ movie about ducks from the folks who made The Super Mario Bros. Movie; Wish, Disney’s much-maligned latest animated film; and Night Swim, a movie about a haunted pool that only came out earlier this very year, are now all available to rent. Go nuts! —J.G.
➽ Or just wait a couple of months until they’re all available to stream on one service or another. None of these movies got Oscar nominations, so there’s no need to get a viewing in before the ceremony.
Want more? Read our recommendations from the weekend of January 19.