Business

What To Watch This Weekend: New Shows And Movies To Stream On Netflix, Apple TV, Hulu And More

November 25, 2023

What to stream this weekend.

Credit: FX

Thanksgiving weekend is here. For many, that means a fun and family-filled four-day weekend. A lot of people will be watching various sports games this weekend—even I watched the Seattle Seahawks in their hideous neon green uniforms duke it out with the San Francisco 49ers for a bit last night—but it’s also a great time to sit down with a good movie or show, or even head to the theaters and sit down with a bucket of buttery popcorn.

Before we go further, I also want to direct you to my Best Thanksgiving Movie guide which I published yesterday. I think you’ll find some good options there, too!

Alright, here’s this weekend’s list of both new and old shows and movies to fill your lazy evenings with this weekend. You can see my recommendations for last weekend right here. Let’s dive right in!

Fargo (Hulu)

The first two episodes of Fargo’s fifth season aired on FX this past Tuesday and landed on Hulu on Wednesday. I watched the first episode last night and will hopefully get to the second episode today. After that they air weekly on Tuesdays/Wednesdays. So far, I’m loving the new season! You betcha! It’s funny and dark and weird in all the ways you’d expect from Noah Hawley’s anthology series (based on the film by the Coen Brothers). This season stars John Hamm, Juno Temple and Jennifer Jason Leigh. It’s off to a great start, don’t ya know.

The Faraway Downs (Hulu)

I never saw Baz Luhrmann’s epic Australian western Australia (I love Australian movies like The Man From Snow River, but this thing clocked in at nearly three hours and I just never found the time). The Faraway Downs is actually the same movie but with a ton of cut content that’s being extended over a 6-part miniseries. That might make it more palatable.

Evil Dead Rise (Amazon Prime Video)

I missed this one in theaters but it looks really good and fared surprisingly well with critics. The horror movie landed on Amazon Prime Video on Thanksgiving so you can scare yourself silly right now if you so desire. This is such a great franchise—both as a movie series and the hilarious TV show Ash Vs. Evil Dead—and I’m glad to see the fifth film has done so well.

The Naughty Nine (Disney+)

What with it being Christmastime and all, it’s no surprise that streaming services are adding a bunch of Christmas stuff to their libraries. The Naughty Nine is a family flick with a surprisingly solid Rotten Tomatoes score (83% with audiences, no critic reviews). It’s basically a heist-revenge movie about a fifth grader on Santa’s Naughty list assembling a team to get back at the jolly old elf.

Elf, Christmas Vacation and The Polar Express (Hulu)

Speaking of Christmas movies, Hulu added several classics to its library this weekend including the Jon Favreau-directed Elf which stars Will Ferrell as a clueless elf in NYC; National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, one of the best Christmas comedies ever made; and the somewhat creepy Polar Express, which is a good movie but has that Uncanny Valley CGI that I find super unsettling.

Sesame Street Christmas Specials (Max)

For the young ‘uns Max adds several Sesame Street Christmas specials including:

A Sesame Street Christmas Carol
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
Elmo Saves Christmas
Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas

This should keep the little tykes occupied!

My Daemon (Netflix)

This looks really good and pretty adorable. I really know next to nothing about it other than the trailer is excellent. The blurb reads: “In Earth’s near future, a kindhearted boy named Kento and a Daemon child called Anna set out on a grand adventure together in hopes of saving Kento’s mother.” Netflix has been dropping excellent anime after excellent anime. Now we have another to add to the list alongside Blue Eye Samurai.

Slow Horses (Apple TV+)

Gary Oldman and the gang return for another season of mystery and thrills in Apple TV’s British spy drama. I absolutely burned through the first two seasons earlier this year and I can’t wait for Season 3, though I’ve read nothing about it and haven’t even watched the trailer. I want to go in completely blind. This doesn’t actually come out this weekend, but it does come out before next weekend, airing its first two episodes this coming Wednesday, November 29th. (So that’s two episodes of Slow Horses and one episode of Fargo to watch all on the same day!)

The Holdovers (Theatrical)

I try to always include a theatrical release in my streaming guide because I love the movies and going to a theater to enjoy them with other people—including the strangers in the seats all around me. I had a great theater filled with people who loved The Holdovers just as much as me, laughing at its uproarious humor and quiet during its many more somber moments. Paul Giamatti is at his very best as the curmudgeonly private school history teacher, Paul Hunham. He’s joined by Dominic Sessa as bright but troubled student, Angus, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph as the bereaved school head cook, Mary Lamb. The film takes place in 1970 and honestly often feels like a movie out of that era. Like something you might watch along with The Graduate and Harold and Maude. Just a lovely movie, and perfect for the Christmas season. One of the best I’ve seen all year.

Ongoing shows not included above include: