The 12 Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch This Weekend

No month has felt longer than January, and there wasn’t even an intermission. But with a new month comes fresh movies and television shows to enjoy. From the horrors of dating in Companion to the smooth-brained twists of Paradise, here’s everything to check out this weekend.

Featured Presentations

Companion

It’s better to go in blind to Companion, a thriller about a group of friends on a weekend vacation. What I can say is that it’s a familiar premise — shitty boyfriends are a dime a dozen, especially in horror movies — but Sophie Thatcher (of Yellowjackets) is pretty fun to watch here. Thatcher is joined by Jack Quaid, Harvey Guillén, Lukas Gage, and Megan Suri.

You’re Cordially Invited 

In this comedy, Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell star as warring wedding planners for their sister (Meredith Hagner) and daughter (Geraldine Viswanathan), respectively. The hook? Both weddings are booked at the same venue on the same day. You might expect a rom-com, but Witherspoon and Ferrell’s dynamic in the trailer is giving more Seth Rogen vs. Zac Efron in Neighbors, which makes sense when you realize You’re Cordially Invited was also directed by Nicholas Stoller. Then again, Stoller directed Bros, as well, so this could go either way!

Paradise

A new drama with a nondescript name starring Sterling K. Brown, James Marsden, and Julianne Nicholson may seem relatively rote, especially given a ho-hum description about “prominent individuals in a peaceful community being shocked by murder.” But this is a Dan Fogelman show, so the thing you think is the premise is actually not. Prepare for a twist. —Kathryn VanArendonk

Mo season two

Co-created by comedians Mohammed Amer and Ramy Youssef, Mo is a loose semi-autobiographical comedy series based on Amer’s life. Netflix is touting the second season as the “final” one. A shame, as Amer’s comedy tackles America’s complex (and infuriating) immigration system and meaningfully depicts Muslim and Palestinian culture. Season two finds Mo trying to get back to his family and girlfriend Maria (Teresa Ruiz ) in Houston after being stuck across the border in Mexico.

Mythic Quest season four

Rob McElhenney’s Mythic Quest has been one of Apple TV+’s most consistent comedies. It produced an excellent pandemic special back in 2020 after its first season, and now it’s rolling on to its fourth season, complete with a spinoff anthology series out later this spring. So if you’re interested in a funny workplace comedy, tap into Mythic Quest.

Scamanda

February is no one’s favorite month; why not double down on the darkness with a docuseries adaptation of the popular podcast about a woman who scammed her whole community by pretending to have cancer! —K.V.A.

Animation Station

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

Kicking off another year of Marvel is an animated take on Spider-Man’s origin story. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man pulls from Tom Holland’s Peter Parker (voiced here by Hudson Thames) in the MCU, yet this will exist in an “alternate universe” where Parker is mentored by Norman Osborn (voiced by Colman Domingo) instead of Tony Stark.

Common Side Effects

From a creative team with credits on Veep and King of the Hill comes an animated series about the discovery of a mushroom that can heal almost anything and the fight among those trying to gain control of it. The unsettling animation style, in the mode of the canceled-too-soon Scavengers Reign, is reason enough to watch. —Roxana Hadadi

➼ And then, in theaters, there’s Dog Man. No, it’s not a sequel to Wolf Man or Better Man.

Finally Streaming

Babygirl

Halina Reijn’s erotic drama is hitting digital platforms, so congrats, you can replay Harris Dickinson dancing to George Michael’s “Father Figure” in front of Nicole Kidman as many times as you want.

Moana 2

One of 2024’s biggest box-office juggernauts has also sailed onto VOD. Unfortunately, Lin-Manuel Miranda didn’t return to provide the bops for this sequel to the beloved 2016 Disney musical. Still, if your kids are as inclined to watch the lesser movie just as many times as they watched the original, you might as well buy it. —Tolly Wright

Want more? Read our recommendations from the week of January 24.

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