The 11 Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch This Weekend
February may be the shortest month, but this one’s shaping up to be quite eventful, especially after a sleepy January. Network television is swiftly returning in the wake of Hollywood strikes, with a third season of Abbott Elementary starring thee Emmy-award-winning Quinta Brunson finally premiering. Even movie theaters have a lot to see from a handful of rom-coms, to the re-release of a certain sandy blockbuster, to an undead comedy, and a maybe-more-rom-than-com film about food and connection. Oh, and there’s this big game happening, have you heard of it? Here are the best things to watch this weekend. —Savannah Salazar
Football, Taylor, and Doggos
Super Bowl LVIII
At long last, the Super Bowl, a.k.a. music’s biggest night this year, is back. Besides the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers going head to head, expect to see Taylor Swift in the stands, Reba McIntyre on the national anthem, Usher on the halftime stage, and last-minute replacement Kaskade as the game’s first-ever “in-game DJ.” Mostly, it’s an excuse to make chili and house a plate of wings. —Eric Vilas-Boas
Puppy Bowl XX
Maybe it’s just me (there’s no way it’s just me), but this feels so much more important. This is the 20th Puppy Bowl and apparently the biggest one yet. The sentence, “We’ve decided to go all in on puppy, making it the most puppiest ‘Puppy Bowl’ ever,” is an actual quote that an actual person with the actual job of “Puppy Bowl referee” gave to the Associated Press. Here’s to 20 more. —E.V.B.
➽ True Detective: Night Country is giving both the football and the puppies a wide berth: Episode five drops two days early, at 9 p.m. ET tonight on Max.
Featured Presentations
.
Abbott Elementary season three
Brand-new Emmy winner Quinta Brunson returns after a monthslong strike delay in an hour-long premiere. Tune in to see why great sitcoms make such rock-solid TV and also why the will-they-or-won’t-they is such a treacherous time for a new season. —Kathryn VanArendonk
.
Perfect Days
Nominated for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars, director Wim Wenders’s film follows a few days in the life of a toilet cleaner (played by Koji Yakusho) who seems satisfied with his life, a novel concept these days. —S.S.
➽ Wenders has wanted this for a lifetime.
.
Anyone But You: The Valentine Encore
Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney’s rom-com managed to triumph over its initial flop at the box office, guaranteeing a re-release two months later dubbed as “The Valentine Encore.” The encore promises some bonus footage and an intro from Powell and Sweeney, which probably just means more footage of the cast singing “Unwritten,” right? —S.S.
.
Lisa Frankenstein
Writer Diablo Cody teams up with director Zelda Williams to give us the weird Gothic romance of the year with Lisa Frankenstein. Kathryn Newton stars as the titular Lisa, an introverted teenager longing for connection, spending more of her time in cemeteries than with people her own age. One night a reanimated corpse (Cole Sprouse) of a lovesick man reaches out to her, and what happens next is bloody, hilarious, and surprisingly heartfelt. —S.S.
.
The Taste of Things
France’s Oscars submission for Best International Feature Film, over Anatomy of a Fall (oops), is a beauty despite not landing a nomination. Starring exes Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel, The Taste of Things is about the growing, loving relationship between a cook (Binoche) and her boss (Magimel). It’s best if you come to this with a full stomach or else you’ll be salivating over all the gorgeous food shots, but that’ll probably happen either way now that I think of it. —S.S.
.
Tokyo Vice season two
Creator J.T. Rogers should provide solid continuity even as Miki Maya and Yosuke Kubozuka join the cast. Ansel Elgort, Ken Watanabe, and Show Kasamatsu are all back to demonstrate the damage of organized crime while gazing moodily; it is a Michael Mann joint, after all. —Roxana Hadadi
➽ Underrated Tokyo Vice highlight: Ken Watanabe’s translations.
Upgraded
This month is all about binging on rom-coms and chocolate, so Upgraded is worth adding to your list. Revolutionary it is not, but sometimes all you need is a corny meet-cute movie to get you through the night. This one with Camilla Mendes as an art intern who crosses paths with a hottie on a flight to London is probably perfect for Galentine’s Day. —S.S.
Genre Fare
Dune: Part One
One of the biggest, baddest, sandwormiest sci-fi blockbusters of the last decade is back in theaters this weekend to whet our spice appetites for Denis Villeneuve’s Part Two, which hits theaters March 1. The first film also leaves Netflix at the end of this month, but don’t worry about that. See this on the big screen. —E.V.B.
➽ Hans Zimmer’s Song Exploder episode discussing his Dune score rules.
Double Feature
Jennifer’s Body
It’s practically achieved cult status at this point. We all know that Jennifer’s Body was far from a commercial smash when it came out in 2009, but that hasn’t stopped it from becoming a new classic in the eyes of today’s teens, who love Diablo Cody and Karyn Kusama’s film. A cheerleader turned demon (Megan Fox) preys on dumb and dangerous boys while her nerdy friend (Amanda Seyfried) navigates through their intense and codependent friendship. It’s great counterprogramming for the mushy rom-coms this time of year, and obviously it makes a great pair with Cody’s latest film, Lisa Frankenstein, which Cody coolly declared takes place in the same universe as Jennifer’s Body. More, please! —S.S.
Help, I Can’t Stop
Infinite Craft
Years ago, sometime closer to the dawn of HTML5, a friend sent me a link to Sticky Thing — an elastic, clickable pink square you can aimlessly bounce around a browser screen — which I’d return to for probably hours on end over the years. That’s sort of the vibe with Infinite Craft, a new “endless crafting game” by developer Neal Agarwal where the goal is simple: Combine two things into a third, more complex thing. Water + Earth = Plant. Cloud + Fire = Lightning. Eventually you’re making superheroes named Batman (and Superman, Captain America, and Phoenix, to name a few I’ve managed) or something called “🌟🗡️🌌Mudkipz: The Force Awakens.” (That one was a “First Discovery,” apparently!) It’s simple, addictive, and extremely time-consuming. Do I recommend it? Only to best friends and worst enemies. —E.V.B.
One Great Quote
Want more? Read our recommendations from the weekend of February 2.
tags: vulture lists, vulture picks, streamliner, streaming services, movies, tv, now streaming, weekend watch