Another weekend is here, and with it the same question that plagues the VOD era: What to watch? With so many great options that are new on Netflix, Disney Plus and other streaming services, narrowing down the best movies is no small task.
So let us do the work for you. We've curated a list of the nine best movies to kick off your weekend; it's a mix of old and new that's sure to have something for everyone. And since we're getting close to Halloween, we'd be remiss not to include a scary movie or two. The cult classic horror movie It Follows has returned to Netflix, or you can catch Michale Keaton's iconic performance in Beetlejuice on Max for something a little more "spooky vibes" and less "nightmare fuel."
As far as new movies go, Tom Cruise is back in another high-stakes adventure in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, which hits premium video on demand, while Jamie Foxx battles wits in the courtroom in the legal dramedy The Burial on Prime Video.
Here are our top picks for what to watch on streaming this weekend.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Digital)
Tom Cruise is back as cinema’s greatest superspy, Ethan Hunt. The seventh installment in the long-running blockbuster franchise, and the first half of a two-part saga, Dead Reckoning Part One sees Hunt and his team — Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) — return for all the high-octane car chases, daring stunts, and elaborate fight sequences you'd expect.
This time around, the crew is crisscrossing the globe in search of two interlocking keys that, when combined, grant access to a deadly artificial intelligence dubbed “the Entity." Just about every nation on the planet is racing to get their hands on this thing, including a ghost from Hunt's past. Sure, the story is on the ridiculous side, but that matters little when the film is so damn fun.
Buy and watch on Amazon or Apple
The Burial (Prime Video)
From a heart-stopping action thriller to a lively courtroom drama. Jamie Foxx's charisma is in full force in The Burial, where he stars as the rich and flashy Florida attorney Willie Gary.
In this legal dramedy loosely based on a true story, Willie represents the cash-strapped local business owner (Tommy Lee Jones) of a Mississippi funeral home in a bid to take on a corporate "deathcare" behemoth. Its two lead actors are joined by a first-rate supporting cast, with Jurnee Smollett as Gary's female counterpart for the defense and Bill Camp as the villain, a corrupt corporate bigwig threatening a family business. It's the type of David vs. Goliath crowd-pleaser that you’ve likely already seen before, but its smart writing and performances may just win you over all the same.
Streaming now on Prime Video
Beetlejuice (Max)
The Beetlejuice musical may be making headlines for unexpected reasons, but Max has the Tim Burton classic just in time for Halloween. But be quick about it: It's leaving the streaming service at the end of October.
Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis play Adam and Barbara Maitland, a recently deceased couple cursed to spend the next 125 years haunting their old home. When Charles Deetz (Jeffrey Jones), Delia Deetz (Catherine O’Hara) and Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) suddenly move in and turn their house into a pastel nightmare, they call in Michael Keaton's Betelgeuse (pronounced Beetlejuice), a scummy, bug-eating ghoul and "bio-exorcist," to scare them away. The eccentric characters and quirky, gothic visuals have made this spooky comedy into a cult classic. And one that's definitely worth revisiting this spooky season.
Streaming now on Max
Sicario (Prime Video)
Before Denis Villeneuve took on Dune and Blade Runner 2049, the master of thrills knocked it out of the park with one of his earlier Hollywood forays: Sicario. This crime thriller stars some of the best actors working today, including Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin, in a gripping drama that plays out amid an escalating drug war along the U.S.-Mexico border.
After a raid on a Sonora Cartel safe house turns deadly, FBI agent Kate Macer (Blunt) joins a secretive government task force led by enigmatic CIA agent Matt Graver (Brolin) and Mexican operative Alejandro Gillick (Del Toro). As Kate gets increasingly wrapped up in their dangerous operations hunting down the cartel's leaders, she begins to doubt her own moral compass and questions whether the ends justify the means.
Streaming now on Prime Video
It Follows (Netflix)
One of the most acclaimed horror movies of the last decade, It Follows returns to Netflix just in time for spooky season. Its premise is as simple as it is terrifying: a supernatural entity relentlessly stalks its victims.
But instead of hiding under beds or lurking in corners, this monster simply follows, disguised as anyone under the sun. This gives the movie's gorgeous wide shots a pervading sense of tension as you begin to eye every background character with suspicion. The only way to rid yourself of this curse is to have sex with another individual to pass the nightmare onto them, and that’s the impossible choice that protagonist Jay (Maika Monroe) faces.
It Follows is also eerie for its timelessness. The odd tech and gadgets seen throughout the film place feel both familiar and alien, placing it outside of any real place on the timeline, and the kids don't exactly use any slang that makes the movie feel modern or old.
Streaming now on Netflix
Renfield
It's Nicolas Cage as you've never seen him before in this modern monster tale. Nicholas Hoult stars as the titular Renfield and long-suffering servant to Cage's Dracula, who, after centuries of servitude to the worst boss ever, sets off to find a new life outside his master's shadow.
Renfield packs in well-wrought absurdity that, with a 93-minute runtime, manages not to overstay its welcome. While Cage technically plays second-fiddle to Hoult's Renfield, he easily steals the show in every scene he's in, with fangs bared, overdramatic flourishes and a ridiculous vampire get-up.
Streaming now on Prime Video
Fair Play
Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) are a hotshot power couple both working at the same cutthroat financial firm in New York. Fresh off their secret engagement, a coveted promotion threatens to drive a wedge between the loved-up pair. As the personal and professional power dynamics begin to shift between the two lovers, it’s more than just their relationship that turns sour, and the true price of success becomes clear as both parties display an unnerving desire for success.
Streaming now on Netflix
Easy A
Easy A is right up there with Mean Girls and Clueless in the pantheon of teen comedies. While Emma Stone had appeared in a few movies before taking the lead in Easy A, it’s this movie that turned her into a budding star. And even after just watching the trailer it’s easy to see why. She’s funny, she’s witty and just dominates the screen in a way that’s noticeable but not so overwhelming that she can’t play off others.
Stone plays Olive Penderghast, a 17-year-old high school girl who, after a little white lie about losing her virginity gets out, embraces her newfound reputation as the school tramp and all the influence it brings. She even goes so far as to wear a literal scarlet letter at one point, a nod to Nathaniel Hawthorne's famous novel.
Streaming now on Hulu
District 9
I'm usually not a big fan of sci-fi, but District 9 is the exception. And that's partially because of its premise. While District 9 is a movie about refugee aliens from a dying planet living on Earth, it’s also a surprisingly grounded film that delves deeply into themes of xenophobia and social segregation. In fact, the movie, directed by South African director Neill Blomkamp, was inspired by real events that occurred in Cape Town's District Six during apartheid.
Much like with apartheid, the humans in charge are not the good guys in District 9. While bumbling bureaucrat Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley) has seemingly good intentions, the company he works for — a weapons manufacturer charged with corraling the aliens into a camp outside the city — is monstrous, and even he is not immune from treating the aliens of District 9 as second-class citizens. That is, until he accidentally infects himself with a mysterious substance that mutates his body and gives him a new perspective.
Streaming now Paramount Plus
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