Another week on the books means another weekend to unwind with some of the best new movies on Netflix, Prime Video, Paramount Plus and other top streaming services. Regardless of whether it still feels like summer outside, the fall TV season is officially underway, which means a slew of new releases to look forward to.
It also means if you're planning a movie night this weekend, you've got plenty of options. Leading the lineup is A Thousand and One on Prime Video, a Sundance Film Festival hit about a struggling family and how "progress" can come at the expense of a city's most vulnerable. Then we've got Seth Rogan's spin on the heroes in a half shell, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, on Paramount Plus. And Hulu added an interesting home invasion thriller with an extraterrestrial twist — No One Will Save You — that's been gaining word-of-mouth hype online.
Read on for our guide on the best movies to watch this weekend.
A Thousand and One (Prime Video)
A.V. Rockwell’s feature debut A Thousand and One blew critics and audiences away when it debuted earlier this year. It's an unflinching portrait of a struggling mother who'll do anything to keep her family together in the face of mounting obstacles.
The story unfolds over more than a decade after Inez, played by Teyana Tayloras in a phenomenal and heartwrenching performance, is released from prison and kidnaps her son Terry from the foster care system. Though barely able to make ends meet, the two set out to reclaim their sense of home, identity and stability in a rapidly changing New York City.
Watch it now on Prime Video
Love at First Sight (Netflix)
Love at First Sight is one of those movies where you know exactly what you're getting into. It's a classic romantic comedy trope: Two two star-crossed strangers meet cute on a plane and are immediately smitten.
This adaptation of Jennifer E. Smith's novel The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight comes from the same team that brought us the To All the Boys series. When Hadley (Haley Lu Richardson) misses her flight from New York to London to attend her father's wedding, she bumps into Oliver (Ben Hardy) at the airport and sparks fly. They spend their entire trip getting to know each other on the plane, but when they land, they lose track of each other in the hustle of Heathrow without exchanging numbers.
Watch it now on Netflix
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Paramount Plus)
Cowabunga, dude! Seth Rogen’s take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ninja made the leap to streaming this week. Mutant Mayhem reboots the origin story for the Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird characters in a new spin that will nonetheless still feel familiar to fans who grew up with the franchise.
The heroes in a half shell scarf down pizza, beat up evildoers, and save the world. You know, typical teenage things. The animation is a joy to watch, packed with crunchy textures and vibrant colors. Mutant Mayhem also boasts an all-star cast including Jackie Chan as the turtles' teacher Splinter as well as Ice Cube and John Cena as classic TMNT villains Superfly and Rocksteady, respectively.
Watch it now on Paramount Plus
Elemental (Disney Plus)
Pixar's latest animated film had a rough time at the box office. Elemental suffered the worst opening weekend in the studio's history, drowned out by the hype around Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. But I've heard from enough people that Elemental's trailers didn't do it justice that I'm curious to check it out for myself.
The story follows the residents of Element City, where the four elements of matter — fire, water, earth, and air — live together in a New York-style metropolis, with each element designated to its own corner of the city. Hot-tempered Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis) falls in love with Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie), a more go-with-the-flow kind of guy, when he comes to repair a leak at her father's bodega. It all sounds a bit predictable — I'd bet money there's at least one joke about "chemistry" — but at its heart, Elemental is a cross-cultural love story. And an impactful one, from what I've heard.
Watch it now on Disney Plus
No One Will Save You (Hulu)
Pivoting from animated movies, Hulu has a new cosmic sci-fi horror flick that looks intriguing. No One Will Save You sees Booksmart's Kaitlyn Dever as Brynn, an anxiety-ridden homebody who's awoken one night by the sound of aliens breaking into her house.
While Brynn attempts to fight back against her extraterrestrial home invaders, it becomes clear that she's harboring a traumatic secret that's somehow turned the entire town against her. The film's unique in that her battle against the "Greys" and interactions with her fellow townsfolk largely unfold without dialogue, with only a single line spoken in its 93-minute runtime. The no-talking schtick obviously won't land with everyone, but No One Will Save You has been generating enough buzz on social media that it's worth adding to your to-watch list if you're a horror fan.
Watch it now on Hulu
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