The weekend is here and your couch is calling. Whether you are in the mood to binge something new, catch up on a series finale or actually leave the house and support an indie film that deserves your coins, catch our curated weekend watchlist inside.
This week’s list has something for every kind of viewer. As TechRadar shared in their weekly roundup, the streaming platforms are delivering across the board this weekend with new originals, documentaries and returning favorites all dropping at the same time.
Decider noted that this particular weekend is unusually stacked for a mid-August drop, which means you have no excuse to be bored between now and Sunday night.
We even noticed some interesting indie films that caught our attention and timelines. So sit back, grab your tickets and enjoy the world of film and TV this week.
Scroll below for everything worth watching right now.
Weekend Watchlist (August 21)
‘Namaslay’ — In Theaters Now
If you have been sleeping on this one, wake up. Namaslay is a genre-smashing horror satire that takes direct aim at the appropriation of yoga culture in the West. It opened in New York and Los Angeles on August 6th before expanding nationwide on August 13th. The film stars Kirunthuja Srikanth-Talim, who you may recognize from Under the Bridge, alongside Alicia Mitchell-Mangual from WeCrashed and Angela Sant’Albano from The Nevers.
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The story follows Gayatri, a young woman who arrives in Los Angeles and accepts an invitation to try an upscale yoga studio. When the owner offers her a spot in the instructor training program, she looks past the obvious eccentricities and accepts, eventually discovering the very dark ulterior nature of her invitation at the program’s prestigious retreat.
According to Fangoria, reviews describe the dialogue as sharp and laugh-out-loud funny with a welcome originality that keeps you genuinely unsure of what direction the film is going to go in next, and the cultural commentary underneath the horror is the kind of thing our community has been asking for from the genre for years. Buy a ticket and support this one in theaters while you still can.
‘Mother Mary’ — HBO Max
Anne Hathaway stars as an iconic pop star preparing for a comeback after an onstage accident. Overwhelmed during preparations and needing an outfit that captures her true self, she flees to the English countryside to reunite with her estranged former collaborator and ex-lover, fashion designer Sam Anselm, played by Michaela Coel. Coel is one of the most compelling performers working right now and this is the international recognition she deserves. Stream it tonight.
‘Outer Banks’ Season 5 — Netflix
The final season of Netflix’s beloved teen action drama has arrived, with the Pogues reuniting one last time while still grieving in the aftermath of everything that went down in Morocco. Now that J.J. is dead, they are actively seeking revenge against Chandler Groff while still hunting the legendary Blue Crown. If you have been riding with this show since the beginning, the finale season is required viewing. Clear the calendar.
‘Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing’ — Netflix
The documentary centers on former Boeing employee turned whistleblower John Barnett, who took his own life amid an ongoing case against the company. Filmmaker Rory Kennedy revisits the story and how Barnett inspired so many others to become whistleblowers in the years following his death. This is the kind of investigative documentary that puts the whole entertainment question in perspective. It is not an easy watch but it is an essential one.
‘Novak Djokovic: The Wolf of Winter’ — Prime Video
For the tennis fans in the room, this Amazon docufilm charts Novak Djokovic’s rise to the very top of professional tennis and the obstacles that lay in his path along the way. With Coco Gauff, Ben Shelton and the entire Black American tennis movement dominating the sport right now, understanding the competition at the highest level is its own form of homework.
‘Conan O’Brien Must Go’ Season 3 — HBO Max
The comedian heads to The Netherlands, India, The Philippines and Morocco to explore with zero shame in what might be the most elaborate travel series HBO has ever funded. It is funny, chaotic and exactly the kind of light content you need queued up for Sunday morning.
Put your phone down, pick your platform and have the weekend you actually deserve. Comment and share what you’re excited to binge this weekend below.
