What To Watch This Weekend: New Shows And Movies To Stream On Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Apple TV And More

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Haunted islands with dark and terrifying mysteries. Desperate, violent, high-stakes rescue missions. Classic sci-fi political thrillers about escaping from wildly aggressive AI. These and many more TV shows and movies come to a streaming service (or a theater) near you this weekend. April is out and May is all the rage. This guide won't even begin to scratch the surface when it comes to all the new (old) movies that always land on the first of the month, so stay tuned for some extra movie guides here on this blog, and be sure to subscribe. As per usual, I've scoured the internet for the best TV shows and movies streaming on Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV, Disney+ and more this weekend. If you have any recommendations, tips or other thoughts feel free to shoot me a note. Let me know what you're watching these days, or if you've enjoyed any of my recommendations, on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. Be sure to also check out last weekend's streaming guide below: Here's everything new this weekend on all your favorite streaming services. New TV Shows To Watch This Weekend Widow's Bay (Apple TV) Widow's Bay follows the efforts of town mayor, Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys), as he tries to turn the ailing New England island town into a tourist hub. Things don't go as planned. Something dark and mysterious lurks beneath the town. When things go supernatural, the question becomes: Is this really a curse, or is something more nefarious at work? Part comedy, party mystery, party horror, the series also stars Kate O'Flynn, Kevin Carroll, Dale Dickey, Kingston Rumi and Stephen Root. I've watched the first two episodes and enjoyed the hell out of it. Honestly, it's such a great blend of humor and horror, I did not expect to be so thoroughly freaked out. New episodes drop on Thursdays, which translates to Wednesday evenings on Apple TV. Highly recommend you give this one a watch! Critics give this one a sterling 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and audiences aren't far behind with 93%. Man On Fire (Netflix) Netflix's new adaptation of A.J. Quinnell's thriller novel is not the first of its kind. Tony Scott and Denzel Washington made a film adaptation in 2004 and Scott Glenn starred in the 1987 version alongside Joe Pesci. There's even a 1957 film starring Bing Crosby called Man On Fire, though it is (unsurprisingly) not based on the 1980 novel. Though a film about a film based on a book that came out decades later would be an interesting concept for a time-travel story. (There are also adaptations of the novel in Hindi and Tamil). But I digress. The new Man On Fire stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (who absolutely blew me away in Wonder Man) as an ex-mercenary out for revenge. He plays John Creasy, a spec-ops mercenary with a dark past. The series also adapts the sequel novel, The Perfect Kill, and was shot in Mexico City. The series has a middling 63% on Rotten Tomatoes, though audiences give it a bit more love at 70%. Battlestar Galactica - Complete Series (Paramount+) My now almost-19-year-old daughter was just a wee toddler when I first watched Battlestar Galactica, and my now almost-16-year-old son wasn't yet born. The show was already a few years old when we started watching, and I absolutely devoured it right up until Season 3 when I felt the whole thing went off the rails. I never did watch Season 4, partly because life was just very hectic with young kids in the mix. I might go back and rewatch, something I've been thinking about ever since James Callis popped up as First Desk Claude Whelan in Apple's Slow Horses. In any case, this classic sci-fi TV series follows the plight of humanity in a future where diabolical robots called Cylons have virtually annihilated our species and now chase the last remnants of human civilization through space. Katee Sackhoff, Edward James Olmos, Mary Mcdonnell and many more star in the show, which gained a cult following almost instantly. Now you can watch the whole thing on Paramount+. Lord Of The Flies (Netflix) The latest adaptation of the classic novel Lord of the Flies hits Netflix on Monday, but I wanted to give everyone a heads-up because it looks quite excellent. I'll include this in next weekend's guide as well. New Movies To Watch This Weekend Wuthering Heights (HBO Max) Emerald Fennell's adaptation of the famous Emily Brontë novel was a divisive take on the classic, splitting critics and fans over its retelling of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw's period romance. You can make up your own mind now that it's on HBO Max. The Long Walk (Starz) I didn't realize this had been added to Starz until I sat down to watch something Friday evening. I ended up watching this one and wow. Just wow. What a tremendous film! Based on the book by Stephen King, the story takes place in an alternative 1970s America, years after a bloody civil war left the country in economic shambles and under authoritarian rule. A yearly "long walk" is held, where young men who "voluntarily" draw from a lottery are gathered and have to walk until only one is left standing. In the film version, there's a young man - a boy, really - from each state. The military, led by the Major (Mark Hamill) follows along in armored vehicles and kills any of the contestants who falls behind. The rules of this most dangerous game include not falling below 3 miles-per-hour and never stepping foot of the pavement. It's a hard watch, but the performances of the young actors are just terrific and it's incredibly well-written and beautifully shot. I was left pretty emotionally devastated by the end. A few other movie options this weekend: Netflix * The three Meet The Parents movies starring Ben Stiller and Robert de Niro. * The classic dramedy Fried Green Tomatoes * If you're in the mood for historical tragedy, Schindler's List * If you're in the mood for classic teenage comedy, The Breakfast Club * Kevin Costner's famous flop, Waterworld, is a tempting watch since I haven't seen that since it came out in theaters in 1995. Prime Video * For the kids, All Dogs Go to Heaven or Babe * For the nerds, Dragonheart or Serenity * For the wise guys, GoodFellas (which I just watched recently, such a classic) or Scarface * For fans of older movies, The Pink Panther (1963) or The Manchurian Candidate (1962) New Movies In Theaters This Weekend Animal Farm George Orwell's classic novel about authoritarianism sounds like a terrific project for beloved actor and director Andy Serkis, but something must have gone horribly wrong in the making of this picture. The first red flags came when we saw the trailer, which looks . . . pretty divorced from the tone and theme of the book. Rotten Tomatoes paints a very grim picture of the new animated feature: Just 26% of critics give this a passing grade. From what I gather, the story was heavy-handed and too changed from the original, implanting a treacly "power of friendship" narrative where one is not supposed to be. Then again, all movies are equal. Some are just more equal than others. The Devil Wears Prada 2 Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt all return twenty years later all looking as though they've barely aged a day (unlike your humble narrator) alongside Stanley Tucci to the offices of Runway Magazine in this story of power and fashion, in a world, and media landscape, that has changed a great deal since the mid 2000s. The film actually scores quite a bit better with both critics and audiences than the original, which is very rare for sequels. Hokum Adam Scott stars in this Irish horror film from director Damian McCarthy. Scott plays novelist Ohm Bauman, an American who travels to a remote Irish inn to scatter his parents ashes and becomes obsessed with stories about the haunted honeymoon suite. (Ironically, this is the second entry in this weekend's guide about a haunted inn; the second episode of Widow's Bay features some very scary sequences in one as well). The trailer looks excellent and of all the films out in theaters this weekend, Hokum has me most intrigued. 107 critics on RT give this an 85% score. Casa Grande The film follows a daughter who returns to her family's ranch to find herself and her loved ones embroiled in a violent clash over their land. The neo-Western certainly sounds a lot like Yellowstone, in other words, but I think it looks like a solid action flick and it clocks in at under two hours. Lou Diamond Phillips stars. TV Shows Currently Streaming Weekly From - Season 4 (MGM+) The third episode of the MGM+ hit FROM drops on Sunday. I've been really enjoying this season and the second episode introduced some cool new threads that tied back to a handful of earlier episodes including the series premiere. The series follows a group of townsfolk who find themselves trapped in a terrifying, unnamed town gripped by some mysterious evil. Monsters wander the streets at night as our heroes search for clues about the nature of this place and how to escape. New episodes drop Sundays. Outlander - Season 8 (Starz) I have now penned two pieces about my gripes with Outlanders 8th and final season. The first was a list of the various mistakes the writers have made with characters like William and Fergus; the second focuses on Claire and Jamie and the way this season has sidelined their story and neutered Claire as the protagonist. I'm still enjoying it for what it is, but I'm sad that so much of the final season feels like a waste of time and that we haven't returned to Scotland, where this show was at its best. The series finale is the only episode left after next weekend's penultimate episode (the show is on break this week). The finale drops on May 15th after a week break. The Boys - Season 5 (Prime Video) While I've enjoyed the fifth and final season of The Boys for the most part, it does have some pretty glaring problems. My guess is that the shortcomings we've experienced across the first five episodes of the season are largely due to a lack of content. The story keeps shuffling its feet because there's only really enough actual story to last a couple episodes, and the best part of the season will be the final showdown between the Boys and Homelander / Vought. In other words, I still have high hopes that this will end well, but it's a lot of filler on the way. You can read my latest critique of Season 5 right here. New episodes drop Wednesdays. Your Friends & Neighbors - Season 2 (Apple TV) Your Friends & Neighbors star John Hamm is joined by James Marsden this season because Marsden is everywhere (or just seems to be since I just watched Jury Duty). I'm all caught up on the second season and so far it's still highly watchable but not quite as compelling as the first. It's more of the same, basically, though one can't help but wonder if this would have made more sense as a limited series - not because it's bad, by any means, and Marsden's character is a lot of fun, but because they're dragging out a story that was mostly at a nice stopping point at the end of Season 1. New episodes drop Fridays. Margo's Got Money Troubles (Apple TV) Elle Fanning stars as Margo, a young college student who gets knocked up by one of her professors and decides to move back home and have the baby. Her parents are played by Michelle Pfeiffer and Nick Offerman. I watched the first episode and thought it was quite good. I've been a big fan of Fanning since The Great and she is, once again, great here. I haven't watched enough of the show to have a full-fledged opinion, but so far it's pretty funny and very well-written. New episodes drop on Wednesdays. Half Man (HBO Max) Richard Gadd wrote, starred-in and created the heartbreaking Netflix drama, Baby Reindeer, and now he returns with Half Man, a new limited series on HBO Max. It's getting much more mixed reviews than Gadd's first series, though it looks to be treading similar ground in its exploration of a complicated, tumultuous and at times violent relationship between two very different men across two different times in their lives. I started the first episode last night but was a bit too tired and decided I'd finish it later. I will report back with my impressions. New episodes drop Thursdays on HBO Max. The Testaments (Hulu) This new spinoff of The Handmaid's Tale follows Agnews (Chase Infiniti of One Battle After Another) and Daisy (Lucy Halliday), young women at Aunt Lydia's elite preparatory school for future wives. Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) is the major crossover from the original series, though it appears she's having a major change of heart. Naturally, our heroes begin to question the brutal regime they are a part of, and rebellious thoughts begin to guide their actions. New episodes land Wednesdays. The Audacity (AMC / Samsung TV Network) AMC's new tech-bro drama, The Audacity, is an interesting series so far. I've seen the first two episodes and I can't decide if I like it or not. The story follows Duncan Park (Billy Magnussen) a very anxiety-prone, mildly sociopathic tech CEO whose relationship with his therapist, Dr. JoAnne Feder (Sarah Goldberg) takes some ethically dubious turns. Like Succession, none of these people are likable at first. The big question is whether they'll be likable enough to keep watching. Somehow Succession managed to get us to care about the rich, spoiled Roy family. The Audacity creator, Jonathan Glatzer, was a writer on that show as well. We shall see. New episodes drop Sundays. Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord - Disney+ This coming week is the last for new episodes of Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord, which is currently the highest-rated Star Wars show on Rotten Tomatoes, topping even the marvelous Andor by two percentage points. The story follows Maul as he rebuilds his criminal syndicate after the Clone Wars. Euphoria - Season 3 (HBO Max) The third and final season of Euphoria has been controversial to say the least. Its Rotten Tomatoes score has fallen to just 40%. Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney and the rest of the cast return to the coming-of-age story, but the show itself seems to have made too many changes to what made it Euphoria to begin with and both fans and critics have been left shaking their collective heads. New episodes drop Fridays. Hacks - Season 5 (HBO Max) HBO's popular comedy, Hacks, returns for its fifth and final season this Sunday with a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, which is pretty much in keeping with every previous season (after cratering to 98% in Seasons 3 and 4). The story follows comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) and their careers and relationship, and whether both can survive in a landscape of ego, ambition and comedy. New episodes drop on Thursdays. For All Mankind - Season 5 (Apple TV) The space race, or at least the alt-history space race, continues in Season 5 of For All Mankind. Each season of the show takes place across a different decade, with the most recent in the 2010's. The premise is simple: What if the Russians had been the first nation to land a man on the moon, galvanizing US politicians and spurring a real drive to invest in technology and science? What if the space race hadn't ended and humanity had kept pushing into the stars in earnest? What might our world look like now? Season 5 has a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score. New episodes drop Fridays on Apple TV (which translates to Thursday evening). Daredevil: Born Again - Season 2 (Disney+) Daredevil: Born Again continues the story of Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and his ongoing street-level war against the nefarious Wilson Fisk / Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio). This season has a smashing 95% Rotten Tomatoes score, up from 87% for Season 1. The Season 2 finale comes out this Tuesday. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters - Season 2 Finale (Apple TV) Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters, follows the Monarch organization, unraveling dark secrets in a globetrotting adventure that occasionally boasts some truly impressive, gargantuan monsters. The series stars Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons, Wyatt Russell and more, not to mention Godzilla and Kong. The Season 2 finale dropped this Friday. Be sure to check out last week's streaming guide right here. What are you watching these days? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.