10 new movies and shows to watch this weekend on Netflix, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus and more

Get out the telescope because the stars are really popping in this week’s new movies and TV shows. Dwayne Johnson! Gal Gadot! Will Ferrell! Ryan Reynolds! Adele! People’s Sexiest Man Alive Paul Rudd!

The lineup is led by Red Notice, a glitzy action comedy, heist movie and treasure-hunting adventure all wrapped up into one and featuring the trio of Johnson, Gadot and Reynolds. Meanwhile, Ferrell and Rudd team up once again, but this time, they’re in a very dark, disturbing dramedy about an insidious doctor. 

Disney Plus Day brings several new releases, including Shang-Chi’s streaming premiere and the original movie Home Sweet Home Alone.

Here’s our guide on what to watch this week and weekend.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Disney Plus)

For the three or four of you out there who didn’t see Shang-Chi in the theaters, this is your chance! The Marvel movie is now available on Disney Plus, and we are so ready for a rewatch. The MCU’s first Asian superhero is played by Simu Liu, who’s surrounded by a superb cast that includes Awkwafina and and veteran Hong Kong superstar Tony Leung. 

While Shang-Chi is an origin story, it’s certainly not done in a typical way. The first part of the movie on Shang-Chi’s father, Xu Wenwu, the holder of the mystical ten rings that grant him godlike powers. He gives them up for love, until tragedy strikes and he turns to violence again. His son flees to America, where he goes by the name Shaun and works as a valet with his best friend Katy. But when Shang-Chi’s sister beckons him home, they are drawn into a battle against Wenwu that could destroy the world.

Streaming now on Disney Plus

Red Notice (Netflix)

Dwayne Johnson. Gal Gadot. Ryan Reynolds. Red Notice might be the starriest Netflix movie since (checks notes) last week’s The Harder They Fall. It’s a slick, globe-trotting affair  that feels like a mash-up of MIssion: Impossible, Indiana Jones and National Treasure, with a dash of Entrapment. 

The plot revolves around three priceless bejeweled eggs gifted by Mark Antony to Cleopatra. When notorious thief Nolan Booth (Reynolds) attempts to steal one of them, FBI profiler John Hartley (Johnson) moves to stop him. However, Hartley becomes implicated in the theft and is forced to team up with Booth to find the mastermind seeking all three eggs, a figure known as the Bishop (Gadot). Banter and bickering ensue. And of course, there are requisite high speed chases, cool gadgets and flirtatious fight scenes. Is Red Notice breaking new ground? No, but it’s glitzy, dumb entertainment featuring beautiful people and places. We’ll take it.

Streaming Friday on Netflix

The Shrink Next Door (Apple TV Plus)

You see the names Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd and assume The Shrink Next Door is a comedy in the vein of their previous collaborations, like Anchorman. It is not. Well, it’s a dark dramedy — very dark. Rudd puts his Sexiest Man Alive charisma to creepily effective use, while Ferrell once again proves he can do drama as well as comedy.

The show is based on the popular podcast, which chronicled how psychiatrist Dr. Isaac Herschkopf inveigled his way into the life of a patient for nearly 30 years. Marty Markowitz (Ferrell) is an anxious, indecisive and utterly naive man who runs his family’s fabric business. His sister Phyllis (Kathryn Hahn) encourages him to see Dr. Ike to build his confidence. At first, their sessions help Marty, but soon, Dr. Ike is pushing the boundaries of their relationship from professional to personal. He begins to manipulate Marty, insinuating himself into his business and cutting him off from Phyllis and other friends.

Streaming Friday on Apple TV Plus

Passing (Netflix)

The black and white cinematography of Passing highlights how life is anything but — it’s filled with innumerable shades of gray. Set during the Harlem Renaissance, the story follows two friends reconnecting after many years. Irene (Tessa Thompson) and Clare (Ruth Negga) are both light-skinned Black women. However, they’ve made very different choices in their lives.

While Clare chose to pass as white and married a racist white man (Alexander Skarsgård), Irene embraced her African-American identity and married a Black doctor (André Holland). After they reunite, Clare longs for the path she didn’t take and begins to insert herself more into Irene’s life. 

Writer/director Rebecca Hall has created an elegant meditation not just on racial identity and bigotry, but about feminism and female friendships. And it’s clearly a passion project, since Hall’s own grandfather was a Black man who passed as white.

Streaming now on Netflix

The Game (Paramount Plus)

Not all old TV shows need to get a revival, but in the case of The Game, it’s welcome. If you didn’t watch the original series, check out the first nine seasons on either Hulu or Paramount Plus. The latter has season 10 as an exclusive original. 

The comedy, which was a spinoff of Girlfriends, revolves around athletes and their families. The revival will examine Black culture through the prism of pro football, plus tackle racism, sexism, fame, classism and other issues. The setting changes from San Diego to Las Vegas, and the story will focus on both new and original characters. Wendy Raquel Robinson and Hosea Chanchez are reprising their roles as sports agent Tasha Mack and football star Malik Wright, respectively, and expect other blasts from the past.

Streaming Thursday on Paramount Plus

Mayor of Kingstown (Paramount Plus)

Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone has become a huge success for the Paramount Network and its parent company ViacomCBS. They’ve already ordered two Yellowstone spinoffs, 1883 and 6666, for Paramount Plus. And they’re continuing to invest in the Sheridan business with Mayor of Kingstown, a drama about the prison industrial complex. 

Jeremy Renner, Dianne Wiest and Kyle Chandler star as members of the powerful McClusky family, who live in the titular town where incarceration is the only thriving industry. As the mayor, Mike McClusky (Renner) acts as a power broker between police, criminals, inmates, prison guards and politicians. But Mike feels like a prisoner himself, trapped in Kingstown with no hope of getting out.

Streaming Sunday on Paramount Plus

Home Sweet Home Alone (Disney Plus)

Apparently, there have been five (5) previous Home Alone movies, because Home Sweet Home Alone is the sixth installment in the franchise. The film is dropping as part of Disney Plus Day and is more of a reboot than a sequel (though there is one cameo by an original cast member).

Much like the first movie, a kid is left, well, home alone. Ten-year-old Max Mercer (Archie Yates) gets lost in the shuffle when his family departs for a vacation to Tokyo. Like Kevin McAllister before him, Max initially revels in the freedom. But soon, he finds himself defending the house from burglars Pam (Ellie Kemper) and Jeff (Rob Delaney), who want to steal a priceless heirloom from the family.

Streaming Friday on Disney Plus

Adele: One Night Only (CBS)

Adele is releasing 30, her first album in six years on November 19, and to stoke anticipation, she filmed this special that’s part concert, part teary Oprah interview. The British singer performs some of her past hits (the set begins with “Hello,” as it should), as well as new songs from 30, in the outdoor venue of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. Attendees include Lizzo, Tyler Perry, Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade.

The crooner also sits down with Oprah Winfrey to talk about her life after her divorce, raising her son and her much-discussed weight loss. 

Airing Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET on CBS via Fubo and Paramount Plus

Yellowjackets (Showtime)

The survival drama follows the harrowing travails of a girls’ soccer team after their plane crashes in the remote Ontario wilderness. It also follows the equally haunting aftereffects of the adult survivors, 25 years later. 

Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, Christina Ricci, and Juliette Lewis portray the grown-up versions of Shauna (Sophie Nélisse), Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown), Misty (Sammi Hanratty) and Natalie (Sophie Thatcher). After the crash, the girls’ unity and friendships fracture, a la Lord of the Flies. Decades later, they grapple with what really happened in the woods and how it continues to burden them. 

Airing Sunday at 10 p.m. ET on Showtime via Sling or Fubo (as a premium add-on)

Mayor Pete (Amazon Prime Video)

In 2020, South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg made a bid to become the first openly gay president of the United States. Filmmaker Jesse Moss tracks his campaign, starting from one year before the 2020 Iowa caucuses through his presidential run.

The documentary provides a look at the harsh realities of life on the presidential campaign trail, but also finds Buttigieg reflecting on his coming out story. It’s also an intimate portrait of his marriage to husband Chasten, as the couple deals with the glaring spotlight of high-level politics.

Streaming Friday on Amazon Prime Video