What to stream this weekend: Seth Rogen’s Hollywood satire, emergency rooms in ‘Pitt’sburgh, and more

At this point in the year, the movie slate can look pretty dire. What studios are spending big money on are flopping, and what’s worth your time is hard to come by and increasingly unavailable. If last year turned out to be a dud for your movie-watching taste, like it did for most people, that word “dire” may creep into your head. At least television has been good.

But I’m here to guarantee that you’re in for a wild and whacky upcoming year for movies.

Paul Thomas Anderson has a new feature this September featuring Leonardo DiCaprio as a jittery revolutionary in training in “One Battle After Another,” Spike Lee is back with Denzel Washington in “Highest 2 Lowest,” and The Rock is taking a dramatic turn in “The Smashing Machine” while Timothee Chalamet explores the world of table tennis in “Marty Supreme.” The director who brought you “Top Gun: Maverick” is hitting the racetrack with the Brad Pitt-led “F1” to kick off the summer.

Celine Song, Wes Anderson, Ari Aster, Richard Linklater, Guillermo Del Toro, Damien Chazelle, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Guy Ritchie, Lynne Ramsay; these are just some of the auteur filmmakers bringing us original films this year. And if they’re worth our time, they’ll be featured here. Until then, let’s see what’s available for us to watch this weekend.

What & How to Watch

Streaming – Apple TV+: ‘The Studio’

Created, co-directed, co-written, and starring Seth Rogen, “The Studio” is a close examination, and critique, of the entertainment industry nestled within Tinseltown. Kinetic and hilarious, it’s simultaneously a satire, a celebration, and a study on Hollywood during its most turbulent era —present day.

Cameo-laden with cinematography mirroring the long, dramatic tracking camera style of “Birdman,” while the show’s setting isn’t anywhere particularly new (perhaps more detailed), its thesis on how art and business is becoming harder and harder to co-exist is a refreshing theme in what’s becoming one of the most talked about shows of the year.

Streaming – Paramount+: ‘September 5’

Through the eyes of the ABC sports crew covering the 1972 Munich Olympics, “September 5” is a historical drama detailing the immediate moments after the Black September terrorist group captured multiple Israeli athletes as hostages. It’s a thrilling journalistic tale with precise pacing, making it one of the most enjoyable start-to-finish watches of 2024.

Worthy of the Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, it’s a worthy re-examination of the more-than-50-year-old global news story—even if it takes a safe route or two in its choices.

Streaming – Max (formerly HBO): ‘The Pitt’

Pulse pounding; nerve racking; overwhelmingly anxious. Whatever stress-inducing physical reaction you can come up with, “The Pitt” delivers in full force. And that’s a compliment. It’s impossible not to feel alive watching Dr. Robby tackle his hellacious 15-hour shift running a hospital’s emergency branch—each episode being one hour of his shift at a time.

The debut season is coming to an end (episode/hour 13 was released Thursday), but this is the perfect time to pick up what’s easily the most exciting medical show in years. With the twist of the central hospital being dangerously underfunded, the show’s balancing act of watching its protagonist hold things together through Band-Aids and duct tape is one of the great television achievements this year.

Streaming – Hulu: ‘A Complete Unknown’

Timothee Chalamet’s latest project, ascending him into a stratosphere few actors have reached by his age, might be his greatest yet—his turn as Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown.”

The eight-time Oscar-nominated film follows Dylan from Greenwich Village rambler to cultural phenom to complicated public figure in four short years. While Chalamet’s recreation of Dylan’s style and swagger when hollering into a mic is worth the price of admission alone, it’s a film that elevates over most in the ever-growing musician biopic sub-genre.

Seen all these? None of them catch your fancy? Check out last week’s list and all the good movies and shows within it here.

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