Have you been longing for our recommendations? Okay, bad quote, unquote joke, but welcome to this week’s picks! The silence of the barely there August-to-September movie season has been deafening — Top Gun: Maverick is still carrying the blockbuster summer on its back! — but thankfully, this weekend sees the return of director George Miller. Here’s what you can’t miss.
Three Thousand Years of Longing
George Miller’s first feature since Mad Max: Fury Road, Three Thousand Years of Longing is a tale of a djinn (played by Idris Elba) who is released from his bottle by a hesitant Dr. Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton). What enfolds in this bombastically packed story of love and yearning is quite beautiful as the djinn’s and Binnie’s wants and hopes are revealed to each other.
Breaking
John Boyega is an affecting actor, and in Breaking, he gives a watch-worthy performance as a veteran left with nothing who decides to hold two bank workers hostage in hopes to be heard. Also featuring Connie Britton, Nicole Beharie, Selenis Leyva, and the last performance from the late Michael K. Williams, Breaking may be just the taut thriller you or your parents would enjoy.
Top Gun: Maverick
All right, horndogs, listen up: Top Gun: Maverick is finally out on VOD, so you can watch Miles Teller doing his little mustached shimmy to your heart’s content. We all seemingly can’t get enough of these high-flying naval pilots, and that’s a-okay to me. Top Gun: Maverick is a fun-as-hell spectacle. (It even made it onto our “Best Sequels of ALL TIME†list.)
Mo
Created by Ramy’s Ramy Youssef and comedian Mo Amer, Netflix’s latest comedy series follows its eponymous character, a Palestinian refugee living in Houston, Texas, as he tries to make a life for him and his family, despite the setbacks of not being an “official†U.S. citizen.
Welcome to Wrexham
Ever wonder what two rich dudes inspired by Ted Lasso would do? Actually, you probably haven’t cared to wonder, but Welcome to Wrexham follows that premise anyway as Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney buy a football club. Can these two inexperienced rich friends whip the struggling Wrexham football club into shape? Well, if you can stand the many mentions of Deadpool, watch Welcome to Wrexham on Hulu to find out.
Also! Read our streaming recommendations from the weekend of August 19. Vulture’s next list of weekend streaming picks goes online on Friday, September 2.