What to watch this weekend October 18, 2024: Movie awards contenders

Our top pick this week, “Woman of the Hour,” is the directorial debut of Academy Award nominee Anna Kendrick. Kendrick stars in this Netflix true-crime thriller as Cheryl Bradshaw, a woman who had a terrifying encounter with serial killer Rodney Alcala, whom she met when they both appeared on the game show “The Dating Game” in 1978. Daniel Zovatto, best known for appearing in horror movies like “It Follows” and “Don’t Breathe,” plays Alcala, with Tony Hale playing the host, who’s based on Jim Lange.   

Kendrick is one of the few people to be nominated for the Triple Crown of Acting without winning in any category. She might get there someday, especially if she keeps making movies like this, a tense and thoughtful thriller with a 91% “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Here are some other movies to stream this weekend:

“MaXXXine”: The third installment in Ti West and Mia Goth’s “X” slasher series is now on Maxxx. This time, porn star Maxine Minx lands a role in a mainstream horror movie, but her violent past comes back to haunt her. It’s a blood-drenched tribute to sleazy Hollywood history with a stacked cast that includes Elizabeth Debicki, Lily Collins, and Kevin Bacon, who plays a private investigator with a bandage on his nose like Jake Gittes. 

“Brothers”: Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage play brothers in this straight-to-Prime Video raunchy buddy comedy. Moke (Brolin) has tried to go straight, while Jady (Dinklage) continues to live the life of crime they were brought up in. Jady manages to help Moke pull off one last job, which turns into a caper involving their career criminal mother (Glenn Close), a crooked cop (Brendan Fraser), and an overly friendly orangutan named Samuel. It’s directed by Max Barbakow, who previously helmed the Golden Globe-nominated comedy “Palm Springs.” 

“The Wild Robot”: DreamWorks’ well-received Best Animated Feature contender has gone to VOD after just a couple of (pretty successful) weeks in theaters, but that just means your family can enjoy this heartfelt tale sooner. Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o provides the voice of a helper robot who crash-lands on an uninhabited island and becomes the mother to an orphaned gosling (voiced by “Heartstopper” star Kit Connor). If it doesn’t make you cry, you might be a robot yourself. It’ll be a top pick when it comes to streaming, but for now it’s the best new option on VOD this week.