Best Movies & TV, September 9–11

This week brings a couple of interesting releases, from a new Empire-esque network series to a midnight drop of a BTS concert film. The most welcome surprise is a fun horror movie from 20th Century Studios that’ll hopefully benefit from a quiet few days — it’s really the only major new release out in theaters this weekend. But this will likely be the last mellow weekend of the month, so I suppose you should enjoy it while it lasts and check out the rest of our picks, below.

20th Century Studios’ latest horror is a gnarly little thing. Directed by Zach Cregger, Barbarian feels like it came from nowhere, but the buzz tells us the movie is an uproarious, bonkers ride. The trailer doesn’t give too much away, as it sets up the plot of a woman (Georgina Campbell) staying in an Airbnb that’s been double-booked with a man (played by Bill Skarsgård) she doesn’t know. (That alone is scary to me.) But while Campbell’s Tess hesitantly stays overnight, things go bump, and from there, well, you just gotta see the rest.

In honor of Disney+ Day, a totally real holiday made up by Disney, the streamer surprise dropped a new BTS concert special — one of many to come thanks to a deal made with the band’s label. Hiatus who? The film chronicles the group’s four days at Los Angeles’s SoFi Stadium, so if you’ve been needing your BTS fix, now’s the time.

Director Céline Sciamma follows up her gorgeous 2019 romance Portrait of a Lady on Fire with a tender, sweet-hearted film that’s already on streaming after its April wide release. Petite Maman tells the story of a young girl named Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) and her mother (Nina Meurisse) as the two bond over their grieving the death of Nelly’s maternal grandmother in an interestingly beautiful way.

Girlies, you know why this is here. The big news of the week was Queen Elizabeth’s death, but I’m just going to watch Spencer and think about Princess Diana, babes. Pablo Larraín’s fantastical drama takes Diana’s story and carefully crafts it into a three-day Christmas nightmare as she wrestles with leaving Charles and the royal family. It’s an entrancing take on the princess with an even more phenomenal performance by Kristen Stewart.

Based on Paul Schrader’s film of the same name, Jon Bernthal stars in this new series as Julian Kaye (played by Richard Gere in the 1980 film), a sex worker charged with a murder he can’t remember. Showtime’s show may not be as great as Schrader’s beloved drama, but mixing an intriguing crime mystery with Bernthal looking hot is kind of undeniably worth checking out.

So, what if you mixed elements of Succession and Empire to create a network series for country fans? You’d get Monarch. Starring Susan Sarandon as Queen of Country Music Dottie Cantrell Roman, the series follows the Roman family and their country-music dynasty as something throws them off course.

Also! Read our streaming recommendations from the weekend of September 2. Vulture’s next list of weekend streaming picks goes online on Friday, September 16.