Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Parisa Taghizadeh/Warner Bros., Netflix, Fred Hayes/Disney, GKIDS
If you’ve been feeling troubled that there’s no other splashy blockbusters to stock your local theater, you can depend on the hotshot bio-exorcist Betelgeuse in his 36-years-later sequel to entertain. It was a hit then and is shaping up to be a hit now. Beetlejuice’s services are satisfaction guaranteed, it seems. But if you’re not ready to let summer go, there’s also Nicole Kidman being rich on the coast of Nantucket in The Perfect Couple, a fizzy murder-mystery series. Speaking of Nicole, where’s the AMC ad parody from Beetleju—? Oh, shit.
Nearly 40 years later, the juice is finally loose once again. Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, and Catherine O’Hara all return to Tim Burton’s gleeful sequel as they make their way back to Winter River, Connecticut, for the Deetz patriarch’s funeral. Jenna Ortega joins the cast as Lydia’s daughter, Astrid, alongside Justin Theroux as Lydia’s sleazy manager, and Willem Dafoe and Monica Bellucci as two colorful Afterlife characters.
Nicole Kidman, the star of what we’ve dubbed the mother-thriller genre, leads this adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s murder mystery about an exceedingly wealthy family and a wedding weekend that turns deadly; the supporting cast includes Liev Schreiber, Meghann Fahy, and Jack Reynor. —Roxana Hadadi
➼ There’s a synchronized dance intro??
A Netflix action film usually does big numbers. You all yearn for some kicking and punching. In director Jeremy Saulnier’s Rebel Ridge, Aaron Pierre and Don Johnson face off as Pierre’s former Marine character Terry Richmond is wrongly seized and his cousin’s bail money is taken by the town’s police, headed up by its corrupt chief (played by Johnson).
The gist from The Front Room that I’m getting is it’s what Monster-in-Law would have been as an explicit horror movie. Instead of J.Lo, Brandy takes the lead as she and her husband (Andrew Burnap) invite his estranged mother (Kathryn Hunter) to stay with them.
➼ Jane Fonda–Kathryn Hunter mother-in-law team up à la Alien vs. Predator when?
The curmudgeonly spy series is back for six more episodes of explosions, hidden identities, and Jack Lowden booking it through a mass-transit station while being pursued by baddies. Hugo Weaving and James Callis join, each eerily weird in their own way. —Kathryn VanArendonk
From The Front Room to Red Rooms, another thriller out this week tells the story of a woman (Juliette Gariépy) who grows increasingly obsessed with the trial and case of an accused serial killer (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos) known for broadcasting his crimes. As she attempts to investigate the case, that obsession starts to break her down.
Sometimes you want prestige, and sometimes you want to watch a docureality about a friend group of Mormon mom influencers whose lives are rocked by the revelation that they’re also swingers. —K.V.A.
It may have taken nearly a year, but this one’s finally coming to Max. Hayao Miyazaki is one of the greatest animators alive, and his latest movie is an award-winning, semi-autobiographical masterpiece. If you haven’t seen it, prepare yourself for dream logic, bird poop, and weird little guys. —Eric Vilas-Boas
➼ Also streaming for the first time — a two-hour doc on making the film, Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron.
In this SXSW charmer, Rachel Sennott stars as a nanny (and stand-up comic) whose life gets turned upside-down when the 14-year-old in her charge suddenly goes missing. Last year we called it “sometimes hilarious and sometimes harrowing.” —E.V.B.
➼ Dìdi kick flips its way to digital platforms this week, too.
Let’s double, triple the Beetlejuice intake this week with Beetlejuice the animated series. Released soon after the original movie, this series follows a teenage Lydia and her best friend, not almost husband, Beetlejuice across the mortal and Neitherworld.
“Everyone Is Having Fun in The Perfect Couple Opening Credits, Damn It!”
Photo: Kathryn VanArendonk/Vulture
I love an insane opening credits sequence, and apparently the cast nearly revolted over this one. As Kathryn VanArendonk wrote of it: “This murder show is gonna be a good time!” —E.V.B.
Want more? Read our recommendations from the weekend of August 30.
