13 new movies and shows to watch this weekend on Netflix, Peacock and more (Jan. 12-15)
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Prepare for an avalanche of new movies and shows to watch this weekend on Netflix, Peacock, Prime Video and other streaming services. Maybe you don’t get snow where you live, but a long winter weekend is the perfect time for a cozy binge-watching session.
The weekend slate is led by the return of "True Detective" after a long hiatus. Jodie Foster headlines the fourth season, titled "Night Country." Also returning is "The Traitors" season 2 and "La Brea" season 3. Plus, all episodes of Marvel's latest series, "Echo," are streaming now.
On the movie side, Kevin Hart stars in the heist flick "Lift," while Kaley Cuoco is a suburban wife/secret assassin in "Role Play." Here's our guide on what to watch over the long MLK weekend.
TV Premieres
‘True Detective: Night Country’ (HBO/Max)
The acclaimed crime anthology makes a comeback following a five-year hiatus. Like previous seasons, this one features a stellar cast led by Jodie Foster as a determined detective in the unforgiving and desolate landscapes of Alaska.
As the town of Ennis enters the long winter night, the eight men stationed at the Tsalal Arctic Research Station mysteriously vanish. Detectives Liz Danvers (Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) dive headfirst into the investigation. However, their quest for truth forces them to confront the shadows lurking within their own souls.
Streaming now on HBO and Max
‘Echo’ (Disney Plus/Hulu)
The first show under the “Marvel Spotlight” banner, “Echo” is a standalone (despite being a spinoff of “Hawkeye”). Mostly, Marvel really wants viewers to know it doesn’t require homework to watch.
“Echo” follows Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), the deaf Native American Choctaw introduced in “Hawkeye” as the leader of the Tracksuit Mafia, a criminal gang working for Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio). After learning he was responsible for her father’s death, Maya has turned on him and fled town. She heads home to Oklahoma in order to mend fences with her estranged family, reconnect with her heritage and come to terms with the past.
Streaming now on Hulu and Disney Plus
‘Ted’ (Peacock)
Seth MacFarlane revisits his raunchy teddy bear series with a third installment, breaking the nearly decade-long hiatus since the last movie. Departing from the movie format, this addition takes the form of a prequel set in 1993.
Ted, the bear with a penchant for colorful language (voiced by MacFarlane himself), grapples with faded stardom. He lives in Framingham, Massachusetts with his 16-year-old best friend John Bennett (Max Burkholder). Ted’s influence on John isn’t exactly laudable — what with the swearing and drug use — but he remains an unwaveringly loyal companion through thick and thin.
Streaming now on Peacock
‘Criminal Record’ (Apple TV Plus)
A cynical, hard-boiled veteran detective and a young, crusading rising cop make a tried-and-true pairing in this British drama. Detective Sergeant June Lenker (Cush Jumbo) begins digging into an old murder case after an anonymous phone call indicates that the police sent the wrong man to prison. Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Hegarty (Peter Capaldi), who handled the investigation at the time, isn’t pleased at being second-guessed so many years later. But as Lenker continues to turn up new evidence, Hegarty is forced to reckon with his past actions and the potential tarnishing of his legacy.
Streaming now on Apple TV Plus
‘The Traitors’ season 2 (Peacock)
The best new reality show of the last few years is making a triumphant return, promising more deception and betrayal — cue to me gleefully rubbing my hands together!
The cast is split into two factions: the "Traitors" and the "Faithful." Each night, the Traitors will vote someone out, while the Faithful attempt to uncover them before they get the boot. The victorious side walks away with the coveted cash prize.
Just like the inaugural season, this cast comprises a blend of reality TV personalities: Sandra Diaz-Twine from Survivor, Peter Weber from The Bachelor, Maksim Chmerkovskiy from Dancing With the Stars, and Peppermint from RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Streaming now on Peacock
‘La Brea’ season 3 (NBC/Peacock)
The electrifying conclusion to the time-bending adventure series promises to deliver answers to fans' burning questions. Dinosaurs are the big bad of the third and final season, which is not surprising considering everyone’s stuck in 10,000 B.C. The fearsome creatures destroy the Clearing, so the Survivors are forced to undertake a harrowing journey to find a new home. Meanwhile, Gavin (Eoin Macken) learns where Eve (Natalie Zea) might have been taken through the now-defunct portal, but following the clue could have terrible consequences.
Streaming now on Peacock
Airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC (via Sling or Fubo)
‘The 2023 Primetime Emmys’ (Fox)
The Emmys will finally be handed out after the ceremony was delayed due to the writers' and actors' strikes. You can be forgiven if you don’t remember who and what is up for awards since the nominations came out in July. HBO had the three top overall nominated shows: “Succession” (27), “The Last of Us” (24) and “The White Lotus” (23). The final season of “Ted Lasso” followed with 21 nominations.
If last week’s Golden Globes are any indication, expect to see big hauls by “Succession,” “The Bear” and “Beef.”
Airing Monday, Jan. 15 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on Fox (via Sling or Fubo)
‘The Trust’ (Netflix)
The premise of most reality competitions involves contestants voting each other out until one person wins the prize. But "The Trust" flips that around — nobody has to be voted out, so that all 11 strangers win a share of a $250,000. Of course, there’s a catch: voting someone out means increasing your own share. But taking that action will sow distrust and turn the game into a free-for-all of greed.
Streaming now on Netflix
Movie Premieres
‘Lift’ (Netflix)
“The Italian Job” director F. Gary Gray returns to the heist genre, this time in collaboration with Kevin Hart. Call it a “Plane Job,” because $500 million in gold from a passenger plane. Master thief Cyrus Whitaker (Kevin Hart) is approached by his FBI agent ex-girlfriend (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) with an offer: He and his team will get a clean slate if they pull off a heist. They must steal gold on its way to a terrorist cell. The only problem is that they’ll need to accomplish it at 40,000 feet.
Streaming now on Netflix
‘Role Play’ (Prime Video)
The “my loved ones doesn’t know I’m a secret agent” genre has yielded many classics, from “True Lies” to “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” (getting rebooted as a TV series soon on Prime Video). The latest movie entry stars Kaley Cuoco as Emma, who lives with her husband (David Oyelowo) and two kids in the New Jersey suburbs. Dave has no clue that she’s an assassin for hire, until they decide to spice things up for their anniversary with some sexy role-playing. But their date night goes awry when another assassin (Bill Nighy) shows up to target Emma.
Streaming now on Prime Video
‘Self Reliance’ (Hulu)
This comedic thriller has a premise that’s a mash-up of “Black Mirror,” “Squid Game,” and “The Dangerous Game.” Jake Johnson stars as Tommy Walcott, a very ordinary middle-aged guy in Los Angeles. His dull existence takes a turn when famous actor Andy Samberg invites him into a fancy limo, where he’s offered the chance to score a million bucks in a dark web reality TV game. Global assassins will attempt to kill him for a month — yikes! But the catch is that he can only be offed if he’s alone, so Tommy must hustle up a ragtag team of unlikely allies to keep him alive.
Streaming now on Hulu
'Napoleon' (PVOD)
Ridley Scott’s newest film sees the legendary director team up with his "Gladiator" star Joaquin Phoenix once again in a biopic about the notorious French emperor whose military prowess made history. Following Napoleon Bonaparte's rise to power during the French Revolution, the film delves into both his military victories as well as his courtship and eventual marriage to the wealthy widow Josephine de Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby). As with previous historical epics produced by Apple Studios, no expense was spared in portraying his checkered journey from a mere soldier to the Emperor of France and subsequent fall from grace.
Buy or rent on Amazon now
'Killers of the Flower Moon' (Apple TV Plus)
Martin Scorsese wowed moviegoers yet again with his most recent film "Killers of the Flower Moon," which finally arrived on Apple TV Plus this week after a $156 million box office run. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, it's based on the true story of a rash of murders in the Osage Nation during the 1920s after oil was discovered on tribal land.
But while these two A-listers offer solid performances, the real beating heart and soul of this period epic is their co-star Lily Gladstone. She plays Mollie Kyle, a member of the Osage Nation and Ernest Burkhart's (DiCaprio) wife whose trust in authority — and her husband — slowly erodes as the film's mystery unfolds.
Watch it now on Apple TV Plus
