Weekend streaming guide: ‘Black Messiah,’ ‘Barb & Star’
A bracing Black Panther drama and a goofy star turn for Kristen Wiig are among choices.
New streaming movies are coming to entertain you and your family during socially distanced times.
This Valentine’s Day weekend, newly minted Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominee Daniel Kaluuya heads a 1960s-set period thriller about Illinois Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton; Netflix’s third “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” film closes out the young-adult trilogy; pop singer Sia tackles autism and sisterhood through a musical lens; and “Bridesmaids” screenwriters Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo go on a wild vacation in a new comedy.
If you’re feeling the itch to get back to the movies in person, and there’s a drive-in or it’s safe enough to return to your local theater, there are quite a few new offerings. Awards-season contender Steven Yeun leads the acclaimed Korean family drama “Minari,” Robin Wright stars as a woman who retreats to cabin life in her directorial debut “Land,” Vanessa Kirby and Katherine Waterston star in the period lesbian romance “The World to Come,” and Benedict Cumberbatch teams with Jodie Foster for the legal drama “The Mauritanian.”
But if you’d rather stick closer to home, here’s a rundown of new movies hitting streaming and on-demand platforms this weekend, for every cinematic taste:
If you want to see Daniel Kaluuya own the screen: ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’
From “Get Out” to “Black Panther,” Kaluuya always is a magnetic presence in a movie, none more than as Fred Hampton in Shaka King’s tense period drama. In the late ’60s, a young Chicago criminal (Lakeith Stanfield) is brought in by the FBI and turned into an informant to spy on Hampton from the inside, as the charismatic Black Panther leader forms a Rainbow Coalition and is a top threat for J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen).
Where to watch: HBO Max
If you’re dying to know what happens to Lara Jean and Peter: ‘To All the Boys: Always and Forever’
The popular series based on Jenny Han’s young-adult books concludes with a chapter that finds lovebirds Lara Jean (Lana Condor) and Peter (Noah Centineo) in their senior year, figuring out college plans, navigating relationship obstacles and going to the prom. It’s all fairly predictable and lovey-dovey, though props for giving Peter more of a backstory and not throwing in yet another love triangle.
Where to watch: Netflix
If you’re ready to do the time loop again: ‘The Map of Tiny Perfect Things’
While it’s not quite as clever as “Palm Springs” or “Groundhog Day”
(the G.O.A.T. of time-loop movies), the romantic comedy does carve out a certain charming niche in the teen space. Mark (Kyle Allen) is an artistic dude spending his endless day helping folks when he meets Margaret (Kathryn Newton). Unlike him, she doesn’t want to leave their shared loop, but they end up bonding over trying to find every perfect little moment that happens in their town.
h Where to watch: Amazon Prime
If you feel like being disappointed in a pop star: ‘Music’
What could have been a joyful look at the inner world of a teen girl on the autism spectrum is instead a formulaic drug-addict drama with nonsensical musical sequences and so, so many bad creative decisions in Sia’s disastrous directorial debut (which defied all logic to snag a Golden Globe nod). Top of that list is neurotypical Maddie Ziegler cast as the mostly non-verbal Music, who comes under the care of her self-centered drug-dealing sister, Zu (Kate Hudson). Hey, at least the songs are pretty good.
h Where to watch: Apple TV, Vudu, FandangoNOW
If you’re missing sunny vacations: ‘Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar’
The buddy comedy starts off like a bad “Saturday Night Live” sketch: Unemployed and chatty Nebraska besties Star (Wiig) and Barb (Mumolo) decide to take a Florida vacation. Their adventure turns absolutely bizarro from there, with a supervillainous plot involving killer mosquitoes, several musical sequences (including the very earwormy song “I Love Boobies”), an attractive dude (Jamie Dornan) who digs middleaged women, a talking crab, a helpful water spirit and one super-trippy tropical cocktail.
h Where to watch: Apple TV, Vudu, FandangoNOW
If you’re an Allison Janney completist: ‘Breaking News in Yuba County’
Directed by Tate Taylor (”The Help”), the woeful dark comedy stars Janney as an unappreciated suburban woman who catches her shady husband (Matthew Modine) cheating, and he dies of a heart attack. She buries the body and proclaims he’s missing so she’ll have 15 minutes of fame in a daft narrative with way too many players, including Mila Kunis as her local TV news reporter sister, Regina Hall as a cop and Awkwafina as a gangster.
h Where to watch: Apple TV, Vudu, FandangoNOW