Best Movies & TV Shows (Aug. 24)

Clockwise from top: Pachinko, City of God: The Fight Rages On, The Crow, and Blink Twice.
Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Apple TV+, Everett Collection (Amazon MGM Studios, Lionsgate), Max

Blink twice and maybe this weekend will go by quickly. Even the movie theaters are itching for next week’s four-day weekend, judging by this one’s meager offerings. But at least your at-home watch list is popping off. AMC sent Netflix some deliciously dark offerings, Oz Perkins’s horror Longlegs has hit digital, and The Crow is ripe for a rewatch. You might as well stay in and away from the sun this weekend. It would be so goth of you.

Creator Soo Hugh’s adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s novel returns for its sophomore season. This installment dives back into its four generations of a Korean family’s questions of identity, especially as part of its narrative is set in Japan during World War II. —Roxana Hadadi

➼ Who’s winning, who’s losing — who cares?

Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut, originally titled Pussy Island, follows a young woman (Naomi Ackie) who gets invited to a tech billionaire’s (Channing Tatum) private island. It seems like a dream come true, but if movies have taught us anything, it’s that following rich people to isolated islands or homes is a terrible idea.

The 2002 hit film City of God was a nerve-tingling glimpse into the organized crime of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. Now, a new creative team picks up the mantle in this six-episode series, bringing photographer Rocket (and actor Alexandre Rodrigues) back with a press badge and another drug war to cover. —R.H.

Well, he finally did it. John Woo finally released that American remake of The Killer that’s been in the works almost since the first one premiered back in 1989. Woo’s original, starring Chow Yun-fat and Danny Lee, was one of the key films that introduced Hong Kong genre cinema to western cinephiles. While this new Killer doesn’t have the insane grandeur of the old one, Woo does still know how to be creative with his action scenes, even when he’s just playing the hits. —Bilge Ebiri

Tombstone may be the definitive portrayal of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral (though the classic western that carries that name is also fantastic), but that hasn’t stopped everyone from Kevin Costner to Alex Cox from retelling the story of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and the Clanton gang known as the Cowboys. This latest entry is a TV mini starring Ed Harris, Edward Franklin, and Tim Fellingham. —Eric Vilas-Boas

A handful of AMC shows have flown onto Netflix’s library for a while, including one of their best. Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire’s small-screen adaptation run by Rolin Jones is sexy, terrifying, dramatic, and fantastic television. The Netflix deal will hopefully give the show a chance to get the eyeballs it deserves. (Unfortunately, the brilliant second season isn’t streaming on Netflix, but hey, it’s on AMC+.)

➼ And Longlegs, the “It” horror of the summer, and Inside Out 2, the “It” film of the summer, are now both on digital. Also check out Stress Positions on Hulu and Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga on Max.

The goth cinema canon.
Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Columbia Pictures, Dimension Films, Goldwyn Pictures, Miramax, Sony Pictures, Trimark Pictures

With the Crows and Vampires on our mind, we took a goth day this week. Here are three titles that helped define goth cinema.

➼ Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust — “An action-goth masterpiece.”

➼ Crimson Peak — Guillermo del Toro’s “misunderstood beauty.”

➼ Gargoyles — Specifically, “The Mirror.”

Photo: Roxana Hadadi/Vulture

It’s hard to imagine The Crow led by anyone other than Brandon Lee. (You can read more of Roxana Hadadi’s piece here on the matter.) That doesn’t mean the latest iteration of The Crow isn’t necessarily worth watching, but if it made you want to see the 1994 film, you have until the end of the month to check it out on Prime Video.

Want more? Read our recommendations from the weekend of August 16.