The 12 Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch Memorial Day Weekend

Sure, Mondays suck, but at least this Monday is a holiday. So it’ll suck a little less. And with a free day off, you can choose your own adventure this weekend. You can visit a fat cat with a penchant for lasagna. You can journey to the sands of the Wasteland or the planet of Dune. Or you can stop by Chromatica for a bit, Oreos not included. This week’s best new movies and TV titles are below — choose wisely! —Savannah Salazar

Mad Max: Fury Road blew audiences away after it premiered in 2015, winning six of its ten Oscar nominations. In director George Miller’s new prequel, Anya Taylor-Joy takes over for Charlize Theron (with Alyla Browne playing an even younger Furiosa early in the film) as she seeks revenge on the man who stole her from her home, Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). While you may know what becomes of Furiosa, you’ll still be on the edge of your seat throughout. —S.S.

➽ You don’t need to know Mad Max lore to love these movies, but we do recommend Fury Road’s batshit casting backstory.

Murder is hot. And for months we’ve been hype for Richard Linklater’s Hit Man — a star-maker for Glen Powell and one of our most exciting summer movies, best seen in theaters. —Eric Vilas-Boas

Thank God a Nurtec ad wasn’t the only thing to come out of Chromatica Ball. Now we’ll get a full-blown concert film of Lady Gaga’s 2022 tour stop at Dodger Stadium. She performs singles from her last album, Chromatica, as well as her biggest hits, from “Just Dance” to “Shallow” (Bradley Cooper not included). —S.S.

Not every show is bold enough to begin its final season by declaring that the birth of the Antichrist is imminent. But then not every show is Evil. —Jen Chaney 

➽ Elsewhere in the worlds of Robert and Michelle King, the showrunners’ gleefully unserious Elsbeth wrapped its first season last night.

Disney+ loves a music doc, and after releasing a remaster of Let It Be, it’s showing Beach Boy fans some love. This new documentary retraces the band’s beginnings with unseen footage and interviews with members Brian Wilson, Bruce Johnston, Mike Love, Al Jardine, and David Marks. —S.S.

“J.Lo’s Atlas, which was directed by Brad Peyton, one of Hollywood’s foremost hacks, has the slick, textureless sheen of a cutscene from a video game we never get to play.”

You know you’ll have to take your kids to this. What other options do you have this weekend? Furiosa? IF?? Babes?!? Sorry, y’all. —S.S.

➽ On TV, best Superman show in years is back for season two.

I don’t know about y’all, but we’ll be spending our Memorial Day weekend pulling out our lawn chairs and our beer hats to watch Dune: Part Two (or at least just its stunning action sequences) again. —S.S.

Did you see Jesse Plemons in Civil War yet? Now you can! —Ray Rahman

Eric Vilas-Boas: This movie hit VOD this week, but you’ve been telling people to go see it, at a theater.

Roxana Hadadi: I have, and I just learned of some success: I had hyped it up to my physical therapist and he ended up seeing it with his brother and his girlfriend! It’s wonderfully fizzy and entertaining, a lively and immersive exhibit of Ryan Gosling’s star power (is he the hottest man to ever live, based on how he looks in one of many “running to the woman I love” scenes in this movie? Maybe!) and cinema spectacle (any kind of stunt you want, The Fall Guy’s got). It’s the kind of movie, with big explosions and big romance, that people keep saying they want to see in theaters.

E.V.B.: What was your PT’s review?

R.H.: He really enjoyed how huge the film’s finale goes. It gives Gosling one final opportunity to walk the film’s line between satire and celebration. He thought Gosling was amusing in Barbie, but he was surprised that he could be this funny.

E.V.B.: Anything else we should know about Fall Guy?

R.H.: I need that Miami Vice stunt-team jacket immediately. For all my action (sitting on my couch).

Want more? Read our recommendations from the weekend of May 17.