Best New Movies and Shows This Week: 'Colin in Black & White,' 'Insecure' and More

Our picks for best new movies & shows for Oct 29-31. Including ‘Insecure’ on HBO Max, ‘Halloween Kills’ on Peacock, & ‘Last Night in Soho’ in theaters.

Colin in Black and White on Netflix
Netflix

Image via Netflix

Colin in Black and White on Netflix

October came and went but it left behind plenty of massive box office hits. After movie lovers rushed to the theaters to watch Dune, Halloween Kills, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, No Time to Die this month, it’s safe to say that if there’s something worth watching, people are more than willing to purchase a ticket. Halloween weekend is usually reserved for the spookiest, most gruesome movies of the year, and the biggest films hitting theaters this Friday are Edgar Wright’s psychological thriller Last Night in Soho and the Guillermo del Toro-produced Antlers. It doesn’t look like either film will be able to compete with Dune’s growing box office numbers, especially since social media chatter is saying the movie is a must-see on the big screen, so it looks like the film will stay at the No. 1 spot in its second weekend. 


In the event you’re not ready to sit in a room full of strangers in a mask for two hours just yet, streaming services are providing plenty of entertainment you can enjoy right at home this weekend. The fall TV season did not come to play this year with the return of Succession, Insecure, You, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. This weekend is ushering in even more offerings. So if you’re not hitting the town in a Squid Game costume for this weekend’s festivities, there’s plenty to watch on TV or in theaters. We have running lists of what to watch on Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu already. This time, we have rounded up some of the best new TV and movies that you shouldn’t miss this weekend. Check out our list below to be in the know.

'Colin in Black & White'

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When: Friday, Oct. 29

Where: Netflix


Netflix’s series Colin in Black & White, by Colin Kaepernick and Ava DuVernay, tells the story of Kaepernick’s childhood and it premieres this weekend. The six-episode limited series aims to dramatize the football star’s journey since he was a child that led to his NFL success, as well the aspects of his upbringing that inspired his activism as an adult. The series will also provide insight into what it was like for Kaepernick to grow up with adoptive white parents and in a white community. DuVernay has previously said that she reached out to the former NFL quarterback expressing interest to tell his childhood story, after being inspired by him protesting social injustices on and off the football field that eventually affected his career. Kaepernick will appear on the series as the present-day narrator of his own story. Jaden Michael stars as young Colin, Parks and Recreation’s Nick Offerman and Weeds star Mary-Louise Parker will play his parents Rick and Teresa. —KR 

'Army of Thieves'

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When: Friday, Oct. 29 

Where: Netflix


For those who can’t get enough of heist films and are in need of some action, Army of Thieves is hitting Netflix on Friday. The thriller is a prequel to Zack Snyder’s zombie movie Army of the Dead, which came out in May of this year. The prequel is starring and being directed by Matthias Schweighöfer, and also stars Game of Thrones star Nathalie Emmanuel. “It’s a heist movie with romantic, comedic, and action elements in it,” Schweighöfer told Entertainment Weekly about the project. “It’s a film about a character named Ludwig Dieter, a guy from Germany recruited by a mysterious woman who offers him the chance of his life to crack the biggest safes ever built.” Snyder also produced the sequel and he suggests that fans who haven’t seen the first one yet should watch Army of Thieves before Army of the Dead so that it makes more sense chronologically. Grab some popcorn, hit play, and enjoy! —KR

'Last Night in Soho'

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When: Friday, Oct. 29

Where: In theaters


Anya Taylor-Joy has catapulted to fame thanks to her role as Beth Harmon in Netflix’s hit show The Queen’s Gambit. Next up, she is starring in Last Night in Soho, directed by Edgar Wright, who is known for directing 2017’s Baby Driver. The psychological horror film follows Ellie, (Thomasin McKenzie), an aspiring fashion designer who somehow travels back in time to 1966 inside the body of a London nightclub singer named Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy). Ellie quickly realizes that living the life of a star isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be. Sounds interesting? Head to a theater near you to watch.—KR

'Halloween Kills'

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Where: Peacock (and in theaters)

John Carpenter’s original Halloween is a masterpiece in slasher cinema. It wrote the book and remains one of the best films in the franchise. After the series when to hell and back, Universal hit the reset button, and 2018’s Halloween revival picked up decades after the first film (praise Black Jesus). All of this meant that while Michael Myers was no longer Laurie Strode’s brother, he still was on the warpath, heading right towards her. For me, I loved seeing Myers go back to the essence of the first film, and while the story wasn’t as amazing as I wanted it to be, Michael Myers was on the warpath, and his kills were insane.

Coming into Halloween Kills, we got more and more of the same. Actually, the story—which finds the town of Haddonfield attempting to take the power back while the surviving Strodes are figuring out where they fit in—wasn’t my favorite. I loved that they continued to bring back the original actors to play the townspeople who survived decades ago, but as they got into this big mob mentality social commentary, I don’t want to say I hated it, but it just wasn’t as interesting as I wanted it to be.

What DID interest me was Michael’s mayhem. For a guy who’s basically a man with one goal in mind, he sure has a knack for surviving. And once we realized that he made it out alive from Strode’s fire trap, it was a movie full of great vengeance and furious anger. I won’t spoil the kills at all, but just know: Michael is pissed and anybody can get it. Anybody.

I’d recommend running both back; the beginning of Halloween Kills picks up relatively close to where Halloween (2018) ended off, so a demented double feature is easily in order. Keep the light on, just in case. —khal

'Antlers'

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When: Friday, Oct. 29  

Where:
In theaters

If you’ve already watched Halloween Kills, Antlers will serve as this Halloween weekend’s must-see horror flick. The thriller is about a small-town Oregon teacher (Keri Russell) and her local sheriff brother (Jesse Plemons) who discover that a young student (Jeremy T. Thomas) is hiding a dangerous supernatural monster in his house. The secret comes with frightening consequences for the film’s characters but provides plenty of gore for viewers looking for a little terror this Halloween. —KR

'It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown'

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Where: Apple TV+

Growing up as a kid who loved Snoopy and the Peanuts comic strip, the animated Peanuts holiday specials are must-watches. When the franchise became Apple TV+ exclusive a few years back, the only way civilians could check it out was on PBS. Its PBS airing was last weekend, though, which means that Apple TV+ is not allowing you to stream the series for free like in previous years, so you will have to cop a subscription (or a seven-day free trial) in order to stream it properly. Now, WHY would you want to watch a 25-minute animated special about a big pumpkin? Because it’s the shit, that’s why.

The special features three different storylines: the main story is Linus (with Lucy) waiting for The Great Pumpkin to arrive, while Charlie Brown is trying to spend a night out on the town. Finally, it would appear that Snoopy /checks notes/ drops acid and trips out, believing he’s a fighter pilot? I don’t know, that scenario in particular never made sense to me. In any case, Linus’ excitement over some pumpkin deity that he may have created on his own always fascinated me, almost as much as Charlie Brown’s terrible ghost costume-making skills. That Tricks or Treats segment is the best thing in the entire special, though (and was the source of one of my favorite scratch routines). It’s arguably the second-best Peanuts special, primarily because it has a somewhat-satisfactory story arch.


Still don’t know if there’s even a real Great Pumpkin; maybe next year I will build the most sincere pumpkin patch and find out. —khal

New seasons of 'Insecure,' 'Curb Your Enthusiasm,' and everything else on HBO

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When: Sunday, Oct. 31

Where: HBO and HBO Max

Let’s keep it real—HBO is having one hell of a month. The network has established Sunday dominance by airing three of its most popular shows all on the same night back-to-back. Insecure kicked off its fifth and final season last Sunday, Succession will be airing its third episode of Season 3 this weekend, and Curb Your Enthusiasm also returned with Season 11. If you’re all caught up on those, Love Life Season 2 starring The Good Place’s William Jackson Harper premiered this week, and Selena Gomez’s charming cooking show Selena + Chef is also back with Season 3. Watch it to get some tips as the singer learns how to cook with the help of a professional chef, or simply for how charming and funny she is as she nearly sets her kitchen on fire. We would be remiss if we didn’t say that Dune is also still available on HBO Max. —KR

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