Netflix

If you can’t decide what to watch this weekend, ScreenCrush’s Staff Picks are here to help. They’re like the recommendations at an old video store, except you don’t have to put on pants or go outside to get them. Here are four things to watch this weekend:

One of Netflix’s biggest deals so far in the original movie space was with Adam Sandler, who signed on to make four films with the streaming service, and then recently re-upped with the online media titan for another four masterpieces. Maybe you have seen some of their collaborations so far, The Ridiculous 6, The Do-Over, and the just-released Sandy Wexler. If the figures Netflix just released are accurate, the odds are you have.

Yesterday, Indiewire film critic David Ehrlich ran an illuminating essay on Netflix’s testy relationship with the original films it releases, explaining how their model of bypassing theatrical release and going straight to streaming ultimately degrades the viewing experience and makes the movies harder to find and appreciate. (This comes hot on the heels of an official denunciation from the Federation of French Cinemas against the Cannes Film Festival for allowing TV into their lineup for the first time ever.) Clearly, his words went straight to the top of Netflix’s corporate office, as the online video giant has issued a letter to their shareholders assuring them that everything’s going to be fine and movies aren’t dead, probably.

Gilmore Girls fans were lucky enough to get one revival, and it’s likely a second go wouldn’t carry the same urgency. Even stars Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel aren’t 100% certain of a need to revisit the Gilmore Girls, despite that closing twist.

Every month, as dozens of new titles are added to Netflix Instant’s vast streaming library (with even more possibilities for your endlessly indecisive scrolling), several movies and TV shows are taken away, spirited into the expiration ether. Now’s the time to stop procrastinating and do a little spring queue-cleaning by watching some of these titles before they disappear — possibly for good. Read on for a full list of what’s expiring from Netflix Instant in April.

Just as Netflix decided to revamp its ratings system, so too is your binge habit getting an upgrade. Users have observed a new feature that allows one to skip the opening credits of a given episode, and get straight to the good stuff.

1,083 reels of old film represent one of the great Holy Grails of movie history. They’re the unassembled components of The Other Side of the Wind, the final unfinished project of director Orson Welles. Shot over the course of many years in the 1970s, and starring a cast that included directors John Huston and Peter Bogdanovich, The Other Side of the Wind was a complex tale about an aging movie director attempting to mount a career comeback. (Surely the story had no personal resonance for Welles whatsoever.) Financial and legal troubles mounted, and Welles was unable to complete the film before he passed away in 1985. For decades, those 1,083 reels sat in a French film lab, waiting for the right team to come along and do something with them.

The SXSW Film Festival starts tomorrow(!) and to kick it off early, Netflix has premiered three whole trailers for their offerings at the fest: Everybody’s out to get Melissa Leo, Jake Johnson goes on a desperate gambling spree, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau just can’t catch a break.

Unless your name happens to be Kathryn Bigelow (and if it is, then may I say that it’s a pleasure, Ms. Bigelow, big Point Break fan), Hollywood has had a lot of trouble figuring out how to portray the Global War on Terror. The odd movies that have succeeded critically or financially — Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper — take an ambivalent stance on a complicated and nuanced geopolitical situation, but many more have attempted the same and floundered. So it’s with memories of the high-profile failure of one-time Oscar hopeful Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk that we greet the trailer for War Machine, Netflix’s latest foray into this risky genre.

Netflix’s GLOW hasn’t yet set an official 2017 premiere date, but the new wrestling comedy from Orange Is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan with star Alison Brie is starting to pipe its entrance music. See for yourself in a first teaser for the new series, promising the arrival of some gorgeous ladies.

Last month, it was revealed that Academy Award-nominated director Asghar Farhadi would probably not be able to attend this year’s ceremony due to President Donald Trump’s travel ban. After careful consideration, Farhadi decided to skip the Oscars regardless of the circumstances, noting that any possible exception made for him would be accompanied by “ifs and buts which are in no way acceptable.” While people quickly arranged protest screenings of Farhadi’s The Salesman around the country, his circumstances served as a frightening preview of how even prominent artists from around the world could be treated until the new immigration guidelines.

January’s almost over, and when the calendar rolls over to February, there will be a whole new batch of movies and TV shows coming to Netflix for your streaming pleasure. This month’s highlights include a few big recent premieres (like Pixar’s latest hit, Finding Dory), and a few big Netflix Originals (like the new series Santa Clarita Diet starring Drew Barrymore). The recent Sundance hit I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore shows up next month, and if you’re looking for something to watch on Valentine’s day there’s also a “big, sexy” special starring Michael Bolton. There’s no way that could work out badly for you.