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What to Watch on TV and at the Movies This Week

Angelina Jolie directs Salma Hayek in a new drama, Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe team up for a Depression-era heist, and Jay-Z opens up to Rick Rubin

Tracey Minkin,

Updated September 17, 2026

AARP

Updated September 17, 2026

Salma Hayek in a scene from Without Blood

Salma Hayek stars in "Without Blood," a new film directed by Angelina Jolie, that opens in theaters this weekend.

Brainstorm Media/Courtesy Everett Collection

What’s on this week? Whether it’s what’s on cable, streaming on Prime Video or Netflix, or opening at your local movie theater, we’ve got your must-watch list. Start with TV and scroll down for movies. It’s all right here. (And speaking of TV, don’t miss our fall 2026 TV preview!)

Tired of the rising cost of streaming services? We’ve got you covered with our new monthly watchlist: The Best Movies and Shows to Stream for Free in September.

The Detour With David Chang (CNN)

Hop in the car with the acclaimed chef, restaurateur and author as he embarks on a six-episode, no-frills road trip around the country in search of unforgettable eats the old-fashioned way: ignoring the algorithm and social media, instead asking friends and locals where the good food is. Chang’s charisma, knowledge and passion for food makes this the feel-good watch of the season.

Watch it: The Detour With David Chang, Sept. 20, 9 p.m. ET/PT on CNN, CNN.com, on demand next day on CNN.com and the CNN app

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Youth, Season 1 (HBO/HBO Max)

Ready for a sandwich-generation romantic comedy series with some sex sprinkled in? Created by and starring Irish actor, writer and comedian Sharon Horgan, 56 (Bad Sisters), Youth chronicles the exploits of a 50-year-old divorcée (Horgan), whose search for sex and love is complicated by having to juggle parenting her should-be-grown-up son and caring for her ailing parents.

Watch it: Youth, Sept. 20, 10 p.m. ET on HBO/HBO Max

Line of Fire (NBC/Peacock)

The family that evades death together stays together. In the new series from the creator of Quantico, a Secret Service agent (Peter Krause, 61) and his U.S. Marshal wife (Hope Davis, 62), along with their three grown children, who are also in law enforcement, become the targets of a mysterious assassin.

Watch it: Line of Fire, Sept. 21, 10 p.m. ET / 9 p.m. CT on NBC, next day on Peacock

Brothers (Apple TV)

What happens when Matthew McConaughey, 56, and Woody Harrelson, 65, learn that they might actually be long-lost brothers? In this absurd new meta-comedy, the actors play amplified versions of themselves bonding at McConaughey’s Austin ranch as he considers a run for Texas’s governorship while Harrelson grapples with the fallout of unearthed family secrets. Bonus: The inimitable Holland Taylor, 83, plays Ma Mac, McConaughey’s loose-lipped mother.

Watch it: Brothers, Sept. 23 on Apple TV

JAŸ-Z in 8 (HBO/HBO Max)

The last time famed music producer Rick Rubin, 63, sat down in front of the cameras for a multi-episode deep chat with a musician, it was with Sir Paul McCartney in 2021. This time he settles in with artist, philanthropist and entrepreneur Jay-Z, 56, a longtime friend, for eight episodes of probing conversations about Jay-Z’s life and remarkable career. Like in the McCartney doc, the pair listen to cuts together and discuss them in detail: a huge bonus for music fans.

Watch it: JAŸ-Z in 8, Sept. 18, 8 p.m. ET on HBO/HBO Max

Your Netflix Watch of the Week is here!

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story

Every former schoolkid knows the dark nursery rhyme about the 19th-century murderer Lizzie Borden having an axe and giving her father 40 whacks. Well, now Borden’s got her very own season of Ryan Murphy’s lurid Monster series, following in the bloody footsteps of previous subjects Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Gein and the Menendez brothers. Ella Beatty (daughter of A-list parents Warren Beatty and Annette Bening) plays the notorious Lizzie. The eight-episode series also stars Sarah Paulson, 51, Vicky Krieps, Charlie Hunnam and Rebecca Hall.

Watch it: Monster: The Lizzy Borden Story, Sept. 17 on Netflix

Don't miss this: The Best Things Coming to Netflix This Month

Your Prime Video Watch of the Week is here!

You + Me — Against the World (2026)

A French YA bestseller inspired this film about a privileged young woman (Vittoria di Savoia) who defies her parents’ desire that she study law to pursue her real passion: filmmaking. She’s paired on a student project with a hunky young rebel (Lucas Barski) with whom sparks fly — first in anger and then in romance. But their budding relationship is threatened by a mysterious stalker because all YA romances these days seem to require an element of danger.

Watch it: You + Me — Against the World, Sept. 18 on Prime Video

Don’t miss this: The Best Things Coming to Prime Video this Month

New at the movies this week

**⭐⭐⭐☆☆ The Musical, NR**

Drama teacher Doug (Stereophonic’s Tony winner Will Brill) is dying the death of a thousand paper cuts. The balding schlemiel believes he’s New York playwright material, but for now, he’s trapped in a hell of his own making, surrounded by his chirpy students. To add insult to injury, fellow teacher Abigail (Community’s Gillian Jacobs) has dumped him for the smarmy principal, Brady (Rob Lowe, 62, as a delicious comic villain). Doug’s revenge? Staging a jaw-droppingly inappropriate original musical in order to embarrass his romantic rival. The dark comedy earns extra points for those theater nerds, me included, who love a movie with a quirky school play as a climactic set piece (Jersey Girls’ wildly inappropriate Sweeney Todd or Rushmore’s ridiculous original musical Serpico). While The Musical’s comic reach may a bit limited — like a theater set model — it still has charm aplenty. Keep an eye on its young cast; there’s a lot of talent in those wings. —Thelma M. Adams

Watch it: The Musical, Sept. 18 in theaters

**⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ The Weight, R**

This Depression-era prison caper is as old-timey and lovingly worn as a used flannel shirt. It pairs two terrific actors — Ethan Hawke, 55, as Samuel Murphy, an incarcerated war veteran and single father, and Russell Crowe, 62, as the wily Oregon hard-labor camp warden Clancy, who’s been known to bend a rule or two. Clancy promises Murphy an early release and the return of his daughter before she’s put up for adoption if the prisoner will just do one tiny, absolutely crazy, theft. So Murphy leads a group of prisoners into the Pacific Northwest to steal a massive number of government gold bricks and carry them through more than 100 miles of wilderness over six days. The film casts the challenge as a Jack London sort of adventure, as Hawke (in a gripping performance) and his inmate helpers struggle through the forest, each revealing their true colors. Stir in Julia Jones as an indigenous woman who brings a cool head and much-needed skills to the quest, plus Crowe offering strong supporting-actor chops without upstaging Hawke, and the result is pleasing action-adventure night at the movies. The Weight may not break any boundaries, but it’s sure-footed and satisfying. —Thelma M. Adams

Watch it: The Weight, Sept. 18 in theaters

**⭐⭐☆☆☆ Without Blood, NR**

The legacy of war looms large in the films of Angelina Jolie, 51. Her latest, adapted from a novella by Alessandro Baricco, 68, depicts a reunion of two individuals years after the violent conflict that ripped apart their unnamed country. Salma Hayek, 60, is an enigmatic woman who seeks out a newsstand operator (Demián Bichir, 63) she has been seeking for years. Does she want revenge on the man who as a 17-year-old soldier was part of the armed gang that brutally killed her physician father and young brother? Or to reconnect with the young man who spared her life after he discovered her under the floorboards, blood dripping onto her ankle? Despite moments of visual flair, Jolie’s film gets bogged down by a series of lethargic, his-and-hers flashbacks. —Thom Geier

Watch it: Without Blood, Sept. 18 in theaters

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**⭐⭐☆☆☆ The Fix, R**

Late-era Liam Neeson, 74, is all about leading driving, violent, propulsive — and addictive — action movies like Taken or Run All Night. It has been a financially successful career transition, and those hoping The Fix will follow that now familiar formula are in for a bait and switch. While Neeson’s Larry has a bigger spot on the promotional poster, it is Zachari Levi (star of NBC’s cult sitcom Chuck) who actually headlines the thriller. His character guides a band of disillusioned ex-CIA operatives on an illegal mission to the heart of Tehran to unearth a big score hidden there. It recalls better movies with bigger-than-life warriors in search of spoils like Kelly’s Heroes and Three Kings, but Levi lacks the charisma to hold the center. Neeson offers strong support in all his scenes, but there just aren’t enough of them. —Thelma M. Adams

Watch it: The Fix, in theaters

**⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ Practical Magic 2, PG-13**

A long time in coming, this sequel actually bests the comfort-food 1998 original. Adapted from the 1995 bestseller by Alice Hoffman, it’s all-out girl-power fantasy fun. Guided by supremely talented director Susanne Bier, 66, from a confident script that honors the past without embalming it, the movie reunites witchy siblings Sally (Sandra Bullock, 62) and Gillian (Nicole Kidman, 59) and their eccentric aunts, Jet (Dianne Wiest, 78) and Franny (Stockard Channing, 82). Stir in Sally’s 20-something daughters, Antonia (Maisie Williams) and Kylie (Joey King), and the Owens clan of New England witches has a new goal: to liberate subsequent generations from the family curse so that the youngsters can experience romantic love. The task won’t be easy. Sally, with two husbands in the grave, has renounced magic and kept her daughters in the dark about their powers. But, in the end, the family rises to a challenge that demands they work together. The result is enchanting — and a great comeback for Bullock, a movie star who lights up the camera in every scene. —Thelma M. Adams

Watch it: Practical Magic 2, in theaters

Don’t miss this: Fall Movie Preview 2026: 20 Films We Can’t Wait to See

Tracey Minkin is a writer and editor for Coastal Living, Veranda, Southern Living, Travel+Leisure, Outside, Food & Wine, Men’s Journal and AARP.

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