What to Watch on Streaming This Week: September 2-8

Including the premiere of Amazon's 'Lord of the Rings' series, 'Elvis', and plenty of other fascinating new titles.

Robert Aramayo as Elrond and Morfydd Clark as Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Ben Rothstein/Prime Video

Blockbusters and artsy films alike make this week a very interesting one for the streaming landscape. Between one of summer’s hottest movies, a sexy new thriller series, and a new journey in Middle Earth, these movies and shows look to be the talk of the town. Make the most of your three day weekend by streaming these titles!

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What to watch on Netflix

If Beale Street Could Talk

Barry Jenkins’ stunningly romantic follow up to Best Picture winner Moonlight arrives on streaming again this week. If Beale Street Could Talk is based on the James Baldwin novel of the same name, centering on a young Black couple in 1970s New York City. They deal with housing discrimination, racist harassment, and wrongful convictions, but their love for each other and their growing family keeps them afloat. It’s a uniquely beautiful film that garnered Regina King the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and everyone should spend some time in the magnificent world that Jenkins created here. If Beale Street Could Talk became available to stream at the start of the month.

https://youtu.be/ScEl_smzT3A

Devil in Ohio

For your weekly true crime fix, Devil in Ohio checks plenty of buzzy boxes. An adaptation of a novel based on real events, this thrilling new limited series tells the story of a young girl who escapes a strange cult and moves in with her psychiatrist’s family. Of course, the intense, isolated community she grew up in still has a hold on her – in more ways than one. Emily Deschanel stars as the psychiatrist and matriarch of the family that becomes strained and stressed by their newest addition. Devil in Ohio premieres Friday, September 2nd.

What to watch on Hulu

Tell Me Lies

Half sexy, half sketchy, the relationship at the center of Tell Me Lies promises to be twisted and toxic. This new series follows teen “ice queen” Lucy as she tries to get a fresh start in her first year at college. However, her plans of self-discovery are upended when she meets the mysterious but magnetic upperclassman, Stephen. They embark on a dramatic, gripping love story that lasts years, but is not without its consequences. Secrets, betrayals, and suspicions follow them at every turn, making this show one that promises to be a real treat. Tell Me Lies premieres Wednesday, September 7th.

What to watch on Amazon Prime

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

With House of the Dragon premiering just last month, could fantasy fans possibly be spoiled by another blockbuster series? Turns out they can! After years of development and plenty of secrecy, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres this week. The show depicts Middle Earth thousands of years before the much-loved film series, before there were any rings to be lord of. Familiar characters remain (younger versions of elves Galadriel and Elrond are central), but the show introduces a great variety of others across race, gender, and species as a looming darkness threatens to reclaim their world. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, September 1st.

What to watch on HBO Max

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair

Unsettling, inventive, and sneakily current, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair might just be the horror movie of the internet age. A lonely teenage girl opts into the World’s Fair Challenge, an online role-playing horror game that requests that players upload videos of themselves to document any changes they notice in themselves as they play along. She and countless other players provide their content for the masses, sharing their stories with the void. It’s an eerie movie that speaks to the specific kind of alienation that many of us have learned, whether from social media or the Zoom era. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair premiered at the start of the month.

Elvis

One of this summer’s biggest movies is coming to a small screen near you this week. Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis was a smash hit, with the eccentric director turning a two-and-a-half-hour movie into a glorious spectacle. The film is anchored by Luhrmann’s penchant for glitter and the visually intense, not to mention lead actor Austin Butler’s uncanny transformation into the King. It’s a fascinating dissection of an American icon (and the all-too-American greed that led to his downfall), and it’s certainly one of the more artistically engaging music biopics in recent years. Elvis premieres on streaming Friday, September 2nd.


What to Watch is a regular endorsement of movies and TV worth your streaming time.

What to Watch on Streaming This Week: September 2-8