Weekend Watchlist, 7/11: Sci-fi, animated heroes, and Mario Kart-style racing

Plus, a tease for Taskmaster Series 20

Happy Friday, PV Guide readers! I hope you have a great weekend ahead of you.

Every Friday, I’m recommending a few great things to watch that the algorithm might not be pushing at you right now, with a focus on variety, so every reader can find something they’re interested in. The Weekend Watchlist will always be 100% free. (But I have just opened up PV Guide’s Premium Tier, for those interested in supporting this work!)

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It’s another busy week for new-on-streaming arrivals: Wes Anderson’s new movie The Phoenician Scheme is now available to rent at home (as is Karate Kid: Legends), while David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds hits the Criterion Channel (more on that in a bit). Three more new genre movies also make their streaming debuts: Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon’s fun phone thriller Drop (on Peacock), Paul W.S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich’s George R.R. Martin adaptation In the Lost Lands (Hulu, delayed from last week), and journalist/cult thriller Opus, starring The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri (HBO Max). I’ll likely be watching both The Phoenician Scheme and Opus this weekend.

This past week, I watched Thunderbolts*, Head of State, a few episodes of the new season of The Bear, and rewatched I, Tonya. Thunderbolts* was the highlight there (which caught me by surprise!) but stay tuned for a project involving I, Tonya.

Time for the weekend recommendations! For an apéritif this week, please enjoy the cast announcement for Taskmaster Series 20.

The Shrouds

If you like: David Cronenberg, movies about grief with a sense of humor, bizarre sci-fi
Watch at: Criterion Channel
Watch trailer here

Number four on my mid-year best of 2025 so far list, The Shrouds made its streaming debut this week on the Criterion Channel. Maybe it always is appropriate, but now feels like a particularly good time to make space for a movie about grief. As I wrote in the list:

A darkly funny sci-fi from noted weirdo David Cronenberg about grief and technology, following a man who responds to his wife’s death by inventing a way to monitor the remains of departed loved ones 24/7, and the ways that tech and obsession might be warped and abused.

My Adventures with Superman

If you like: Superman, anime, old school meets new school
Watch at: HBO Max
Watch trailer here

There’s a new Superman movie out this week, and a lot of the discussion has revolved around a return to a more “optimistic” Superman story. (As a Man of Steel defender, I reject this framing, but I digress.) I haven’t seen the new Superman yet, but the animated show My Adventures with Superman hits that spot perfectly, a sort of “What if Superman was Sailor Moon?” experiment that earns its spot in the group of the best Superman adaptations. It challenges expectations of what Superman (and Lois! and Jimmy Olson!) can be, knows when to tug at the heartstrings, and looks really good while doing it.

Megavalanche 2025

If you like: Racing, biking in the snow, impressive POV videos
Watch at: The YouTube embed above!

I’ve been waking up early every morning for the Tour de France (highly recommend), and it’s got me in a cycling kind of mood. A friend posted this POV video from mountain biker Killian Bron’s run at this year’s Megavalanche, a yearly race down the French alps that looks like pure chaos.

The start down the steep snow-covered decline is mesmerizing, and the first-person perspective really gets across the high speeds the riders are going at (and the grunts in the audio reveal the effort involved). But my favorite part of this race is that the riders are allowed “to progress down the mountain by any reasonable means,” which means creative, Mario-Kart style shortcuts (but no blue shells, of course).