Feeling like a binge weekend? Liam Maguren combs through Neon’s extensive library for the best TV series and film collections you can blast through in 48 hours.
The Back to the Future trilogy
We’re basically obliged to include the classic Robert Zemeckis trilogy. Whether you’re due for a rewatch or have yet to experience this pop culture-defining set of films (we won’t tell), this is your friendly note on the fridge that says: “Do it this weekend.”
There are two ways to go about it. You could dedicate the entire Saturday night to the first film (the most impactful one) and then do a double feature of the second and third films (they work well back-to-back). Or just watch the lot as a triple feature in one night. No choice is a bad choice.
Barry
Bill Hader’s a hitman who discovers a love for theatre in this Emmy-winning, critically-beloved HBO series. Having concluded its fourth and final season just a few months ago, now’s a great time for the uninitiated to discover what all the hype is about.
Four seasons of prestige television can seem like a lot, but unlike Better Call Saul or Succession, Barry beautifully manages to sustain its saga with half-hour episodes—eight per season. You’ll breeze through it all and will probably be aching for more.
The Biggest Films of Last Year
Catch up with some of cinema’s biggest movies from 2022 in one weekend. If you’re dedicated, you’ll want to do four movies per day in an order that gives you the best variety. Start with something fantastical, then something with a huge runtime, followed by a dumb-fun action film, and ending on a serious action film.
Saturday: start with director Olivia Wilde’s psychological mystery Don’t Worry Darling, followed by Baz Luhrmann’s 3-hour Oscar-nominated Elvis biopic, then Dwayne Johnson’s DC superhero flick Black Adam, and end with critically-acclaimed historical action drama The Woman King.
Sunday: kick it off with Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, then tackle the 3-hour DC epic The Batman, followed by goofy action flick Bullet Train, and let Top Gun Maverick be your high-flying cherry on top.
Five Bedrooms
For a cosier binge weekend, consider this lighthearted Australian series about a group of five strangers who meet at the singles table of a mutual friend’s wedding. A few too many drinks later, they find themselves in agreement: “Let’s buy a house together!” What could go wrong?
Lots can. Go figure. The real hook, however, is seeing them attempt to make this impulsive decision actually work, especially as their various love lives take shape. There are four seasons in total, eight episodes per season, running at approximately 45 minutes per ep. A breezy one to clock out in a weekend.
The Harry Potter Saga
The entire Hogwarts cinematic saga will be a trip worth revisiting not just for its over-arching story about the boy who lived, but also as a rare coming-of-age experience. Much like Richard Linklater’s masterful Boyhood, watching all the Harry Potters back-to-back feels like traversing the entire 2000s from childhood to adulthood.
You can cover seven years of Hogwarts across a single weekend. Do the first four films on Saturday then the last four on Sunday.
The Jurassic Saga
All six Jurassic films are ready to binge on Neon. That’s three decades of blockbuster cinema, 65 million years in the making (according to the tagline). And you can fit them into a weekend.
This one divides nicely into eras. On Saturday, you’ll want to do the Park trilogy: Jurassic Park, The Lost World & Jurassic Park III. Then on Sunday, jump into the World trilogy: Jurassic World, Fallen Kingdom & Dominion.
Mare of Easttown
This critically acclaimed HBO crime mystery centres on a murder within a small Pennsylvanian town—a killing that reveals a dark side to a seemingly close community—and the investigating detective whose own life is on the brink of collapse.
Nominated for a ridiculous number of Emmys, the series scored three for its actors. Unsurprisingly, one went to the ever-reliable Kate Winslet in the lead role, supported by fellow winners Julianne Nicholson (I, Tonya) and Evan Peters (American Animals). With seven episodes clocking in at an hour each, this one’s very doable in the weekend.
The Rialto Collection
There are a heap of film festival gems awaiting you in the Rialto Collection. You could do all seven films in any order you like, but we recommend the following…
Start your Saturday with The Worst Person in the World, a not-your-average-rom-com crowdpleaser following four years in the life of a young woman struggling to achieve a solid love-career balance. Then do Gold, an Aussie survival thriller starring Zac Efron and the titular nugget he cannot leave behind. Stay in Australia for Nitram, a grim depiction of the moments leading to one of the country’s darkest days. Then end the day on Titane, our Palme d’Or-winning favourite film of 2021—you’ll want the night to mull on that one.
Sunday will be a smoother day if you choose to start with ruminative sci-fi After Yang. Follow that up with true refugee story Flee, the only film to be nominated for Best Animated Feature, Documentary and International Feature at the Academy Awards. It lost the International Feature Oscar to your final film of the day, Drive My Car which, at three hours long, will have you gently reflecting on the crossroads of grief, translations, art, and love.
Sharp Objects
Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson deliver Emmy-nominated performances in this eight-part adaptation of Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn’s novel. Sadly the last directed work of the late, great Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club), the story centres on a troubled crime reporter (Adams) who reluctantly returns to her small hometown to investigate the murder of two young girls. Worst still, she has to reunite with her vicious mother (Clarkson).
The series delves heavily into abuse and mental illness—hefty subject matter that finds lightness through Flynn’s signature wit, a crafty mystery, and Vallée’s skillful, seductive, scathing portrayal of rural America. Space the episodes out evenly over the weekend to fully absorb the experience.
Station Eleven
Nominated for seven Emmys, this bold saga takes the draining post-apocalypse genre to a captivatingly unique territory. Guided by the wonderfully weird hand of director Hiro Murai (Atlanta), the series jumps across timelines and characters to depict humanity’s attempt at rebirth after a pandemic almost renders them extinct.
An adaptation of Emily St John Mandel’s novel, this miniseries defies a traditional structure. Episode one will put you right in the middle of the apocalypse. The second sends you way into the future. The third shoots you back in the past with some seemingly unrelated people. As a weekly watch, it can leave you puzzled and frustrated for a long time. If you binge it however, five episodes per day of the weekend, then seeing everything connect will make for a deeply satisfying experience.
Watchmen
Alan Moore’s game-changing graphic novel may be unfilmable (sorry, Snyder) but not un-TV-able as Damon Lindelof’s Emmy-collecting series proved. Using the original source material as a jumping-off point, HBO’s Watchmen channels the spirit of Moore’s creation by compiling a whole new set of contemporary cultural complexities.
It’s tough viewing but very doable over a weekend, telling its story over the course of nine episodes—roughly one hour per ep.
White House Plumbers
A lot’s been done with Nixon and Watergate. This HBO miniseries chooses instead to focus on the two geniuses assigned to pull off the scandal, only to inadvertently destroy their President’s shot at re-election.
The fun kind of history lesson, this political satire runs at a digestible five episodes. Powered by a bunch of A-list stars, the miniseries gets most of its fuel from Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux as the titular goobers largely responsible for one of the biggest moments in the history of American politics.
Yellowstone
After four-and-a-half seasons of juggernaut television, you’re probably well aware of this modern-day Western saga led by Kevin Costner. But if you’ve never seen it, can you really binge it all in a weekend? I’ve done the maths, and technically speaking, you absolutely can.
We’re talking 47 episodes with a total runtime of 2358 minutes. Just under 40 hours. Plan it out with snack breaks, coffee stops, and tactical naps, and you’re ready for a 48-hour binging of one of the biggest shows of the past decade. Worth considering catching up on before the final episodes of the series arrive.
ZeroZeroZero
If you’re jonesing for a crime-thriller fix, you’ll want a gram of this grimy dive into the global cocaine trade. Headlined by Andrea Riseborough (Possessor) and Dane DeHaan (Chronicle), ZeroZeroZero also boasts some commendable names behind the camera with renowned author Roberto Saviano (who wrote the novel) and co-creators Leonardo Fasoli and Stefano Sollima (best known for their work on the Gomorrah series).
The eight-part, globe-trotting series can be cut nicely into four episodes on either day of the weekend. By the end, you’ll feel like you’ve been on an OE. A very tense, very grim OE.
