October is usually the time for scary movies, but sometimes, you need a break from boogeymen and spooky ghosts.
That’s why Watch With Us has whipped up a weekend Prime Video and Peacock watchlist devoid of any horror films.
While Steven Spielberg’s latest picture, Disclosure Day, has some terrifying moments, it’s mostly a thrilling sci-fi adventure starring Emily Blunt as a woman investigating an alien conspiracy.
We also recommend watching American Fiction, an Oscar-winning comedy with Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K. Brown, and A View to a Kill, an unintentional comedy featuring Roger Moore as James Bond.
‘Disclosure Day’ (2026)
When Kansas City meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) suddenly spouts gibberish while on air, most people chalk it up to exhaustion. But cybersecurity expert Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) instantly recognizes her words belong to an ancient alien language that he believes the U.S. government has covered up over the years. As Margaret begins to develop strange new abilities, she realizes she’s part of a conspiracy that could uncover the existence of extraterrestrial life— or doom humanity as we know it.
Although it received mixed reviews when it was released this past summer, Disclosure Day has more than enough good qualities to make it worth a weekend watch. Even B-tier Steven Spielberg beats most of the A-list directors out there, and he once again shows a gift for weaving together a compelling sci-fi narrative with relatable characters and some thrilling action scenes. Blunt is terrific as a woman who uncovers some shocking secrets about her past that could have global implications, while O’Connor is solid as a tech nerd whose wildest conspiracy theories are proven right before his eyes.
Disclosure Day is streaming on Peacock.
‘American Fiction’ (2023)
Monk Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) is an acclaimed writer with a big problem — no one is buying what he’s selling. In a marketplace that prioritizes soft clichés and easy stereotypes, his intellectually challenging fiction doesn’t have a lot of buyers. With his elderly mother’s hospital bills mounting, he invents a pseudonym, Stagg R. Leigh, and writes a phony tell-all memoir, My Pafology, that includes all the offensive Black literature tropes he abhors. To his surprise, the novel is a hit, and Leigh becomes an in-demand author. Monk has finally achieved the commercial success he’s only dreamed about, but can he accept the fact that the public only wants offensive material that goes against everything he stands for?
Directed by Cord Jefferson, who won an Oscar for his adapted screenplay, American Fiction is a scathing indictment of how the media industry consumes and warps Black culture. Monk is demanding and snobbish, but he’s also right in wanting to challenge an audience that thinks it’s liberal but really is comfortable with stereotypes that are, at best, outdated, and worse, racist. The film is also very funny in its skewering of the publishing and film industries and their all-consuming need for content — the right kind of content, that is.
American Fiction is streaming on Prime Video.
‘A View to a Kill’ (1985)
James Bond (Roger Moore) has encountered all kinds of mad men over the years, but is he ready for someone truly scary, like a tech bro? In A View to a Kill, 007 travels to San Francisco to investigate Maz Zorin (Christopher Walken), a Silicon Valley tycoon who has been selling microchips to the Russians. Zorin’s plans involve more than that, though, which is why Bond has to stop him before the entire city is destroyed by Zorin’s evil intentions. Standing in his way is the intimidating May Day (Grace Jones), Zorin’s personal bodyguard, who is capable of bending men to her will in every sense of the word.
Often considered one of the worst James Bond films ever made, A View to a Kill is best enjoyed as camp rather than a straightforward spy picture. Everything about this film is just wrong, from the near-elderly Moore and his obvious hairpiece to a constantly screaming Tanya Roberts as the beautiful but very dumb Bond girl, Stacey Sutton. (Was “Shoutsa Lott” unavailable as a name?) But damn it, you can’t say this movie isn’t entertaining to watch, especially when Walken, with his slicked-back, bleached blond hair, and Jones, who glares magnificently, are on the screen. One thing that’s genuinely good about A View to a Kill is Duran Duran’s synth-heavy title song, which was the first title tune to reach No. 1 on the music charts.
A View to a Kill is streaming on Prime Video.
