‘Andor,’ ‘You,’ ‘Havoc,’ ‘Babygirl,’ and the best to stream this weekend — plus ‘A Minecraft Movie’ surprise
Welcome to the Gold Ticket, your VIP guide to the best of award-worthy pop culture for the weekend ahead, curated by the Gold Derby team of experts. (April 25 - April 27)
The main stream
It's time to get (back) to that galaxy far, far away.
This week, Andor, the Rogue One prequel created by Tony Gilroy, returns for its highly anticipated second season, more than two years after the show's acclaimed debut. Unfortunately, it is also the show's final season, as the 2023 Emmy nominee for Best Drama Series is quickly hurtling toward the climactic events of Rogue One, and thus also the events of A New Hope. Diego Luna returns as rebel spy Cassian Andor in the new season, which centers on a planet unlucky enough to house mineral deposits the Empire needs.
The 12-episode season covers several years as it unspools its story over four weeks, in three-episode chunks. This storytelling format makes the show something of the anti-The Pitt, going through time faster than most shows that don't involve a TARDIS ever do. But the show, with its increasingly timely story about resistance and excellent performances from its strong supporting cast, remains the best Star Wars series to date, thus making Andor the awards contender to watch this weekend.
Of course, if the expansive sci-fi franchise isn't for you, other contenders include:
Étoile: Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino's follow-up to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has more in common with Bunheads, the former's short-lived ballet-themed dramedy, than the Amazon comedy series (however, Emmy winner Luke Kirby is once again along for the ride). In the first season (a second has already been ordered), two prestigious ballet companies — one headed by Kirby's Jack McMillan and one presided over by Charlotte Gainsbourg's Geneviève Lavigne — agree to swap their stars in order to save both companies from dire financial straits. You might have to read some subtitles, but all eight episodes are now streaming on Prime Video.
You: Given his dangerous (and frequently bloody) extracurricular activities, Joe Goldberg’s (Penn Badgley) longevity is pretty dang remarkable. But when you consider that this Netflix series was originally a small Lifetime drama, it's even more impressive that he's embarking on his fifth season of obsessive shenanigans. In the final batch of episodes, Joe returns to New York only to find himself confronted by his past. Surely nothing will go wrong. All 10 episodes are now streaming on Netflix.
Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life: Two-time Best Comedy Supporting Actor Emmy winner Brett Goldstein takes the stage in this new stand-up special, reminding us he's more than just Ted Lasso's Roy Kent as he tackles everything from Sesame Street to sex to masculinity. The comedy special airs Saturday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and Max.
Home movies
Pour yourself a glass of milk — or better yet, have someone else order one for you — and settle in to watch A24’s Babygirl, our top movie to stream this week. Nicole Kidman won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at Venice and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance. The Oscar- and Emmy-winning actress plays Romy, a high-powered CEO of a tech company who embarks on a risky, kinky affair with Samuel (Harris Dickinson), an intern at her company who is 25 years younger than her. The film, from director Halina Reijn, has sophisticated ideas about power dynamics and sexual desire, but still manages to hit the scandalous beats of an erotic thriller. It’s not like other movies, not even A Family Affair, the other 2024 movie where a character played by Nicole Kidman has an affair with a younger man. Babygirl is now streaming on Max.
If you’re lactose intolerant, here are some other movies to stream or watch on video-on-demand:
Havoc: Action maestro Gareth Evans (The Raid) directs this brutally violent and visceral crime thriller that’s now streaming on Netflix. Tom Hardy, doing what sounds like a New York accent, stars as a jaded detective in the pocket of a crooked politician (Forest Whitaker). When a drug deal goes wrong, he has to go into the city’s criminal underworld to find the politician’s son. The plot is standard stuff, but Evans’ involvement means the action is anything but. No one outside of Indonesia does it like him. The cast also includes one of Netflix’s homegrown stars, Shadow and Bone’s Jessie Mei Li, plus Luis Guzman and Timothy Olyphant.
Freaky Tales: This genre-blending action comedy is writer-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s love letter to late-’80s Oakland. Five freaky tales from the Town unfold anthology style, intersecting in unexpected ways, as punks from Berkeley, rappers from East Oakland, and Golden State Warriors point guard Sleepy Floyd (Jay Ellis) battle Nazis. The cast includes Oakland icons like running back-turned-comedy actor Marshawn Lynch, rapper Too $hort, the late Euphoria star Angus Cloud, and one very special surprise guest whose cameo we won’t spoil. It’s steeped in nostalgia for a wild time in a unique town, and it’s a ton of fun even if you don’t know what a sideshow is. It’s available on VOD platforms like Amazon (and also still in theaters).
Ash: Eventually this mind-bending film will be on Shudder, but right now it’s on VOD, where you can get tripped out for $19.99. Electronic musician Flying Lotus directs this sci-fi horror freakout, which stars Eiza Gonzalez as an astronaut named Riya. She has amnesia, and the rest of her crew is dead. A man named Brion (Aaron Paul) says he knows her and has been sent to save her, but she doesn’t know if she can trust him. It’s cosmic psychological horror influenced by John Carpenter, David Lynch, and survival horror video games.
Azrael: Another interesting horror experiment, Azrael is now streaming on Hulu. Samara Weaving stars in this dialogue-free post-apocalyptic thriller as a woman who is captured by a mute cult that plans to sacrifice her to the demons that have wandered the Earth since the rapture. She escapes, and fights back. She may not have a voice, but she lets other things do the talking. The SXSW and Overlook Film Festival favorite is directed by E.L. Katz (Channel Zero: The Dream Door) and filmed in the forests of northern Estonia.
Rewind of the week
While 1993's Tombstone had a tepid reception among critics, the outlaw tale about the Earp brothers gang had a solid box-office run and is now considered a cult classic. As the soulful, doomed Doc Holliday, the late Val Kilmer outshone a formidable cast that included Kurt Russell, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, and Charlton Heston — and while Kilmer might not have beaten eventual Best Supporting Actor winner Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive), the delivery of the line "I'm your huckleberry" alone deserved to put Kilmer in the conversation. A 4K Ultra HD version of the film arrived on digital this week, available at Apple, Prime Video, and the usual platforms, with bonus features that include a making-of featurette, director's storyboards, and all the original trailers and TV spots.
Inside the blockbuster of the year
Go deep inside the year's No. 1 movie with A Minecraft Movie: From Block to Big Screen (available at Amazon and other booksellers). Loaded with behind-the-scenes photos, concept art, and interviews with the creative team, including director Jared Hess and stars Jack Black and Jason Momoa, the book details how filmmakers translated the hugely popular video game into the biggest box-office — and social media — hit of 2025. Check out some exclusive pages from the book below, including how the prop master created an edible chicken leg and a playable instruments in the game's blocky aesthetic, and how producers picked apart the design elements ("the moss is too furry," "these characters are too scary") with one major exception: "When we got to the chicken jockey," recounts executive producer Cate Adams, "they just stopped and said, ‘THAT is amazing.’”
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