What to Watch on TV this Weekend: Chloe's Guide

Feb. 3–Feb. 5, 2017

Her are a few suggestions for what to watch during the upcoming weekend.

Gone Girl (2014)

Friday, Feb. 3 - FX-E - 5 p.m.

Director David Fincher—the artistic genius behind Fight Club and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button—brings the story of Nick Dunne, played by Ben Affleck, who becomes the primary suspect in the sudden disappearance of his wife, Amy, played by Rosamund Pike. Set in Missouri, the film employs a liner storyline, with glimpses into the couple's past as illustrated through journal entries, written by Amy, that hold weight amid the growing tension within the Dunnes' neighborhood. Gone Girl was a commercial success, generating $369 million in the box office, which made the film Fincher's highest-grossing production. Pike's performance earned the actress nominations for an Academy Award Golden Globe Award, among others. Fincher also received a number of nominations, claiming the Critics' Choice Award.

Concussion (2015)

Saturday, Feb. 4 - Starz - 10:50 a.m.

Actor Will Smith stars as Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist who takes on the National Football League in the NFL's attempted suppression of Omalu's research on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) brain degeneration suffered by professional football players. Directed by Ridley Scott (Alien, American Gangster), the film also stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alec Baldwin and Albert Brooks.

Set in 2002, Concussion opens with former Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster, who is found dead in his pickup truck after years of self-mutilation and homelessness. Omalu, handling Webster's autopsy, is initially confounded by the details surrounding a man, other healthy and fairly young, could have degenerated in the way that Webster did. The film is based on Jeanne Marie Laskas's exposé, "Game Brain," published by GQ magazine in 2009, and grossed $48 million against a budget of $35 million.

13 Going on 30 (2004)

Sunday, Feb. 5 - FXX- 3 p.m.

Children often fantasize about their adulthood, and Gary Winick's 13 Going on 30 indulges in such speculation. Thirteen-year-old Jenna Rink dreams of being popular, but when peers attempt to humiliate her during her 13th birthday party, Jenna closes her eyes and huddles alone in her basement, wishing to be "30, flirty and thriving." But when Jenna looks upon the world again, she finds herself a few days shy of her 30th birthday, uncertain of how she got there and of the person she has become.

The film also stars Judy Greer, Andy Serkis, Kathy Baker and Mark Ruffalo as Matty, Jenny's childhood friend. Garner earned MTV Movie Awards and Teen Choice Awards nominations, and the film grossed more than $96 million in the box office.

Loving (2016)

Cox Communications On Demand

Jeff Nichols's historical drama tells the story of spouses Mildred and Richard Loving, plaintiffs in the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia, which invalidated state laws prohibiting interracial marriage. Inspired by The Loving Story (2011) by Nancy Buirski, a documentary that follows the Lovings' landmark case, the film stars Ruth Negga as Mildred and Joel Edgerton as Richard alongside actors Michael Shannon, Nick Kroll, Marton Csokas and others.

Critically acclaimed, Loving was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and has since been nominated for numerous awards, including a Golden Globe nomination for best actor for Edgerton as well as Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Negga.

Moonlight (2016)

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Moonlight sheds light on an otherwise scarcely touched subject. Directed by Barry Jenkins and based on the play "In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue" by Tarell Alvin McCraney, Moonlight follows the shy and withdrawn Chiron through three momentous and crucial chapters of the boy's life, titled "Little," "Chiron" and "Black."

Raw and capable, at time, of cutting the viewer to the bone, Moonlight carries audiences through glimpses into Chiron's complicated relationship with his drug-addicted mother (played by Naomi Harris), a father figure (Mahershala Ali) amid an otherwise fatherless existence and the companionship and intimacy that Chiron finds within Kevin, a peer that reemerges in Chiron's life throughout the film. Moonlight received eight Oscar nominations at the 89th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

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