You Need to Check Out 'The Bad Batch,' 'GLOW,' and More This Weekend

Looking for some stuff to catch up on this weekend? Whether it's TV, movies, books, or anything in between—VICE has you covered. Read on for our staff recommendations on what to take in during your downtime:

A cannibalistic desert odyssey that's equal parts funny, gruesome, and strangely heartwarming, Ana Lily Amirpour's VICE-produced follow-up to her 2014 debut A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a desert odyssey that carries strains of the surrealism embraced by legendary filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky, as well as the austere violence of Nicolas Winding Refn's work—but it's totally it's own thing, which makes it more than worth watching. Trust us on this one: You gotta see it for yourself.

Sure, The Beguiled has plenty of strikes against it, such as the controversy surrounding Sofia Coppola's decision to not include a slave named Hallie in her remake or the truly terrible social media campaign. But the Civil War drama is certainly worth a watch, especially for the dreamy visuals and strong acting. As expected from a Sofia Coppola movie, the shots are gorgeous and unforgettable—each dinner scene, every time the girls are lined up in a row—and boost the engaging narrative of an injured Union soldier stumbling into a girls' school. Nicole Kidman and Kristen Dunst are as good as usual but it's Colin Farrell who steals the show as his charm and "darlin'"s turn into unhinged rage. -- Pilot Viruet, Associate Culture Editor

Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch's GLOW might be the most promising debut all year. Set in the 1980s, GLOW is a fictionalized story of Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, the women's wrestling promotion that capitalized on the success of the still-booming WWE (then WWF). It could just go the straightforward route of following a ragtag team of weirdos as they face obstacles and beat the odds—and it certainly does occasionally follow these familiar beats. But GLOW also zigs and zags throughout, throwing in genuinely surprising twists (and some predictable ones, but that's par for the course) while finding realistic and creative character motivations. The entire season goes by too quickly (it's built for a binge-watch, and the one break I took was an excruciating wait), but it ends on a note that literally had me clapping. I finished it yesterday; I can't wait to watch it again tomorrow. -- PV

It's the book that anyone who ever listened to the Strokes is talking about: Lizzy Goodman's extremely comprehensive oral history of the 00s NYC rock scene is hilarious, sordid, fascinating, and infuriating—all at once. The best music history books serve the dual purpose of creating new myths while slaying the ones that were previously lying around, and by that measure Meet Me in the Bathroom is more than a success. It'll inspire plenty of discussion and debating, and if you're a certain age, it might just provide a nostalgia trip, too. -- Larry Fitzmaurice, Senior Culture Editor, Digital

Romantic comedies aren't my favorite genre, but even I couldn't resist The Big Sick. Co-written by real couple Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, and loosely based on their own relationship, The Big Sick might be my favorite movie I've seen all year. It gives the couple real obstacles—her terrifying sickness, his parents' disapproval—that give the audience real reasons to root for them. Even when I expected the movie to sag (Emily, played by Zoe Kazan, is in a medically induced coma for a long portion of it), Emily's parents (Ray Romano and Holly Hunter) pop up to keep everything going, adding a new dimension (and some of the movie's best scenes) to the entire story. -- PV