Weekend Watchlist, 7/17: Journey
What to watch this weekend
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Here are this week’s picks.
A Sam Neill movie
The wonderful actor and friend of farm animals Sam Neill died this week, leaving behind an enormous legacy and leading to an outpouring of love for him and his work. Watch one of his projects this weekend! You’ve got your blockbuster classics like Jurassic Park and The Hunt for Red October, excellent horror movies like Possession, In the Mouth of Madness, and Event Horizon, or something else entirely – we’re in the midst of watching his Merlin mini-series and having an absolute blast. Watch one of his movies (my highest recommendations go to In the Mouth of Madness and Possession) and take a selfie with a pig this weekend.
An Odyssey of some variety
The big movie event of the week – of the summer, of the year – is Christopher Nolan’s massive epic adaptation of The Odyssey. So why not watch your own Odyssey this week? Some obvious examples: other adaptations like O Brother Where Art Thou, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (yes, really!), or the NBC mini-series production from the team that made the Sam Neill-starring Merlin.
But what is an Odyssey anyway? I think you can stretch most adventure movies to fit the definition. So consider Labyrinth, or Time Bandits, or the Lord of the Rings, or something entirely different! The Criterion Channel has a whole collection of them. Or go on a long walk somewhere you’ve never been before! Just go on a journey this weekend, with or without a movie.
The Tour de France
Where to watch: Peacock
We’re in the thick of the Tour de France, and unfortunately the drama for the leader’s jersey this year is very minimal. Four-time champion Tadej Pogacar is all but certain to become five-time champion Tadej Pogacar, and while Jonas Vingegaard can’t catch him, no one else can catch Vingegaard for second. But fear not: the biggest mountain stages are coming, and the race for the third and final spot on the podium should be quite exciting.
Seven riders are within three-and-a-half minutes of each other for third, with four riders (Red Bull’s Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz, Lidl-Trek’s Juan Ayuso, and Decathlon’s French wunderkind Paul Seixas) are all within a minute of each other. Lipowitz and Evenepoel finished third in the last two Tours, but now have to navigate being teammates (and, therefore, who gets priority). Ayuso was previously Pogacar’s teammate, but after a lot of 2025 drama is now the leader for his own team. Seixas is France’s next great hope for their first Tour de France win since 1985 – at just 19, this is his first Tour. There's also the race for the green jersey (the competition for the sprinters), where four riders (led by Ayuso's teammate Mads Pedersen) are within 50 points of each other. Maybe not anything could happen, but there’s still fun drama on the cards.
