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

Nov. 11–13, 2016

Here are a few suggestions for what to watch on the upcoming weekend.

The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)

Friday, Nov. 11- TMC- 3:55 p.m.

I, like numerous sociology students sometime between high school and college age, learned about the 1971 study centered on the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. Led by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo, participating college students adapted to their roles well beyond Zimbardo's expectations, as the "guards" enforced authoritarian measures, subjecting some of the "prisoners" to psychological torture. The study had intended to go on for two weeks, but was shut down after six days.

The 2015 film adaptation of the study stars Billy Crudup (Watchmen, Big Fish), Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, We Need to Talk about Kevin), Olivia Thirlby (Juno), Nelsan Ellis (The Help, Get On Up), Ki Hong Lee (Maze Runner), Tye Sheridan (X-Men: Apocalypse), Michael Angarano (Red State, Lords of Dogtown) and others.

Thirteen (2003)

Saturday, Nov. 12- Cinemax - 1:55 p.m.

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight, Red Riding Hood, Lords of Dogtown) and co-written by Nikki Reed (Twilight Saga), Thirteen follows the story of 13-year-old honor student Tracy (based on Reed at ages 12-13), played by Evan Rachel Wood (Across the Universe, Westworld), whose troubled home life leads to a friendship with the calculating Evie (Reed), the proverbial queen bee of Tracy's school.

Thirteen generated controversy upon its release due to its incorporation of topics such as inhalants, marijuana, alcohol, self-harm and underage, sexual behavior. The film earned Holly Hunter, who plays Tracey's mother, an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Golden Globe nominations for Hunter and Wood for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress in a Drama, respectively.

1408 (2007)

Sunday, Nov. 13 - AMC - 2:30 p.m.

The psychological horror based on Stephen King's 1999 short story of the same name stars John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack, Tony Shalhoub and Len Cariou in a plot that centers on Mike Enslin (Cusak), an author who specializes in the horror genre. His career is based on investigating allegedly haunted houses, but repeatedly dead-end studies have left him disillusioned. Enslin learns of the Dolphin Hotel in New York City, which houses the infamous room 1408, through an anonymous warning via postcard, and he decidedly books the room for one night despite warning from the hotel's manager, Gerald Olin (Jackson).

The film, which relies on psychological tension more than overt violence or gore, opened in second place at the box office during its opening weekend, grossing $20.6 million in 2,678 theaters throughout the U.S.

Finding Dory (2016)

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The long-awaited sequel to 2003's Find Nemo grossed more than $1 billion worldwide upon its release in June. The film set a number of records, including the highest-grossing animated film opening of all time in North America and emerging as the highest-grossing Pixar film release in China.

Elen Degeneres and Albert Brooks reprise their roles as Dory and Marlon, respectively, as well as the new voices of Hayden Rolence as Nemo (replacing Alexander Gould), Ed O'Neill (Modern Family), Kaitlin Olson (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Ty Burrell (Modern Family), Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy. The film focuses on the amnesiac Dory, who journeys to be reunited with her parents, but much like the adventures in Finding Nemo, the road—or swim—is long and winding.

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

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This was the film that audiences anticipated would be the sequel to—or at least within the same vein as—the 2008 release of Cloverfield, but the actuality of that notion is arguable.

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg in his directorial debut, 10 Cloverfield Lane critics praised the film for the performances of the cast and the film's tense, suspenseful atmosphere. The film follows a young woman Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who is held in an underground bunker with two men (John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr.) who insist that a hostile event has left the surface of the Earth uninhabitable. It is presented in a third-person narrative, contrasting the found footage style of its predecessor.

What unfolds is a storyline that is worth the punchline, but there is nothing funny about what pinnacle moments culminate just as the audience begins to suspect that the film has reached its crest.

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Image via Pixabay