What To Watch This Weekend: 'Whalefall,' 'Sense And Sensibility,' 'Street Fighter,' 'VisionQuest,' And More

HOLLYWOOD, CA — This week's lineup explores how memory, loss and inheritance continue to shape identity.

In theaters, “Whalefall” and “Sense and Sensibility” examine what endures amid loss and uncertainty, while “Street Fighter” revisits one of gaming's most enduring rivalries.

On the small screen, Marvel's “VisionQuest” grapples with questions of memory and selfhood, and “Crystal Lake” returns to the origins of one of horror's most infamous legends.

Ready to dive in? Scroll on for the full lineup, where the capsules below explore the stories, themes and creative ambitions behind this week's most notable releases.

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What To Watch This Weekend

“Whalefall”

Austin Abrams, Josh Brolin; directed by Brian Duffield

Adapted from Daniel Kraus' novel, “Whalefall” transforms an improbable survival scenario into a meditation on what endures beyond loss. Austin Abrams stars as Jay Gardiner, a young man who descends into the waters off Monterey Bay in search of his father's remains, only to find himself trapped inside the belly of a sperm whale with dwindling oxygen and little hope of escape.

Through a series of flashbacks, writer-director Brian Duffield gradually reveals the complicated bond between Jay and his late father, Mitt Gardiner (Josh Brolin), whose lessons and expectations continue to shape him long after death. As Jay struggles to stay alive, his fight for survival becomes inseparable from an attempt to understand the man he could neither fully embrace nor wholly reject.

The film's organizing metaphor lies in the phenomenon from which it takes its name. A whale fall occurs when a whale dies and its carcass sinks to the ocean floor, becoming a source of sustenance for entire ecosystems. Duffield employs the concept as a framework through which death becomes the catalyst for examining what remains after loss. Though its structural shifts occasionally strain the pacing, “Whalefall” ultimately proves a gripping and unexpectedly moving exploration of grief, inheritance and the lessons passed from one generation to the next.

“Sense and Sensibility”

Daisy Edgar-Jones, Esmé Creed-Miles, George MacKay; directed by Georgia Oakley

Georgia Oakley’s “Sense and Sensibility” shifts the focus away from courtship and toward the emotional and economic realities that shape the lives of the Dashwood sisters. Working from a screenplay by Diana Reid, Oakley reimagines Jane Austen’s novel through a lens of insecurity, dependence and social precarity, foregrounding the fragile structures of inheritance, class and expectation upon which her characters’ futures depend.

Following the death of the Dashwood patriarch, Elinor Dashwood (Daisy Edgar-Jones), Marianne Dashwood (Esmé Creed-Miles), their mother (Caitríona Balfe) and younger sister Margaret (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) are displaced through the customs of primogeniture. Reid wisely treats this upheaval not as narrative background but as the catalyst from which every subsequent emotional and romantic conflict emerges. Though often remembered for its romances, “Sense and Sensibility” has always been equally concerned with financial insecurity and the limited choices available to women, and Oakley brings those concerns into sharper focus.

Edgar-Jones gives Elinor’s restraint a quiet emotional weight, while Creed-Miles imbues Marianne’s idealism with vitality and pathos. The film finds its greatest strength in the emotional texture of the sisters’ relationship, a bond defined by friction, tenderness and loyalty. Though its narrower focus occasionally reduces some of the novel’s broader social wit, Oakley delivers a compelling and deeply considered reimagining that locates Austen’s enduring power not merely in romance, but in the relationships that help people weather uncertainty.

“Street Fighter”

Andrew Koji, Noah Centineo, Callina Liang, David Dastmalchian; directed by Kitao Sakurai

Based on Capcom's long-running video-game franchise, “Street Fighter” follows martial artists Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo), whose paths converge once again when Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the World Warrior Tournament. What begins as a global fighting competition soon expands into a larger conflict involving the ambitions of the ruthless M. Bison (David Dastmalchian).

Set against a tournament that brings together fighters from around the world, the story places renewed emphasis on the bond between Ryu and Ken, whose friendship and rivalry remain central to the mythology of the series. As personal motivations collide with larger stakes, the competition becomes a testing ground for loyalties, ambition and competing philosophies of strength.

Rather than functioning solely as a martial-arts spectacle, “Street Fighter” appears positioned as an exploration of rivalry, identity and personal destiny, using the tournament framework to examine how conflict shapes those who define themselves through combat.

“VisionQuest”

Paul Bettany, James Spader, Ruaridh Mollica; created by Terry Matalas

Searching for new meaning after the events that left him severed from both memory and identity, Vision (Paul Bettany) emerges once again at the center of Marvel's latest Disney+ series. Conceived as the concluding chapter of the narrative thread begun in “WandaVision” and continued through “Agatha All Along”, the eight-episode series follows the synthezoid Avenger as he retreats into hiding while grappling with questions of humanity, purpose and selfhood.

That search is disrupted when a bounty placed on Vision's head forces him on the run alongside Thomas Shepherd (Ruaridh Mollica), a mysterious young figure who may share a deeper connection to his past than either initially realizes. Along the way, Vision consults the digital consciousnesses embedded within his programming, including J.A.R.V.I.S., F.R.I.D.A.Y., E.D.I.T.H. and the returning Ultron (James Spader), whose presence threatens to reopen old questions about creation, responsibility and destiny.

Themes of memory, identity and inheritance appear to lie at the heart of “VisionQuest,” using a superhero framework to examine what remains when the memories that define a person can be erased, rewritten or fragmented.

“Crystal Lake”

Linda Cardellini, William Catlett, Callum Vinson; created by Brad Caleb Kane

“Crystal Lake” returns to the mythology of the “Friday the 13th” franchise through the story of Pamela Voorhees (Linda Cardellini), years before her name became synonymous with one of horror's most enduring legends. Set in the aftermath of her son Jason's drowning, the eight-episode series follows a grieving mother whose struggle to move forward becomes increasingly intertwined with the people, secrets and suspicions that haunt the community surrounding Crystal Lake.

As strangers begin probing her past and unsettling events ripple through the town, the series expands the mythology of the franchise while shifting attention toward the woman whose loss helped shape it. Young Jason Voorhees (Callum Vinson) also factors into the story, which explores the period before the events that would ultimately transform Crystal Lake into one of horror's most infamous settings.

Drawing from the DNA of a classic slasher while embracing elements of psychological thriller and mystery, “Crystal Lake” appears poised to examine grief, obsession and the stories communities tell to make sense of tragedy. In revisiting the origins of the franchise through Pamela's perspective, the series seeks to explore not simply where the legend began, but the personal loss at its center.