Every single week, our TV and film experts will list the most important ten streaming selections for you to pop into your queues. We’re not strictly operating upon reviews or accrued streaming clicks (although yes, we’ve scoured the streaming site charts) but, instead, upon those selections that are really worth noticing amid the churning sea of content. There’s a lot out there, after all, and your time is valuable.
10. 3 Body Problem (Netflix series)
As viewers and readers of the book await renewal, Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are out there revealing their multi-season intentions after revealing how mankind cannot resist f*cking with aliens. The creatures do bite back, and the first round of episodes showed what happens when extraterrestrial life forecasts their unfriendly arrival on Earth, where they intend to destroy every scrap of humanity. Those aliens also figured out how to monitor conversations at their destination, so the planning movement for the resistance takes place in a very strange way, but people are digging the setup.
9. Palm Royale (Apple TV+ series)
This ain’t The White Lotus, but it might be Apple TV+’s most recent answer (besides Acapulco) to the hit HBO satire. However, this new series is actually based upon Juliet McDaniel’s Mr. and Mrs. American Pie as adapted by Kristen Wiig. This 1969-set saga follows a woman’s quest to become part of Palm Beach’s most exclusive social set, and the show co-stars Laura Dern, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Bibb, Ricky Martin, Carol Burnett, and Kaia Gerber.
8. Sugar (Apple TV+ series)
Colin Farrell has been lighting up the big screen in recent years with a bit of a comeback, and now, that extension of himself is starring in his suave Apple TV+ playground. The soon-to-be Penguin star portrays private detective John Sugar, who is digging up family secrets on the way to tracking down why a Hollywood producer’s granddaughter evaporated into noir-thin air. Yes, the protagonist must also confront has own personal demons, but he’s got charisma with some Bogart swagger and Hitchcock vibes while giving the world a new gumshoe to root for. If only Cillian Murphy, Ayo Edebiri, and Barry Keoghan could have made this a full-on Irish affair.
7. Poor Things (Searchlight Pictures film streaming on Hulu)
Ahead of Emma Stone’s next Yorgos Lanthimos collaboration, Kinds of Kindness, her Oscar-winning performance can be streamed to your heart’s content. She gives a fearless performance as Bella after being Frankenstein-ed into life, as it were. The film’s more “adult” scenes raised eyebrows, but Stone and her co-stars (Willem Dafoe and Mark Ruffalo) sang praises to the director, who took Bella on a crusade of liberation as she learned how to live even harder than her human counterparts.
6. Scoop (Netflix film)
Those who haven’t caught up on royal gossip into infinity can dive behind the curtain of how Newsnight ended up with that notorious Prince Andrew interview that essentially ended the the career of Andrew, known as the most prized son of Queen Elizabeth II, as a “working royal.” The cast includes Gillian Anderson, Billie Piper, and Rufus Sewell, who demonstrate how that family will not stay out of scandalous territory. Some, including Andrew, are clearly much worse than several who came before him.
5. Shōgun (FX series streaming on Hulu)
This show is so over that “Christian nonsense,” and those meme-able moments will last long after FX probably puts this epic story to bed. That’s likely what shall happen regarding future seasons, even though the ratings have been pouring in since this show began. Even with none of John Blackthorne’s famous dong, the masses have flocked to see this new adaptation, and FX’s epic rendering of the lushly layered character and story will be regarded fondly for many years to come. A second season is up to FX.
4. Road House (Amazon Prime film)
Hollywood shall seemingly never tire of “reimagining” old favorites, and this movie attempts to repackage a throwback era-flick starring Patrick Swayze busting skulls. In this remake, Jake Gyllenhaal portrays the central bouncer, and he also happens to be a UFC champion, so how about that? The 1980s would never. The cast includes Jessica Williams, Billy Magnussen, Conor McGregor, J.D. Pardo, Jessica Williams, and Lukas Gage, who is absolutely everywhere these days. This film isn’t really meant to be taken seriously, nor does it aim to erase the legacy of Swayze, thank goodness.
3. Ripley (Netflix series)
Bye bye, “Hot Priest” from Fleabag. Andrew Scott picks up the same Patricia Highsmith character portrayed by Matt Damon in The Talented Mr. Ripley. Will Netflix keep biting? Only time will tell, but in this adaptation, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow are not caught up in that web, yet the title character ends does still end up on a 1960s-lined path of murder, deceit, and the rest of the dastardly deeds that will leave Highsmith devotees clamoring for more.
2. Parasyte: The Grey (Netflix series)
Netflix has cranked up their South Korean production following the Squid Game phenomenon, and this live-action manga adaptation — which differs starkly from its source material although it appears to remain loyal to the same universe — pulls out the sci-fi stops as well. The series follows mysterious parasites who begin falling from the sky to inhabit hosts and start rampantly committing murder, yet the potentially greater threat to humanity is whether they can come together to react. An infected young woman seems to react differently, but she has actually retained control of her mind and humanity. Thus, she now coexists alongside the parasite, but that doesn’t stop her from being a government target.
1. Fallout (Amazon Prime series)
The endlessly charismatic Walton Goggins picks up his first no-nose character, The Ghoul, in this adaptation that is keeping gamers binge-happy and already hoping for more. The entire first season of this adaptation (which picks up two centuries following the apocalypse) is already available, and this freakishly fun live-action project leaps onto the wagon of beloved properties that have been pouring out of the streaming services these days.