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.
TIE: 10. Rick and Morty (Adult Swim series streaming on Max)
The voice(s) of Justin Roiland are (not) back, and the good news is that the new guys are filling the bill quite well. So, come for more Mr. Poopybutthole and stick around for showrunner Scott Marder and co-creator Dan Harmon righting the ship after a highly uncomfortable set of circumstances. Even if you aren’t usually into this brand of humor, it’s worth sitting down and appreciating how thousands of voice-work auditions settled upon two actors who are keeping this long-running and frenetic train going.
TIE: 10. The Burial (Amazon Prime film)
Jamie Foxx stars as a flashy attorney, Willie E. Gary, in this inspired-by-real-life story about Jeremiah Joseph O’Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones), who sued the Loewen funeral company in order to save his own family-run funeral home. What transpires is a fiery and funny story that manages to deftly handle racial injustice and corporate corruption while also doing a public service on never settling for a handshake deal. It’s not the most groundbreaking legal drama but nonetheless solid meat-and-potatoes legal fare, especially with supporting roles filled by Jurnee Smollet and Alan Ruck.
9. Lessons In Chemistry ( Apple TV+ series)
Brie Larson brings a current book-club staple to life for those who devoured the debut novel by Bonnie Garmus. It’s a feminist story and provides plenty of layers for Larson to relish, long after her Oscar turn in ROOM. Also, she probably didn’t mind taking a break from those physical MCU roles to portray a brilliant female chemist who finds zeitgeist-straddling success in the most unexpected place.
8. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Paramount Pictures film streaming on VOD and Amazon Prime)
Tom Cruise literally goes to (and jumps off of) the ends of this twisted earth to entertain as many people as possible. He succeeds, even if the cast and crew went through hell to finish a blockbuster studio project during unusually fraught times. He is accompanied by Hayley Atwell, Rebecca Ferguson, and Simon Pegg, who all add their own flavor to make this movie about more than keys and Tom’s cliff-jumping and speeding-train antics, and now, you can watch these daredevil stunts in the privacy of your own home.
7. Bottoms (MGM film streaming on Amazon Prime)
The rise of Ayo Edebiri continues, far away from the kitchens of The Bear. She stars alongside Rachel Sennott, who also seems to be everywhere right now, and thank goodness that this project is much better than whatever The Idol was attempting to accomplish. This is, of course, a cringe comedy in the spirit of PEN15, and the two lead (queer) characters go about launching a “Fight Club” of sorts, only in a quest to lose their respective virginities. This film will spark conversations, so know that going in, and also enjoy how these characters are not merely portrayed or their sexual orientations. Rather, it’s the heterosexual characters who stumble into classic archetypes.
6. Reptile (Netflix film)
This film is not a cerebral affair, and that’s just fine. It does, however, re-team Benicio Del Toro and Alicia Silverstone with the former playing a hardened detective who attempts to solve a case where a killer metaphorically sheds his outer skin to blend into society. However, the film also rolls around in the trope where a conspiracy begins to make itself known, and of course, it happens to get very personal for the law enforcement officer in question. For some reason, the detective is also stressed out by kitchen remodeling. Good times!
5. Loki (Disney+ series)
If you already felt like Miss Minutes is up to no good, then this week’s episode will confirm that hunch and possibly cause some nightmares. That’s the correct vibe for the spooky season, and thank goodness that Loki and Mobius are delivering exposition again together like no other pair on TV right now. Let’s fill the whole MCU with Lokis because a classically trained theater actor happened to stumble into a comic book franchise, and although the trickster ice-giant may have been underestimated, this still manages to be the most enjoyable TV show of the crop.
4. The Devil On Trial (Netflix documentary)
If you’ve seen The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021), then you are already familiar with the skeleton of this documentary. This film doesn’t, unfortunately, star Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga but follows the case of David Glatzel, who was allegedly the victim of Devil possession and then a failed exorcism by the dynamic duo. Man, you gotta hate it when that happens, but true crime fans will not be able to stop watching the narrative as it follows that demon’s alleged body jumping to Arne Cheyenne Johnson, whose later criminal defense got supernatural.
3. Fair Play (Netflix movie)
Phoebe Dynevor (long past Bridgerton territory) and Alden Ehrenreich (who is having a remarkable year between this, Oppenheimer, and Cocaine Bear) star in this erotic thriller that begins and ends with blood in two unpredictable manners. As well, those incidents embody the opposite ends of a twisting dynamic that might not only make you terrified of hedge funders but also leave you examining some of your own past relationships. The film does require a trigger warning for certain violent scenes, but the ending is a cleansing one following a pair of riveting performances by the leads.
2. Gen V (Amazon Prime series)
This week’s WTF cameo could have gone a very different way, but thank goodness that co-showrunner Michele Fazekas and creator Eric Kripke switched things up for a Jensen Ackles/Soldier Boy appearance instead. This The Boys spinoff has already been renewed for a second season, and that arrived as a welcome sign to an audience who is already growing attached to these characters, even after the show delivered a fiery gut punch by killing off a seemingly pivotal member in the pilot.
1. The Fall Of The House Of Usher (Netflix series)
Mike Flanagan and Edgar Allan Poe fans shall be overjoyed to watch this delightful meeting of the minds, albeit in a posthumous manner for one side of the horrifying equation. Once you’re done watching, do come back and read our death ranking and also wonder, exactly, how Carla Gugino can not only pull off a wealth of Flanagan characters in various shows but also various forms in this one climactic series. This isn’t a literal telling of the Poe story but one that successfully incorporates modern ills while skewering the concepts of wealth, privilege, and power.