What to watch: new movies and TV shows to stream this week
The best shows and movies to stream on Netflix and beyond.
Welcome to the WatchList, the ultimate what to watch guide. Each week our TV and movie experts curate a list of the best things to watch on the small - and sometimes big - screen.
This is the place to find what you should be streaming at the weekend and beyond.
Each week our esteemed group of TV and movie reviewers impart their expert knowledge of all things streaming and boil it down to a handful of things you really need to be watching, going through hours of episodes to hep you make the most important decision of the week: what to watch in your down time.
As you will read, we look at all the new shows that have landed on Netflix, Prime Video, NOW, Apple TV Plus, Disney Plus and Paramount Plus and more, then give our verdict.
In short: if it's in the WatchList, then you know it is going to be good.
After our recommendations of the week, we have links to all of our essential streaming guides - the rankings of which are voted by our readers, so if you haven't done so already then give them a click and have your say.
And if you are still stuck with what to watch, then we have kept all of our previous recommendations so you can have a read.
Happy viewing!
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
What’s wrong with a good old-fashioned action movie? The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare takes us back to a time when even stories based on serious history could be almost entirely irreverent. This movie is directed by Guy Ritchie and stars Henry Cavill as part of a team charged with taking out the German U-boat fleet during World War II. It’s silly, fun, and action-packed. But not not one for the up-tight history sticklers.
The Decameron
The Black Death isn’t the most obvious fodder for comedy, but that’s The Decameron’s deal. A bunch of rich folks escape the city of Florence as the plague breaks out, and it all gets a bit debauched. While this show is very roughly based on a series of 14th century short stories by Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron’s feel is absolutely up-to-date.
Time Bandits
Trying to adapt one of Terry Gilliam’s most beloved works is a tall order, thanks to the auteur’s specific style and sense of comedy. The original was a film. This is a 10-episode series headed up by Jermaine Clement, Taika Waititi and Inbetweeners writer Iain Morris. An 11-year-old boy teams up with a bunch of young thieves in a time-travelling troupe led by Lisa Kudrow’s Penelope. Reviewers are split on whether it stacks up to the original, but the more positive ones love it.
Doom Scroll: Andrew Tate and the Dark Side of the Internet
Andrew Tate has become a figurehead of the negative forces impacting younger generations of men and boys, and with good reason. He’s a bad egg. But it’s not just the message that has entranced so many people. The ways people are stewarded towards his content though social media algorithms are to blame too. This documentary looks at both sides of this.
Elsbeth
2009’s The Good Wife really did have legs. Despite ending in 2016, its legacy lives on. First we had The Good Fight, a spin off that ran from 2017. And now we have Elsbeth. Its creators say this isn’t a strict The Good Wife spin off, but it does feature a character from the original show’s universe. It’s a detective series starring Carrie Preston, from the original series.
Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam
Today we know NYSNC and the Backstreet Boys as some of the most successful US boybands of all time. But did you know there was a scam behind them? It was the work of Lou Perlman, who generated a Ponzi scheme out of their success. This is the disturbing story of that era. The documentary itself is controversial, through the use of AI techniques to alter the presentation of some of the talking heads. But the story itself is interesting and alarming.
And on the big screen...
Deadpool & Wolverine
Are you ready for the big one? Deadpool & Wolverine is finally here, a last attempt to bridge the gap between eras of the MCU. In case you’ve been avoiding the hype, the film sees two superhero luminaries team up for an all-the-fall comedy-action adventure. Reviews are mixed. It’s either seen as a blast or a cynical corporate exercise. Go in with an open mind and see how you feel.
In cinemas now
We have spent A LONG time watching things on all these streaming services. So, if you want more of an in-depth look at the shows and movies you can stream the please head to the following guides.
- The best Apple TV Plus shows, revealed
- The best Netflix shows and best movies on Netflix
- The best Amazon Prime Series and best movies on Amazon Prime Video
- The best Disney Plus shows and best Disney Plus movies
- The best NOW TV shows and best movies on NOW TV
- The best Paramount Plus shows
Previously on The WatchList...
Lady in the Lake
Natalie Portman stars in this seven-part adaptation of a novel by Laura Lippman. She’s a bored housewife who becomes a crime investigator, looking into a murder in 1960s America. Ambitious and sumptuous, this is a classic Apple TV production. Reviews range from impeccable to irritated, but the best are positively luminescent. This also happens to be Portman’s TV debut.
Cobra Kai season 6
The last season of Cobra Kai, based on The Karate Kid, has arrived on Netflix. It starts on a light note, but we can already sense the tension starting to mount in this sixth season. Netflix is trying an unusual release schedule for this one too, to really max out on the beloved show’s swan song. It’s coming in three parts. The first five episodes are out now. The second five are due in November. The last aren’t out until 2025. So while we’re on the final season, it’s almost as if there are two more coming. Each part consists of five episodes.
For Those About To Die
Looking forward to Gladiator 2? You won’t want to miss this show. It’s a brutal and violent look at the lives of gladiators back in the Roman Empire days. Anthony Hopkins stars as emperor Vespasian, chewing up the scenery, while Ian Rheon is Tenax. He is a crime boss who has his eyes on power. It’s pulpy rather than truly realistic, but good fun.
Laliga: All Access
What timing. Fresh off a Euros win for Spain, Netflix has release Laliga: All Access. It’s a behind-the-scenes documentary series about the inner workings of the Spanish football league. We get to follow the events of the 2023/2024 season, with a partial focus on Barcelona.
Mr Bigstuff
Danny Dyer has become an unlikely UK national treasure in recent years. But in Mr Bigstuff he goes full comedy. It’s a show about two chalk-and-cheese brothers. Dyer plays one, an alpha drug addict. Ryan Sampson plays the other, the anxiety ridden Glen, who is just trying to live a normal life.
Iron Claw
Could this be Zac Efron’s best performance of his career? Iron Claw sees Efron play Kevin, one of the Von Erich brothers. They were a real professional wrestling family, who performed in the 1970s. This powerful film charts the brothers’ lives through three decades, and is an affecting biopic worth checking out. And, yep, an interest in wrestling is absolutely not required.
Vikings: Valhalla season 3
It’s the end of the road for a show long-running enough to be a minor institution. Valhalla is a spin-off to the original Vikings, first broadcast in 2013. Its third and last season has been released, bringing the story to a close. Some of the loose ends get tied up in a slightly rushed fashion, but we’ll take that over a swift cancellation and a cliffhanger ending any day.
Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer
This documentary series looks into the minds of some of the most infamous killers. It centres around Ann Burgess, who was one of the leading figures in criminal profiling. She worked in the FBI as a profiler and researcher from the late 1970s. It’s a three-part series that looks into her career. And, in doing so, we get a look on the changing view on serial killers and dangerous criminals.
Vikings: Valhalla Season 3
Vikings: Valhalla puts up its axe with season three, which has just landed on Netflix. This is not just the end of an offshoot series, but the whole Vikings saga, which began more than a decade ago. The vikings are diminishing, and it’s time to tie off some of these long-running storylines.
Receiver
Netflix has a history of producing great documentary series that let you get behind the scenes of some of the most popular sports. F1: Drive to Survive, anyone? Receiver does the same for the NFL. It’s also the sequel to Quarterback, the well-regarded 2023 series. As the name suggests, though, we’re looking at folks who play in different positions this time. Players featured include George Kittle, Davante Adams and Deb Samuel.
Sausage Party: Foodtopia
The original Sausage Party was an unlikely 2016 hit. An R-rated comedy that looks like the black sheep offspring of Pixar and Dreamworks? Well, it did work, picking up great reviews and even solid box office numbers. They’ve done it again, with a TV show sequel that, mostly, still slaps. Well, as long as you can handle the sheer crassness and rough-n-ready production values. Seth Rogen and Kristen Wiig return to lead the cast too.
Spent
Mia is a model whose career is coming to an end. She is out of cash and low on opportunities. Spent is a smart comedy that looks into how this character squares the first half of her life with… whatever’s coming next. It’s written by and stars Michelle de Swarte, who based the show on her own experiences as a model.
Sunny
Rashida Joenes is Suzie, an American woman in Kyoto whose family disappears in a plane crash. She is granted a domestic AI robot to fill the void. But as she gets to know the thing, she starts to uncover details on what really happened to her husband and son. This high-concept thriller comedy could have gone either way. But it’s actually great, bringing a more thoughtful edge to a typically light 30-minute format. What else do you expect from A24, the studio famous for its brilliant arthouse movies?
Exploding Kittens
TV and movies gets made using all kinds of inspirations. But a card game? That’s an unusual source. Exploding Kittens is roughly based on the card party game, which is a bit like Russian Roulette. This is one to approach with morbid curiosity rather than excitement, as it has picked up some pretty dreadful reviews. The Guardian called it “infuriating and life-sapping,” although others enjoyed Tom Ellis as the cat that considers itself to be god.
Beverly Hills Cop - Alex F
40 years on from the original movie, Eddie Murphy is back as Axel Foley in a brand new Beverly Hills Cop film. His daughter’s life is in danger, which sees him return to his old stalking ground. He also teams up with both old associate Billy (Judge Reinhold) and a new partner, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
The Mole season 2
People can’t get enough of games of deception these days. The Mole sees a team of players head out to Malaysia to complete tasks and build up their prize money. But one of the players, The Mole, is charged with messing up the whole enterprise. You may enjoy this show if you are a fan of The Traitors.
Supacell
This TV show gives the tired superhero genre a shot in the arm. A bunch of ordinary black people from South London suddenly develop superpowers. There’s nothing particular that links them, but they’ll have to get together in order to make a difference. This one has picked up great reviews, and has a totally different feel to the kinda to superhero shows you’d see on Disney Plus.
The Bear Season 3
One of the best-reviewed TV shows of a generation. But is season 3 as good? Is has received by far the most mixed reviews we’ve seen for The Bear to date. But even those say that, at its heights, this is one of the best TV shows on broadcast right now. However, it goes without saying that if you’ve loved the first two seasons you need to bite into this one when you build up the confidence/appetite.
My Lady Jane
A period drama of a different kind. My Lady Jane is based on the story of Lady Jane Gray, but loosely. She is known for lasting on the throne for just nine days before being executed. This adapation of a YA novel reworks the facts, and injects supernatural animal transformations, and adds more ass-kicking and sass. It’s a good-time watch.
The Man with 1000 Kids
A documentary that breaks out of the true crime mould, The Man with 1000 Kids is about a serial spern donator in the Netherlands. Lax enforcement means he manages to radically go beyond the limits of a sperm donor. To the extent there are worries about involuntary incest. Yikes. It’s a three-episode series that, well, is kinda horrifying.
House of the Dragon season 2
The Game of Thrones spin-off is back for season 2. And the quality level hasn’t dropped. It enters on the verge of civil war, as House Targaryen is riven in two. Dramatic stuff. There are only eight episodes in this season, compared to 10 in the first, and they are being drip-fed onto streaming
Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown
This three-part documentary series looks into the Jonestown massacre. In the late 70s, hundreds of cult members drunk a mixture of cyanide and grape juice, ending their lives. This is where the “drink the Kool-aid” saying comes from. The doc uses archival footage to tell the story of the days surrounding the deaths of 918 people. If you don’t know much about cult leader Jim Jones, once part of the pop culture vernacular, this series is worth watching.
Trigger Warning
Ever wondered why you have’\t seen Jessica Alba in a while? She’s back in Trigger Warning, a revenge thriller action movie. Is it any good? Not really. But these largely unoriginal action movies seem to go down a treat on streaming. Alba is a commando who takes down a gang menacing her hometown after she takes over her father’s bar.
Five Nights at Freddy’s
A horror movie based on a mobile game? This one got absolutely slammed at review, but Five Nights at Freddy’s is a gaming phenomenon some kids won’t want to miss on streaming. It’s rated PG-13, making this far fore suitable for a slightly younger audience than the average horror movie. This is definitely one for fans of the games rather than a general audience. But it’s nice to see Josh Hutcherson on our screens again. It’s been a while since he played Peeta in the Hunger Games movies.
The Boys season 4
One of Prime Video’s most beloved shows is back for what we now know to be the penultimate season. This fourth run shines a light on the current political scene in the US, in characteristic The Boys fashion. That means there’s plenty of violence, satire and gore. Oh, and those corrupt superheroes you know and love. And kinda hate.
Hit Man
Hit Man stars Glen Powell as a man who poses as a hired killer in order to bust people for the New Orleans police department. But the plan goes off piste when he is hired by Madison (Adria Arjona) who asks him to kill her husband. This Richard Linklater-directed movie is written by Linklater and star Glen Powel. It combines real thriller chops with comedy to great effect, and is flat-out enjoyable.
Remembering Gene Wilder
To the onlooker, Gene Wilder was a wild and unsettling ball of energy, a screen presence like no other. This documentary provides a closer look at the real character of the man, who died back in 2016. It’s a gentle watch, a documentary filled with love for its subject rather than one looking to dig into whatever darker recesses there may have been. But perhaps that’s a good fit for this movie-making icon.
The First Omen
Horror sequels have a bad reputation, one formed from decades of rubbish follow-ups. The First Omen is surprisingly great. It’s a prequel to the original Omen movie from 1976, telling the tale of the beginnings of this demonic conspiracy. This is also easily the best movie in the now six-film franchise, bar the original. Tense, gory and with surprising weight and texture, you should check this one out.
Presumed Innocent
In 1990 a film of Scott Turow’s 1986 novel Presumed Innocent was released. It starred Harrison Ford, and was pretty good. There’s now a TV adaptation, starring Jake Gyllenhaal in his first major TV role. He plays Rusty Sabich, a prosecutor sent to investigate the murder of his co-worker, who was also his secret lover. This TV version hasn’t quite eclipsed the movie, but is a solid watch and, like most Apple TV+ shows, looks great.
Bridgerton
The second half of the third season of Bridgerton is out, letting us discover what happens to Colin and Penelope. But there’s also a major story switcheroo ahead for Francesca. The critics can’t agree whether this second half of the season marks a tightening up of things from the first, or it going a wee bit off the rails. So why not give it a watch and make up your own mind?
Under Paris
Horror, gore and sharks fans take note. Under Paris is a movie you should not miss. It’s a classic shark movie, set in Paris. A mutated shark is terrorising the waters of the Seine, and a triathlon is about to begin. It’s up to a grieving scientist, played by Bérénice Bejo, to avert tragedy. This one doesn’t let up. It’s in French, but don’t fear the subtitles. Fear the shark.
Godzilla Minus One
Not seen Godzilla Minus One? After 70 years of Godzilla movies, this one dukes it out with the very first for the title of the best of the lot. It’s that good. Our protagonist was a kamikaze pilot during World War II, and he is one of the first people to witness Godzilla, before it emerges from the ocean to wreak havoc upon Japan. This is a more human story than that of the average monster movie, and looks fantastic despite, in Hollywood terms, costing pennies.
Sweet Tooth season 3
Critically lauded fantasy series Sweet Tooth comes to an end with season 3, an eight-episode run. While not without its rough spots, this is a fitting end to a brilliant series. Also, if you’re the kind of person who only digs into a series when you know it’s not going to get cancelled, leaving you on a cliffhanger, it’s time to start Sweet Tooth season one.
The Acolyte
Disney Plus has another slice of Star Wars pie for the faithful. The Acolyte is set long before the events of the main line Star Wars films. Jedis are going missing, and it’s up to a Padawan and her Jedi Master to get to the root of the mystery. In doing so, they find the conspiracy that goes deeper than they ever imagined. It’s no Andor, but is better than some of the recent Star Wars efforts.
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live
This spin-off of The Walking Dead sees a return to one of the series’s classic storylines. Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira star as Rick and Michonne, reprising the love story that was a key feature of the show before Lincoln left the main The Walking Dead series in 2021. If you miss having Andrew Lincoln in the show, this is a sweet coda for his character.
Eric
This one has been on our radar for a while. Benedict Cumberbatch is Vincent, a puppeteer in the show’s equivalent of Sesame Street. His son, aged just nine years old, goes missing. To find him, Vincent will need the help of an imaginary seven-foot-tall blue monster, Eric. But it’s no fun puppet adventure. Eric is dark, about a father drive almost mad by guilt and grief.
Geek Girl
Harriet is the geek of this latest slice of Netflix YA TV. She’s awkward, feels out of place in normal life. But then she's picked out by a talent scout to become a fashion model, whirling her away into a world of high fashion. House of the Dragon’s Emily Carey stars as Harriet, and does a cracking job of keeping this fun, well-meaning show bouncing along. And it's not just froth, with a look into neurodivergence and bullying.
Jim Henson: Idea Man
Jim Henson was the master of puppets, the creative mind behind the Muppets, The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. This documentary looks back into his life and career, using archive footage and interviews to shed light on a figure almost universally loved, but about whom you may not know a great deal. It's also directed by another legend of cinema, Ron Howard. A charming watch.
Dancing for the Devil
A true crime show about TikTok? No, this one is not about Chinese state intervention, but a management company that might just be a cult. That group is 7M, which signs up dancers to take them to social media success. At the top of 7M, though, is Robert Shinn, a pastor of the Shekinah Church. He’s your classic cult leader, who gradually separates 7M sign-ups from their families, and their money, and abuses them. Three parts. 45 minutes a piece.
Jurassic World Chaos Theory
Want to get your kids into Jurassic Park but don't want to give them nightmares with the still-brilliant original? Stick on Chaos Theory. It's a 7+/PG-rated animated show in which the survivors of Jurassic World's story come together after six years. They are being hunted, and have to find out why. It's a darker follow-on to Camp Cretaceous, and a great watch for older kids.
The Beach Boys
Were The Beach Boys the quintessential American boy band? This new documentary from Disney+ seems to think so. It charts the band’s glory days of the 1960s, their hit albums and those timeless songs. This isn’t a particularly searching doc, and isn’t one to dig into the band’s darker side and later less successful years. But it's still worth a watch.
The Blue Angels
The ultimate way to watch this documentary about the US Navy’s flight team would be in an IMAX cinema. But the living room will have to do. It’s still a real visual spectacle that makes you appreciate the sheer skill of some of these pilots. And the stakes involved when flying at those speeds, in those planes.
Acma:Game
Acma:Game was originally a manga first published just over a decade ago in 2013. Now it’s a live action thriller. But the plot is still pure manga madness. Players of Acma:Game must collect 99 devil's keys, which will grant their wishes. There are seven episodes of the first season.
The Blue Beetle
The MCU gets a bad rap these days. It mostly deserves it. But The Blue Beetle is actually a good film, even if it was a total flop at the box office in 2023. It probably doesn’t help that most of us have never heard of this superhero. A law student becomes The Blue Beetle when he dons the bio-robot suit, which becomes part of him. There’s much more heart to this film than other Marvel fare of late.
Atlas
Atlas has the makings of one of Netflix's most successful movies ever. Strong female lead with a veteran of the field? A high-concept plot? And mediocre reviews? We’re onto a winner folks. Jennifer Lopez stars as Atlas Shepherd, a scientist with a deep mistrust of AI. But when rogue AI threatens humanity, it's to another AI “being” she has to turn to in order to save the day.
Insomnia
A drama starring Vicky McClure? We're in. However, Insomnia is not the average McClure vehicle. It’s not a crime investigation procedural, but a thriller in which her character, Emma, starts to think she may be suffering from the same mental health problems that plagued her mother. The bad news: only two eps have dropped as we write this, the other four releasing one a week into June.
On the big screen...
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
George Miller went with the “more is more” approach. We get more story, more set pieces, more character development and a longer run time. It’s a very different film, but still manages to evoke the sun-baked ferocity than made Fury Road so distinctive. Best experienced on a very big screen with a large, loud sound system attached.
in cinemas now
Bridgerton season 3
Period piece fluff Bridgerton is back for a third season. Part 1 sees Nicola Coughlan’s Penelope go from a lonely singleton to receiving multiple marriage proposals. There’s plenty of sauciness and sex scenes in this 4-episode pack. The other four episodes of Bridgerton season 3 will arrive on June 13. Some say the show has gone off the boil, but it’s the freshest of the three seasons at Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing.
Maxton Hall
Fan of YA content? Check out Maxton Hall. It’s a TV show based on a novel that was a smash hit in Germany. And, yes, this one is a German-language series. Ruby is a scholarship student at the ultra-posh Maxton Hall school, and finds herself caught up with privileged millionaire James Beaufort, despite hating much of what he stands for.
Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal
In 2015 a dating platform was hacked, leading to tens of millions of users’ data being posted online. To make matters worse, it was Ashley Madison, an app for people looking for extramarital affairs. This 3-part documentary looks into the history of the dating service, and how the hack affected those whose antics were revealed in the leak.
Murder In Successville
Americans are highly skilled at making stuff worse. They certainly showed that off with the US Netflix remake of Murder in Successville. But now the original BBC version is available on Netflix too, and order has been restored. In each episode a celeb joins the cast, to solve a murder, blending improv and scripted comedy with hilarious results.
Bodkin
A murder. A rural town. A pair of investigators. This sounds like the stuff of a dark and twisty TV show, right? Bodkin isn’t. It’s a comedy series starring Will Forte, Siobhán Cullen and Robyn Cara as a true crime podcast-making team who end up investigating the disappearance of three people on the Irish coast. Sure, you could see it as a send-up of crime shows and podcasts, but there’s also an actual mystery here. It’s comedy plus thriller.
Dark Matter
Joel Edgerton’s Jason Dessen is drugged and kidnapped, and wakes up in a world other than his own. It’s not an alien world, just a parallel reality where nothing is quite the same. He has to find his way back to his own life, but alternate versions of himself aren’t going to make that easy. This mind-bending sci-fi show is based on a best-selling page-turner from Blake Crouch.
The Final: Attack on Wembley
In 2021, England fans forced their way into the Wembley stadium following the Euro 2020 football final. An investigation revealed deaths were only narrowly avoided in the chaos. This documentary looks into that booze-fuelled event, spinning it into a feature-length documentary. It was a shameful one for the football fan, and will take you back to a time you may have mislaid among all the covid headlines.
The Beatles - Let It Be
The film Let It Be was originally released in 1970. And back then people didn’t like it that much. It has now been lovingly resorted by Lord of the Rings and Get Back maestro Peter Jackson for reappraisal. This time around, people are loving it. Let it Be was recorded around the final era of the band. Relationships are breaking down and there’s plenty of bickering amid the genius. Want more Get Back, but with a different angle on show? This is it.
The Murder of Sandra Rivett
Sandra Rivett was murdered in 1974. Lord Lucan is believed to be the murderer, having bludgeoned her to death in a basement. His name has reverberated through the decades, but Sandra Rivett’s has been largely forgotten until now. This 93 minute documentary looks into her life.
Force of Nature: The Dry 2
Eric Bana is Falk, a federal agent investigating a person’s disappearance. A group of women go on a hiking trip, set in a fictionalised version of Australia’s mountain ranges, and one of them doesn’t come back. But each member of the group has a different story as to what really happened. This solid and effective thriller movie is a sequel to 2020’s The Dry.
Inside No. 9 Season 9
Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith’s Inside No. 9 has been around for a decade. It’s now back for its final (for now) ninth season, and is picking up some of the best reviews of the entire run. Episode one is a must-watch, Boo to a Goose. It’s set in tube train that stops in a tunnel, and the interactions of the nine strangers become an off-kilter play in classic Inside No. 9 style.
The Responder Season 2
Martin Freeman and Adelayo Adedayo star in the return of a brilliant drama in which we witnessed a police officer falling apart under the strain of the job. The second season takes place six months after the original, with Freeman’s Chris Carson trying to keep his family together. It’s not the breeziest watch, but sees Freeman at his best.
The Idea of You
Are we entering a mini golden era for a genre in decline? The Idea of You is a romcom film, which we don’t see anywhere near as often as we did in the 90s and 2000s. According to the critics, The Idea of You is pretty great — not something critics typically say about romcoms either. It stars Anne Hathaway as a 40-year-old mother who falls for the 24-year-old singer of a band.
A Man in Full
The end of Succession has many fans hankering after a show about flat-out bad people who are big in business. A Man in Full might be the best contender yet. It stars Jeff Daniels as a real estate king whose business is falling down around him, inciting a few Trump comparisons. It’s based on a Tom Wolfe novel published in 1998, and a sort-of follow-up to Bonfire of the Vanities.
Shardlake
Author CJ Samson died just a few days before adaptation of his novels Shardlake hit Disney Plus. It follows the investigations of Matthew Shardlake, played by Arthur Hughes. A historical fiction drama, the show is set during the dissolution of the monasteries era of England, and stars no less than Sean Bean as Thomas Cromwell. Shardlake begins with an investigation of a death in the (fictional) coastal town of Scarnsea.
Unfrosted
Jerry Seinfeld has made a comedy movie about the creation of the Pop Tart. And it stars himself, Hugh Grant, Amy Schumer, Melissa McCarthy, Christian Slater, Bill Burr, James Marsden and others. And, no, we’re not even making any of this up. The story largely is made up, though. It’s a comedy, not a straight dramatisation of the great cereal wars of 1963. At the time of writing it sits at a dismal 20% freshness at Rotten Tomatoes. But there are also 4-star reviews out there, so give it a try.
Tracker
Colter Shaw finds missing people, a surly lone wolf type who lives off the reward money. Each case is a mystery, and Shaw isn’t afraid to break a few rules to get the job done. TV show Tracker is big, silly fun, and Justin Hartley does a cracking job as the irreverent investigator. It isn’t a revolution, but it is a good time.
Cold Meat
This one could easily fly under the radar. It’s a B-movie thriller about a man who finds himself stranded in the snowy wastes after a car accident. But does he have more to worry about than just freezing to death? It’s a familiar premise but Cold Meat picked up almost universally positive reviews at its initial release in February 2024. And on some evenings, you just can’t beat an efficient, taut thriller, right?
Dead Boy Detectives
This is a spin-off of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, but takes a completely different approach to that Netflix show. Dead Boy Detectives has a YA flavour. There’s a snappy, fun feel to this series. Edwin Paine and Charles Rowland are the titular detectives, who opt out of heading to the afterlife, and decide to stay on to solve supernatural mysteries instead. Let’s hope it fares better than Lockwood & Co, a great series with a similar vibe that was canned shortly after being broadcast.
Goodbye Earth
What would you do if you discovered the world is going to end in a few months? That’s the premise of Korean show Goodbye Earth. In 200 days, a huge asteroid with collide with the planet. We get to see the chaos of a world coming to an end, but in classic K-drama style, this one’s more about the characters than apocalypse action.
Knuckles
The Sonic series has given us some pretty dodgy games in recent years. But the films? They’re surprisingly good. Knuckles acts as a sort of precursor to Sonic 3, due in December. Idris Elba stars as Knuckles, who trains plain old human Wade (Adam Pally) to be a warrior. They team up against Robotnik ally The Buyer. Six episodes to this one, to tide you over until the movie arrives.
The Zone Of Interest
One of the most critically celebrated films of the last 12 months. Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest is a fictionalised account of the life of Nazi officer Rudolf Höss, living just outside the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1943. It won an Oscar (two, actually). It won a BAFTA. It’s an unmissable addition to Prime Video.
Land Of Bad
Giving a movie a title like this is asking for trouble. But Land of Bad isn’t. Bad, that is. It’s a solid action romp starring Russell Crow and two of the Hemsworth clan — Luke and Liam. Russell Crow plays a drone operator who has to try to keep a special forces unit, including star Liam Hemsworth, alive as they are ambushed by enemy forces. A good old fashioned action flick.
The Retirement Plan
Nicolas Cage is back on screens, and has more hair than ever. He plays Matt, who has to help his estranged granddaughter get out of some serious trouble with an organised crime gang. It’s a fun and silly action comedy, and exactly the sort of thing we wouldn’t hesitate to stick on of a weekend, despite its so-so reviews. Also stars Ron Perlman and Ashley Greene.
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