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. The Lincoln Lawyer – Netflix series
Oh Mickey Haller, you’ve really found yourself in a jam this time. Fortunately, viewers who find themselves reeling from that cliffhanger ending can find reassurance in knowing that the sixth The Lincoln Lawyer book exists to fill in some blanks while waiting to see if a fourth season will exist. Let’s get real though: Netflix is almost certainly going to push out some renewal news soon.
9. Woman Of The Hour – Netflix film
Anna Kendrick doesn’t know what she will direct next, but once you watch this true-crime dramatization, you’ll want to know the answer to that lingering question, too. Furthermore, Daniel Zovatto and Autumn Best deserve to have jam-packed careers after their turns as serial killer (and The Dating Game contestant) Rodney Alcala and a drifter. Kendrick famously named Gavin de Becker’s The Gift Of Fear as must-read self-help book, and she sends that message straight to the heart of this movie.
8. Trap – Warner Bros. movie streaming on Max
Josh Hartnett has never taken a role like this one: a dad takes his daughter to a massive pop-star concert and also happens to be a suspected serial killer. If you’re looking for spoilers, here’s an explanation of the “twist” because every M. Night Shyamalan movie has to have one. If you’re also looking for some dish from Hartnett, here’s him taking a swing at “unhelpful” Matt Damon after his comments on Hartnett’s Oppenheimer weight gain. (Spoiler alert: Hartnett looked pretty fantastic in Oppenheimer without consideration to weight.)
7. Don’t Move – Netflix movie
You might feel like going back to watch (or rewatch) Fede Álvarez’s Don’t Breathe after this Netflix movie concludes, and it’s no mere coincidence that the two films arrive with similar titles and Sam Raimi attached as producer. Within a tightly-packaged flick, Kelsey Asbille portrays a woman who finds herself with 20 minutes on the clock after a serial killer (Finn Whitlock) injects her with a paralytic drug. For sure, this is a high-concept take on the “the man or the bear in a forest” question that lives on the Internet.
6. The Substance – Mubi movie
Eek. Come for Demi Moore’s righteous turn against female beauty standards and Margaret Qualley’s equally adventurous moves and stay for the downright grotesque body horror that follows. Also, it’s true (as Demi asserted) that the flat-out most nauseating part of the movie is Dennis Quaid eating prawns. For that and countless other scenes in the movie, Coralie Fargeat has fully established herself as a must-watch director after Revenge put her on the map. And as for Demi, she earned this role with everything that she’s endured in the business, including what she admitted to doing in previous eras of her career.
5. Silo – Apple TV+ series
Before the second season arrives later this month, word of mouth has pushed people towards binging the first season of this Rebecca Ferguson-starring, masterful sci-fi show from Justified showrunner Graham Yost. This season, Juliette emerges from her home base, but don’t worry, she still dominates the story even though the action is split into two silos. These followup episodes take a different narrative structure than the second book, which is right on course for the four-season plan to finish adapting Hugh Howey’s most popular series of novels. Steve Zahn joins the cast as a fan-favorite character, and returning cast members include Tim Robbins, Avi Nash, Harriet Walter, Remmie Milner, and Common’s Infuriating Leather Jacket.
4. Territory – Netflix series
You might have heard the debate on whether this is “the next Yellowstone.” Well, the Australian series takes place on within The Outback and involves fellow cattle barons and wealthy villains attempting to seize a family ranch, but that might be where the similarities end (at least for now). Surely, a second-season renewal is forthcoming for this Neo-Western show that instantly sped up the streaming charts and managed to beat Kurt Sutter’s (or what used to be Kurt Sutter’s) The Abandons to the small screen. FYI, Netflix also has American Primeval coming next year for Western fans, too.
3. Arcane: League Of Legends – Netflix series
Gamers and cosplayers are already all over this second season with watch parties aplenty. This also happens to be Ella Purnell’s second successful video-game TV series and co-stars Hailee Steinfeld while sisters find themselves fighting as rivals in a tech-fueled war between the Piltover and Zaun twin cities.
2. The Diplomat – Netflix series
Keri Russell is having an absolute ball in her role as frazzled title character Kate Wyler, and Rufus Sewell cannot have possibly portrayed a role more fun than Hal, as infuriating as he is to his wife. As a whole, this series is leaning harder into wry comedy with the second season, and these six episodes fly by far too fast. Seriously, there’s an art to achieving that feeling within an audience, but then a show has to keep delivering to make those cliffhangers worth the punch. Hopefully, we’ll see the third season arrive sometime in late 2025, so that the show can maintain on a Slow Horses-type cadence since it’s already embraced the same seasonal episode count.
1. Lioness – Paramount+ series
Taylor Sheridan isn’t simply the most commercially successful cowboy alive today. He’s also throwing down stories that straddle many genres, and Zoe Saldana must be relishing her move away from franchise mode in a no-holds barred series about a secret CIA program that is inspired by upon the real-life Marine Corps all-women Lioness program. Saldana’s Joe is still having a difficult time juggling her personal and professional lives — a major reality as countless women can attest — and newcomer Genesis Rodriguez helps this show take higher flight as the stakes grow higher, too.
