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. Squid Game: The Challenge (Netflix series)
Surprise, this show has already been renewed by Netflix so that another gathering of contestants can feel utterly miserable while competing in challenges when only one of them will go hope with the grand prize. Granted, that grand prize is worth millions and is hopefully worth the wait. Fortunately, no one was (seriously) harmed in the making of this reality-based reenactment of the runaway dystopian hit, even if the Rock, Paper, Scissors and Marbles challenges really riled people up.
TIE: 10. The Holdovers (Focus Features film available on VOD & Amazon Prime)
The Descendants and Election director Alexander Payne directs his first feature film in six years. In doing so, he reteams with Sideways star Paul Giamatti, who portrays a curmudgeonly teacher at a fancy prep school in New England. This is sort-of a Christmas movie, too, since this teacher must stay on campus during holiday break with those students whose parents are too busy skiing in The Alps (or something like that) to come home. This leads to unlikely bonds with other adults who are also stuck in the same situation.
9. Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie (Peacock film)
Sure, this is a film, but think of it as a longish episode for those who have missed Tony Shalhoub’s OCD-afflicted homicide-detective-turned consultant. This time, the case is incredibly personal and happens to involve Molly, the beloved and about-to-be-married stepdaughter of Monk. Sadly, this involves a bungee-jumping debacle, and Monk must confront another major fear beyond the whole germ thing.
8. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (Apple TV+ series)
Godzilla Minus One is making a (literal, at least onscreen) killing in theaters as we speak, but you can still have some of that nuclear lizard in your own home. Kurt and Wyatt Russell have been showing off a connection to that particular monster as Army officer Lee Shaw (at different ages, obviously), and that team could actually end up saving humanity. Can life imitate art, please?
7. Fargo (FX series streaming on Hulu)
This actually might be the most collectively well-regarded Fargo season in years. Juno Temple’s performance is a huge part of that occasion, but do not discount the contributions of Jon Hamm, his Hamm-butt, those nipple rings, and a cowboy hat while generally being threatening. That doesn’t even account with whatever is going on with seemingly eternal Ole Munch. Overall, this is another Midwestern delight and proof that this series will last for quite some time, long past the Coen Brothers project that started it all.
6. May December (Netflix movie)
Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman star as a Mary Kay Letourneau-like figure and a TV star, respectively. The former’s husband ends up sleeping with the latter, and yes, that would still be the younger husband (Charles Melton) in a tabloid-like setup. Portman opened up about the film’s uncomfortable sex scene, but this isn’t simply salacious fuel for the masses. All three actors mentioned here received Golden Globe nods, as did the film as a whole.
5. Obliterated (Netflix series)
This ain’t Cobra Kai, but the series does hail from the same creators (Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald), who are in more R-rated mode with a story about an elite special forces team that gets completely hosed in Vegas after thinking that their terrorist target has been vanquished. Once they discover that they actually didn’t take out the real nuke, then they must try to get it together in time to save thousands of lives. Wish them luck.
4. The Crown (Netflix series)
The very final episodes are afoot for those who have managed to stop weeping over the Diana-focused arc and move onto the era where Harry and William are both showing that they are ill-equipped to be king. As we know in reality, Elizabeth did not decide skip a generation of succession as suggested in some tabloids, and Charles must be relieved to finally be king as this monarchy-dragging series comes to a close. There’s a disproportional focus on Will and Kate Middleton in these episodes, but Elizabeth does kind-of try to make herself come full circle.
3. Slow Horses (Apple TV+ series)
Gary Oldman might be enjoying this role more than any other (even Bram Stoker’s Dracula) from decades past. That’s what happens when a dude doesn’t have to be distinguished anymore and gets to fart and eat onscreen to his heart’s discontent. Oldman’s failed spymaster leads a team of British intelligence klutzes that include Olivia Cooke, and finally, some fallible secret agents are getting the attention that they so richly deserve. The series is based upon Mick Herronthe’s Slough Horses novels, and there’s still much more dark comedy to be mined where that came from.
2. Reacher (Amazon Prime series)
Good news for dads and possibly you, too. Lee Child’s bestselling novels continue to come to hulking life (starring the 6’2″ Alan Ritchson) as opposed to the Tom Cruise movie. Season 3 is already filming, but the second round is now available and should satisfy those pie-and-vending-machine cravings in the meantime. This batch of episodes doubles down on the brilliant simplicity of both Jack Reacher and this show when he teams up members of his former Army unit to stop some murder business. Together, they continue to dive into a high-stakes mystery full of betrayal and revelations, and lest you think that Reacher is all brains and no brain, well, think again.
1. Leave The World Behind (Netflix movie)
Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, and Ethan Hawke all star in the same Netflix flick, which means that streaming has truly arrived. Carve out plenty of time if you can to watch this Sam Esmail-directed project produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, and it’s an apparent apocalyptic tale like no other. Elon Musk seems slightly confused about the wrong part of the film, but it’s also up to the viewer to decide exactly what the threat is in this story and whether humanity can survive.
