What’s Popular On Streaming Now
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. Evil (Paramount+ series)
Some The X-Files flavor is on display here, this time with a skeptical psychologist joining a Catholic priest-in-training while they dive into alleged demonic possessions and other such unexplained mysteries inside the church. It’s the fourth and last season of this streaming series, and if you are so inclined, hop on board before you miss catching any “live” discussions. Can logic or the supernatural eventually prevail as official explanations, or why not both? It’s a dynamic that never gets dull.
9. Challengers (Warner Bros. movie on VOD & Amazon)
Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers quickly became known as Zendaya’s “threesome” movie even though the movie does not actually deliver on that suggestion, which makes the movie somehow even sexier. Z stars as Tashi, a tennis dynamo who suffers a career-ending injury. She later coaches her husband, Art (Mike Faist), whose rivalry with Patrick (Josh O’Connor), reignites on the court. Cue explosive potential and Tashi as a force of controlling nature.
8. Bodkin (Netflix series)
A little bit of Only Murders In The Building surfaces in this at-first overlooked series (created by Jez Scharf) about podcasters going into detective mode in an Irish town that harbors secrets. Will Forte stars alongside Siobhán Cullen and Robyn Cara, and here’s an unexpected development: this is the first Netflix-produced drama series from Michelle and Barack Obama’s Higher Ground production house.
7. Madame Web (Sony movie streaming on Netflix)
No Marvel movie wants to be compared to Morbius, but that’s precisely what happened here as soon as Dakota Johnson was heard uttering that line about researching spiders in the Amazon. It’s safe to say that this show will not receive a hopeful re-release in theaters like its Jared Leto-starring Sony predecessor, but there are still enough people that either want to watch ironically or simply see what the anti-hype was all about. Quite handily, Netflix has the movie as part of its streaming package.
6. Late Night With The Devil (IFC Films movie streaming on Shudder)
If it feels like David Dastmalchian is low-key everywhere these days, well, that’s kind-of true. The Oppenheimer and The Suicide Squad actor is popping up in a zillion projects, but here, he gives a masterful leading man performance as TV host Jack Delroy, whose quest to fix his ratings takes a turn into Hell. This movie is a rare found-footage project that does that gimmick right, and whether Delroy is speaking to his TV audience (such as it is), or Dastmalchian is winking and nodding to those of us in our real homes, this film is riveting while playfully batting around the horror tropes of yesteryear.
5. Baby Reindeer (Netflix series)
This show simply will not stop riding the top of Netflix’s charts, and surely, creator, writer, and star Richard Gadd never expected to land on the all-time Top 10 list, which is due to happen pretty damn soon. In other words, watch out Bridgerton, Stranger Things, and Wednesday. Meanwhile, Gadd is moving past the trauma of his past to work on his next project, Lions, in which he will not star but will still no doubt compel viewers. If you haven’t caught Baby Reindeer yet, know that it’s an intense and stressful watch, and it’s not exactly a true-crime series, but the public’s fascination with the based-on-real-life story could arguably qualify it as such.
4. The Idea Of You (Prime Video/Amazon movie)
This story is totally not based on Harry Styles but is, yes, pretty much based on Harry Styles in his One Direction days. Nicholas Galitzine portrays the pop singer who falls for a cool Coachella mom because, c’mon, she looks exactly like Anne Hathaway. Readers of Robinne Lee’s May-December novel have been pleased by the leading pair’s chemistry and the escapism while romance seems to be ruling in May like it’s February or something.
3. Mad Max: Fury Road (Warner Bros. movie streaming on Max)
With Furiosa (starring Anya Taylor Joy and Chris Hemsworth) out there in theaters now, there’s no time like yesterday to refresh on the action extravaganza starring Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, and Nicholas Hoult. Enjoy watching Charlize in total badass mode and Tom Hardy hopping aboard with Imperator Furiosa while they zoom around the Wasteland in the War Rig and attempt to evade Immortan Joe.
2. Outer Range (Prime Video (Amazon) series)
Now that Josh Brolin’s Royal Abbott has put his true “time traveler” identity out there, get ready for this neo-Western series that remains the most mesmerizing and bizarre show currently on TV. As viewers recall, the reappearance of “the void” coincided with the arrival of the mysterious Autumn (Imogen Poots), and the chess (and poker) game that followed kept everyone on their toes. This season, Autumn’s true identity is now under the microscope. We also we learn whether Cecilia will continue to put up with Royal’s long-standing BS and whether she (or Autumn) will push Royal right back where he came from.
1. Bridgerton (Netflix series)
The wait for the final four episodes of the season is on, but for now, viewers are content to relive their favorite moments so far of the Penelope-Colin story, which reached the halfway point with a rocking’ Carriage Ride that lived up to the expectations of Julia Quinn’s readership. Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton must now go forth to stumble into the reality of her alter ego becoming public. This promises to be a giddy and possibly heartbreaking endeavor, but surely, Shondaland will not disappoint viewers who want these two together, so that the fourth season can revisit them as newlyweds. This show has persisted marvelously after some predicted that The Duke’s departure would not bode well. Fortunately, Anthony and Kate dispelled that myth, and Queen Charlotte kept the franchise fires hot in the interim.