The weekend is here! If you’re looking for something to watch, we can help. We’ve dug through Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Max and Disney+ to find some of the best titles on each service. STREAMING ON NETFLIX ‘Casino Royale’
The James Bond franchise had hit a bumpy stretch in the mid-2000s, as audiences turned away from the increasingly silly shenanigans of adventures like “Die Another Day” for the grittier superspy stylings of the “Bourne” movies. So the Bond producers brought back the director Martin Campbell — who had previously rescued the series from obsolescence with the 1995 jump-start “Goldeneye” (also on Netflix) — to reboot Bond with an origin story. Daniel Craig made his first appearance in the role, complementing the character’s signature debonair charisma and offhand wit with genuine danger and darkness, while Eva Green impresses as the woman who made Bond do what he seldom would again: fall in love. These are the 50 best movies on Netflix.STREAMING ON NETFLIX ‘Interview With the Vampire’
Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series receives its first truly worthy screen adaptation with this show, which begins with the first book and mostly follows Rice’s plot, dressed up with some modern flair. Jacob Anderson plays Louis de Pointe du Lac, a former pimp telling the story of how he met the charismatic French bloodsucker Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) in early 20th century New Orleans, beginning a romance that leads Louis down a path of depravity and destruction. Unlike some past adaptations, this TV version of “Interview With the Vampire” takes full account of the story’s historical context, considering the racial, cultural and sexual dynamics of the times. Our critic said it also has “energy and a sense of humor.” Here are 30 great TV shows on Netflix.STREAMING ON HULU ‘Palm Springs’
The “Groundhog Day”-style time loop comedy gets an update and rom-com twist, with Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti as a pair of wedding guests stuck reliving the same day, over and over — but together, falling in and out of something resembling love while everyone around them déjà vus. Samberg and Milioti shine, and the supporting cast is filled out with valuable players (including J.K. Simmons and June Squibb). The director Max Barbakow and the writer Andy Siara work out plenty of clever variations on the premise while gingerly (and unexpectedly) tiptoeing into unexpectedly serious waters. Our critic called it “wildly funny” and “admirably inventive.” Here are Hulu’s best movies and TV shows.STREAMING ON AMAZON PRIME VIDEO ‘Weapons’
Amy Madigan won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her bone-chilling turn as Aunt Gladys, the mysterious visiting relative who may be behind the unexplained disappearances of a class of school children in a quiet Pennsylvania town. The writer-director Zach Cregger tells his story of small-town tragedy from multiple perspectives, with overlapping (and sometimes contradictory) versions of events. It’s a clever structural conceit, but the real draw here are the performances (not only from Madigan, but Julia Garner as a baffled and troubled teacher, Josh Brolin as a mourning parent, and Alden Ehrenreich as a local police officer) and Cregger’s confident control of mood and tone — “the guy knows how to slither under your skin,” our critic wrote, “and stay there.” Here are a bunch of great movies on Amazon.STREAMING ON HBO MAX ‘Ex Machina’
Having firmly established himself as a novelist and a screenwriter, specifically for Danny Boyle films like “28 Days Later” and “Sunshine,” Alex Garland stepped confidently behind the camera for his debut feature “Ex Machina,” an ingenious science-fiction thriller about the dangers of A.I. and tech-bro megalomania. Domhnall Gleeson plays a programmer who’s initially thrilled about winning a chance to spend time with his company’s reclusive C.E.O. (Oscar Isaac) at a mountain retreat, but the more time spent with his boss’s latest innovation, a beautiful humanoid robot (Alicia Vikander), the more troubled he feels. Though “Ex Machina” engages in a typically alarming sci-fi scenario, Garland flashes a playful side, too, that makes the film darkly entertaining. Manohla Dargis called it “a slyly spooky futuristic shocker.” See more great movies streaming on HBO Max.STREAMING ON DISNEY+ ‘Tron’
What did the future look like in 1982? This Disney science-fiction adventure offered one distinctive vision, although not many people flocked to see it at the time. The film has endured as a cult favorite and technological curio, however, presaging inside-the-grid scenarios like “The Matrix.” It also provides a jaundiced look at corporate-controlled tech realms, pitting a computer engineer (Jeff Bridges) against the Master Control Program in a virtual environment. Our critic Janet Maslin praised its “nonstop parade of stunning computer graphics,” even if they weren’t accompanied by more “old-fashioned virtues.” The 50 best things to watch on Disney+ right now.Want to see more of our expert reporting in your Google search results?
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