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5 must-watch movies & TV shows streaming right now
The best of what's new streaming on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney Plus, and more.
Welcome to Boston.com’s weekly streaming guide. Each week, we recommend five must-watch movies and TV shows available on streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+, and more.
Many recommendations are for new shows, while others are for under-the-radar releases you might have missed or classics that are about to depart a streaming service at the end of the month.
Have a new favorite movie or show you think we should know about? Let us know in the comments, or email [email protected]. Looking for even more great streaming options? Check out previous editions of our must-watch list here.
Movies
“Michael Clayton”
Following the recent death of beloved character actor Tom Wilkinson, it’s worth revisiting his last Oscar-nominated performance in Tony Gilroy’s brilliantly written 2007 legal thriller “Michael Clayton.” In a pseudo-action star performance from George Clooney, “Michael Clayton” finds the actor’s typically unflappable persona thoroughly ruffled, playing a fixer for a giant law firm litigating a multi-billion-dollar class action lawsuit. Clooney’s Clayton must marshal personal debts and a divorce, and track down Wilkinson, a coworker whose mental breakdown (or perhaps mental clarity?) threatens to lose the big case for their firm.
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Wilkinson’s opening monologue is the perfect example of Gilroy’s stage-worthy screenwriting, and both his and Clooney’s growing disillusionment and paranoia give a film in which almost no guns are fired or punches thrown a dramatic flair.
How to watch: “Michael Clayton” is streaming on Paramount+.
“Self Reliance”
Besides his role in “New Girl,” Jake Johnson probably reached the biggest audience with 2018’s “Tag,” in which he and friends played by Jon Hamm, Ed Helms, Hannibal Buress and Jeremy Renner have been playing a game of tag for decades. Johnson is playing another game of chase in his directorial debut “Self Reliance,” albeit with drastically different stakes.
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Johnson’s Tommy Walcott is drafted by Andy Samberg (playing himself) to take part in the Most Dangerous Game, with viewers around the world watching as he avoids being killed for sport in order to win $1 million. The catch is that Johnson can’t be killed while he is with others, which means the emotionally distant Tommy must reach out to friends and loved ones and convince them he’s not delusional.
How to watch: “Self Reliance” is streaming on Hulu.
“Society of the Snow”
In 1972, a Uruguayan plane crashed into the Andes, leaving passengers stranded for 72 days. The horrible choices the survivors had to make in order to live have been dramatized on the big screen before, but never so eloquently as in “Society of the Snow,” J.A. Bayona’s tense retelling. The film, likely to get a Best International Film Oscar nomination on Tuesday, can be difficult to watch. Fans of “Yellowjackets” or anyone who has read the Wikipedia about the story can understand why. But “Society of Snow” has already become Netflix’s first big hit of 2024, and speaking from a personal perspective, I found it impossible to look away.
How to watch: “Society of the Snow” is streaming on Netflix.
TV
“Monsieur Spade”
AMC has slimmed down its original programming considerably since the days of “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad,” which makes me a little worried about the prospects of “Monsieur Spade,” despite the irresistible promise of watching Clive Owen play Sam Spade, Dashiell Hammett’s noir detective made famous in “The Maltese Falcon.” The show is set in 1963, and Spade has retired in the South of France, the memory of his wartime exploits still fresh in his mind. Showrunners series creators Tom Fontana (“Oz”) and Scott Frank (“The Queen’s Gambit”) don’t let Spade stay retired long, as the detective begins poking around a grisly massacre at a local convent.
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“Monsieur Spade” is a welcome reboot, and here’s hoping that some combination of people who still receive cable TV and subscribe to AMC+ will make the show a hit.
How to watch: “Monsieur Spade” is streaming on AMC+, with new episodes airing Sundays on AMC. The first episode is available free on AMC.com, Amazon, and other streaming services.
“True Detective: Night Country”
After a five-year hiatus, “True Detective” is back with a new showrunner (Issa Lopez), a new subtitle (Night Country), and a new star in Jodie Foster. There are moments in watching this fourth installment of the HBO show that evoke “Fargo,” which just wrapped up its fifth season over on FX. The small-town Alaskan location is comparably desolate, but unlike the gray and white of “Fargo,” “True Detective: Night Country” is a deep black, with the show set far enough north that the sun almost never rises during the weeks closest to the Solstice. Perhaps the more apt comparison is John Carpenter’s “The Thing,” given that in the very first episode, a group of men at a research station disappear, with the only clue a cellphone video of a crew member possessed by some mysterious force or life form. Jodie Foster is a far cry from Clarice Starling, but watching her police chief probe this seemingly supernatural mystery is a welcome return to form.
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How to watch: “True Detective” Season 4 is streaming on Max, with new episodes airing Sundays on HBO.
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