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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
“20 Days in Mariupol”
Following the announcement of the 2024 Oscar nominations earlier this week, the unquestioned frontrunner for Best Documentary Film is “20 Days in Mariupol,” an on-the-ground view of the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine produced by PBS’ Frontline team at GBH in Boston and the Associated Press. “20 Days” is the first documentary by journalist Mstyslav Chernov, whose first-person view of the siege came amidst the expulsion of almost every other journalist from Mariupol. As the public’s attention shifts to other global conflicts, “20 Days” is a helpful reminder of the unspeakable horrors of war and the importance of Ukraine’s fight for sovereignty.
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How to watch: “20 Days in Mariupol” is streaming free on PBS.org and the Frontline YouTube channel.
“Dumb Money”
It feels like a lifetime ago, but it’s only been three years since Reddit users banded together to send the stock of video game retailer GameStop “to the moon,” costing hedge funds who shorted the stock billions in the process. Now comes the big-screen version of the David vs. Goliath tale, based on a book by Boston native Ben Mezrich, whose previous novel, “The Accidental Billionaires,” was adapted into “The Social Network.” Paul Dano (“There Will Be Blood”) plays a Massachusetts man named Keith Gill, who had touted GameStop stock for more than a year and became the poster child for the WallStreetBets movement, making tens of millions in the process. In the hands of director Craig Gillespie, “Dumb Money” is shaped by the memes that made the movement, bombarding viewers with TikToks and image macros in between telling the life stories of those who made a fortune or lost everything during the craze.
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How to watch: “Dumb Money” is streaming on Netflix.
“Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning”
Ahead of its debut on Paramount Plus this week, Tom Cruise’s latest spy caper officially changed its name from the grammatically confusing “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part One” to just “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning.” The original name always felt like it was AI-generated, which is fitting, since this seventh entry in the “M:I” franchise has Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and his IMF colleagues facing off against a world-dominating AI known as The Entity. Cruise continues to defy age in this one, performing death-defying stunts and running like a madman across beautiful locales in pursuit of a con woman who picks his pocket (Hayley Atwell) and a man from his past tied to The Entity (Esai Morales). The iconic theme song had me cheering in the theaters last summer, and the opening sequence, involving a nuclear submarine hiding under Antarctic ice, had me on the edge of my seat from minute one.
How to watch: “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning” is streaming on Paramount+.
TV
“Expats”
Boston College grad Lulu Wang (“The Farewell”) has made the jump from theaters to couches with “Expats,” which arrives on Amazon Prime Video this week. Based on the 2016 novel “The Expatriates,” the six-part miniseries stars Nicole Kidman as one of three American women living in 2014 Hong Kong, all of whom are tied together by tragedy. Margaret (Kidman) is a mother of three whose son disappears in a crowded market, for which she blames Mercy (Ji-young Yoo), a recent Columbia grad working as her nanny. Meanwhile, Margaret’s best friend Hilary (Sarayu Blue) can’t have a child of her own, which she blames for the behavior of her philandering husband, who might have something to do with the child’s disappearance.
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How to watch: “Expats” is streaming on Prime Video, with new episodes debuting Thursdays.
“Masters of the Air”
Both HBO’s 2001 miniseries “Band of Brothers” and its 2010 followup “The Pacific” were famous for their gritty realism and for casting seemingly every 20 or 30-something actor at the time. The newest entry into the war drama miniseries, “Masters of the Air,” looks to do more of the same with its debut this week on Apple TV+. Based on Donald L. Miller’s book of the same name, “Masters of the Air” follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group (the “Bloody Hundredth”), who overcome perilous conditions to dent Hitler’s Third Reich from the skies. You’ll likely recognize Austin Butler (“Elvis”) and Barry Keoghan (“Saltburn”), but keep your eye on other stars in waiting like Callum Turner (“The Boys in the Boat”) and Sawyer Spielberg, the son of legendary director Steven Spielberg, who also executive produces the show alongside Tom Hanks.
How to watch: “Masters of the Air” is streaming on Apple TV+.
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