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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
“Oppenheimer”
Yes, you should have already seen “Oppenheimer” in theaters. Every single aspect of the movie is huge, from the cast to the real, non-CGI explosions Nolan created to mimic the Trinity Test. But “Oppenheimer” is also a joy to watch at home now that the movie is streaming exclusively on Peacock. After all, much of its three-hour runtime is quiet and understated, functioning as a tense courtroom drama and a sprawling game of 1940s backroom politics. Most of all, “Oppenheimer” is a fascinating character study of a man stuck living in a world of absolutes whose mind never seemed to be satisfactorily made up about anything. Cillian Murphy is brilliant, but despite his centrality to nearly every scene of the film, he leaves space for others to shine in roles both big (Robert Downey Jr.) and small (Casey Affleck).
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How to watch: “Oppenheimer” is streaming on Peacock.
“The Color Purple”
Steven Spielberg, who directed the 1985 film adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer-winning novel, steps into a producer role for the 2023 remake, handing the reins to Ghanaian filmmaker Blitz Bazawule. An early-1900s story of heartbreak, trauma, and triumph, “The Color Purple” tells the story of three women — Celie (singer Fantasia Barrino), Shug (Taraji P. Henson, “Hidden Figures”), and Sofia (Danielle Brooks, “Orange is the New Black”) — who lift each other up in the face of abuse from the men in their lives. It’s quite a thematically dark story to be told via musical, and the tonal dissonance can be jarring. But the performances at the center of the film hold everything together, particularly Brooks’, who notched a well-deserved Oscar nomination last month.
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How to watch: “The Color Purple” is streaming on Max.
“This Is Me… Now: A Love Story”
The concept of a visual album has been around for decades, though the term wasn’t really popularized until Beyoncé’s 2016 tour de force “Lemonade.” Since then, we’ve seen artists from Nick Cave to Travis Scott use film as a medium to further express the themes of their music. With “This Is Me… Now: A Love Story,” Jennifer Lopez has put her own distinct mark on the genre, trying to explain her life story in a 60-minute camp-fest.
The story J.Lo tells is that of a hopeless romantic who is accused of being a serial monogamist and a sex addict for the way she falls in and out of love. In scenes caked with goopy CGI, Lopez exists on a plane of unreality, first as a factory worker who must restart a metallic heart, then as a woman whose life is one big Bollywood dance number. All the while, a “Zodiacal Council” comprised of celebs like Sofia Vergara, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Jane Fonda, and Keke Palmer watch from the heavens, praying Lopez will “see the signs” they’re sending.
“This Is Me… Now: A Love Story” is an absurd work of pure ego that is nonetheless achingly sincere and strangely compelling. Lopez crying herself to sleep watching “The Way We Were”? Check. J.Lo paying homage Gene Kelly’s “Singin’ in the Rain” with a rainy dance number? Check. A barely recognizable Ben Affleck playing a character that clearly doesn’t belong in this movie at all? You better believe it.
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How to watch: “This Is Me… Now: A Love Story” is streaming on Prime Video.
TV
“The Dynasty: New England Patriots”
When Matthew Hamachek, the director of “The Dynasty” — Apple TV+’s new docuseries about the Patriots — sat down to begin work on the 10-part series, he was faced with the prospect of piecing together a 20-year story that, at the time, was still unfolding.
The series, which debuted its first two episodes Friday, filmed its final scenes in December 2023, and thus missed Bill Belichick and the Patriots finally parting ways. But there’s more than enough material to sustain a 10-episode show, with Hamachek and co. interviewing 70+ talking heads, from Tom Brady’s rookie roommate — who shows us some fantastic home videos — to the Foxborough triumvirate of Brady, Belichick and Kraft. Patriots obsessives may feel they know everything there is to know about the franchise, but the way Hamachek and co. tie the entire 20-year saga together is a triumph of storytelling and archival research.
How to watch: “The Dynasty: New England Patriots” is streaming on Apple TV+, with new episodes debuting Fridays.
“Feud: Capote vs. The Swans”
The hook for FX’s new series “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans” is irresistible. A retro “Real Housewives” tale of high society women in New York City whose petty gossip, drunken feuds, and scandalous affairs were all spilled to (and then cataloged by) acclaimed author and notorious gadfly Truman Capote. In picking Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Chloë Sevigny, Calista Flockhart, Molly Ringwald, and Demi Moore to play the so-called Swans, “American Horror Story” showrunner Ryan Murphy has assembled a perfect cast of actresses who have all been an It Girl of some regard over the last 40 years.
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When Capote (played with an incredible range of emotions by Tom Hollander) betrays the Swans’ trust by telling all in a famous Esquire story, the blowback is swift and merciless. So much so, in fact, that the series’ one drawback might be how dark things get. Most of “Feud” takes place after the societal peak of its characters, with the Swans shunned (or worse) after Capote publishes his story, and the novelist drunk and destitute, stuck in abusive relationship. If you go into “Feud” with the right mindset, however, Murphy and director Gus Van Sant (“Good Will Hunting”) have produced a binge-worthy series.
How to watch: “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans” is streaming on Hulu, with new episodes airing Wednesdays on FX.
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