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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.
New Movies Streaming
“Deadpool & Wolverine”
The headline to my review of this Marvel crossover pretty much sums it up: “Deadpool & Wolverine” hits all the right notes to a very annoying song. If you’re all-in on Ryan Reynolds as “the merc with the mouth,” there’s a lot to like about this Shawn Levy blockbuster: Stylishly choreographed combat, winking fan service, and an always welcome turn from Hugh Jackman as the gruff Wolverine.
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If you’re fatigued by Reynolds’ cultural omnipresence, however, “Deadpool & Wolverine” offers nowhere to hide. With the masked vigilante firing off a joke every 30 seconds or so, even a 25 percent hit rate means there are plenty of laughs. But you’ll certainly believe it when Jackman’s Wolverine becomes so fed up that he tries to tear Deadpool limb from limb.
How to watch: “Deadpool & Wolverine” is streaming on Disney+.
“Twisters”
I wasn’t as high on “Twisters” as other critics, but one thing that is undeniable about Lee Isaac Chung’s legacyquel is that Glen Powell is a bonafide movie star. Unfortunately, “Twisters” waits quite a while to bring the “Top Gun: Maverick” star into the fold, instead focusing on Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones, “Where the Crawdads Sing”), a meteorologist with a preternatural ability to track tornadoes who has been sidelined by personal tragedy.
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She reluctantly joins a former colleague (Anthony Ramos) in the field, where she encounters YouTube sensation Tyler Owens (Powell), a larger-than-life, Stetson-wearing storm chaser whose team livestreams gaudy stunts like shooting fireworks off inside a tornado and hawks T-shirts on the side. “Twisters” ends up splitting the difference between a stoic treatise on the destructive power of climate change and a harmless popcorn flick about tornadoes and the rodeo clown that tries to wrangle them. But it’s fun while the ride lasts.
How to watch: “Twisters” is streaming on Peacock.
New TV Streaming
“Bad Sisters”
Let’s get the bad news about “Bad Sisters” out of the way first: The second season of Apple TV’s charming black comedy can’t hold a candle to the original, which was one of my favorite shows of 2022. But even a lesser “Bad Sisters” is a welcome treat, and there’s enough going on in this follow-up to make it a worthwhile watch.
Season one, created by Sharon Horgan (“Catastrophe”), was an intricately plotted mystery, jumping back and forth in time to show us which of the Garvey sisters — Eva (Horgan), Ursula (Eva Birthistle), Bibi (Sarah Greene) or Becka (Eve Hewson) killed JP (Claes Bang), the horrific husband of fifth sister Grace (Anne-Marie Duff). The second season finds Grace marrying a much nicer man (Owen McDonnell’s Ian), but the skeletons in the family’s closet refuse to stay buried. The plot is much more straightforward this time around, but with more of Horgan’s lived-in dialogue and a fantastic new role for Fiona Shaw (“Killing Eve”) as the holier-than-thou sister of Grace’s neighbor, Roger (Michael Smiley), there’s still plenty to enjoy about this shorter season.
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How to watch: “Bad Sisters” Season 2 is streaming on Apple TV+.
“Cobra Kai”
After five fabulous seasons of serialized storytelling, it feels like Season 6 of “Cobra Kai,” is finally moving toward a conclusion. Not right away, though — Netflix is splitting the final season of this “Karate Kid” spinoff into three parts, and quite frankly, the gimmick is more annoying than just returning to the weekly episode model.
Johnny (William Zabka) and Daniel (Ralph Macchio) merged their respective dojos in the first portion of Season 6 ahead of the world karate tournament, working together to determine which of their young disciples would represent the Miyagi-do and Eagle Fang Karate dojos in Barcelona. But as so often happened throughout the show’s run, the old rivals go at each other’s throats again, and enter the tournament not on speaking terms. The appearance of big bad John Kreese (Martin Kove) and his reborn Cobra Kai should presumably change that, though.
How to watch: “Cobra Kai” Season 6, Part Two is streaming on Netflix.
“Silo”
After numerous attempts, Apple TV+ finally found its first great sci-fi drama with 2023’s “Silo,” an ambitious project about the last 10,000 people on Earth following a post-apocalyptic event living inside a massive underground silo. But not all is what it seems, and many people — including engineer Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) begin to suspect that the silo’s mayor (Tim Robbins) isn’t being completely honest about what’s on the surface. (If you saw 2024’s hit series “Fallout,” you get the general idea.)
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It’s hard to describe Season 2 without being too spoiler-y for those who haven’t seen Season 1, but I’ll try. With Juliette exiled from the silo, the mayor and his deputy (Common) hope to restore calm. But her exit has only led to more questions, and rebellion is in the air. (You know what else is in the air? Ah, spoilers, sorry.)
How to watch: “Silo” Season 2 is streaming on Apple TV+.
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