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Discover the best movies and TV shows streaming now, with handpicked recommendations from Boston.com.
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.
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For even more great streaming options, check out previous editions of our must-watch list here.
New Movies Streaming
“Thelma”
Despite recommending more than 100 movies and TV shows in 2024, there were still a bunch that I enjoyed but never found time to mention in this column. One film from last year that didn’t get mentioned on enough best movies of 2024 lists is “Thelma,” a funny and satisfying film about a grandmother (June Squibb) who loses $10,000 to a phone scam.
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Rather than take the loss lying down, Thelma enlists her grandson (who the scammers impersonated on the phone) and an old friend in assisted living (the late Richard Roundtree) to track the criminals down. Between “Thelma” and “The Beekeeper,” 2024 was a fantastic year for phone scammers getting their comeuppance.
How to watch: “Thelma” is streaming on Hulu.
“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”
It’s been 32 years since Nick Park’s claymation short film “The Wrong Trousers,” in which hapless inventor Wallace and his canine pal Gromit apprehended penguin (or was it a chicken?) outlaw Feathers McGraw, putting the jewel thief behind bars. Years later, the duo are living the quiet life in England, though Gromit worries that Wallace has become too reliant on his newest invention, a helpful robotic gnome. When the garden figurine goes haywire, Gromit is proven right once more. But wait — who’s really controlling that gnome?
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How to watch: “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” is streaming on Netflix.
New TV Shows Streaming
“American Primeval”
Readers have let me know loud and clear how much they enjoy “Yellowstone,” so in 2025 I’m making a point to try out more Westerns, both contemporary and historic. “American Primeval,” from director Peter Berg (“Deepwater Horizon”) falls into the latter category, following a group of settlers on their journey west in 1857. An army of persecuted Mormons, ruthless trappers, and frustrated Natives on the road to modern-day Utah tend to regard each other with distrust at best and bloodshed at worst.
The six-part limited series goes by a bit too quickly to get properly invested in the fates of characters played by the likes of Taylor Kitsch “(“Friday Night Lights”), Betty Gilpin (“Glow”), and Jai Courtney (“The Suicide Squad”). But Berg and collaborator Mark L. Smith (“The Revenant”) know how to create an atmosphere and stage a brutal fight, and sometimes that’s all you need.
How to watch: “American Primeval” is streaming on Netflix.
“Severance”
Last weekend, non-subscribers to Apple TV+ were able to watch the award-winning show “Severance” thanks to a free weekend from the tech giant. This weekend, you can watch “Severance” for free a second time, thanks to a temporary agreement with Roku.
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Apple is clearly going all out to bring in new customers ahead of the debut of “Severance” Season 2 on Jan. 17, and who can blame them? Dan Erickson’s dystopian drama, about a group of office employees who have their brains “severed” into a work self and a home self, is the total package: From the tone-setting opening credits to the sterile production design, everything about the series is as finely calibrated as the Lumon employee handbook. As middle manager Mark S., Adam Scott leads an ensemble of disaffected workers who slowly awaken to the lab rat quality of their lives. It was my favorite TV show of 2022, and (spoiler alert!) what I’ve seen of Season 2 so far lives up to the hype.
How to watch: “Severance” is streaming for free on the Roku Channel and with a subscription on Apple TV+.
“The Traitors”
Reality TV is its own thriving ecosystem of genres and personalities, and Peacock has assembled a sampler platter featuring contestants from every corner with “The Traitors.” Host Alan Cumming (“The Good Wife”) presides over a high-stakes version of the party game Mafia held in a Scottish castle, with a group of secret “traitors” conspiring to wipe out all of the “faithful” in pursuit of a $250,000 prize. It’s a fantastic game to play with friends, and watching stars from “Survivor,” “Real Housewives,” and “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” among others, is equally diverting.
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How to watch: “The Traitors” is streaming on Peacock.
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