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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.
Want more streaming goodness? Sign up for The Queue, our streaming newsletter featuring the latest industry news, movie and TV recommendations, and more in your inbox every week.
For even more great streaming options, check out previous editions of our must-watch list here.
New Movies Streaming
“A Different Man”
Unlike his “Captain America” co-star Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan has taken the freedom that Marvel money provides and used it to tackle ambitious, daring movies, including “A Different Man,” which begins streaming on Max this Friday. Stan plays Edward, an aspiring actor who is held back by a severe facial disfigurement. When he undergoes a radical cosmetic procedure, Edward feels like a different man, until a confident doppelganger of his former self shows up, and begins living the life Edward always dreamed of.
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How to watch: “A Different Man” is streaming on Max.
“A Real Pain”
Named one of the best movies of 2024 by Boston.com readers, “A Real Pain” chronicles a European trip taken by two previously estranged cousins (Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin) to learn more about the Holocaust and their family history. Eisenberg’s David is sensible and reserved, while Culkin’s Benji — mirroring the energy he brought to “Succession” — is bold, extroverted, boorish, eccentric, and free-spirited in any given moment, leading to personality clashes.
At first glance, the two actors may seem like they’re simply playing to type. But there are nuances in both their performances and the film at large, which functions as a contemporary Holocaust remembrance and a frank discussion of mental illness and its unspoken impacts. (Despite that description, it’s also quite funny.)
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How to watch: “A Real Pain” is streaming on Hulu.
“Eraserhead” (1977)
At its core, the goal of a horror movie is to frighten, confuse, and unsettle its audience by any means necessary. Director David Lynch, who passed away this week at the age of 78, was a master of all three as perhaps the most commercially successful surrealist filmmaker of all time. Lynch’s debut, 1977’s “Eraserhead,” is less concerned with standard plot than the feelings it evokes.
You’ll jump out of your seat the first time you see the film’s grotesque newborn child, or the radiator lady. But the real impact of “Eraserhead” comes later, when your brain is still processing what you saw for hours or days on end. And don’t bother searching for answers, because Lynch wasn’t giving them, in this life or the next.
How to watch: “Eraserhead” is streaming on Max.
New TV Shows Streaming
“Severance”
It’s been three long years since the cliffhanger Season 1 ending “Severance,” and thankfully, creator Dan Erickson wastes no time throwing our favorite lab rats back into the fray. Mark S. (Adam Scott) is still our main entry point into the world of Lumon Technologies, where office employees have opted to have their brains “severed” into a work self and a home self, with neither half able to know what the other has done.
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After the (spoiler alert!) brief moment in the Season 1 finale when the “innies” were able to inhabit their outer selves and tell the world some of what is happening at Lumon, Season 2 promises a kinder, gentler company. But like many companies offering PR-friendly apologies, this one is only skin-deep.
How to watch: “Severance” Season 2 is streaming on Apple TV+.
“SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night”
Fifty years into its late-night run, there’s hardly a deficit of archival material about “Saturday Night Live.” James Miller’s oral history, James Franco’s verité documentary, and Jason Reitman’s recent dramatization are just a few of the projects that have examined the alchemy behind Lorne Michaels’ variety show.
“SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night,” doesn’t exactly reinvent the playbook, but it’s a compelling watch. Each of the four episodes examines the show from a different angle: The audition process, the writing room, the anatomy of a sketch (in this case, “More Cowbell”), and what happens when things go wrong (the infamous Season 11). “Beyond Saturday Night” offers a deep dive into the nitty-gritty of “SNL,” and — in a testament to Lorne Michaels’ vast rolodex — assembles an incredible roster of talking heads to discuss it.
How to watch: “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night” is streaming on Peacock.
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