Every single week, our TV and film experts will list the most important ten streaming selections for you to pop into your queues. We’re not strictly operating upon reviews or accrued streaming clicks (although yes, we’ve scoured the streaming site charts) but, instead, upon those selections that are really worth noticing amid the churning sea of content. There’s a lot out there, after all, and your time is valuable.
TIE: 10. Loudermilk (Audience Network series streaming on Netflix)
Speculation of a fourth season has been swirling after all three existing seasons of this Peter Farrelly co-created series arrived on Netflix. Ron Livingston stars as a music critic and recovering alcoholic/grumpy a-hole, and even his sponsor (portrayed by Will Sasse) has had about enough of his garbage. Could this series benefit from the binge model like Suits and Manifest and possibly be resurrected? Watch, laugh, and join the cause.
TIE: 10. Reacher (Amazon Prime series)
The third season of this series is filming in Maine and will cover Lee Child’s Persuasion novel. Neagley shall return, and perhaps she will even bring a rocket launcher, but if you haven’t watched how the Big Man resolves the helicopter catastrophe, grab the snacks and settle in for some adrenaline-pounding, one-liner-fueled action. Wait a second, can a helicopter even hold Reacher without crumbling into the ground out of sheer failure to contain him? These are the questions that keep Jack Reacher devotees awake.
9. Society Of The Snow (Netflix film)
Fortunately, the arctic blasts of a few weeks ago appear to have died down in much of the U.S., so perhaps you’re warmed up enough to watch this frozen plane-crash movie without shivering at the same time. This Oscar-nominated picture became a streaming hit for its harrowing portrayal of 1972 Andes Mountains crash survivors, who are left without protective gear and wondering when, if ever, they will be rescued. Oh yeah, and they have to find meals somewhere — eek.
8. The Beekeeper (Miramar movie on VOD & Amazon Prime)
Bless Jason Statham for continuing to throw himself into the most absurd revenge permutations. This variation involves Statham not only making honey as an actual beekeeper but being a top-secret Beekeeper member, meaning that he’s a shadowy government contractor who must “protect the hive” to keep bad guys from ruining society for real. It this a “one last job” story, too? Hell yeah.
7. Masters Of The Air (Apple TV+ series)
World War II-obsessed team Steven Spielberg (Amblin Television), Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman (the latter two from Playtone) take to the skies with this followup to Band Of Brothers and The Pacific. The show stars a who’s-who of rising Hollywood stars, including Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Ncuti Gate, Anthony Boyle, Barry Keoghan, and Nate Mann. The aerial battle scenes are plagued by slightly odd-looking CGI, but that’s a minor distraction compared to the sweeping story of the real-life missions and bombardments to take Nazi Germany down.
6. American Nightmare (Netflix docuseries)
Sometimes, truth is not only as terrible as fiction but isn’t believed by those who are wary of the “life imitating art” phenomenon. In this case, law enforcement dropped the ball by deciding to accuse a couple of fabricating a Gone Girl scenario for attention. There’s a reason that this crime strongly resembled that story, as it turns out, and this truth does, in fact, become stranger than Gillian Flynn’s fiction. True crime junkies cannot resist this infuriating watch, and if this docuseries doesn’t last long enough for you, then Unbelievable (starring Kaitlyn Dever) is a comparable Netflix show worth absorbing.
5. The Greatest Night In Pop (Netflix documentary)
The financially successful celebrity do-gooder anthem, “We Are The World,” gets the deep dive treatment of an unprecedented collection of stars who gathered to raise many millions of dollars for Live Aid. Not only were Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, and Willie Nelson on hand, but Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, and Cyndie Lauper joined the party, too. The nostalgia is pouring out of this project, and the documentary approach yields the BTS approach nearly 40 years later.
4. The Postcard Killings (RLJE film streaming on Netflix)
This 2020 movie starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Famke Janssen didn’t fare too well in theaters at all, which makes sense considering its release date, of course. The film is finally receiving a wider, slightly obsessed audience who is here for JDM as an NYPD detective who zooms around the globe to track serial killers who killed his daughter and son-in-law. This story is based upon James Patterson and Liza Marklund’s best-selling novel and gives us JDM in a role that’s a world apart from The Walking Dead‘s duality-soaked Negan, which is merely one role that he’s tackled in his long-and-winding career but the most enduring one to this date.
3. True Detective (HBO series streaming on Max)
Frozen horrors have literally risen from the tundra (you’ll know that theme when you see it), and hoo boy, the first season is (thankfully) resurrecting itself loud and clear in this latest HBO season. Even a Rust Cohle connection officially exists in this season helmed by Jodie Foster and Kali Matthew. Granted, McConaughey and Woody Harrelson do not appear onscreen in this installment, but they are very much present in spirit and as executive producers. Additionally, this season heads to the uppermost point of the U.S. but takes many similar turns to the eerie chain of events that arose down in the Carcosa ruins of Louisiana.
2. Griselda (Netflix series)
It’s ladies’ night in the cocaine trade. Original Narcos co-creator Doug Miro and Narcos: Mexico executive producer Eric Newman team up to tell the story of Colombian drug cartel leader Griselda Blanco, the prolific cocaine trafficker as portrayed by Sofia Vergara. Griselda reigned in Miami in the 1970-’80s, and her tour of terror included operating under 20 aliases, moving hundreds of kilos per month, and ordering dozens of murders. Do not sleep on the details about the investigator who pushed the hardest to not only apprehend Griselda but credit her (cursed) trailblazing, too.
1. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Amazon series)
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s blockbuster movie receives a glorious reimagining that brings several new shades of a “married assassin” story to the table. Donald Glover and Maya Erskine’s spy characters — also named John and Jane Smith — emerge in an arranged marriage, which might be even more of an occupational hazard than the high-risk missions that their job requires. This show turns all expectations of romantic comedy on its head, although yes, there’s both romance and comedy to be found on the scene, along with a show-stopping fart, cameos galore, and tasty action scenes.