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The weekend is here! If you’re looking for something to watch, we can help. We’ve dug through Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max and Disney+ to find some of the best titles on each service. STREAMING ON NETFLIX ‘Train Dreams’
Clint Bentley’s “modest, luminous” film adaptation of the Denis Johnson novella barely speaks above a whisper yet lands with an emotional force that by its conclusion is overwhelming. Joel Edgerton stars as Robert Grainier, a laborer in the Pacific Northwest in the early 20th century, who lives a pretty average life: He works, he falls in love with a wonderful woman (Felicity Jones), they have a child, they experience tragedy. But it’s less a rolling narrative than a memory play, capturing the feeling of living in this time, in these places, working alongside these “itinerant men.” Much of Edgerton’s performance is reactive, but it doesn’t matter; he says more, with his soulful eyes or a deep and heavy sigh, about sadness, grief and guilt than any monologue can convey. The cinematography, by Adolpho Veloso, is awe-inspiring — stunning in its beauty, devastating in its desolation These are the 50 best movies on Netflix.STREAMING ON NETFLIX ‘Splinter Cell: Deathwatch’
Created by the “John Wick” screenwriter Derek Kolstad and based on a popular video game franchise, this animated spy thriller features the voice of Liev Schreiber as Sam Fisher, a counterterrorism agent so secret that only a handful of people in the U.S. government know he exists. As “Splinter Cell: Deathwatch” begins, the aging Fisher is mostly retired. But as often happens in these kinds of stories, he gets called back into action when his old bosses face the kind of trouble only he can tackle. Working alongside the younger agent Zinnia McKenna (voiced by the single-named British actress Kirby) and haunted by his past mistakes, the hero relentlessly and violently pursues a ruthless enemy. Here are 30 great TV shows on Netflix.STREAMING ON HULU ‘Miracle on 34th Street’
It’s Thanksgiving Day, and at the Macy’s parade in New York City, Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) is hired on the spot to replace the sloppy-drunk Santa who was supposed to star in the event. (It would take another half a century, with Billy Bob Thornton in “Bad Santa,” for a sloppy-drunk Santa to find proper representation onscreen.) The premise of “Miracle” — that this department store Santa is actually the real thing and that he convinces a cynical little girl (a wonderful Natalie Wood) to believe in him — was so juicy that the film was remade twice, but neither recaptured the charm and magic of this initial offering. It’s a film that truly earns its classic status, continuing to enchant viewers young and old. Our critic called it “the freshest little picture in a long time, and maybe even the best comedy of this year.” Here are Hulu’s best movies and TV shows.STREAMING ON AMAZON PRIME VIDEO ‘Notting Hill’
Julia Roberts puts a playful spin on her movie-star persona in this delightful romantic comedy, as a decidedly Roberts-esque celebrity whose innocent fling with a modest bookshop owner (Hugh Grant) turns into tabloid fodder, complicating their budding relationship. The picture marked a reunion for Grant and the screenwriter Richard Curtis, whose “Four Weddings and a Funeral” (also on Amazon) made Grant a star; here, they again bring out the best in each other, with Curtis’s tender characterization keeping Grant “charmingly flummoxed.” Rhys Ifans steals every scene as Grant’s clueless roommate. Here are a bunch of great movies on Amazon.STREAMING ON HBO MAX ‘Superman’
Tasked with the difficult job of steering the DC universe in a new direction — and doing it through a movie about the mightiest of all comics legends — the director James Gunn might have felt the heavy burden of his Kryptonian superhero, but none of it shows in his buoyant “Superman.” Though Gunn respects the grandeur of the Man of Steel, the irreverent sensibility of his “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies carries over into this entertaining revival, in which Clark Kent/Superman (David Corenswet) tries to foil the latest world-domination scheme by the villainous Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult). His rambunctious dog Krypto steals the show. Alissa Wilkinson called it “a charming take on the Superman myth.” See more great movies streaming on HBO Max.STREAMING ON DISNEY+ ‘Freakier Friday’
To say that much has changed in Lindsay Lohan’s life and career in the 23 years between her breakout role in the body-swapping comedy “Freaky Friday” and this slickly executed sequel is an understatement. Many viewers will surely carry knowledge of that history into the new film and find plenty of reasons to root for Lohan, who carries the unmistakable glimmers of her younger self into the role of a put-upon single mother caught up in another metaphysical switcheroo with her mother (Jamie Lee Curtis) and two teenage girls. It’s a little tough keeping track of who’s supposed to be who, but hey, it wouldn’t be called “Freakier Friday” if it were any simpler. Despite these complications, Alissa Wilkinson assures, the film “ends in a satisfying place that echoes its predecessor.” The 50 best things to watch on Disney+ right now.
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