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 ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’
For his third “Knives Out” mystery, the writer and director Rian Johnson sends his colorful and brilliant detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig, as delightfully eccentric as ever) to a remote church in upstate New York, where the polarizing monsignor (Josh Brolin) has been murdered under puzzling circumstances. All fingers seem to point to the new assistant pastor (Josh O’Connor), but nothing is ever as simple as it seems in a “Knives Out” movie, and that’s certainly the case here; Johnson fills out the film with a memorable cast of supporting characters (including Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny and Kerry Washington) and all sorts of peculiar possibilities. Those elements are expertly crafted but, by this point, expected — the surprise here is Johnson’s nuanced thematic exploration of the place of faith in a time of hate. These are the 50 best movies on Netflix.STREAMING ON NETFLIX ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’
In this gripping legal drama, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo plays Mickey Haller, a savvy Los Angeles attorney who often works out of his car, hustling from case to case. Created by the mystery writer Michael Connelly (best known for his books about the detective Harry Bosch), the Haller character is equally at home among the city’s rich and powerful and its poor and desperate, because throughout his turbulent career, he has been either flush with cash or on the brink of disaster. The TV version of “The Lincoln Lawyer” captures the qualities that make Connelly’s books so popular, including his twisty murder plots and colorful casts. Each season is like a page-turning novel. Here are 30 great TV shows on Netflix.STREAMING ON HULU ‘Ghostbusters’
Ghost stories are among the most reliable chestnuts of classic comedies, and this megahit from director Ivan Reitman falls well within that tradition. As a team of scientists who join forces to investigate (and exterminate) the considerable paranormal presences of ’80s New York, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis establish the personalities and rhythms of a classic comedy ensemble, while surrounding themselves with jaw-dropping special effects that service the jokes, rather than vice versa. Full of memorable dialogue, iconic images and first-rate supporting players (including Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis and Sigourney Weaver), this was one of the biggest comedies of its era, and deservedly so. Here are Hulu’s best movies and TV shows.STREAMING ON AMAZON PRIME VIDEO ‘Raging Bull’
Robert De Niro won his second Academy Award for his fiercely physical and psychologically punishing performance in this searing adaptation of the autobiography of the middleweight champion Jake LaMotta. The stylish boxing sequences are visceral and overwhelming, shot and cut to approximate the disorientation and violence of the sport. But the most disturbing sequences are those of LaMotta in his home, terrorizing his wife, Vickie (Cathy Moriarty, in an electrifying debut) and terrifying his brother and manager, Joey (Joe Pesci, also remarkable). It’s a relentlessly downbeat piece of work, but the force of De Niro’s performance and the energy of Martin Scorsese’s direction are hard to overstate, or to forget. Our critic called it Scorsese’s “most ambitious film as well as his finest.” Here are a bunch of great movies on Amazon.STREAMING ON HBO MAX ‘Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud’
Working alongside his brother Craig, the Arkansas-based filmmaker and video journalist Brent Renaud brought his camera to some of the most dangerous locations in the world, giving special attention to ordinary people under extreme duress. The Oscar-nominated short “Armed Only With a Camera” pays tribute to Brent, who was killed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, by unearthing extraordinary footage of the brothers in war zones like Iraq and Somalia, and in chaotic places like Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. A sequence in which eulogies at Renaud’s funeral are illustrated by his empathetic videos is particularly beautiful. Alissa Wilkinson called it “emotionally affecting.” See more great movies streaming on HBO Max.STREAMING ON DISNEY+ ‘The Simpsons’
Let’s face it: Of the 37 (and counting) seasons of “The Simpsons,” only about the first nine are truly great. But that impressive run had such a cultural impact that quotes from and references to it have become a linguistic shorthand. The creator Matt Groening and his animators conceived the Simpsons and the town of Springfield as an endlessly elastic source of colorful characters and sharp jibes about American families, institutions and values. Our critic called its animation “ingenious” and its scripts “consistently inventive.” The 50 best things to watch on Disney+ right now.
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