We recommend: The best new movies and TV series
Your Friends & Neighbors: Gone are the days John Hamm played a wealthy ad agency head or an angel. In this series, he plays Andrew Cooper—a hedge fund manager who gets fired from his job and is dealing with his recent divorce. Desperate times call for desperate measures—in this case stealing from his rich friend and neighbour’s houses while discovering scandalous secrets about them. But it all goes south when he wakes up in a pool of blood. Also starring: Amanda Peet and Olivia Munn.
Reviews are fantastic! The Guardian calls this Hamm’s best role since ‘Mad Men’ and says: “It is blackly comic, frothily fun and highly moreish.” According to BBC News: “Your Friends and Neighbors is emotionally real and affecting but also absurdist and funny, a rare combination.” Our take: We’re big fans of John Hamm, this one’s a definite watch for us. You can see it on Apple TV+.
North of North: This is an eight-episode feel good comedy set in the furthest place you can think of in Canada—in a village called Ice Cove—it is all fictional of course. The story follows a 26-year-old Inuk woman Siaja who got married out of high school but a boat accident makes her rethink her position in her marriage and the society. After an extremely public exit from her marriage—which like our Indian society is a big no no— Siaja reinvents herself by joining the village community.
The reviews are great! Hollywood Reporter writes: “North of North is unassuming in its humor, only occasionally provoking full-on belly laughs or delivering memorably quotable lines.” Vulture says: “With its mix of Indigenous cultural specificity, a winning coming-of-age story, and a charming ensemble, North of North is delightfully bingeable.” Our take: We think this will be the perfect fix for the weekend! You can watch the entire series on Netflix.
Pets: Okay, this documentary is guaranteed to make us cry. It highlights the unique bond between pets and their parents—from dogs, cats, pigs, goats to even owls and birds of prey. The docu is directed by Bryce Dallas Howard—yup, the daughter of director Ron Howard and she is also an actor—best known for the Jurassic Park movies, ‘The Help’ and most recently ‘Argylle.’
Reviews are good! Collider concludes: “Bryce Dallas Howard imbues ‘Pets’ with so much heart that it transcends from a pleasant fluff piece to an honest and thought-provoking look at life and loss... while still being pretty damn cute.” New York Times writes; “[I]t’s a sweet-tempered film that celebrates the animals we love and seems to have a secondary purpose, too: to convince viewers to support and even develop a love for animal rescue.” Our take: Consider this an extension of our Feel Good Place section. Need we say more? You can stream it on JioHotstar.
The Amateur: This espionage thriller follows Charlie Heller (Rami Malek), a brilliant but introverted CIA decoder whose world is shattered when his wife is killed in a terrorist attack. When the agency refuses to act, he goes rogue—using his skills to track down those responsible. As he crosses borders and evades pursuers, his intelligence becomes his deadliest weapon. The film also stars Laurence Fishburne, Rachel Brosnahan, Jon Bernthal, Caitríona Balfe, and more.
Reviews are so-so. The Guardian says: “Malek’s performance, his line readings and screen presence are very distinctive, but I have to say the moments when he has to present anguished emotion to the camera do not quite work, and feel eccentric.” Variety is of the view that “the movie is okay but never, you know, killer.” Our take: It’s a pretty standard plot but watch it for Rami Malek starring in a revenge thriller. Watch it at the theatre.
Moonrise: This anime comes from the studio that produced the first three seasons of ‘Attack on Titan’. The plot: An army man from Earth heads to the Moon to quash a lunar rebellion, but his preconceived notions are challenged by the state of poverty there and by his former best friend’s decision to join the rebellion. The anime is based on a novel by Tow Ubukata and there are 18 episodes worth of serialised storytelling to sink your teeth into.
There are no reviews for the anime. Our take: A distinctive animation style, cool action, space geopolitics…sign us up! You can watch the entire season on Netflix.
Also in theatres…
Warfare: A year after ‘Civil War’ graced our screens, filmmaker Alex Garland is back with more visceral depictions of war and conflict. While ‘Civil War’ was a counterfactual dystopian setting, ‘Warfare’ is a period piece set in Iraq in November 2006—based on the experiences of a real platoon of Navy SEALs. Indigenous Canadian actor D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai stars as platoon member Ray Mendoza, as we see the main mission play out in real-time through his eyes. Also starring: Will Poulter as the platoon chief Erik.
Reviews are mixed. The Guardian writes that “Warfare really does show the punishing boredom of a soldier’s life” but but but “it is weirdly obtuse and self-congratulatory.” IndieWire is of the view: “‘Warfare’ is a film that wants to be felt more than interpreted.” Our take: In light of current affairs around the world, the timing of this release and the typical centering of Amreeki soldiers waging war appear pretty tone deaf. However, the film aims to subvert that typical premise with some anti-war sensibilities. You can catch it in cinemas now.
Here’s a new chapter…
Last of Us season 2: The new season picks up five years after Joel lies to Ellie about the events at the Salt Lake City hospital. Now settled in Jackson Hole—a snowy frontier town run by Joel’s brother—Ellie is trying to find her place in the post-apocalyptic world while wrestling with what Joel did to save her. But peace doesn’t last long. As a survivor named Abby comes looking for revenge, Ellie is pulled into a brutal conflict in Seattle between a rogue militia and a violent cult. The show continues to follow Ellie and Joel, while introducing new characters like Jesse, Dina, and Abby—each navigating their own moral choices in a lawless world. You can stream the first episode on JioHotstar from April 13 onwards.
Black Mirror season 7: This sci-fi anthology series returns with six standalone stories exploring the dark and often emotional side of technology. In ‘Common People’, a couple struggles with a costly cloud-based tech that preserves minds after a terminal diagnosis. ‘Hotel Reverie’ stars Issa Rae as an actor dropped into an AI-generated classic film. ‘Eulogy’ follows a man who unlocks forgotten memories by stepping into old photographs. In ‘Bête Noire’, a woman suspects her new colleague is hiding something sinister—but no one believes her. ‘Plaything’ features Peter Capaldi as a murder suspect obsessed with a strange video game. And ‘USS Callister: Into Infinity’ revisits a popular older episode in a new sequel. Streaming now on Netflix.
How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) season 4: The German dark comedy series is back for one final jaunt as we prepare to say goodbye to schoolkid-turned-drug trafficker Moritz Zimmerman and his company MyDrugs. However, this season features a big time-jump, with Zimmerman reentering society having just completed a four-year prison sentence for his crimes. The scheming doesn’t stop though, as he wants to sell vitamin supplements to kids. Check it out on Netflix.
