OUT NOW:
‘Peacemaker’ (HBO Max)
A spin-off for John Cena’s popular jingoist character from James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad last year, Peacemaker puts Cena front and center. The series goes into the origins of Christopher Smith AKA Peacemaker, a hero and villain dedicated to achieving peace at any cost. Gunn wrote all eight episodes and directed five of them, so his signature sense of humor is likely to be all over it.
‘Archive 81’ (Netflix)
When archivist Dan Turner (Mamoudou Turner) takes a mysterious job restoring a collection of damaged videotapes from 1994, he finds himself reconstructing the work of documentary filmmaker Melody Pendras (Dina Shihabi) and her investigation into a dangerous cult. As Dan is drawn into Melody's story, he becomes convinced he can save her from the terrifying end she met 25 years ago.
‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ (AppleTV+)
A Scottish lord (Denzel Washington) becomes convinced by a trio of witches that he will become the next King of Scotland, and his ambitious wife (Frances McDormand) supports him in his plans of seizing power. Stripping down the original Shakespeare play to its roots and delivering two of its leads’ very best performances, The Tragedy of Macbeth is a tour de force from already-acclaimed filmmaker Joel Coen. This film marks the first time he’s working without his brother and creative partner, Ethan.
‘Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror’ (Shudder)
This documentary explores the folk horror phenomenon from its beginnings in a trilogy of films - Michael Reeves' Witchfinder General (1968), Piers Haggard's Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) and Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man (1973) - through its proliferation on British television in the 1970s and its culturally specific manifestations in American, Asian, Australian and European horror, to the genre's revival over the last decade. Touching on over 100 films and featuring over 50 interviewees, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched investigates the many ways that we alternately celebrate, conceal and manipulate our own histories in an attempt to find spiritual resonance in our surroundings.
‘The House’ (Netflix)
The House is a three-part anthology series presented in stunning stop-motion animation. Across different eras, a poor family, an anxious developer and a fed-up landlady become tied to the same mysterious house in this dark comedy. Each part will deal with the same house in different time periods and with different characters.
‘Euphoria (Season 2)’ (HBO Max)
This HBO teen drama about love, violence, identity, sex, and drugs returns for a second season to continue the misadventures of Rue (Zendaya), Jules (Hunter Schafer), Cassie (Sydney Sweeney), Nate (Jacob Elordi), and others.
‘Eternals’ (Disney+)
Marvel Studio’s Eternals feels refreshingly separate most of the time from the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe. The century-spanning tale follows a group of immortal super-powered beings who have been living on Earth in secret, shaping history and technology and civilizations. It’s one of the more interesting and ambitious entries in the MCU to date.
‘The Colony’ (Netflix)
An astronaut (Nora Arnezeder) is shipwrecked on a long-decimated Earth during a research mission. With her crew mates killed or wounded, she alone must decide the fate of the wasteland's remaining populace. Directed by Tim Fehlbaum, this dark sci-fi epic brings some chilly January thrills to Netflix.
‘The Righteous Gemstones (Season 2)’ (HBO Max)
This impeccable HBO comedy from Danny McBride follows a world-famous televangelist family with a long tradition of deviance, greed, and charitable work. It stars McBride, John Goodman, Edi Patterson, Adam DeVine, and more. The family seeks to expand their empire of mega churches, no matter who gets crushed along the way.
‘Brazen’ (Netflix)
After a demanding book tour, superstar mystery novelist Grace McCabe (Alyssa Milano) decides to visit her sister, Kathleen, who's embroiled in a custody battle after a bitter divorce. Arriving in D.C., Grace is shocked to find Kathleen living in a run-down neighborhood and, hoping to afford a hotshot lawyer, supplementing her meager teacher's salary by moonlighting as a phone sex operator. According to Kathleen, Fantasy, Inc., guarantees its employees ironclad anonymity. But Grace has her doubts which are confirmed one horrifying cherry-blossom-scented night when one of Fantasy, Inc.'s operators is murdered. As Grace is drawn to help solve the crime, her life turns into a scene from one of her own books.
CONTINUED WEEKLY EPISODES:
‘The Book of Boba Fett’ (Disney+)
With Boba Fett officially back in Star Wars thanks to The Mandalorian, the legendary bounty hunter (with Temuera Morrison reprising the role) has now received his own spin-off series. Along with mercenary Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), The Book of Boba Feet has the two navigating the galaxy’s underworld when they return to the sands of Tatooine to stake their claim on the territory once ruled by Jabba the Hutt and his crime syndicate. Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Robert Rodriguez, Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson are the executive producers. Karen Gilchrist and Carrie Beck serve as co-executive producers, with John Bartnicki producing and John Hampian as co-producer. The first three episodes are now streaming.
Also streaming now:
Netflix - ‘Cheer (Season 2)’, ‘I Fell In Love with a Gangster’, ‘The God Committee’, ‘Chosen’, ‘The Journalist’, ‘After Life (Season 3)’
Hulu - ‘Ailey’, ‘Black Bear’, ‘I’m Your Man’, ‘Bergman Island’, ‘Sex Appeal’
Shudder - ‘Eye of Fire’, ‘Il Demonio’, ‘Alison’s Birthday’, ‘Leptirica’, ‘Clearcut’, ‘Wilzcyzca’, ‘Lake of the Dead’, ‘Tilbury’, ‘Lokis’, ‘Edge of the Knife’
HBO Max - ‘Squidbillies (Season 13)’, ‘Diego: The Last Goodbye’
Amazon Prime Video - ‘Colombiana’, ‘A Sort of Homecoming’, ‘The Intouchables’, ‘Twinsanity’, ‘The Master’, ‘Hotel Transylvania: Transformania’
Disney+ - ‘Call to the Wild’, ‘Betty White Goes Wild!’, ‘Catch That Kid’
COMING NEXT WEEK:
Netflix - ‘Phantom Thread’, ‘The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman’, ‘Aileen Wuornos: American Boogeywoman’, ‘Amandla’, ‘Definition Please’, ‘Munich - The Edge of War’, ‘My Father’s Violin’, ‘Ozark (Season 4 - Part 1)’
Hulu - ‘Bad Rap’, ‘Main Street’, ‘Marjorie Prime’, ‘Rewind’, ‘Serious Moonlight’, ‘Sprinter’, ‘Woman Thou Art Loosed’, ‘Zero Days’, ‘Georgetown’, ‘How I Met Your Father’, ‘The Estate’, ‘Single Drunk Female’
Shudder - ‘The Last Thing Mary Saw’
HBO Max - ‘Fringe’, ‘Injustice’, ‘The Murder of Fred Hampton’, ‘Looney Tunes Cartoons (Season 4)’
AppleTV+ - ‘Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock’, ‘Servant (Season 3)’
