Notwithstanding the total solar eclipse, things are beginning to brighten up outside, but unless you’re reading this from a beach house in California, it’s still not warm enough to spend your weekends totally detached from the TV.
Thank goodness, then, for streaming services, who are this week offering up a particularly exciting slate of new movies and TV shows to enjoy. Leading the charge is Fallout on Prime Video, Amazon’s serialized adaptation of the hugely popular post-apocalyptic video game series, while The Sympathizer and Franklin begin streaming on Max and Apple TV Plus, respectively.
Below, we’ve rounded up the seven biggest new movies and TV shows to stream on Netflix, Prime Video, Max, and more this weekend.
Fallout (Prime Video)
It’s not an exaggeration to say we’re living through a golden age of video game adaptations, and Amazon will be hoping its newest game-to-screen series, Fallout, can emulate the success of recent projects like The Last of Us TV show.
Adapted from the post-apocalyptic video game franchise of the same name (by Westworld writing duo Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, no less), this eight-part, 1950s-style series centers on a young woman’s journey across a nuclear war-ravaged Los Angeles. Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Kyle MacLachlan and Walton Goggins lead the cast.
In our Fallout season 1 review, we described the show as “an absolute blast” and one of the best Prime Video shows ever made, so existing Fallout fans need not fear for this project’s quality. For further insight into the series’ product, check out our interviews with the Fallout cast and Nolan himself.
Now available to stream on Prime Video.
The Sympathizer (Max)
Fresh from his Oscar-winning turn in Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr. plays multiple characters in A24’s Park Chan-wook-directed spy thriller The Sympathizer.
This seven-part adaptation of the Pulitzer-winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen follows a Vietnamese communist spy (Hoa Xuande) who continues to secretly gather intelligence for the Viet Cong while exiled in the United States after the Vietnam War. Downey Jr. stars in various antagonist roles.
The first episode of The Sympathizer – which critics have described as “a tour de force” adaptation” – is available to stream on Max in the US from Sunday and on Sky in the UK from Monday. The show’s remaining six installments are due to arrive weekly every Sunday.
Available to stream on Max in the US from Sunday and on Sky in the UK from Monday.
Franklin (Apple TV Plus)
Joining Napoleon in the Apple TV Plus biopic library this weekend is Franklin, a new historical miniseries charting the exploits of famed polymath Benjamin Franklin.
Set towards the end of Franklin’s decades-spanning career, this eight-episode show centers on the diplomat’s engineering the Franco-American alliance of 1778. Michael Douglas stars in the title role alongside Noah Jupe, Daniel Mays and Ludivine Sagnier.
Critics have praised Douglas’ performance as “absolutely compelling,” which suggests Franklin could be one of the best Apple TV Plus shows of the year so far. The series’ first three episodes are available to stream now, with the remaining five due to land weekly every Friday.
Now available to stream on Apple TV Plus.
Good Times (Netflix)
Norman Lear’s 1970s CBS sitcom Good Times gets the animated treatment on Netflix this weekend.
Featuring the voices of Jay Pharoah, Yvette Nicole Brown, Marsai Martin, JB Smoove and Gerald Anthony Johnson, this adult animated comedy series – produced by the late Lear himself alongside Seth MacFarlane and Stephen Curry – centers on the misadventures of a family living in the Chicago projects.
Suffice to say, Good Times has left preview audiences divided, but critics have said that this animated sequel “improves when it steps out from Normal Lear’s shadow.”
Now available to stream on Netflix.
Baby Reindeer (Netflix)
British comedian Richard Gadd adapts his award-winning, partly autobiographical play Baby Reindeer into a new Netflix series this weekend.
Based on Gadd’s own experience with a stalker, this new drama (from the makers of The End of the F***ing World) follows a struggling comedian (played by Gadd himself) who becomes an object of obsession for a vulnerable woman (Jessica Gunning).
Critics have described Baby Reindeer as “a tense, creepily filmed series that will stay with you for a long time to come,” so this could be one of the best Netflix shows of the year.
Now available to stream on Netflix.
What Jennifer Did (Netflix)
This first of this week’s two documentary picks is What Jennifer Did on Netflix.
This feature-length investigation takes a microscope to the 2010 case of Jennifer Pan, a young Vietnamese-Canadian girl who was inexplicably left as the sole witness when armed intruders broke into her home and killed her parents.
If you don’t already know how this shocking case unfolded, we’ll refrain from disclosing spoilers here, but judging by its trailer, What Jennifer Did has the makings of being one of the best Netflix documentaries for some time.
Now available to stream on Netflix.
Brandy Hellville & The Cult of Fast Fashion (Max)
If you enjoyed Netflix’s White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch, HBO has a new fashion-focused exposé documentary for you.
Brandy Hellville & The Cult of Fast Fashion examines the toxic origins and culture behind the titular teen clothing brand, which has faced accusations of racism and misogyny by former employees, executives and fashion insiders.
Now available to stream on Max.
For more streaming coverage, check out our guides on the best Disney Plus movies, best Netflix films, new Prime Video movies and new Max films.
