Welcome to Boston.com weekly streaming guide. Each week we recommend five must-see movies and TV shows available on streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO MaxPeacock, Paramount+, etc.
Many recommendations are for new shows, while others are for under-the-radar releases you may have missed or classics that are about to leave a streaming service at the end of the month.
Got a new favorite movie or show you think we should know about? Let us know in the comments or email [email protected]. Looking for more great streaming options? Check out our previous releases must watch list here.
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All new movies and TV shows airing in April
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2024 Solar Eclipse: Everything you need to know about viewing the eclipse in Boston or other parts of New England
Movies
“2001: A Space Odyssey”
In honor of the 2024 solar eclipse, stream my favorite solar eclipse movie and one of the best sci-fi movies of all time. The solar and lunar eclipse that opens the film is seen from space instead of Earth, but the message is clear: like the faceless obelisk, the eclipse is an event that marks an important change. Rules are thrown out the window and a new way of thinking is imposed. As science fiction scholar Lisa Jaszek has said, “the laws of nature seem suspended. Day turns to night, the temperature drops, animals start making sounds. Or in the case of Stanley Kubrick’s magnum opus, a tribe of apes learns to use tools and slaughter another tribe.
How to watch: 2001: A Space Odyssey airs on Max.
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
With the debut of the Netflix limited series Ripley (read more about that show below), now is a great time to revisit Anthony Minghella’s 1999 adaptation. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Matt Damon has rarely played so complex character like Tom Ripley, the aspiring chameleon at the center of this thriller. Charged by a shipping tycoon to go to Italy and bring his prodigal son back to America, Tom instead becomes a friend and confidante of spoiled Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) and his girlfriend Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow). The central trio is a joy to watch, and the supporting performances of two greats in Cate Blanchett and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman are the icing on the cake. Since the film is based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith (“Strangers on a Train”, “Deep Water”), the viewer can reasonably expect a lot of psychological and sexual intrigue, but Damon and company keep you guessing until the very end.
How to watch: The Talented Mr. Ripley airs on Paramount+.
“Area of Interest”
The latest Best Picture nominee from the 2024 Oscars to debut on a streaming platform, The Zone of Interest is Hannah Arendt’s “banality of evil” made manifest. Director Jonathan Glazer uses a documentary-style camera setup to capture the story of the Höss, a family of Nazis living next door to Auschwitz, whose patriarch Rudolf (Christian Friedel) is responsible for the most effective implementation of Hitler’s Final Solution. “The Zone of Interest” is PG-13, and like his 2014 film “Under the Skin,” Glazer does not show the atrocities that took place in the labor camp. Instead, we see Rudolf’s wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) and their children steadfastly ignore the sounds of bullets and the stench of burning bodies in pursuit of a white picket fence and a swimming pool. Glazer spent years researching the actual dialogue spoken by the Hoes family. The commonalities they share with a certain type of American suburban life are deeply disturbing, to say the least.
How to watch: “The Zone of Interest” is streaming on Hulu.
television
“Prey”
It can be difficult to measure the success of Apple TV+ shows. Despite boasting significant budgets and enviable star power, the platform is one of the least subscribed of the major streamers, and Apple doesn’t share much, if any, data. We hope “Prey” is one of his hits, because its second season, which premiered on Wednesday, is a lot of fun. Maya Rudolph (“Saturday Night Live”) stars as the fictional Mackenzie Scott (née Bezos), an ultra-wealthy recently divorced woman who struggles to adjust to normal life and figure out how to use her vast wealth now that she’s split from her cheating husband tech executive husband (Adam Scott, “The Breakup”). In Season 2, Rudolph goes public with a Bill and Melinda Gates-like donation pledge, tries to start an affordable housing initiative, and opens up to love thanks to the canny Benjamin Bratt. Co-created by former “Parks & Rec” writers Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard and featuring an award-winning supporting cast that includes Ron Funchess (“Undateable”), Joel Kim Buster (“Fire Island”) and Boston native Nat Faxon (” The Way Way Back”), ‘Loot’ doesn’t have to do much to charm audiences.
How to watch: “Loot” is streaming on Apple TV+.
Ripley’s
The new Netflix series “Ripley” does not completely reimagine the character of Tom Ripley, this time played by Andrew Scott (“Fleabag”). But showrunner Stephen Zailian (“The Night of”) can actually come close to the character’s origin in Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 book. The series is shot in black and white, and Scott’s Ripley feels like someone out of a Hitchcock movie or something. creepy noir from the 1950s. The eight-episode structure gives us more time to see the depth of Ripley’s narcissism than in the 1999 film starring Matt Damon, with the early episodes set in New York, showing how his petty deceptions set him up for his fateful journey to Italy to bring back Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) and his girlfriend Marge (Dakota Fanning). In an age where reboots and remakes are a dime a dozen, it’s refreshing to see one that justifies its existence as strongly as “Ripley.”
How to watch: Ripley is streaming on Netflix.
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