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Looking to settle in with a good movie? Me too. That's why I've pored over release schedules to bring you the best original and new-to-streaming movies you can watch on Netflix, Prime, Max, Hulu, and other streaming platforms this week.
My pick of the week is left-field gem Grand Theft Hamlet, a hilarious and moving backstage documentary about a production of Hamlet staged entirely in Grand Theft Auto V Online.
Grand Theft Hamlet (2024)
Back in the bad old days of the full-lockdown pandemic, British stage actors and gamers Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen had the audacious, ridiculous idea of staging a production of Hamlet within the video game Grand Theft Auto V Online. Composed entirely of footage captured in-game, Grand Theft Hamlet features all the backstage drama of a "let's put on a show" documentary, but it's punctuated by the chaos and violence of online gaming—other players break up rehearsals with gunplay, the NPC police arrive ready to kill the cast and crew, etc. Grand Theft Hamlet is funny, but it's also shot through with glimpses of the lives behind the avatars, and it defiantly asserts that Art still matters, no matter how absurd the world becomes, online and off.
Where to stream: Mubi
Nosferatu (2024)
Robert Eggers's remake of Nosferatu doesn't rethink the source material. Instead, Eggers raises the original film's dark, corrupted imagery from the dead to terrify another generation. The new Nosferatu hits the same basic plot beats as F. W. Murnau's 1922 expressionist masterpiece: Thomas Hutter, an unsuspecting young lawyer, travels to the Carpathian Mountains for some routine business with a new client, but quickly learns that Count Orlock is actually Nosferatu, an elementally evil vampire who is has dark plans for Hutter and Humanity. If you like your vampires un-sexy and truly monstrous, don't miss Nosferatu.
Where to stream: Peacock
Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music
Peacock is a must-subscribe for fans of Saturday Night Live. Viewers can stream all 50 seasons of the show, the 50th anniversary special, a multi-part behind-the-scenes docu-series, the SNL concert at Radio City Music Hall, and more. But, because music ages better than comedy, my must-watch piece of SNL 50th anniversary content is Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music. Directed by Questlove, this documentary chronicles the ludicrously deep lineup of emerging geniuses, one-hit-wonders, and musical legends who have performed on the show, including David Bowie, Prince, Radiohead, Adele, Run DMC, Beyonce, The Replacements, Nirvana, and basically everyone else who is awesome.
Where to stream: Peacock
Memes and Nightmares
LeBron James and Maverick Carter executive-produced Memes and Nightmares, a quirky comedy documentary that takes viewers inside the world of NBA Twitter (or NBA X now, I guess). When a beloved meme (J.R. Smith Squinting) disappears from the internet, Josiah Johnson, former college baller and current king of NBA Twitter, embarks on a quixotic quest to uncover what happened. Featuring interviews with terminally online fans, NBA players, techies, and many other possible suspects, Memes and Nightmares is as much about the bonds we form and the communities we build in a digital world as it is about a missing meme.
Where to stream: Hulu
Things Will Be Different
In this inventive puzzle-box thriller, first-time director Michael Felker deftly blends sci-fi, action, and horror into a movie with more twists than 1950s dance party. Adam David Thompson and Riley Dandy play Joseph and Sidney, a brother and sister who use time travel to escape after a bank robbery. But the pair learns that the punishment for breaking state and federal laws is child's play compared to the punishment for breaking the laws of Space and Time.
Where to stream: Hulu
Last week's picks
The Gorge
Apple TV+ is going against the Valentine's grain with The Gorge, a supernatural thriller starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller. They play top secret government operatives whose mission is to live in a heavily armed towers on opposite sides of a mysterious gorge because there's something unspeakably horrible down there, and someone has to keep it from escaping. Spooky!
Where to stream: Apple TV+
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2024)
If you've been following the romantic life of Bridget Jones since 2001's Bridget Jones' Diary, there is no reason to stop now. In the Bridget-verse, Jones, still played by Renée Zellweger, was widowed four years ago, leaving her the single mother to two kids, nine and four. With the help of her former lover Daniel (Hugh Grant) and her mum (Emma Thompson) Jones tries to move on with her life by (you guessed it) signing on to Tinder and looking for love—or at least a good shag. There's also a younger man in the Mad About the Boy mix, and the lad seems quite interested in our plucky, slightly bawdy heroine.
Where to stream: Peacock
La Dolce Villa
Just in time for Valentine's Day comes La Dolce Villa, a Netflix original rom-com set in a romantic Italian village. Scott Foley plays Eric, a businessman who's lost his mojo, who travels to Italy to stop his daughter from wasting her money restoring a crumbling villa she bought for a single Euro. Along the way, he rediscovers his lust for life, laughter, beauty, and love. I bet the old Villa actually isn't even such a dump after all. La Dolce Villa also stars Maia Reficco, Giuseppe Futia, and Violante Placido.
Where to stream: Netflix
My Fault: London
My Fault: London is a British romantic drama based on the novel Culpa mía by Mercedes Ron. It tells the story of Noah, played by Asha Banks, whose mother marries a rich British man and drags her daughter from Florida to London (oh no!). Despite the tony Notting Hill address, things in the U.K. don't go great for Noah, especially after she meets Nick, played by Matthew Broome, her mother’s new husband’s privileged and snobby son. Surprisingly (?), love blooms between the the extremely attractive couple, who then must navigate a chaotic life of partying in Ibiza and driving around in cars worth a million dollars each.
Where to stream: Prime
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