How to Take a Picture of a Solar Eclipse With Your iPhone

If you want to take pictures of a solar eclipse with your iPhone, your big shot is coming up on April 8. You'll be able to catch a total eclipse in the eastern part of America, and a partial eclipse over all of the 48 contiguous United States. But keep in mind: An eclipse is among the most challenging things to photograph, you don't get many chances, and even the best iPhone photo of one is not going to rival a pro photographer’s effort. Still, an amateur with a iPhone can take pretty good snaps of the eclipse with the right preparation.

A solar eclipse will not damage your iPhone (but can damage your eyes)

I’m sure you already know that looking directly at a solar eclipse can damage your eyesight permanently, and maybe you’ve heard that the intense light can damage camera sensors too. That's true for some cameras, but your iPhone should be fine, or so Apple says.

That said, if you’re trying to take a nice picture of the sun being swallowed by the moon’s shadow, pulling out an iPhone with a naked lens is not your best option. For best results, you have to prepare a bit, and maybe get some gear.

Get a pair of eclipse-viewing glasses for yourself and your iPhone

MedOptics Solar Eclipse Glasses - 10 Pack

$14.99

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$14.99

Not having one won’t damage your phone, but a solar filter will result in better images of an eclipse. You don’t need to buy expensive equipment: Disposable glasses that provide protection for your eyes during a solar eclipse work on your phone’s lens too, and they are inexpensive enough that buying an extra pair (so you can tape the filter to your lens) is a trivial cost. This will eliminate the glare that can ruin any picture of the sun.

Solar Eclipse Lens Filter for Smartphones

$11.99 at Amazon

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Shop Now

$11.99 at Amazon

If you want to get a little more serious, you can purchase lens filters designed for smartphones, like these Solar Eclipse Imaging Enhancing Lens Filters, just make sure any viewing equipment you use is from a reputable manufacturer approved by the American Astronomical Society.

Get a tripod

Credit: MPIX.TURE/Shutterstock

The steadiness of a tripod is especially important if you are taking video of the celestial event, but even if you’re going for stills, a tripod will help prevent the blurriness of a handheld shot. Eclipses don't happen every day, so you don't want to muck it up by going handheld.

To get a perfect shot, plan and practice beforehand

Credit: Nuk2013/Shutterstock

A total solar eclipse is a rare, maybe once-in-a-lifetime event, but that doesn’t mean you can’t plan for it and practice before it happens.

The un-eclipsed sun is the same brightness as the edges of the sun that will appear during an eclipse, so you can use that to play around with your filter and the exposure and focus settings on your phone to your heart’s content. Don’t rely on your iPhone’s automatic settings. You want to go full manual here, and keep in mind that the light will be changing gradually from full sunlight to full dark, so be ready to ride the exposure controls.

You can also figure out exactly where the sun will be in the sky at what time during the eclipse on NASA’s website, so you can plan out composition for your photos.

Snap your eclipse pictures with your Apple Watch

You have your filter on your lens, and your phone on the tripod, and you know exactly when you’re going to take that perfect shot. Put the cherry on top of the experience by using your watch’s camera control to take the picture, or try out your iPhone’s timer setting. That way you can experience the eclipse with your (shielded) eyes, instead of looking at it through your phone—plus, you won't accidentally shake your iPhone by hitting the on-screen shutter button.

Avoid using counterfeit or damaged solar eclipse glasses

You can't use regular sunglasses to view an eclipse safely. Eclipse viewing glasses are are thousands of times darker than most shades. You should only use glasses that are specifically designed for solar eclipse viewing.

There are countless solar eclipse viewing glasses for sale on Amazon and elsewhere, but it's hard to say whether all of them are safe—there is some reason for concern. To be on the safe side, stick with products from manufacturers on the American Astronomical Society's list of approved Suppliers of Safe Solar Viewers & Filters. Pro-tip: If there's a Warby Parker store near you, they'll give you free, astronomer-approved solar eclipse glasses between now and April 8.

If you have an old pair of eclipse viewing glasses sitting around from the last eclipse in 2017, make sure they're fully intact. If they're scratched, torn, or damaged in any way, just throw 'em out; don't take any chances when you're trying to look at an object so bright it will burn your retinas.

Take pictures of more than just the eclipse

Credit: Meister Photos/Shutterstock

The eclipse is the main event, but photographing everything around the eclipse might result in more interesting shots. Some ideas: Take photos that highlight the changing nature of the light as the big moment approaches. Take pictures of the people you’re watching the eclipse with. Take a selfie with the eclipse in the background. Take some shots of the wonder on your child’s face in the strange twilight as they watch the sun disappear. Pose your pals looking like the cast of Reservoir Dogs with paper eclipse glasses. Get creative with it.

A step-by-step guide to taking pictures of a solar eclipse with your iPhone

To sum up, here's a step-by-step breakdown for photographing a solar eclipse with an iPhone.

1. Figure out where you're going to be when the eclipse happens. NASA has a website dedicated to pinpointing exact eclipse locations and times across the country.

2. Purchase or otherwise acquire the gear you need. Viewing glasses are a must, as is some kind of filter for your iPhone. A tripod is highly recommended as is some kind of remote trigger. An Apple Watch is perfect.

3. Make sure that any glasses are damage and scratch free.

4. Figure out beforehand how to use you Apple Watch or other remote trigger to snap iPhone pics.

5. Go to your chosen eclipse viewing spot on a day before the eclipse, with any gear that you're bringing—tripod, viewing glasses, filters, etc.—and do a "dry run." You can use NASA's site to check exactly where the sun will be in the sky at each moment during the eclipse, so you can work out the composition of your shot. Make sure you're comfortable with your phone's settings and filters, and that you know how to set up your tripod.

6. Think creatively about the shots you want to get. The actual eclipse may be the "main event," but photographing everything around the event might result in more compelling images. Don't miss out on pictures that focus on the light changing during the eclipse—lengthening shadows on nearby trees, etc.—and definitely don't forget to take pictures of the people watching the eclipse. Photos of people are almost always more interesting than photos of objects and events, even if the event is as immense as an eclipse.

How to Spring Clean Your Finances

When temperatures start to rise, many of us naturally want to open the windows, deep clean, and get rid of clutter. Why not apply that same refreshing ritual to your finances? Just as you'd prune deadwood in your yard, you can trim wasteful money habits. Plant seeds for new financial goals while preparing for the April tax deadline. Get out the (figurative) feather duster and give your budget a thorough once-over.

Conduct a money check-in

The first step is taking stock of your overall financial situation. Gather your latest bank statements, pay stubs, bills, and debts. Use a trusty budgeting app or spreadsheet to calculate your monthly income versus expenses. This bird's eye snapshot reveals if you're living within your means or drowning in debt.

If you examine your last 90 days of spending, you’ll probably find you can cut back on areas you don’t even realize you’re wasting money (overlooked subscriptions come to mind). It also helps to get on top of your unconscious spending with tricks like physically writing down the things you want to buy before you buy them.

For example, say your net monthly income is $4,500 while expenses ring in at $4,100. You'd have $400 leftover each month to put towards goals like saving or paying down debt faster.

First, tackle lingering high-interest debt

Speaking of debt, your top priority should be eliminating any you're paying high interest rates on, such as credit cards. List out all debts by interest rate from highest to lowest. Put as much as you can each month towards the highest interest debt first while paying minimums on the rest.

As an example, if you owed $10,000 at 19.99% on one credit card and $5,000 at 0% on another, focus on aggressively paying that high 19.99% balance down first.

Get your filing ducks in a row

Make assembling your tax documents part of your spring cleaning ritual. Have a designated folder or binder to compile W-2s, 1099s, mortgage interest statements, donation receipts, and any other necessary forms. Securely discard what you don't need like paid bills or six-plus year old returns/documents once filed. Proper record-keeping makes tax season far less stressful next time.

As an example, use a folder or digital system with separate sections for income, deductions, credits, and prior year documents to stay organized.

Automate finances where possible

Spring is all about embracing new habits and getting organized. Now's an ideal time to arrange automatic payments and transfers so your finances run smoothly in the months ahead:

• Arrange to automatically pay all bills from a hub account

• Set recurring transfers to divert funds into separate savings buckets for different goals

• Sign up to automatically increase your 401(k) or IRA retirement contributions each year

Clear account/credit clutter

While you're going paperless, clean out mystery charges on your bank or credit card statements. Root out any zombie subscriptions or recurring fees for products/services you no longer use or need. These small money drains can easily go unnoticed but add up over months and years.

Choose the right types of accounts for your needs

Different savings vehicles offer different tax advantages. For instance, if you have kids, research setting up tax-advantaged 529 education accounts.

Spring is smart timing to ensure you're maximizing those benefits. For a long-term goal, like retirement, you want to consider a retirement account like a 401(k) or IRA to earn compound interest over a long period of time—money invested over time, even small amounts, can make a big difference.

For short-term goals, you’ll want your money to be easily accessible in cash and earning high interest. Something like a high-interest cash management account allows you to easily take out money when you need it.

The bottom line

Whatever the season, taking a periodic, comprehensive look at your finances allows you to get rid of unhealthy money habits, identify problem areas, set new goals, and determine smarter ways to save, spend and invest. An annual financial clean-up provides clarity on where you truly stand financially and what needs to be prioritized. It's easy for things like mounting credit card debt, lack of retirement savings, and unhealthy spending patterns to get out of control when you aren't regularly reviewing your money situation.

Spotify Just Added a Winamp-style Miniplayer

Spotify's desktop and web apps have always been slick and full of helpful features (with more features being added all the time), but something they haven't been is compact: To see what's playing and control playback, you've had to open up the full interface for these programs, with third-party apps filling the need for something more streamlined.

Now, that's changed. Spotify has finally got around to rolling out a miniplayer for its Windows and macOS desktop applications, and the announcement post is so enthusiastic about how great miniplayers are, I'm wondering why it took the Spotify team this long to introduce one. It's "designed to give us maximum control over our music and podcasts with minimal intrusion, ensuring the workflow goes undisturbed"—and that's a well-worded summary of the benefits of this smaller interface.

As with the miniplayer available with Apple Music, the Spotify miniplayer gives you at-a-glance information about what's playing, as well as playback controls for starting and stopping the audio, and jumping around playlists. It sits on top of other windows you're using, and comes in a choice of sizes, though it is (for the moment at least) exclusive to Spotify Premium subscribers.

How to use the Spotify miniplayer

Assuming you're running the latest version of Spotify for Windows or macOS, and you're a fully paid-up member of the Spotify Premium club, you should find the miniplayer built right into the software. Look for the new icon down in the lower right corner, to the right of the volume slider—it looks like two rectangles of different sizes.

You can click this button whether or not audio is currently playing, and you'll get a little window. There are now two instances of Spotify running on Windows or macOS (as you'll see from the two windows on the taskbar or the dock): the main Spotify app interface and the new miniplayer showing what's currently playing.

The miniplayer includes playback controls. Credit: Lifehacker

The main app window doesn't disappear straight away, but as you open other program windows and move them around, it'll go to the back while the miniplayer stays in view. Drag the dotted rectangle at the top of the miniplayer to move it around, and the cross in the top right corner (Windows) or top left corner (macOS) to close it.

You can resize the miniplayer like you would any other window: Just drag the edges of it. As you change the size and shape of the window, its contents will change, and at its smallest you'll just see the cover art, track info, a pause and play button, and a skip track button. If the window is bigger, you get more controls (including a volume slider), but they only show up when you hover over the miniplayer window.

A much-improved experience

Listening to music (or podcasts or audiobooks) through the Spotify desktop app is much improved with a miniplayer—more than you might think, considering it seems a relatively small addition. One thing I like is it doesn't replace the main app window: You can still get at all your playlists and your library in a couple of clicks.

I like sticking on Spotify's recommendations and other new music I've never heard before, and the miniplayer means I don't have to stop what I'm currently doing when I want to see the title of a new song I like the sound of—I just need to glance over to the corner of the screen. You can click through on the track and artist information in the miniplayer to get to the relevant sections in the main program window too.

The old-school Winamp is still available for Windows. Credit: Lifehacker

Then there's skipping tracks, because I also tend to load up giant playlists where I don't necessarily want to listen to every single song. Skipping forward now takes one click rather than several, and I can see instantly what the next tune is—before the miniplayer arrived, I was having to dig underneath all my other open app windows to find Spotify.

If you're of a certain age, you may remember the halcyon days of Winamp, an endlessly reskinnable desktop music player that helped define the MP3 era— it, too, had a compact miniplayer mode that could stay on top of every other window. While a lot has changed in tech and music since Winamp launched close to 27 years ago, Spotify's new miniplayer finally gets close to matching that experience: easy and intuitive access to all your tunes from the desktop.

How to Browse the Dark Web

The dark web, for the uninitiated among you, is a virtual neighborhood beyond the borders of the normal, everyday internet (which includes the website you're looking at right now). It's somewhere Google and Bing don't index, and you need special tools to get to it.

It's a place where you'll find data leaks and illegal trades, but also legitimate, legal online activities users want to carry out without attracting the attention of law enforcement agencies or governments. It's a part of the internet that's less regulated and more shadowy, for better and for worse.

Piqued your interest? I'm going to explain how to get on the dark web and what you can find there—though of course Lifehacker doesn't endorse doing anything that breaks the law, so I'm not going to tell you how to do something you shouldn't.

The deep web versus the dark web: What’s the difference?

Much of the web isn't freely accessible. Credit: Lifehacker

You'll often see these terms used in your travels across the internet, and there's some confusion about what they mean. I'll start with the deep web: That's everything online that isn't indexed by regular search engines, so that includes pages locked behind paywalls, private databases, email archives, company intranets, and so on.

Think about all the parts of the web you can't see without logging in, from academic journals to your Netflix account page: That's the deep web. It accounts for around 90 percent of websites, by some estimates, so we're talking about a substantial chunk of everything that's online.

The dark web, which is what I'm discussing here, is a small subset of the deep web, and refers to websites that are specifically trying to stay out of sight. These pages come with extra protections for user anonymity and data security, and you need special software to access them—you can't get at them through your normal web browser, like you can with much of the rest of the deep web.

Dark web tools and services

The dark web comes with its own set of tools and services, including web browsers and search engines (which I'll get on to in a moment). Part of what makes the dark web the dark web is that you can't get at it through your normal web browser. Nor can you look something up on it via a Google search.

Having a place on the internet that's private and anonymous will of course encourage certain kinds of illicit activities: Hacking tools, drugs, fake passports, porn, firearms, and more are all traded on the dark web. It's a bit like wandering into the sketchiest part of a real life city, with all the associated goings on.

However, there are plenty of legal and legitimate online activities that require privacy and anonymity. The dark web is used by journalists, whistleblowers, and political activists who need the protections that it offers. Anything you need to do that has to be off the books to some extent, for noble or ignoble reasons, can be done on the dark web.

To browse the dark web, you need a dark web browser

Tor is your way into the dark web. Credit: Lifehacker

To get on the dark web, you need a browser built for the job, and the best in the business is Tor. Tor is a browser engineered for extra security and privacy, and can be used to navigate the normal, surface web as well as the dark web. It blocks trackers, prevents user fingerprinting, encrypts data, and reroutes your browsing so no one can see where in the world you are.

Key to the way Tor works is what's known as onion routing technology. It gets its name from the way it puts several layers of obfuscation between you and the web, like the layers of an onion: Your traffic is bounced between multiple nodes, which means it's not as quick as regular browsing, but also that no one can tell who you are or where you are.

Tor is like the public-facing door to the dark web, and there are even mobile apps for Android and iOS. While there are other browsers you can use to get on the dark web (a quick web search will reveal a few), Tor is the best for most people in terms of the features it offers and the ease with which anyone can make use of it.

A dark web search engine

Open up Tor, and you won't suddenly see the dark web staring back at you. Not only do you need a dark web browser, you need a dark web search engine too. This search engine will get you to the sites you need, though you can also go directly to dark web addresses if you know what they are, as with standard URLs.

DuckDuckGo is the default search engine inside the Tor browser, and once you turn on the Onionize toggle switch in the search box, you're able to use it to find dark web links. These typically come with ".onion" after them, rather than something like ".com" as on the standard web.

Other dark web search engines worth investigating are Ahmia, Torch, NotEvil, and the Onion URL Directory—just type out some keywords for what you're looking for. Some of these sites can be found through regular web browsers, but you'll then need to switch over to Tor once you've got the onion links you want to follow.

Dark web websites

ProPublica has a dark web site. Credit: Lifehacker

Individual sites on the dark web look much like they do on the regular web, though a lot of them are a bit more rough around the edges. (Presentation and polish isn't quite so important on this part of the internet.) Click on any website link, and it'll appear on screen, with its address at the top.

Some of the websites to look out for on the dark web include mirrors of both the BBC and the ProPublica investigative journalism platforms, built to help inform people who are living in countries where the internet is heavily censored. If you're after secure email, look for the Proton Mail service.

Given the associations that the dark web has and some of the illegal activities that take place on it, you won't find a huge number of well-known websites on there—a lot of the dark web is made up of sites, wikis, and forums maintained by volunteers. However, there's still plenty worth exploring.

What's for sale on the dark web

I've already touched on some of the stuff that you'll find for sale on the dark web: It's a long way from eBay, let me put it like that. Anything you can think of that you shouldn't be downloading or buying, you can usually find it somewhere on the dark web.

For obvious reasons—I don't want to get you or me into trouble, after all—I'm not going to get too specific when it comes to what you can find for sale on the dark web. Transactions are mostly handled via Bitcoin, which matches the ethos of the dark web when it comes to staying private and anonymous. Which isn't to say you should assume anything you do there can't be traced back to you—law enforcement has gotten pretty good at tracking down people who think they've been acting in the shadows.

There aren't many good reasons to move your legitimate shopping activities to the dark web: Because of the way it works, it attracts a lot of scammers and hackers, and there's very little protection for you if you find yourself duped.

Is the dark web illegal?

Many dark web sites come and go. Credit: Lifehacker

The dark web itself isn't illegal, and you're not going to get into any trouble just by visiting it—but it's a place where a lot of illegal activities are carried out, because it's much harder for law enforcement agencies to see what's going on there.

You might often see news stories about criminal activity involving the dark web, and because of what's happening in some corners of the dark web, it tends to put off law-abiding companies and users alike. Sections of the dark web are often closed down too, as part of police operations.

With all of that in mind, you need to tread carefully when browsing, in terms of the sites you visit and the other users you interact with. Bear in mind too that laws about freedom of speech and censorship vary from country to country, which is part of the reason the dark web exists in the first place.

Staying on top of the hacker underground

Hackers spend a lot of time on the dark web, and it's not too difficult to get access to hacking tools and data leaks in this part of the internet. However, it's much harder to get at the people who are doing the uploading and downloading.

If you make use of a password manager, then it may come with a feature that monitors the dark web for mentions of your email address and password, or any other personal details. It's something built into the password management services offered by Apple and Google as well, so you don't need to trawl through data leaks manually yourself.

As I've previously said, it's a good idea to keep your interactions with the dark web to a minimum, unless you can absolutely trust the people you're dealing with. You'll often see a sign in stores that says "look, don't touch," and it's not a bad adage to bear in mind as you navigate around the dark web.

The Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch on Max this Month

Max's flagship scripted streaming series in April is The Sympathizer, an ambitious dark comedy starring Robert Downey Jr., overseen by Park Chan-wook, and based on the award-winning novel, but the real Max-action is on the unscripted side. The Jinx-Part 2 completes the dark story of Robert Durst, Conan Must Go lightens the mood with inspired unscripted travel comedy, and fans of cults will find a feast in The Synanon Fix.

There's a ton more, too. Just read on to discover the best things streaming on Max this month.

The Sympathizer

Legendary filmmaker Park Chan-wook (Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance) teams up with actor and co-producer Robert Downey Jr. on this sweeping historical black comedy series. Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning debut novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer tells the story of a Vietnam-era spy with conflicting loyalties. When the war ends, the North Vietnamese agent, who goes by the moniker "The Captain," is forced to flee to America, but he's not finished his job, and reports on his neighbors to the Viet Cong.

Starts streaming April 14

The Jinx – Part Two

Andrew Jarecki’s Emmy-winning series The Jinx caught lightning in a bottle when it came out in 2015—how often does a guy confess to multiple murders while mic'ed up for a true crime documentary, right? The Jinx—Part 2 completes the story of weird-rich-dude-turned murderer Robert Durst, and promises shocking new revelations. Durst is dead, so he won't be confessing to any more murders, but it's a fascinating story nonetheless.

Start streaming April 21

Conan O’Brien Must Go

Conan O'Brien is the funniest person alive, maybe, and this series puts him in situations designed to draw out his supernatural ability to be spontaneously hilarious. The premise: Conan visits fans in Norway, Thailand, Argentina, and Ireland, interacts with locals, and creates inspired, impromptu comedy. It's a formula that worked great on his late night shows, but HBO money means Conan O'Brien Must Go will feature better production values—they even got Werner Herzog to narrate.

Starts streaming April 18

The Synanon Fix

Synanon is hands-down my favorite cult of all time, so I'm psyched HBO is giving proper cinematic treatment to the off-the-chains crazy story of how a drug rehab center devolved into a heavily armed, post-hippie nightmare cult. Told through glorious insider film footage and interviews with ex cult-members and others who were there, The Synanon Fix's highlight include dead-eyed cultists with shaved heads wearing matching overalls and wielding axe-handles, attempted-murder-by-rattlesnake, and music from Synanon's in-house band that featured jazz immortals Joe Pass and Art Pepper among many others. There are not enough thumbs in existence for the number of thumbs-up this series deserves.

Starts streaming April 1

The Zone of Interest (2024)

Winner of the Best International Feature at this year's Oscars, The Zone of Interest examines the chilling banality of evil by telling the story of concentration camp commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig raising their children in a charming little house next to Auschwitz. A searing, intense masterpiece, The Zone of Interest will stay with you long after the last frame.

Starts streaming April 5

We're Here, Season 4

Season four of HBO's Emmy-winning reality show features some big changes: Original cohosts Bob the Drag Queen, Shangela, and Eureka have been replaced with RuPaul's Drag Race franchise winners Sasha Velour, Jaida Essence Hall, Priyanka, and Latrice Royale. The essence of We're Here will remain the same though; the quartet of drag queens will travel to small communities around Murfreesboro, Tennessee., and Tulsa, Oklahoma, to spread the good word that drag is actually fun and maybe you should loosen up?

Starts streaming April 26

Brandy Hellville & The Cult of Fast Fashion

I don't know if you're aware, but there is a dark side to the fashion industry. Brandy Hellville & The Cult of Fast Fashion tells the story of a fun, flashy fashion brand that was once extremely popular with teen and tween girls, taking viewers behind-the-scenes at the Brandy Mellville company, which turns out to be a scummy cesspit of racism and sexual exploitation. The doc then goes deeper and broader with commentary on the environmental and societal devastation that fast fashion factories can bring to the places where they're located.

Starts streaming April 9

Take My Tumor

The success of shows like Dr. Pimple Popper and Botched proves a lot of people enjoy reality shows about often grotesque medical conditions. If you're among them, I bet you'll like Take My Tumor, a show about extreme tumors, the people who have them, and the dedicated medical professionals who remove them. It's from TLC, formerly The Learning Channel, who seem to have cornered the market on this kind of programming.

Starts streaming April 3

An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th

This documentary digs into the story of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, detailing not just the tragic explosion on April 19, but the massive FBI investigation that followed, and the seething underground of anti-government conspiracy theorists and hate-mongers who inspired Timothy McVeigh to commit mass murder.

Starts streaming April 16

Men (2022)

The monster in this "elevated horror" film is men—not a particular group of men, but men in general. From this provocative premise, director Alex Garland builds a creepy, disturbing narrative that explores the cultural and historical roots of misogyny through the victimization of the film's main character, Harper Marlowe (played by Jessie Buckley). In a stroke of genius, all the men in the movie (but one) are played by the incredibly talented Rory Kinnear, because men are all basically the same.

Starts streaming on April 18

Last month's picks

The Regime

Kate Winslet stars in this black comedy series that takes us inside the palace walls of an authoritarian regime. Winslet plays Elena Vernham, the reclusive leader of a fictional European totalitarian state. As Vernham grows more paranoid, her attempts to retain and grow her power fracture the palace and the nation. The Regime also stars Matthias Schoenaerts as Elena's "personal water diviner" who becomes her closest advisor and Guillaume Gallienne as her poetry-loving husband.  

Starts streaming March 3.

The Girls on the Bus

Inspired by the novel Chasing Hilary by Amy Chozick, this series tells the story of four female journalists on the campaign trail during a turbulent political season. Each represents a different style of news gathering, from print journalism to TikTok—and although the "girls" begin as rivals, life in the foxholes of reporting turns the foursome into a found family. The Girls on the Bus stars Melissa Benoist, Carla Gugino, Natasha Behnam, and Christina Elmore.

Starts streaming March 14.

A Revolution on Canvas

Part political thriller and part arts documentary, A Revolution on Canvas examines the controversy and upheaval surrounding the painting of Iranian modern artist Nicky Nodjoumi. After moving to Iran to help overthrow the Shah in 1980, Nodjoumi quickly ruffled the feathers of the new regime with his solo exhibition "Report on the Revolution." He was forced to flee, and over 100 of his paintings went missing. A Revolution on Canvas details the artist and his family's attempt to get the paintings back, or at least learn what became of them.

Starts streaming on March 5.

Wonka (2023)

Timothée Chalamet plays the title character in this prequel/re-imagining of Roald Dahl's famous chocolate maker. Pulling off the oh-how-totally-delightful tone without becoming syrupy and mawkish is no easy feat, but Wonka manages to hit the mark thanks to its talented cast, great writing, catchy songs, and lavish production design. In other words, against all odds, Wonka is pretty good.

Starts streaming March 8.

The Lionheart

In 2011, two-time Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon died in a one of the worst accidents in racing history. The Lionheart details his career and death, but also his legacy, both personal and professional. Wheldon left behind a wife and two children, and she's helping the sons walk in their father's footsteps in the racing world, despite his tragic death.

Starts streaming on March 12.

Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives

Guy Fieri's endless, Quixotic quest for bangin' flavors continues with season 47 of this popular eating-things show. This season, Fieri eats barbecue in Macon, oxtail in Memphis, and rib-tips in Denver, among other bad-for-you-but-so-good treats. Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives is best served in a single sitting, and Max has made all the episodes of the new season available for you to gorge.

Starts streaming March 1.

Justice, USA

Justice, USA takes a look at the criminal justice system in Nashville through the eyes of inmates, lawyers, administrators, and legislators. Over its six episodes, this powerful documentary brings viewers from inside men's, women's, and juvenile jails, to the halls of power where the laws are made to examine how justice works in America, circa 2024.

Starts streaming March 14.

Dream Scenario (2023)

The great Nicolas Cage stars in this surreal comedy that takes a darkly satirical look at fame in the always-connected age. Paul Matthews (Cage, playing against type) is a boring, schlubby college professor who secretly longs for academic notoriety. He gets famous, but instead of people talking about his research, everyone in the world suddenly starts dreaming about Matthews.

Starts streaming March 15.

The Green Knight (2021)

We're all familiar with the swords-and-wizards tropes Hollywood has attached to the King Arthur legends, but The Green Knight aims to tell the Arthurian tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as it was written in the poem in the 14th century. There's no Excalibur or Merlin here. Instead, The Green Knight presents a stream of dreamlike, symbolic imagery and scenarios that sometimes don't make logical sense but hold a strange, primal power nonetheless.

Starts streaming March 1.

The Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch on Hulu This Month

Prepare your eye holes for Hulu's ambitious April release schedule. The streaming platform's spring slate includes everything from a new Vanderpump-based reality series to the triumphant return of Elisabeth Moss in espionage-heavy drama The Veil. There's a new season of Welcome to Wrexham to enjoy, and documentaries about hip-hop and politics, malfeasance in horse racing, and the sordid secrets of Miss America, too. Below are the best shows and movies coming to Hulu this month.

The Veil

Elisabeth Moss, star of incendiary and awesome The Handmaid’s Tale, returns with a new series that explores the shadowy world of international espionage. The Veil follows a pair of secret agents locked in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse that takes them from Istanbul to Paris to London and everywhere in between. Thousands of lives hang in the balance as agents of the CIA and the French DGSE work together to learn a deadly secret from a mutual enemy. If you’re in the mood for a stylish, fast-paced, whip-smart spy thriller, The Veil is your jam.

Starts streaming April 30

Welcome to Wrexham, Season 3

The third season of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney's reality sports series about two American actors who buy a broken down Welsh soccer team sees the Wrexham football club having been promoted to the coveted English Football League. But entering soccer’s big league means the competition will be serious; are Wrexham's players, coaches, and owners ready to rise to a new slate of challenges?  

Starts streaming April 19

American Horror Story: Delicate: Part 2

Ryan Murphy’s long-running horror series returns to finish its Delicate storyline with four new episodes. Starring Emma Roberts and Kim Kardashian, Delicate is a horror tale about pregnancy, a la Rosemary’s Baby, in which ambitious actress Anna Victoria (played by Roberts) goes to extreme lengths in pursuit of motherhood. Kardashian plays her cutthroat publicist, Siobhan Corbyn, and the series never miss a chance to skewer Hollywood excess along with the pre-natal horror.

Starts streaming April 3

Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story

This four-part documentary series takes viewers deep inside the world of New Jersey’s favorite sons, pop metal hair rockers Bon Jovi. Through never-before-seen personal videos and photos, concert footage, and interviews with the Bon Jovis themselves, Thank You, Goodnight details the band’s 40-year career of rocking and/or rolling. If you’re in the mood for old duffers telling “we came from nothing” stories and wistfully discussing their days of rock star excess, this is the series for you. Includes unreleased demos from Bon Jovi and interviews with Bruce Springsteen, John Shanks, Obie O’Brien, and more. 

Starts streaming April 26

Vanderpump Villa

Famous reality TV magnate Lisa Vanderpump bought a palatial villa in the French countryside, and in this reality show, her staff of charismatic event coordinators, chefs, mixologists, and servers are tasked with arranging extravagant, Vanderpump-curated experiences for elite guests, all while Lisa evaluates whether this is the right crew to staff the newest venture in the extended Vanderpump financial universe. Vanderpump Villa promises heartfelt and heated moments from both the staff and the guests, insanely opulent experiences in exotic French locales, and is absolutely free of guillotines. In season one. 

Under the Bridge

Based on author Rebecca Godfrey’s account of a real-life crime, Under the Bridge tells the story of 14-year-old Reena Virk (played by Vritika Gupta) who went out to hang with her friends one night in 1997 and never returned home. Riley Keough plays Godfrey, whose research for her book takes her inside the hidden, menacing world of the teenagers of British Columbia and finds her teaming up with a local police officer who is also investigating Virk’s murder. 

Starts streaming April 17

The Greatest Hits

The Greatest Hits is a different kind of time travel movie. It doesn’t concern itself with the paradoxes of temporal dislocation or the science behind time machines. Instead, it’s a magical realist take on the genre, in which time travel is used to explore memory, grief, and redemption. Lucy Boynton plays Harriet, who is able to travel backwards in time when she hears music that played when her boyfriend was alive, but she can only stay in the past for the length of the song. Romantic time travel movies are always amazing and Greatest Hits is a worthy addition to the tiny cinematic sub-genre. 

Starts streaming April 12

Dinosaur, Season 1

This British comedy/drama series follows Nina, a woman with autism who’s very happy with her day-to-day existence. She lives with her beloved neurotypical sister Evie and works at her dream job as a paleontologist. But when Evie suddenly decides to get engaged, Nina is forced to come to terms with a huge change in the all-important routine she relies upon. Nina is played by series’ co-creator Ashley Storrie, who has autism, promising non-cliche insights into the show’s subject matter. 

Starts streaming April 5

The Interrogation Tapes

Mainstream TV has finally noticed the popularity of interrogation videos on YouTube. Made by the producers of ABC’s 20/20, this true crime series is based on the verbal cat-and-mouse game that ensues after a suspect is read their Miranda rights. Through examinations of notorious murder cases, The Interrogation Tapes explores both heinous crimes and the tricks and techniques interrogators use when they’re trying to finagle confessions from accused criminals. 

Starts streaming April 2

Dark Marvels, Season 1

When we talk about groundbreaking inventions and technological leaps forward, we tend to focus on the positive progress brought by things like the cotton gin or the space shuttle. Dark Marvels walks the lefthand path instead and digs into the evil engineering behind deadly weapons, sinister spy tools, torture devices, and other diabolical human innovations. Dark Marvels attacks its subject with glee through expert interviews, evocative recreations, archival footage, and state-of-the-art 3D graphics.

Secrets of Miss America, Season 1

The Miss America Pageant is a deeply weird and creepy American institution, and it's long overdo for a deep dive into its troubling and sleazy history and culture. Made by the people who brought us Secrets of Playboy, this docuseries features interviews with former Miss Americas (and just-missed Americas) who dish out the secrets the nation's best woman hides inside her huge hairdo and shiny, white teeth. 

Starts streaming April 18

Hip-Hop and The White House

When president Obama strode into the White House Correspondent's Dinner in 2013 to DJ Khaled's "All I Do Is Win,” it marked a seismic cultural shift, for both hip-hop and American politics. Narrated by Jeezy, This documentary series goes beyond Obama’s power move to explore the history of hip-hop’s relationship to the nation’s power structures, charting hip hop’s evolution from a disreputable musical form politicians derided for cheap political points, to a cultural force that helps move elections. 

Starts streaming April 22

Secrets of the Octopus

Whether it’s submarines or sunken ocean liners, director James Cameron loves crap that’s underwater. With the help of National Geographic, Cameron adds octopuses to his list of soggy documentary subjects, exploring the unique lives and minds of these mysterious under-the-ocean aliens who can change colors, squeeze into spaces the size of their eyeballs, and might be more intelligent than we can even understand. 

Starts streaming April 22

The New York Times Presents: Broken Horses

If you think race horses spend their downtime lounging around on grassy meadows, chewing cud and preparing for the next big race, get ready for a rude awakening. This New York Times-produced documentary series digs into the dark side of horse racing and uncovers a shady underworld full of sleazy trainers, reprobate veterinarians, rampant horse doping, and other questionable practices. 

Starts streaming April 27

Last month's picks

Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told

This documentary tells the story of Freaknik, an iconic street party/festival that took over Atlanta every year in the '80s and '90s. More than just a good time, Freaknik became a celebration of Black life and culture. Told through archival footage, interviews with 21 Savage, Killer Mike, CeeLo Green, and many more who were there, Freaknik examines the growth of the festival and its eventual demise.

Starts streaming March 21.

We Were the Lucky Ones, Season 1

There are more than enough accounts of World War II from soldiers' perspectives, but We Were the Lucky Ones charts an ordinary family's nightmarish experience of the war. Based on a true story, this historical drama follows the Kurcs, a Jewish family in Poland that's torn apart by the rise of Third Reich. Split up by historical circumstances and personal choices, the Kurcs struggle to survive and reunite in a world gone mad.

Starts streaming on March 28.

SPERMWORLD

With the recent legislation affecting IVF in Alabama, SPERMWORLD is a timely documentary about the world of underground sperm donation. Donors and would-be parents connect on message boards, meet at strip malls or coffee shops, and create life, all outside of the gaze of the medical establishment. Directed by Lance Oppenheim and produced by The New York Times and FX, SPERMWORLD details not just an underground medical movement, but a new kind of family relationship.

Starts streaming March 30.

Photographers

This National Geographic documentary series turns the lens around and tells the stories of the people who create iconic, powerful imagery. Photographers covers all aspect of modern photography; subjects include nature photographer Cristina Mittermeier, fashion photographer Campbell Addy, and photojournalist Muhammed Muheisen.

Starts streaming March 19.

Queens

The patriarchy slides its tentacles around every aspect of life—even our understanding of the animal kingdom. Queens aims to set the record straight. Through nature footage shot all over the world, from the tundra, to the rainforest, to the sea, and with powerful narration by Angela Bassett, this National Geographic documentary details the badass queens of the animal kingdom.

Starts streaming March 5.

Poor Things (2023)

Director Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things is a dizzying mash-up of horror, romance, science-fiction, comedy, and sex. Emma Stone turns in a fascinating, utterly all-in performance as Bella Baxter, a young woman who has the brain of a baby implanted in her head by a mad doctor (played by Willem Dafoe). Set in a steampunk/fairytale version of Victorian Europe, Poor Things is endlessly visually fascinating, intellectually stimulating, and funny as shit. It's a must-watch (catch it before the March 10 Oscar ceremony, where it is nominated for 11 awards).

Starts streaming March 7.

Dune (2021)

With the sequel in theaters, it's the perfect time to rewatch 2021's Dune. Director Denis Villeneuve hit a home run with this adaptation of Frank Herbert's seminal science fiction novel. Crafting the difficult, complex source material into a film that both audiences and critics loved—even those audience and critics that are like, "I'm not into science fiction." Dune features standout performances from Timothée Chalamet and Rebecca Ferguson, who manage to be as interesting as the bigger-than-huge visuals.

Starts streaming on March 1.

Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) (2014)

In Birdman, Michael Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, an actor who had been household-name famous for his portrayal of movie superhero Birdman. But that was year ago, and now, the specter of Birdman literally haunts him as he tries to make a comeback by starring in a Broadway adaptation of a Raymond Carver story. Seemingly (but not actually) shot in one take, Birdman is a frantic, fascinating portrait of an artist tortured by irrelevance and descending into madness. It's not like any other movie you've ever seen, I promise. (And it's still a wonder that a movie this weird managed to win the Best Picture Oscar.)

Starts streaming on March 1.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)

Tom Hanks stars as the most reassuring man in television history, Mr. Rogers, the kid's TV show host who rose to fame by taking children seriously. Using filmic techniques made famous on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, director Marielle Heller tells Rogers' story through the eyes Lloyd Vogel, a jaded, emotionally damaged writer assigned to pen a puff piece on Rogers. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is about the conflict between cynicism and sincerity, and in the face of Mr. Rogers' "cardigan sweaters and light piano jazz" worldview, cynicism doesn't stand a chance.

Starts streaming March 5.

The Stones and Brian Jones (2023)

This critically lauded documentary from director Nick Broomfield examines the troubled personal life and career of The Rolling Stones' Brian Jones. After forming the band, Jones was gradually pushed from the spotlight by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, until he was sacked from the band and ended up dead in his swimming pool a few weeks later. If you're into rock and roll mythology, The Stones and Brian Jones offers a huge helping of a research, remembrances, and archival footage from the days when rock and roll actually mattered.

Starts streaming March 14.

The Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch on Netflix This Month

Netflix is opening the floodgates and unleashing a torrent of interesting and notable original movies and TV shows for April, including Ripley, a series based on the novel The Talented Mr. Ripley; The Scargiver, the second film in Zack Snyder's epic space opera Rebel Moon; and Scoop, a look behind the BBC interview that took down a prince. There's also a reboot of Good Times, Dead Boy Detectives, and more, more, more.

Ripley

Based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, this series stars Dakota Fanning, Johnny Flynn, and Andrew Scott in the title role as Tom Ripley, a grifter and conman with too much charm and not enough morality. Director Steven Zaillian's moody black-and-white visuals set the tone of Ripley's chilling but glamorous life. After being hired by a wealthy industrialist to retrieve his wayward son from Italy, the ever-scheming Mr. Ripley sees an opportunity, and inserts himself into Dickie’s life, leading to a dark spiral of psychological abuse, mayhem, and murder. If you like plot twists and stylish wickedness, you’ll be very into Ripley. 

Starts streaming April 4

Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver

The climax of Zack Snyder’s epic science fiction story promises a breakneck pace, larger-than-a-galaxy action sequences, and heroic characters battling impossible odds with everything on the line. Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver continues the story of Kora and her surviving allies as they face off against Admiral Atticus Noble and the Imperium legion. With the collective force of the Realm gathered to destroy them, this rag-tag band of rebels mounts a last stand to free the villagers of Veldt. In other words, it’s rip-roaring space adventure.

Starts streaming April 19

Scoop

This ripped-from-the-headlines films tells the story of how BBC’s Newsnight secured the TV interview with Prince Andrew that led to his downfall. Based on the account of Newsnight’s booker Sam McAlister, Scoop takes us behind the scenes of the scoop of the century, detailing how McAlister (played by Billie Piper) secured an “un-gettable” interview with Prince Andrew (Rufus Sewell), and how journalist Emily Maitlis (Gillian Anderson) grilled the prince on air about his connection to Jeffery Epstein, leading to his withdrawal from official royal duties. 

Starts streaming April 5

Dead Boy Detectives

The ghosts at the center of Dead Boy Detectives don’t spend time haunting people; they solve crimes instead. Based on the comic from Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner, and set in Gaiman’s Sandman universe, Dead Boy Detectives follows Edwin and Charles (George Rexstrew and Charles Rowland), best dead friends spending their afterlives solving supernatural crimes. With the help of their clairvoyant pal Crystal (Kassius Nelson), the Dead Boys will face off against witches, monsters, and other supernatural enemies to solve the earthly realms most baffling mysteries.

Starts streaming April 25

Good Times

With the help of executive producer Seth MacFarlane, Netflix has revived Norman Lear’s seminal 1970s sitcom Good Times and re-imagined it as an R-rated animated series. Featuring the voices of J.B. Smoove, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jay Pharoah, and more, Good Times tells the story of the latest generation of the Evans family who are scratching and surviving, hanging and jiving, in a Chicago housing project. The details have been modernized, but the theme of togetherness in the face of hard times remains the same. 

Starts streaming April 12

Unlocked: A Jail Experiment

This documentary tells the fascinating story of a radical experiment conducted in an Arkansas jail. Faced with deteriorating conditions, mistreatment of prisoners, and a high recidivism rate, Sheriff Eric Higgins ordered all the cell doors opened and gave the prisoners the authority to make decisions about how the jail should be run. The goal was to see whether autonomy would result in a greater sense of community, a more humane lock-up, and fewer accused criminals returning to the clink. Check out Unlocked: A Jail Experiment to see how well it worked. 

Starts streaming April 10

Baby Reindeer

This dark comedy series illustrates the adage “no good deed goes unpunished.” Written, directed, and starring comedian Richard Gadd, Baby Reindeer is a fictionalized version of real events in his life. Gadd plays bartender Donny Dunn, who shows kindness to a troubled customer named Martha. Dunn’s innocent altruism leads to Martha becoming obsessed and throwing both of their lives into chaos. Baby Reindeer consciously avoids the typical tropes of stories about stalkers, choosing to focus on the reality of what it’s like to be the center of an unhinged person’s world. 

Starts streaming April 11

Files of the Unexplained

If you’re in the right mood, a docuseries about eerie encounters, unexplained disappearances, haunted houses, and UFOs hits the spot. Files of the Unexplained features eight episodes, with each exploring a different perplexing mystery including alien abduction, a spate of human feet washing up on beaches, and people seemingly vanishing into thin air. There’s probably a rational explanation for these events, but what if there isn’t?

Starts streaming April 3

Fern Brady: Autistic Bikini Queen

If you like stand-up comedy but you’re sick of the same old shizz, check out Fern Brady: Autistic Bikini Queen. The Scottish standup, podcaster, and writer's unique life story, personality, and neurodivergence guarantees unique and screamingly funny takes on sex, drinking, autism, feminism, and everything else.

Starts streaming April 22

What Jennifer Did

When a Vietnamese immigrant couple is brutally slain in their home, police are baffled. The sole survivor of the crime, the couple’s daughter Jennifer, lays the blame on masked intruders on a rampage, but there’s something suspicious about her account. What Jennifer Did digs deeply into this shocking crime through interrogation footage of Jennifer and interviews with the people involved, revealing a story with unexpected twists, baffling motives, and a most unlikely perpetrator. 

Starts streaming April 10

The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem

This Netflix documentary pulls open the metaphorical cabinet of 4Chan so we can watch the online roaches scurry. As told by The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem, 4chan started as an online hangout for creative homebound miscreants but devolved into a hive of scum and villainy that pierced the veil between the online and real worlds, turning our entire culture into a message board flame war in the process. 

Starts streaming April 5

Our Living World

Cate Blanchett narrates this family-friendly nature documentary that travels the world to explore the interconnectedness of nature. Our Living World’s stunning wildlife photography, breathtaking locations, and timely and trenchant observations about the beauty and fragility of the natural world probably won’t slow mankind’s destruction of the planet by a single second, but you never know, and we might as well look at it while it's here.

Starts streaming April 17

Last month's picks

3 Body Problem

Created by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and based on the novels of Chinese writer Cixin Liu, the Netflix series 3 Body Problem is science fiction on a massive scale. Over its eight episodes, this series details an extraterrestrial invasion of Earth unfolding in slow motion. It begins with a spate of prominent scientists disappearing and continues through the upheaval the imminent occupation brings to earth when humanity divides into people who want to stop the occupation and those who welcome humanity's new overlords.

Starts streaming on March 21

Shirley

This Netflix original biopic casts Oscar-winner Regina King as Shirley Chisholm, the first Black congresswoman, and details her groundbreaking run for president in 1972.  Written and directed by John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, American Crime, Needle in a Timestack) and based on extensive interviews with Chisholm’s family and friends, Shirley gives viewers a you-are-there look at Chisholm's courageous run. 

Starts streaming on March 22

Spaceman

Adam Sandler is best known for his wacky comedies, but he's a great actor when he feels like it. Netflix original Spaceman shows off Sandler's deeper side, casting him as Jakub, an astronaut adrift in both outer space and his personal life. Six months into a solitary research mission on the fringes of the solar system, Jakub realizes his earthbound marriage is crumbling, and finds solace and advice from an unlikely source: Hanuš, an ancient, spider-like alien hiding in his ship. The film comes from director Johan Renck, who won an Emmy for HBO's Chernobyl, and co-stars Carey Mulligan.

Starts streaming on March 1

The Gentlemen

There are tons of TV shows and movies that glamorize the golden age of the British aristocracy, but inheriting a title and an estate is a new kind of nightmare in The Gentlemen. When Eddie moves into his family's ancestral mansion, he finds it a crumbling money pit with a drug dealing gang squatting on the crumbling estate. With no serfs to burn to keep warm, Eddie turns to crime to get by. Netflix advertises this series as “Old money meets drug money,” and that’s good enough for a click from me, but the show was created and directed by Guy “Two Smoking Barrels” Ritchie, so I might even click it twice. 

Starts streaming on March 7.

Damsel

Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown plays Elodie in Damsel, a fantasy movie that turns fairytale tropes upside down. After her betrothal to a prince, Elodie learns that her fate isn't to live happily ever after, but to be sacrificed to a dragon. To survive (and bring down the evil royal family who cast her into the dragon cave) Elodie will have to face the fire-breathing beast herself. No knight in shining armor is coming to save the day.

Starts streaming on March 8.

Irish Wish

To contrast the science fiction and fantasy, Netflix is dropping an old-fashioned romantic comedy, Irish Wish, just in time for Saint Patrick's Day. Lindsay Lohan plays Maddie Kelly, a shy, lonely book editor and perpetual bridesmaid pining for her best friend’s fiancé. At her friend’s destination wedding in Ireland, Maddie makes a wish that magically comes true, and wakes up in an alternative reality where she’s the one set to walk down the aisle. As you might guess, Maddie soon learns the true meaning of the old adage “be careful what you wish for.” 

Starts streaming March 15.

The Netflix Slam

Netflix is launching its live coverage of tennis with a blockbuster exhibition match that might go down in sports history. Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal, two Spanish athletes with a history and a classic rivalry, will face off in Las Vegas. Nadal is a veteran champion; his rival Alcaraz is a fiery young upstart looking to take the crown. Classic drama played out on the court.

The Netflix Slam airs live at at 12:30pm PST on March 3.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

You won’t find many better movies to watch this month (or any month) than Bonnie and Clyde. Arthur Penn’s 1967 crime drama stars Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty as the title characters, and it practically invented the pulp-noire genre. The story of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker’s crime spree/love affair set the blueprint for stylishly violent flicks to come like Natural Born Killers, Thelma & Louise, and everything Tarantino ever shot. If you want to hear the other side of the B&C story, Netflix’s The Highwaymen portrays the dudes who caught Bonnie and Clyde (but it’s only so-so as a film.)

Starts streaming on March 1.

The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping

This unsettling documentary details the scary world of the "troubled teen" industry, where children are kidnapped and forced to live in horrendous conditions in often abusive institutions, all with the blessing of their parents. Through interviews with traumatized survivors, The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping digs up copious dirt on The Academy at Ivy Ridge in Ogdensburg, NJ, a “disciplinary boarding school” that was rocked with accusations of abuse and torture before being shuttered in 2009. 

Starts streaming on March 6.

Hannah Gadsby’s Gender Agenda

Award-winning comedian Hannah Gadsby hosts some of earth’s funniest genderqueer comics at London’s Alexandra Palace Theatre in Hannah Gadsby’s Gender Agenda. The program includes sets from ALOK, Chloe Petts, DeAnne Smith, Ashley Ward, Jes Tom, Mx. Dahlia Belle, and Krishna Istha. Reading all the negative comments on the YouTube trailer made this into a must-see for me; if these jerks are being triggered, Netflix must be doing something right. 

Starts streaming March 5.

Full Swing, Season 2

I’m morally and professionally opposed to golf and all things golf-related, but I'm willing to change my mind. A lot of people enjoy the sport, and this docuseries following a diverse group of professional golfers competing at the sport's biggest events might be enough to change my opinion. To add to the drama: This is a Ryder Cup year, and the PGA is in a state of flux after its agreement to partner with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, backers of LIV Golf.

Starts streaming March 6.

Supersex

Supersex is a Netflix original bio-series detailing the life of porn star Rocco Siffredi, who rose from humble roots in a small Italian village to the heights of a unique kind of fame as an iconic, international sex celebrity. The series was created and written by Francesca Manieri, whose previous show, We are Who We Are, was as inclusive, woke, and feminist as anything, so this should be a very interesting take on Siffredi’s life and profession.  

Starts streaming on March 6.

Chicken Nugget

In this straight-from-Korea Netflix comedy, a father accidentally transforms his daughter into a chicken nugget. I didn’t make that up; that’s really what happens in Chicken Nugget. I haven’t seen it yet, but I feel confident proclaiming Chicken Nugget the greatest movie ever made.

Starts streaming March 15.

Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

Director Halina Reijn’s Gen-Z horror movie Bodies Bodies Bodies is like Euphoria with murder. A group of stylish, callow rich people travel to a remote mansion to party, but things go violently wrong. It’s a well-worn premise but it’s presented in an up-to-the-second style, with stars like Pete Davidson, Maria Bakalova, and Rachel Sennott playing the kinds of love-to-hate characters you don’t mind seeing get murdered.

Starts streaming on March 20.

Is it Cake?, season 3

Sometimes you want to watch a TV show about whether or not various things are cake, and Is it Cake?is by far the best series ever made based on that concept. Incredibly skilled bakers from around the country compete for cash prizes by creating realistic-but-edible versions of everyday objects in hopes of fooling a panel of guest judges. Saturday Night Live’s Mikey Day returns as host, and guest judges include Jay Pharoah, Lauren Lapkus, London Hughes, Oscar Nuñez, and many others. 

Starts streaming March 29.