On Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+
The weekend is here. Do you need a break from all the TV you’re watching during the week? Are you looking for a Saturday night movie? Regardless of what streaming service you subscribe to, we’re here to help. We’ve gone through Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ to find the best movies and TV shows on each service. |
Here’s one of the 50 best movies on Netflix |
 | | Anjelica Huston, center, in “The Witches.”Warner Bros. |
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A delightfully playful bedtime story with a wicked sense of humor, this family adventure is adapted from a novel by Roald Dahl, and comes with his deliciously dark and cynical worldview intact. Younger viewers will treasure its inventive (and convincing) special effects, as well as the empathetic protagonist, a recent orphan whose grandmother helps him sniff out a society of witches. Meanwhile, parents will enjoy the vampy leading performance by Anjelica Huston, who invests her character with high style and an outrageous accent. Our critic called it “a fanciful film for savvy children and a witty, well-made movie for their parents.” |
Here is one of the best TV shows on Netflix. |
 | | Michael Jordan, left, and Magic Johnson in “The Last Dance.”Andrew D. Bernstein/Netflix |
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The Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls weren’t just the most dominant NBA team of the 1990s; they were also a constant source of off-the-court drama, famed for their glamorous lifestyles and bitter interpersonal conflicts. The addicting 10-part docu-series “The Last Dance” arrived at just the right time in the summer of 2020, giving sports fans and TV fans something to look forward to each week with its detailed look back at the Bulls and Jordan’s decade of glory and excess. Our critic Wesley Morris said: “You could call these 10 hours a walk down memory lane. But that’d be like calling Mardi Gras a parade.” |
Have a Hulu subscription? It’s a lot to wade through. We can help! |
 | | Cristin Milioti and Andy Samberg living it up in “Palm Springs.”Jessica Perez/Hulu, via Associated Press |
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The “Groundhog Day”-style time loop comedy gets an update and rom-com twist with Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti as a pair of wedding guests stuck reliving the same day, over and over — but together, falling in and out of something resembling love while for everyone around them it’s déjà vu. Samberg and Milioti shine, and the supporting cast is filled out with valuable players (including J.K. Simmons and June Squibb). The director Max Barbakow and the writer Andy Siara work out plenty of clever variations on the premise while gingerly tiptoeing into unexpectedly serious waters. Our critic called it “wildly funny” and “admirably inventive.” |
Amazon Prime Video doesn’t make it easy to find stuff. Luckily, we have done the work for you. |
 | | Zhao Shuzhen, left, and Awkwafina in “The Farewell.”Casi Moss/A24 |
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Billi (Awkwafina), a Chinese immigrant who grew up to be a starving artist in New York City, returns to her homeland to help perpetrate a family hoax in this charming and beguiling comedy/drama from the writer-director Lulu Wang. The reason for the homecoming is her grandmother, known as Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen), who has only months to live, but doesn’t know it. The family hastily arranges a premature wedding as a chance to say goodbye, resulting in misunderstandings, realizations and reconciliations. A.O. Scott praised the film’s “loose, anecdotal structure” and “tone that balances candor and tact.” |
Disney+ is full of the obvious classic movies. But there are a lot of newer ones as well. |
 | | The title character in Disney’s animated musical “Moana.”Disney |
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Disney has spent decades laboring over the creation of more strong-willed heroines, but few have embarked on a mission as consequential as Moana, who travels the seas to save her Polynesian village from environmental ruin. Her adventures are rendered in pleasingly lush ocean blues, and Dwayne Johnson has a fun role as the egotistic demigod Maui. But the true star of “Moana” is the songs, which range from the soaring (“How Far I’ll Go”) to the silly (“You’re Welcome”) to the Bowie-esque (“Shiny”). A.O. Scott wrote that they “anchor the film’s cheery globalism in a specific South Pacific milieu.” |
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