FX announced today that the fourth season of “Fargo” will premiere on Sept. 27. It was initially scheduled to debut in April, but as with everything else that was supposed to happen this spring, plans changed. |
 | | Courtney Lameman, left, and Carmen Moore in “Blackstone.”APTN |
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When to watch: Now, on Amazon. |
This intense Canadian series originally aired on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, and some seasons have come and gone from U.S. streaming services before. But now all five seasons (39 episodes) are available. The show is set on a fictional First Nation reserve, making it one of the only shows to portray the lives of multiple Indigenous characters in complex and artful ways, and its raw realism and patient storytelling make it totally engrossing. |
I will caution you that the first few episodes are a little bumpy, but the series really blossoms as it goes on. “Blackstone” depicts a tremendous amount of suffering, struggle and violence, but it does so with depth and detail instead of in one big mass of blended-together misery that bleak ensemble shows sometimes slip toward. If you miss broody cable dramas from 10 years ago, or if you like stories about local politics, watch this. |
 | | A scene from “Five Bedrooms.”Sarah Enticknap/Peacock |
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When to watch: Starting Thursday, on Peacock Premium. |
For something fluffier, try this Australian series about a group of semi-strangers who buy a house together. It’s like a more grown-up “Crashing” (the Phoebe Waller-Bridge one, not the Pete Holmes one) or a broader “Four Weddings and a Funeral” — quirky and darling, optimistic about love but aware of rocky paths. If you like “Rosehaven,” or if your favorite arcane thrill is when a supporting character takes over the narration for one glorious episode per season, watch this. (Actually, the voice over changes each episode. Hooray.) |
Your newly available online movies |
 | | Jane Adams and Josh Lucas in “She Dies Tomorrow,” directed by Amy Seimetz.Jay Keitel/Neon |
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Seth Rogen does his own twist on “Encino Man” as a Jewish immigrant who falls into a vat of pickle brine and gets revived 100 years later in “An American Pickle.” The playwright and lyricist Howard Ashman, who collaborated with Alan Menken on the songs for “The Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast,” gets a touching tribute in the Disney+ documentary “Howard.” And the indie director Amy Seimetz has inadvertently made the perfect pandemic movie with the viral horror-thriller “She Dies Tomorrow.” |
Some independent films are available via “virtual cinemas,” which share the rental fee between the distributor and the art-house theater of your choice. |
Other titles can generally be rented on the usual platforms — Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube — unless noted otherwise. — Scott Tobias |
| The subject, more or less, is what it means to be Jewish, and given how contentious that topic can become — can I get an oy vey? — the movie finds an agreeable, occasionally touching vein of humor. — A.O. Scott (Read the full review here.) |
| “Howard” is a film intimately aware that no celebration of a life can be uncoupled from the emptiness left in its wake. As we stumble through another plague, that seems fitting. Yet “Howard,” borne along by wonderful songs and Ashman’s playful delight in his work, is the opposite of mournful. — Jeannette Catsoulis (Read the full review here.) |
| Though the movie does include footage of drum performances, it doesn’t move at the clip of sticks on snares. Instead, the film listens for this community’s heartbeat, finding its steady pulse just as expected: healthy and strong. — Teo Bugbee (Read the full review here.) |
‘She Dies Tomorrow’ (A Critic’s Pick) |
| At once a fascinating experiment and a claustrophobic puzzle, “She Dies Tomorrow” could be about many things or nothing at all, its free-floating mood of anxious anticipation ready to be slotted into multiple neuroses. — Jeannette Catsoulis (Read the full review here.) |
| At times [Mehrdad] Oskouei hands a camera to the detainees, who hit the record button and look straight into the lens to address their dead abusers, or their mothers, who assisted in the murders. It’s especially wrenching when he plays videos of juvenile prisoners speaking to the incarcerated mothers, who face death sentences with little hope for appeal. — Kristen Yoonsoo Kim (Read the full review here.) |
| As Creeper, the only non-Hispanic white man among a largely Latino cast, [Shia] LaBeouf does what he can to convey an outsider who’s desperate to prove his loyalty. But LaBeouf, like his castmates, is constrained throughout by the weight of the stereotyping and dialogue that doesn’t stand a chance against the violence. — Jeannette Catsoulis (Read the full review.) |
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