On Netflix, Amazon and Disney +
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The weekend is here. And regardless of what streaming service you subscribe to, we want to help. We've gone through Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ to find the best titles on each service. |
Here's one of the 50 best movies on Netflix |
 | | Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels in "The Squid and the Whale."Samuel Goldwyn Films |
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'The Squid and the Whale' |
Two young men weather their Park Slope parents' nasty divorce in this ruthlessly intelligent and mercilessly evenhanded coming-of-age story from the writer and director Noah Baumbach, who drew upon his own teen memories and put himself, not altogether complimentarily, into the character of the 16-year-old Walt (a spot-on Jesse Eisenberg). Laura Linney is passive-aggressive perfection as his mother, while Jeff Daniels, as the father, is masterly as he captures a specific type of sneeringly dissatisfied Brooklyn intellectual. The film is "both sharply comical and piercingly sad," as A.O. Scott wrote, as Baumbach dissects this family's woes and drama with knowing precision. |
Here is one of the best TV shows on Netflix |
 | | A 12-year-old monk named Aang attempts to defeat the evil fire lord in "Avatar: The Last Airbender."Nickelodeon |
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'Avatar: The Last Airbender' |
One of the more satisfying fantasy adventure sagas of the 21st century is this TV cartoon, which originally aired on the kids' channel Nickelodeon for three seasons. The 61 episodes of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" tell the story of four rival nations — each devoted to one of the elements — and of the reluctant young peacemaker who travels through various magical regions, training to master his powers while also trying to keep his world from descending into chaos and oppression. Our critic called the show "a loving pastiche of allusions and inspirations: anime, Kung Fu flicks, world mythologies, Native tribes, Studio Ghibli films." |
Have a Hulu subscription? It's a lot to wade through. We can help! |
 | | A scene from the documentary "The Act of Killing."Drafthouse Films |
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In profiling killers who led the Indonesian death squads of the mid-1960s, documentarian Joshua Oppenheimer invited them to stage elaborate and surreal recreations of their crimes in the cinematic style of their choosing (such as musical, gangster or Western). In doing so, Oppenheimer directs his subjects to craft an upsetting but telling statement on self-deception and the toxicity of power, and on the lies we tell ourselves in order to sleep at night. Our critic deemed it "dogged, inventive, profoundly upsetting and dismayingly funny." |
Amazon Prime Video doesn't make it easy to find stuff. Luckily, we have done the work for you. |
 | | Robert De Niro in "Raging Bull."United Artists/Kobal Collection |
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Robert De Niro won his second Academy Award for his fiercely physical and psychologically punishing performance in this searing adaptation of the autobiography of the middleweight champion Jake LaMotta. It's a relentlessly downbeat piece of work, but the force of De Niro's performance and the energy of Martin Scorsese's direction are hard to overstate, or to forget. Our critic called it Scorsese's "most ambitious film as well as his finest." |
Disney+ is full of older classics. But there are a lot of newer things to watch as well. |
 | | Joy and Sadness in a scene from "Inside Out."Disney/Pixar |
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When an 11-year-old girl moves to San Francisco from the Midwest, the personified emotions that control her mind — Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) — go haywire. Ranking near the top of Pixar tear-jerkers, "Inside Out" is about how children develop into complex emotional beings and the important role that melancholy plays in making it happen. A.O. Scott called it "an absolute delight — funny and charming, fast-moving and full of surprises." |
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