The weekend is here! If you’re looking for something to watch, we can help. We’ve dug through Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max and Disney+ to find some of the best titles on each service. STREAMING ON NETFLIX ‘Zero Dark Thirty’
Kathryn Bigelow, who directed “The Hurt Locker” and Mark Boal, the screenwriter for that film, reunited for this 2012 political thriller, dramatizing the long hunt for Osama bin Laden. The film took heat for its uncritical eye toward the C.I.A.’s claims, later rejected by the Senate Intelligence Committee, that it had gathered critical information in that investigation by using torture. But this is a first-rate picture, pulsing with urgency and righteous indignation, offering a meticulously detailed peek behind the curtain of American intelligence operations. Jessica Chastain is superb in the central role of a never-say-die C.I.A. analyst. Kyle Chandler, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Ehle, James Gandolfini, Chris Pratt and Mark Strong are among the most memorable members of the sprawling supporting cast. These are the 50 best movies on Netflix.STREAMING ON NETFLIX ‘Death by Lightning’
Based on Candice Millard’s nonfiction book “Destiny of the Republic,” this entertaining and illuminating mini-series looks back at James Garfield’s unlikely ascension to the presidency and his subsequent assassination. Michael Shannon plays Garfield as a wise, calm, empathetic leader, working to reform a Republican Party that had become corrupted by decades in power, while Matthew Macfadyen plays the deranged killer Charles Guiteau as an outsider just desperate to be a part of something. “Death By Lightning” covers a pivotal moment in American history with an infectious energy. Our writer called the show “a trenchant reminder of the legacy of political violence in the United States. It’s also a hoot.” Here are 30 great TV shows on Netflix.STREAMING ON HULU ‘The Princess Bride’
The director Rob Reiner and the screenwriter William Goldman (adapting his own novel) perform one of the most graceful acts of double-talk in all of cinema, simultaneously presenting a thrilling bedtime story — told by a cheerful grandpa (Peter Falk) to his sick grandson (Fred Savage) — and a sly satire of such stories, thanks to the rakish humor of Goldman’s script and hilarious supporting performances by Billy Crystal, Carol Kane, Peter Cook, Wallace Shawn and others. That the swashbuckling nor the jokes overpower the other is a testament to the savvy filmmaking; it’s light as air and funny as hell, all at once. Our critic praised its “cheery, earnest style.” Here are Hulu’s best movies and TV shows.STREAMING ON AMAZON PRIME VIDEO ‘Tangerine’
Shot with smartphones and a cast of mostly first-time actors, this “fast, raucously funny comedy about love and other misadventures” from the director Sean Baker (“Anora”) is a vibrant and heartfelt story of life on the fringe. The plot concerns two transgender sex workers (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor) and their various fortunes and misfortunes over a 24-hour period in Los Angeles. Played differently, the material could have been sensationalistic, but it isn’t; Baker is, above all, a humanist, and he loves his characters no matter what kind of trouble they’re causing. Here are a bunch of great movies on Amazon.STREAMING ON HBO MAX ‘The Drama’
Naming a movie “The Drama” is audacious to say the least, but there’s certainly plenty of it kicked up by a boozy round of “What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?,” which yields a reply that strains friendships and threatens to break up a wedding. Zendaya and Robert Pattinson star as a couple whose engagement is thrown into turmoil when a startling secret from the past surfaces and the pair spend the week before the ceremony wondering if they can live with it. The discord is compelling enough, but “The Drama” really pops when it spills over into meetings with the wedding photographer and the DJ, who have no idea what hit them. See more great movies streaming on HBO Max.STREAMING ON DISNEY+ ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’
It took 20 years for a sequel to the hit comedy “The Devil Wears Prada,” for the obvious reason that Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) had survived her time working under the imperious fashion-magazine editor Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep) and resumed her journalism career. Yet “The Devil Wears Prada 2” swiftly justifies its existence through a surprisingly deep understanding of how journalism has contracted over two decades and why Andy, an award-winning writer, might find herself retreating to her demanding former boss. Hathaway and Streep slide comfortably into their old dynamic, along with key supporting players like Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci, and the film benefits from having one foot solidly planted in the real world. Manohla Dargis called it “a sleek diversion with brittle and sharp laughs.” The 50 best things to watch on Disney+ right now.
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