Adolescence — Netflix
Stephen Graham, Ashley Walters and impressive youngster Owen Cooper star in this emotionally wrenching British social realism series created by Graham and Jack Thorne. Each episode is filmed in one continuous take, and the results are tense and claustrophobic. The show examines the story of a teenage boy who is arrested for the murder of a classmate and the effects of this seemingly inexplicable tragedy on his family and those around them. Its technical achievements aside, it’s impressive for its engaging performances and dramatic story, which draw you into the small but urgent crisis faced by its all too ordinary characters.
Being Mary Tyler Moore — Showmax
She may not be very familiar to audiences outside the US, but Mary Tyler Moore was a pioneering figure in the history of US television. Her cheerful character on her eponymous comedy show glossed over a darker interior world that included alcoholism, tumultuous marriages and the constant fight against misogyny. Featuring clips from her shows, movies and TV interviews and featuring glowing testimonials from a legion of Hollywood stars, director James Adolphus’ documentary pays deserved tribute to a woman who broke important showbiz boundaries.
Heretic — Showmax
Hugh Grant makes his horror film debut in this dark, nasty chamber piece about religion directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. Grant stars as the seemingly charming Mr Reed, who lives in a strange house in an unnamed small town and happily opens his door to two young women who’ve arranged to speak to him about Mormonism. Sister Paxton (Chloe East) and Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) soon realise that Mr Reed is far more sinister than he appears. By the time they’re forced to engage in an increasingly dangerous philosophical debate about religion, it may be too late for them to save anyone, let alone themselves.
Deli Boys — Disney Plus
Asif Ali and Saagar Shaikh star in an immigrant family/crime-caper-comedy series about two pampered middle-class Pakistani-American brothers whose world is thrown into chaos after the death of their father. They soon discover that Baba’s money and their privileged existence was not based on selling cigarettes and soda, but on the proceeds from less above-board ventures. After the FBI raids their home and seizes all their assets, the brothers and their queenpin Auntie Lucky (Poorna Jagannathan) have to regroup and start all over again, with often hilarious consequences.
Dope Thief — Apple TV+
Brian Tyree Henry and Wagner Moura star as two working-class Philadelphia delinquent childhood besties who survive by posing as DEA agents and relieving local drug dealers of their merchandise and profits. It’s all going well until they decide to increase the size of their potential prize by hitting a rural cookhouse, where things soon get out of hand and they find themselves in the sights of ruthless smugglers determined to get back their product and wreak bloody revenge on the perpetrators.
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