“Daisy Jones & The Six” (Prime Video)
It’s not really Fleetwood Mac, but it’s really Fleetwood Mac if you know what I mean. This adaptation of the hit novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid tells the rise and fall of a late ’70s rock band that looks a lot like the one that gave the world some of the biggest hits of that era. It’s a bit inconsistent over its full run, but there are enough great elements here to warrant a look, including excellent performances from Riley Keough and Sam Claflin and catchy direction from James Ponsoldt (“The Spectacular Now”). Keough and Claflin play the leads of a band that becomes massive just as the pair happen to be falling in and out of love. It’s also got some great period detail, awesome costumes, and some killer tunes. It’s just catchy enough to get stuck in your head. – BT [Read our review]
“Dead Ringers” (Prime Video)
This shouldn’t work. You don’t update classics as flawless as David Cronenberg’s 1988 story of twin gynecologists who might not be completely sane. Alice Birch finds a way to make this tale totally fresh again by gender-swapping the leads and giving Rachel Weisz not one but two of the best performances of her career. She is stunning as Beverly and Elliot Mantle, twin gynecologists with very different personalities. As one falls in love and the other starts to go slowly mad, “Dead Ringers” becomes a shattering commentary on bodily autonomy and codependency. It’s an unforgettable miniseries that doesn’t supplant the Cronenberg but stands confidently alongside it. – BT [Read our review]
“The Last of Us” (HBO)
After a billion seasons of “The Walking Dead” and umpteenth spin-offs, absolutely no one in the world actually needs another series about humanity trying to collectively survive a zombie apocalypse, right? Well, “The Last Of Us,” based on the impossibly-popular video game by Naughty Dog, doesn’t have zombies in it, per se, but a mass fungal infection pandemic that creates zombie-like hosts is still pretty similar, no? It doesn’t matter. Created by Craig Mazin (the award-winning “Chernobyl” and video game co-creator Neil Druckmann, HBO’s “The Last Of Us” is a brutal, heartbreaking, empathetic, and humanist tour de force that is thrilling and also deeply emotional. Starring Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, and guest stars like Anna Torv, Murray Bartlett, Gabriel Luna, and more, “The Last Of Us” asks tough, visceral questions about the limits of compassion, and the value of love, maybe asking us even to consider our inhumanity in favor of the greater good. It’s a bruising series that is genuinely frightening and will leave you emotionally wrecked. Everyone involved should take a bow. – Rodrigo Perez [Read our review]
“Platonic” (Apple TV+)
Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne reunited after the film comedy success of “Neighbors” and proved that their comedic chemistry wasn’t a fluke. One of the main reasons this Apple comedy clicks is that it’s easy to buy the friendship between Rogen and Byrne at its center. They play old friends who haven’t seen each other in years but slide right back into a dynamic that pushes them both out of middle-age ruts. The writing is strong, and the supporting cast is engaging, but “Platonic” is really a stage for the undeniable comic timing of its two stars. You’ll want to be friends with them too. – BT [Read our review]
